She watched the battle commander come to the fore in his expression. The intelligence in his gaze was sharp enough to cut steel.

Damn, that was hot.

He glanced at a clock on the mantel of the fireplace. "Ten minutes."

"We'll be ready."

She went to find out where Gregoire had stashed her troops. Even though the mansion was capacious, there were actually very few places where nineteen guards could wait comfortably.

She found them in the massive dining room. Gregoire and his staff had moved quickly. Large trays of sandwiches dotted the long, gleaming table. Most of the food was already gone.

As soon as the men and women saw her, they came to their feet. She knew all of them, and their relieved smiles lit her heart. She said, "Good morning. Thank you for coming."

Shane strode forward to hug her. "It's wonderful to see you."

He was a tall man, even for the Light Fae, with a muscular build and a strong, contained Power. He kept his tawny hair clipped short, which emphasized his lean jaw, high cheekbones and somewhat blunt, puckish nose.

In repose, he had a stern grace that was balanced with a bright, ready smile, and he was one of the most dangerous magic users she had ever met. One of Melly's favorite things to do as a child had been to ride on his shoulders, and she loved him like an uncle.

"It's so good to see you too," she told him. Her gaze swept the others in the room. "It's good to see all of you. Now, eat fast. We're about to go to war."

The atmosphere in the room sharpened, as if she had unsheathed a gigantic sword.

Once Julian was alone, he shut the office door. Then he leaned both hands on the door panel and hung his head. Days ago, he had reached some kind of breaking point, and shit still kept happening. It pushed him somewhere uncharted. He had to figure out how to navigate through the strange landscape he found himself in.

Yes, relationships were breakable.

He wasn't surprised that Dominic might have considered both sides of the Nightkind dispute. Dominic was, after all, primarily a mercenary and experienced at choosing the option that gained him the greatest advantage.

No, what surprised Julian was that he had believed Dominic would pick him.

Trust could be broken. So could faith.

At that, Julian's thoughts inevitably shifted to Melly. Inevitably, because he always thought of Melly now.

Somehow she had walked a line with her sister. Without trashing everything, she had stood up for herself and had made her needs clear. Bailey might choose to ignore them, but if she did, she would be the one who broke the relationship, not Melly. In spite of how angry and hurt Melly had been, she held true.

She had also shown him how to win free of an impossible situation. Just like down in the tunnels, when she had picked the locks and freed them both with almost nothing but ingenuity and perseverance.

In his bedroom, he had been faced with two impossible choices. Like a classic riddle, both led to failure, until Melly reached out past all self-protectiveness and kissed him.

She was a goddamn Houdini, was what she was.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. He had been born and bred to win, no matter what the cost. He fought dirty because he fought for survival, not for any moral code or sense of honor. He threw sand in the face, kicked his opponent in the balls and went for the jugular.

That didn't always gain him a victory.

The truth was, he was a dark creature in heart as well as in body. He was always standing at midnight.

He lifted his head. Maybe he could make different choices.

Maybe he could get in front of this and change his life, but in order to do so, he would need to make an intuitive leap.

He opened and closed his hands. What he needed to do lay right in front of him, waiting for him to get there.

Breathing hard, he pulled out his phone and punched out a number. He listened to ringing. A fine tremor ran through him. He felt sick with anticipation.

On the other end of the connection someone picked up.

Carling said, "Hello?"

His sire's voice was as familiar to him as his own. They had, after all, known each other for centuries.

He sounded raw to his own ears. "You were tearing me apart with your contradictions. Ordering me to do this, then that. You weren't safe for anyone to be around. You made promises and you broke them. You were going to stay on your island where you couldn't do any more damage. Then you left."

Time passed. It felt like years, but it might have been mere moments.

Carling said, "Yes, I did. All of that is true."

His stomach clenched as he waited for her to take control of him. Not every sire could do so over a phone connection, but he was willing to bet Carling could.

Instead, she said in a soft, steely tone, "When I was fighting for my life, you tried to imprison me. You tried to have me killed. You banished me from the demesne I had created."

Looking up at the ceiling, he admitted, "Yes, I did."

Someone knocked on the door. He told whoever it was, "I need five minutes. Don't disturb me. I'll come out when I'm ready."

"No problem," said Xavier.

Julian listened to the younger Vampyre walk away.

"Why are you calling, Julian?" Carling sounded as cool and dark as an ancient river at twilight.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry." He was shocked to find that his eyes were stinging, and he rubbed them. He was too old for this touchy-feely shit. He gritted his teeth. "I heard you were doing well, and I wanted to tell you I'm glad. I learned a lot from you, and we worked well together for a long time. I trusted my sire to have my back, and to fight for me when I needed it. You did all of that, until toward the end when you couldn't anymore."

Her voice gentled. "You were my best, brightest progeny. I was proud of you."

"I need for you to set me free," he whispered. "I can't keep following the old orders you gave me. Once you asked if I wanted to become the Nightkind King. I said yes, and you set me to rule in your place, but that happened over two hundred years ago. Now... it's a leash on my soul that never goes away."

After a long pause, she sighed. "If I try to revoke an order that old over the phone, it might not take. Rune and I will have to come to you. Is that acceptable?"

Relief ran like sunshine through his body. "Yes," he told her. "But it's going to have to wait until after I kill Dominic and Justine."

"What?" The end of the word snapped like the tip of a whip. "Is that why you invoked martial law?"

In spite of everything, Julian had to smile.

"Justine tried to kill Xavier," he told Carling. "She slaughtered her household, kidnapped Melly, tried to kill me, and now she and Dominic are fighting to occupy Evenfall, but none of that is why I called you. Melly and I have gotten back together. She's helped me think of a lot of things in a different light, including you. And I need to be free to make real choices for a future with her. Maybe that includes ruling the Nightkind demesne, but maybe it doesn't." He shook his head. "I can make that decision after I turn the traitors to dust."

Their connection grew muffled, as if she had put her hand over the receiver. Still, Julian distinctly heard Carling say, "I made that demesne. I can bring it down if it misbehaves."

In the background, Rune said, "No, darling Carling."

"Damn it, Rune."

"We aren't going to storm a castle today. This isn't your fight."

"Oh fine," she snapped. The connection became clearer as she spoke into the phone again. "Call me when you're finished cleaning house. As soon as you're ready for us to come, I'll say these words in person. Until then, Julian Regillus, you are free of any obligation to the Nightkind demesne save those you choose for yourself. Your future will be what you make of it, and no longer what I order."

Did the leash on his soul lift, or did he just imagine it? It was impossible to tell for sure.

He said quietly, "Thank you."

"Melly's good people," Carling said. "She made you happy, and I'm glad you and she are together again. Give her my best."

"I will."

He disconnected, considering.

The conversation had gone so much better than he had expected. Almost, he thought, as if Carling had been waiting for him all this time to reach out to her.

Things could never be the same between them, and he wouldn't want them to be. There was only so much that could be done to repair something that became so broken.

Or maybe he was wrong. He'd been wrong a lot.

In the meantime, people who loved him despite all his shortcomings were waiting for him on the other side of the door.

Blurring into quick movement, he went to his weapons cabinet, hidden discreetly behind a wall panel. The cabinet also held sun-protective clothing and custom-fitted body armor.

He donned the clothing and armor, strapped his sword to his back, and fastened on a gun belt with automatic weapons and extra ammo. Carrying gloves and a hood, he strode out.

Personal growth was damn hard work. It also took a lot of time, so it was going to have to take a backseat for a while.

Because right now, he had a battle to fight and Vampyre ass to kick.

Seventeen.

T.

he woods that blanketed much of Marin County were some of the most beautiful in the world. Populated with massive redwoods and rich in land magic, the forest floor was dark and shaded enough so that the Vampyres in the group could pull off their hoods and walk in safety.

Julian stayed by Melly's side so he could spend as much time as he could with her. Like him, she wore fitted body armor and weapons. Despite carrying what he knew must be a good forty pounds in extra weight, she moved easily and with grace. She had braided her hair and rolled it into a tight bun at the base of her neck. It emphasized the graceful arch of her neck and the elegant bone structure of her face.

Much of the time, Melly greeted the world with a good-humored smile and a twinkle. Experienced at being in the public eye, she knew how to work the red carpet for movie premieres, and she made it easy for people to believe in her movie starlet persona.

Now as he looked at her, there could be no doubt she was every bit Tatiana Aindris's daughter and the Light Fae heir.

They didn't have time to talk. Julian led them through the woods at a punishing pace. No matter how fast they deployed, every moment in a battle seemed to take forever, and he was all too conscious of what might be happening inside Evenfall.

Xavier's people joined them a few at a time. Led by Xavier's head of security, Raoul, the advance scout confirmed that while troops dotted the land close to Evenfall's walls, there was no sign of Dominic's forces this far into the woods.

Xavier himself had insisted on coming along. While Julian had forbade him from volunteering to go into battle, as he pointed out, accompanying the group through the woods was something else entirely, and Julian hadn't the heart to stop him. He had a challenging time keeping up with the rest of the force, but he did so with grim determination, and Tess never left his side.

Finally they reached the area that Julian had been looking for, a broken patch of high, rocky ground covered with moss and ferns.

He said telepathically to Melly, This entrance has been secret ever since the castle was originally built. You can only use something like this effectively once.

She looked around the area, her expression curious. If there's any time to blow a secret, this is it.

He nodded, turned to face the others and ordered, "Come in close."

The troops drew near, keeping their attention on his face.

He told them, "I have only one objective. I'm not going to let them take Evenfall. If I have to napalm the inside of those walls, I'm going to do it. That means we need to split into two groups. One will be with me. We'll be on the offensive. Another group needs to focus on evacuating noncombatants."

Melly said, "I'll lead that team. I'll take ten of my people to work on the evacuation." Her gaze told him she wasn't happy about the two of them splitting up, but she accepted the need for it.

His attention shifted to Shane. He said telepathically to the other man, As soon as Melly's presence becomes known, she could become a target again. Justine kidnapped her for a reason.

The Light Fae captain replied, The Queen's orders are that I'm to do anything Melly says, except leave her side. Today my goal in life is to make sure that the Light Fae heir remains safe.

Relief lifted a weight off his shoulders. He told the other man, That's more than acceptable to me.

Aloud, he said to the group, "This tunnel leads to my suite. The passage is narrow, so my team will go first. Once we get inside, we're not going to wait, so the strongest fighters in the second team need to follow directly afterward."

The last person he looked at was Xavier, who told him, "Tess and I will come to the suite. Even if the cables were cut, the internal network might be operational. If it is, we'll be able to assess where the fighting is and communicate with people in the IT area." His mouth tightened. "If that's acceptable to you."

He considered the younger Vampyre with a narrowed gaze. Xavier was pushing right up to the edge of Julian's orders, but the reality was, not only would the suite be heavily protected, it shouldn't become the focus of any of the fighting. And Xavier and Tess could potentially do a lot of good from that position.

He said, "Excellent."

Turning to the broken, rocky rise, he located the door hidden deep underneath years of moss and ferns, and heaved it open.