"It's not the mare's help I seek," he interrupted smoothly.
Terrin's eyes opened wide at the same moment that Cora probed his mind, gasping into his head. Jesus wept, Alec! You can't blackmail God!
The Sovereign is not God, and I'm not blackmailing it. I'm simply ensuring we receive its help.
"The Sovereign does not take kindly to being used," Terrin said, scorn dripping from his voice. "If that is your intention, and I see by the expression on your Beloved's face that it is. I don't know what it is that you want the Sovereign to do, but it won't do it, I can assure you that."
"Then Diamond will remain in the Akasha," he said blithely, brushing off a bit of nothing from Cora's arm. "Love, I believe we have time to do some sightseeing after all."
Cora gaped at him, her mouth open just enough that he gently pressed his fingers under her chin to close it. "Alec, you're nuts."
"So I've frequently been told."
"You can't blackmail God!" she repeated.
"The Sovereign is not God per se," Terrin said tiredly. "Why do I have to keep telling you that? It's an easy concept to understand, after all. It's not like trying to plumb the unfathomable depths of a woman's mind."
"That sort of a crack isn't going to do you any good," Cora said with a sharp look at the little seneschal.
He apologized, glancing at Alec. "Just out of curiosity, not that it will happen in even the most bizarre imaginings, but let us say the Sovereign was feeling gracious. What is it you wish for it to do?"
Yeah, what? Cora asked, evidently not having probed far enough to see his plans.
"My Beloved is a Tool of Bael," Alec said, gesturing toward her.
"She is," Terrin agreed.
"There is nothing I can do that will relieve her from that burden."
Terrin eyed first Cora, then him. "No," he said at last. "Such a thing is beyond your power. Or indeed mine, for what that's worth."
"Every low sort of being in the Otherworld and mortal world will desire to use her for their own gain," Alec continued.
"Where exactly are you going with this?" Cora asked, looking a bit disgruntled. "Because so far, all it's doing is depressing me."
"Patience, mi querida."
"I imagine that is so, yes," Terrin agreed. "If you expect the Sovereign to strip the Tool from Cora, however, I'm afraid you're doomed to disappointment. Such a thing is not within the bounds of even the Sovereign. For all intents and purposes, the Occio di Lucifer and Corazon are now perfectly joined, and will never be able to be separated again."
"Exactly," Alec said, smiling.
"What am I missing?" Cora asked him.
He turned to her, taking her hands in his, kissing each one of her fingers before answering. "We must eliminate the biggest threat to you."
"The Tool? But Terrin just said - "
"That is the cause, but not the threat itself." He kissed her wrist, the hunger within him roaring to immediate life, twisting his gut with a need so great it almost made him dizzy.
She thought. "You mean the people who would use me to access Bael's power?" She shook her head. "You can't possibly eliminate all of them, Alec. That must be hundreds of people."
"Thousands, and they are just interested in the effect of you being the Tool. We must go after the source, the true danger that threatens you."
"But . . ." Her face twisted as she tried to reason it out. "The Tool gets its power from Bael. So . . . oh!" Her eyes grew round as Terrin sucked in his breath.
"You cannot think - " the little man started to say.
"You want to take down Bael?" Cora asked, her eyes searching his. "The devil? You want to destroy Satan?"