"And a fair trade," Margrit said sharply. "So what do you want from me?"

"You have no idea how much I would like to burn that second favor on something as delightful as a dance."

"I don't need poetry, Janx. Just tell me what you want."

"Humans," Janx said without distress. "So demanding, so shortsighted. You want everything so quickly. You must learn patience, my dear. It would stand you well in dealing with the Old Races."

"Janx, you've got a hundred of my lifetimes to look forward to. I've got threescore years and ten. Maybe that's why I don't want to waste time with you flirting around the subject."

"Margrit." Janx turned the corners of his mouth down, a picture of injured feelings. "I'm not flirting." Charm and lightheadedness slid from his eyes, cooling their color. "I'm trying to soften the blow."

She braced, as if what happened next might be a physical attack. Jade glinted through Janx's eyes again, a smile playing over thin lips. "I do like that about you, Margrit Knight. You transform fear into defiance so quickly. Does it cost you?" He dismissed the question as easily as he asked it, brushing it away with long fingers. "Vanessa Gray was Daisani's right hand for over a century, but she was only human. Forgive me,"he said with an upward dance of his eyebrows, "but from our perspective you are-"

"Pawns,"Margrit said flatly. "Easily played and easily discarded, just like your lieutenants. I get it, Janx. What do you want from me?"

"Malik is my right-hand man."

Margrit stared at the dragonlord without comprehension, then came to her feet, shoulders rising with tension. "Malik's one of you. Djinn. Daisani can't do anything to him. It's against your laws. The price of killing one of the Old Races is exile. Nobody'd deal with Daisani anymore."

"Eliseo Daisani will hardly fail to avenge his lover of thirteen