The flight had been relatively smooth, a fact for which Gabriel was grateful, as Lily had confided in him that she sometimes got motion sickness. She’d taken a pill for it, which knocked her out. He’d been watching her sleep, just enjoying being able to look at her as much as he liked.

She was seated about as far from him as she could get, which wasn’t far in a plane which only seated four people. He’d ordered the smaller of his private planes, a custom Dassault Falcon 2000S; the Falcon normally had eight large, comfortable seats, but he’d had four of them taken out to accommodate a small sleeping area located behind a pair of folding doors at the rear of the plane.

Not that he’d told her that. She’d gone weirdly skittish on him and might have bolted if he’d said the word bed.

And wasn’t that the craziest thing? He was turning out to be every bit as predictable as any human; show him something he couldn’t have, and he wanted it desperately. But who could blame him? For one thing, she was literally the first woman to ever tell him no, and for another she was … well, she was herself. And there was something in her odd mix of bravado and vulnerability that pulled at heartstrings he hadn’t realized he still had.

Maybe he’d been a little too ready to buy into Vivienne’s assertion that he was a monster. He was, after all, only half-monster. Maybe it was time to remember that the other half mattered, too.

He stood and walked past her to the galley, thinking he might make himself a cup of coffee. They still had a good hour before landing, and watching her sleep was making him drowsy as well.

He was so busy thinking about how much more pleasant this trip would be if they were curled up in the bed together that he nearly stepped on Pusboil, who was sprawled out on the floor of the galley, looking even grayer than usual.

“What the— Get up!” he whispered, prodding the imp with his shoe. “What are you doing here?”

Pusboil opened one watery red eye and let out a piteous moan. “Watching the girl,” it rasped. “Kind of. In between heaves.”

“What do you mean, heaves?” Gabriel asked.

“I’m not supposed to travel this way,” Pusboil whined. “I’m sick.”

“You’re sick? You’re motion sick? From the plane?”

“Yes, and I’ve been nice enough to go gack in the bathroom every time, so you’re welcome.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Gabriel said. “Now get out. You’re not supposed to be here. We changed the contract.”

“Yeah, I’m not allowed to watch the two of you doing … whatever,” Pusboil said with distaste. “Thanks for bringing it up, like I wasn’t already nauseous enough.”

“We’re not— The point is, you don’t need to watch her when I’m around.”

“And you’re gonna be with her 24 hours a day, every minute, no matter what she’s doing?” the imp challenged. “Look, you go behind a door with her, I’m staying on this side of it. I don’t care what you get up to. But I’m bound to watch her any time she’s not doing something … intimate with you, and I am not going to breach contract with your mother. Are you crazy?”

“You can’t be here. What if she wakes up?”

“She won’t be able to see me properly anyhow,” the imp said petulantly.

“And how am I going to explain to her that I let some mangy cat in here to puke all over the plane?” Gabriel asked. “For the love of all that’s unholy, get out of sight, you idiot. She’ll have to walk right through here to get off the plane.”

“Go where? I’m not gonna go chum up to the pilot.” The imp wrapped its legs around its own head and rocked back and forth. “Can’t you tell your mother to release me? What do you need me to look after the girl for, anyway? You already spend all your time looking at her yourself.”

It had a point.

“I will talk to my mother, yes, but for now can you just go in the back and hide?” Gabriel poked his head out to check on Lily; she was still sleeping soundly. “She’s asleep. Just go and get under the bed.”

Pusboil gave him a look like he’d taken leave of his senses.

“We’re not going in there, okay? Just … go, hide. You can follow us to the hotel once we land.”

“Fine,” the imp said, “but if I get the heaves, someone’s gonna be cleaning under the bed. And they’re not going to like it.”