"And my fucking her so hard that I left an impression of her ass on the prep table?"

  "Oh, that's just us getting off on our big, mean, sex-demon husband conquering another woman!" Talin said and giggled again.

  "Really?"

  "Mike, I'm a Fianna; so's Cait, and so are all my sisters. We get off on big, buff, magical men who are violent and domineering. So do Tae and Az, and your sisters, even, as they're all dark elves as well as 'cubi, and you have to admit, you enjoy it, too."

  "Jade and Kerrie?"

  "Military brats. Marine military brats."

  "Rika?"

  "She's just kinky," Talin said and giggled again.

  "So what happens with Cynthia?"

  "She's not wife material, or even concubine material, really."

  "Then what is she?"

  "House retainer."

  "House retainer?"

  "Okay, kinky house retainer! I figure we'll move her into the hotel, when she's not spending her nights here, and make sure she's happy and cared for."

  "All that to get a chef, huh?"

  "If we didn't make her ours, you'd have ended up killing her, Michael. Because someone else would've grabbed her, sooner or later, and set her at odds with us. The next one you need to move off the council is Schmerz. Probably put Kerrie in his place, then after Ennakoida's sworn, you can encourage him to take his spy back, and we can put Tae or Jade in his place."

  "What about Cait?"

  "Cait's going to be helping me oversee the auction, as well as the restaurant and the coffeehouse, along with Jade or Tae, whichever one doesn't end up on the council."

  "Tae, definitely Tae."

  "Why?"

  "She's more mercenary when it comes to business, and gets on well with goblins, seeing as she had a goblin nanny. So do we kill Schmerz? Or just run him off?"

  "Take him aside, politely tell him his services are no longer needed, and you're going to give him a nice severance package? I don't know. I'd rather not kill him. Maybe send him to one of the other enclaves in the DEZ and let him work his magic there?"

  Mihalis thought about that. "You may have an idea. Maybe I should ask my father about it. Anything else?"

  "Not right now. So how long do you think it'll take you to make those rings?"

  "I should have them done in a day or two. They're not really that complicated, but I'm expecting a lot of interruptions."

  "Oh?"

  "You're here, aren't you?" he teased.

  "Well, I thought you might want to preside over today's meeting and let everyone know I'm replacing Cynthia."

  "And let Schmerz know he's going to be next?"

  "Umm, maybe he'll get the hint."

  "Just understand, I've got a lunch date with Doc today, so not going to stay if it runs long."

  "I'll let Cinn know."

  "Thanks."

  "Oh, do all enchanters work in the nude?"

  "Nah, it's a Valens' thing,"

  "You know, that might have something to do with the interruptions," Talin teased and gave his butt a pat as she left, making him smile. He liked the idea of only his people being on the council now that they were figuring it out. He'd especially like to see Schmerz gone. Drudes could be problematic, and with the con he was about to pull, problems like that weren't ones he wanted to deal with.

  Casting the spell to keep his work from unraveling, he pulled out his phone and sent a message to his father asking for a few minutes, then dropped into the chair and closed his eyes.

  §

  "Mihalis! Nice to see you again! I think the First wants to chat with you," Renee said as he popped into the mountain.

  "Is he here? I need to talk to my dad for a moment; waiting to see if he can spare a few."

  "No, and if you're not going to be around for long, I won't try to roust him. He said it wasn't important. I think he just wanted to yell at you for a moment to soothe his wounded pride for having overlooked something."

  "How'd you come up with that?"

  "I heard Sasha teasing him."

  "Ah."

  "What's up, Mike?" he heard his father as he popped in.

  "I got a drude on the town council, and I'm going to be kicking him off soon. I'd rather not kill him, and Talin suggested maybe sending him to one of the other enclaves to let him do his thing there, rather than letting him stay here and possibly do it."

  "Drude, they're Germanic, right?"

  "Yup."

  "Let me ping Raban. We don't have anything to do with either of the other two encampments. How'd things go with taking the advisor's oath?"

  "Not bad. I picked up some of his aggression, which of course just had me bothering the girls. But that flattened out after a few hours. I'm a bit worried that I might get a bigger shot from Ennakoida."

  "Gain any powers?"

  Mihalis facepalmed. "Forgot to look. Ping me if Raban wants him or not, otherwise I'll see if he can take a hint and go from there."

  "Later, son."

  "Bye, Dad."

  §

  Opening his eyes, Mihalis immediately fired up his stats spell and quickly went over everything, including his incubus abilities. It didn't take long to see that nothing there had changed, or really anywhere else.

  Taking a moment, he concentrated on the small amount of power he was getting from Hengity. While there'd been a bit of a surge when he'd first taken his oath, it had quickly ramped down to a trickle. It was still more than he'd been getting from the biskop, but not a lot more. Maybe he'd need more power coming in before he'd see a change? Or maybe he'd only see it after he got a lord or two, because then he'd actually be a prince?

  He thought about that for a few minutes.

  Then he thought about the party that'd be going on in here after he took Ennakoida's oath if the reaction he got out of it was anything like what he'd gotten after Hengity! He smiled at that. He'd have to warn the wives. And probably Beri. Maybe even Tamerin…

  "Hey, you coming to the meeting?" Cinnamon asked, coming into his small workshop and putting an end to his wool-gathering.

  "Oh, right. Let me get dressed."

  "What are ya' working on?"

  He told her about the rings as he put on his pants and a vest, then assumed his aspect, checking to be sure the slits he'd had tailored into the vest lined up. True, the lycan collar he wore would put them in automatically if they weren't there, but those were so small that anyone paying attention would realize something wasn't quite right with them.

  "Who's idea was the ring? Yours or Sawyer's?"

  "Mine, though he loved it. Mom Esti liked it, too."

  "Well, let's grab Tal and be on our way."

  "Is Cynthia going to be there?"

  Cinnamon shook her head, "She's already in love with her new kitchen. I left her planning her menu this morning. Tal was sure right about her! If you hadn't told her she wasn't on the council anymore, I bet she'd be resigning."

  "Just as long as she's happy."

  "Well, after what you did to her yesterday, yeah, she's pretty happy!" Cinnamon teased.

  "Umm…" Mihalis tried not to blush.

  "Then of course, there's what Talin, Jade, and Kerrie did…"

  "I'm not sure I want to know—"

  "Plus what I did all last night!"

  Mihalis sighed. "You like this whole sex demon thing way too much, don't you?"

  "Says the man with seven wives, a concubine, and a sex slave?"

  "When you put it like that, you make it sound weird," Mihalis replied, smiling at her. "I mean, that's what we grew up with!"

  "Well, I mean to enjoy it while I can; both my lioness and Reagjin have warned me that once the right lion or other male comes along, I'm going to end up with tunnel vision, at least for a little while."

  "You think?"

  "Look at Alska and Celeste. Adam is the only thing in their lives now. Ryla and Jenna had to drag them off by their tails just to get them to eat."

  Mihalis shook his head. "It's still weird to think of Alska that attached to anybody, especially Adam."

  "Eh, Adam's the disreputable version of Dad."

  Mihalis scratched his head. "I thought Chad was the disreputable version of Dad?"

  "Chad doesn't have a temper."

  "Oh, right!"

  Grabbing Talin, they left through the rotunda of the Auction House. It was too early for the actual auction—that always started at noon—but they could see that things were getting set up. The vendors were already opened down either wing, and Caitin, Taeria, and Jade were riding herd on things, along with Wedge and the other goblins.

  "At least the two new råge seem to be working out," Talin commented as they left the building and walked down the street towards the council offices.

  "Oh, god, I just had a thought," Cinnamon said as they were walking through the square.

  "Good or bad?" Talin asked.

  "What do you think is going to be the response from a lot of folks when they find out Mike's now a 'djevel prince'?"

  "As long as I don't show my wings outside the DEZ, and keep telling people my name is Mihalis, not Michael, I think I'm okay," Mihalis said with a shrug.

  "You think they'll fall for that?"

  "Yup. At least the general public will. Anyone else, if they're allies, Dad will tell them it's okay, and if they're not, well, we don't really care."

  "I don't know, Mike, I think you may need to come up with more than that."

  "I'm not planning on doing a lot of traveling; this is my territory, and honestly, I'd rather spend the next hundred years here , only leaving to visit the moms and Dad."

  "Famous last words!"

  "Let's leave it until we have to deal with it," Talin said. "Also, aren't you forgetting something?"

  "What?" Cinnamon asked with a scowl as they got to the council house.

  "'Cubi can shape-shift to look like whatever or whoever they want to?"

  Mihalis laughed as Cinnamon blushed. "I still haven't experimented with that."

  "Well, maybe you should. Never know when it'll come in handy."

  Going inside, they said hello to the guards, and went to Cinnamon's office first so she could check on a few things, then they went to what was now Talin's office so she could get that organized.

  "Hmmm, I think we need to christen that desk," Mihalis said with a wink.

  "I'd say after the meeting, but I believe you have a lunch date?"

  Mihalis grumbled. "Dammit, forgot about that."

  When they finally went into the council room, Mihalis noticed Talin got a lot of looks as she sat down in what had been Cynthia's seat.

  "What happened to Cynthia?" Schmerz asked immediately.

  "Cynthia now works for me," Mihalis said, looking up at Schmerz. "She's very much joined the family business, I guess you could say? My wife Talin is taking over her position."

  "What! You can't do that!"

  "Of course I can! And I did ," Mihalis growled, looking Schmerz in the eye. "I offered her something she wanted, and she happily took it, and if you mess with her in any way, I will dissect you using my claws, understand ? She's in my household now.

  "Besides, why should you care?"

  "Because there's only two people on this council you don't control, and I'm one of them!"

  "Well, actually, I suspect Arsy's boss is going to promote him and take him back to his castle in a few days, after Lord Ennakoida and I reach an accord. So honestly, you're the only one here, Schmerz. So maybe you might want to consider your options?"

  Mihalis smiled at the look on Schmerz's face when he felt his phone vibrate slightly. Pulling it out, he looked at it, then looking back up at Schmerz, he smiled even wider.

  "Have you ever thought about returning to Germany? It seems the Kitesh Korps is looking for someone with your skills."

  "What!" Schmerz's eyes widened. "How, how would you know that?"

  "Because it's easier to get rid of you if we find you something you'd rather be doing," Talin said with a frown, drawing his attention. "Michael isn't lying about Cynthia. True, we could just kill you, but then you wouldn't owe us a favor for helping you out. The only reason you're not getting an offer here is that Michael really didn't want to take you to bed," she winked at him then, "and he'd kill you if any of us were to offer."

  "So should I tell them to contact you?" Mihalis asked with an innocent look on his face. "It is back in Germany, which is where you're from, right? Or should we just see what else comes up?"

  "Germany is still full of djevels!"

  "Yeah, so's this place. Look, if anyone can figure something out, I'd say the Kitesh Korps has. So do I tell them you're interested, or not?"

  Schmerz looked around the room and noticed that nobody was giving him friendly looks.

  "Yes! I'm interested!"

  "See, that was easy. Now, on to business."

  It was well after eleven when he walked up to the gates of Mohini Labs. Arsy had told him he was expecting to hear from Lord Ennakoida shortly. Mihalis had smiled and told him he was looking forward to finally meeting his lord.

  "Michael! It's been a while!" the gate guard said, greeting him.

  "You know how it is when it comes to family obligations; if you say no, you'll spend decades living it down."

  "If even then!" the guard replied, laughing. "Go on in. I called up and let them know you were coming as soon as I saw you."

  "Thanks! Oh, the restaurant by the coffee shop will be opening soon. Finally found us a good chef! Let the other guards know, I'll set you all up with a discount."

  "Thanks, Michael!"

  Mihalis waved and went inside. He'd send a text out to the girls after lunch to make sure they got the message. Getting the lab guards to check it out would help with security, he was sure.

  The door guard just waved him in and said hello. Using his empathy, he could tell the guard wasn't the slightest bit concerned about him. He had to admit to being surprised by how fast he'd been accepted here. He went up the stairs to Dr. Ruxton's office. The secretary smiled and, getting up, showed him inside. Dr. Ruxton was on the phone, but he smiled, waved, and pointed to the chairs they usually sat in, so Mihalis went over and made himself comfortable.

  From the sounds of it, he was looking to set up some sort of lab trials.

  "Sorry to make you wait, Michael," Dr. Ruxton said, coming over and shaking hands with Mihalis as he stood up.

  "Not a problem, Doc. Oh, I want to go over something with you before we head down for lunch."

  "Ah, then have a seat, because I wanted to go over a few things with you as well."

  Smiling, Mihalis sat back down. "I want you to be the first one around here to know what's going to happen, because I don't want you to think anything here is going to change for you or your people."

  "Well, that sounds ominous," Dr. Ruxton said with a smile.

  "Honestly, I think it's more funny than it is ominous. You see, the original strain of 'cubi—that's incubi and succubi—came from the same place the djevels did. And because of how well I've been dealing with Lord Ennakoida, as well as a few others, they seem to have gotten the idea that I'm a djevel prince who's figured out how to survive despite the lions."

  "I guess I wouldn't be off the mark if I were to believe you encouraged this idea?"

  Mihalis grinned. "Sure did. In fact, Lord Ennakoida is going to swear his fealty me sometime in the next week."

  Dr. Ruxton looked shocked. "Wait, I thought because you were a…" he looked around the room, "that, you couldn't do that."

  "Yeah, that's what we all thought, but then a few of us had the idea that if I take over, it'll make all our jobs a lot easier in the long run. Plus, as Bartertown is my home and belongs to me, none of the lords are going to mess with it or allow their people to mess with it. I mean, we'll still have problems, none of that is going to ever go away, but there won't be any organized assaults on the town."

  "I'm sure that'll make my man Mark happy. That's his number one concern."

  "I don't doubt it."

  "I must admit, Michael, this is definitely a curious state of affairs; however, it will certainly make my research easier. As you probably just overhead, I'm going to be doing some initial drug trials here in a few weeks. I do believe I may have found a new cure for cancer!"

  Dr. Ruxton had a huge smile on his face, and Mihalis could feel how incredibly happy he was feeling, as well as accomplished.

  "A new cure?"

  "Yes, and one far superior to the others out there. The other cures are quite limited and problematic. This one is going to be a breakthrough that'll remind everyone, once again, that when it comes to research, I'm up there with the best."

  "And you got this from the djevels?"

  "Yes! You know how they regenerate tissue so quickly when they're injured?"

  Mihalis nodded.

  "Well, that got me to wondering why they weren't developing any cancers. We hadn't seen a single one, not one in any of the subjects here. Well, we could give that biskop you got me much more serious wounds that took longer to heal and actually study the process.

  "At first, I was thinking we could come up with a similar method for healing grievous wounds quickly, but it became apparent early on there was a certain amount of what you call 'magic' involved in that process. So we switched to the cellular activity to see if we could find what was regulating it, keeping it from going out of control, and becoming cancerous, and that process was purely biological! It's a series of chemical compounds that interact with the cell division process in a way we've never seen before—which only makes sense, because we've never seen cellular division at these rates.

  "I was able to isolate the process, and determine the chemicals and their functions to promote the biological behaviors. The initial animal trials have been quite promising. If these continue to work out, I'm going to have a couple terminal cancer patients flown in and see if we can cure them."

  Mihalis sat back and blinked. "Do you need to harvest anything from the djevels for this?"

  Dr. Ruxton smiled. "No! And that's the best part! We found enough commonalities in the cellular physiology that we can actually create this stuff in our own labs. Oh, it isn't easy—I'm going to be gutting one of the test labs and rebuilding it completely with the equipment for creating this in the amounts necessary for treating humans—but I think the basic mechanism I've discovered here is why most people, well, most humans, don't get cancer. However, using the djevels, I've been able to extrapolate the process into an actual cure! And better still, this should work on any cancer!"