Then, despite the fact they had forty witnesses, he stepped to Melly and pulled her close for a hard, deep kiss.

Honey, I'm going to war, he said in her head. So put out, will you?

She burst out laughing against his mouth. Throwing her arms around his neck, she kissed him back with all the passion and enthusiasm he could have hoped for, and much more than he had expected in front of their audience.

After spending so many years in the army, he had no shame.

What he had forgotten was, after her years of acting in front of cameras, she had no shame either.

Melly hadn't realized how hard it would be for her to step into the tunnels.

After all, this wasn't the same place where Justine had committed her atrocities. Melly was no longer imprisoned. There were no ferals, no piles of corpses, no would-be rapists. A team of experienced, deadly soldiers surrounded her and Julian, and everybody carried a flashlight, so the tunnel would be well lit for yards around.

None of those details made any difference. As soon as it was her turn to step below, the walls closed in on her, and she nearly hyperventilated.

Julian had already gone ahead. Shane gripped her elbow, his gaze concerned. "Are you all right?"

I'm dealing with a touch of PTSD, she told him telepathically, unwilling to admit it out loud in front of so many witnesses. The tunnels where Justine held us... Shane, it was bad. After this, I don't know if I'll be able to tolerate even living in a house that has a basement.

His face tightened in sympathy. Whispering something under his breath, a golden, calming energy spread out from his hand and enveloped her. While doing nothing to affect her reflexes or judgment, the spell loosened the tight band around her chest.

Does that help? he asked.

Giving him a grateful look, she nodded.

Others were waiting for her to go underground so they could follow behind. She plunged in, with Shane at her heels.

The tunnel was very long, perhaps as much as a quarter of a mile. It dipped down then gradually angled up again, until it came to rough steps hewn in stone.

They climbed for a long time. She imagined the staircase cutting up through the hill on which Evenfall sprawled. It would need to ascend past the lower levels in the castle to reach Julian's suite.

The trek seemed to take forever when suddenly she arrived. Stepping out of the narrow staircase, she looked around.

She remembered Julian's suite as spacious yet streamlined, with large landscape paintings from European Old Masters and only enough furniture to make the living space comfortable.

Because of the artwork, the lack of windows had never bothered her before, but now she frowned. The castle had been built long before the technology for automatic shutters existed. While there were plenty of guest suites along the outer walls, the entire core of Evenfall was like this suite, window free and utterly secure from sunlight, with hallways running throughout the castle like a honeycomb, interconnecting everything.

The suite no longer felt spacious to her, but all the soldiers crowding the rooms might be influencing her perspective. The air felt electric with adrenaline. Energy jumped underneath her skin.

Julian and the rest of his group had already disappeared. A small part of her tried to panic. She might never see him again. Ruthlessly, she squashed it. She had seen firsthand what he could do when he had fought the ferals. He would win this fight.

Tess and Xavier were the last of the group to arrive. They strode immediately to the office area. Tess threw herself in front of Julian's computer.

Two Nightkind guards in black uniform stood just inside the suite's carved double doors, watching everyone with undisguised relief. One of them was a Vampyre unfamiliar to Melly, but the other was a ghoul whom she recognized.

She strode to him. "Herman?"

The ghoul fixed large, dark eyes on her. The long, downward lines of his gray face shifted into something that approximated a smile.

"Mum," he said. "You is a sight for sore eyes, you is."

"How are you?"

"Trootfully, mum, I seen better days," he told her.

Shane joined them. At that, he turned to face her and raised one eyebrow.

Telepathically, she said to him, I love ghouls. They're the Eeyores of the Elder Races. He might have said the same thing on a perfectly wonderful day when the Nightkind demesne wasn't imploding and there was no attempted coup.

Aloud, she asked the ghoul, "You've been guarding the suite?"

"Yes, mum," said Herman. "King's suite always haz a guard. Usually we stands outside no matter what, but shit happened dis morning. Mr. Dominic wanted in. We say no way, cuz he ain't no king of ours. Then we scarper inside, and we bin stuck here ever since." The ghoul rubbed the back of his bald head with long, skeletal fingers. "Whatta surprise when Mr. King himself walks outta that wall."

She told them, "We're going to start evacuating noncombatants. Don't let anybody through those doors if they aren't with us, do you understand?"

Herman's Vampyre partner said, "Yes, ma'am. The King told us what you would be doing and ordered us to help. We'll keep watch for you."

She glanced through the open doorway to the office area where Tess and Xavier were focused on the computer screen.

She told Shane, "Julian and his group will have gone down and north, toward the parking garage. The IT area is down there. I don't know where the munitions area is, but it has to be somewhere close to that."

He raised his eyebrows. "I thought the parking areas were aboveground."

"Those are the public parking areas. The garage is for private use, for Nightkind officials only. Julian took me through there a couple of times when we drove in." She paused. "We're going to go in the opposite direction toward the public meeting halls. We'll do a sweep for people, and bring them back here. Anybody who might be barricaded in their rooms should be safe enough for now. Maybe by then, Tess will have some news for us."

Shane turned to their troops. "You heard the orders. Let's move out."

As Melly regarded her team, they drew weapons, their expressions calm and deadly.

Every one of them was Light Fae.

"Hold," she ordered.

Those closest to the door jerked to a halt. As one, they all turned to her. Pivoting, she strode into the office area.

When Xavier and Tess glanced up, she said, "We made a mistake. We sent some of the Light Fae troops to help Julian, but we didn't retain any Nightkind troops for my team. I can't take a Light Fae force out there and expect people to follow us to evacuate. They're going to be confused and scared. They won't be thinking rationally. For all they might know, they could believe we've invaded."

Comprehension flashed on their faces. Rubbing his face, Xavier swore in Spanish. He said to Tess, "I have to go with them."

Tess's gaze flared with alarm. "Julian ordered you not to go into battle."

"If it comes to a fight, I'll have to stay out of it," he said grimly.

Tess clenched her teeth. "But what if you're attacked?"

Xavier's voice gentled. "Remember querida, Julian left me an out. I'm free to defend myself if I need to. I simply can't choose to go into battle voluntarily."

"You shouldn't have to defend yourself." Tess gripped his wrist. "I should come with you. It's the whole reason I've been training so hard these last few months."

"I understand your frustration, but you can't come." He shook his head. "You have work here we need for you to do."

Hoping to offer reassurance, Melly told her, "I'll make sure he stays with me, in the core of the group."

The struggle in Tess's eyes was palpable. She whispered, "Keep him safe."

Melly's heart went out to the other woman. As difficult as it had been for her to see Julian go into battle, the feeling for Tess right now must be a thousand times worse. "I promise you, we will."

Xavier bent to kiss Tess. The emotion between them was so deep and evident, Melly felt like she was witnessing something meant to be private. Turning away, she went back to her team waiting by the suite entrance.

Xavier joined them. The frustration and tenderness Melly had witnessed so briefly had vanished. He looked sharp-eyed, collected and calm.

He gave her a small smile. "Let's go save some people, shall we?"

She turned to her team. "Now, we can go."

They headed out. Melly, Xavier and Shane led the way, flanked on either side by guards. Moving quickly and quietly, on high alert, they swept through ominously empty hallways until they reached the castle's great hall.

Unlike the Nightkind council chambers and meeting rooms, which were areas designed for smaller, more private assemblies, the great hall was a large space used for public gatherings. The design was classically simple and grand. The hall had a high vaulted ceiling, huge support columns, and a golden marble floor.

As they drew close, the sound of arguing voices echoed off the walls. Slowing, Melly, Xavier and Shane eased up to look into the large space. Four Vampyres wearing the black uniform of the Nightkind guard stood in a semicircle around a group of people who huddled back against one wall.

Swearing internally, Melly did a quick head count there were over thirty in the group of prisoners. Most of them were Vampyres, but some were human, and a few were ghouls.

"... holding us here for hours without any kind of explanation," a Vampyre woman said icily. She stood at the forefront of the group and looked furious. "I demand to speak to Dominic."

"As I've already told you, Dominic is busy at the moment," one of the guards snapped. "He'll come as soon as he can. Then you'll get all the explanations you want. Until then, you're all staying right here."

Melly recognized the woman. Her name was Annis, and she was a member of the Nightkind council. Melly exchanged a frown with Xavier and Shane.

Keeping his voice so soft it was a bare thread of sound, Shane whispered, "That guard speaking who is it?"

"His name is Benet," Xavier replied just as quietly. His gaze had turned hard until his eyes glittered like bottle glass. "He's a captain who has apparently made some very unwise decisions. His three companions are from his unit. There's supposed to be another council member in residence, Leopold, but I don't see him in this group."

"He could be in his suite," Melly whispered. "If he is, he's probably being held there. Dominic and Justine would be working to control and suppress movement. They wouldn't want council members wandering about and possibly taking matters into their own hands."

"Agreed," said Xavier. "Neither Leopold nor Annis are warriors, but they have enough authority that people would listen to what they said."

Shane nudged Melly's arm. "I think I can take care of this without any of the prisoners being hurt. May I?"

She raised her eyebrows. "By all means, knock yourself out."

He hesitated and his eyes narrowed. "It necessitates stretching the Queen's orders a wee bit thin, so be sure you don't get hurt while I'm busy, you hear?"

Impatiently, she waved that away. "I'll be fine. Do it."

He closed his eyes, and a shimmer of magic rippled over his body. Suddenly Dominic stood in front of them, his scarred, handsome face cold and assessing. He asked Xavier, "Will this do?"

Staring, Xavier nodded. "You've nailed him exactly."

Melly stared too. She had heard of this kind of illusion spell before, but they were rare. They took a great deal of Power and training, and they were extremely difficult to maintain. They were risky too, as a strong wave of disbelief could dispel them.

She hissed, "Shane Mac Carthaigh, don't you dare get yourself shot, because I'm not going to be the one to tell Mom."

"This will only take a few minutes," said Shane/Dominic. He gave her a faint, reassuring smile. "Be ready to follow up."

He strode into the hall, conquering the distance to the group in a long, arrogant stride, while he held his semiautomatic in a loose, relaxed position at his side.

"Will you look at that," Xavier muttered. "He even moves like Dominic. How did he learn to do that?"

She whispered, "Shane watches everybody and everything. He could probably impersonate any one of the Nightkind council if he had to."

Xavier gave her a sidelong glance. He looked extremely thoughtful. "Good to know."

In the great hall, the four Nightkind guards, along with their hostages, all turned to Shane/Dominic.

"Benet," said Shane/Dominic as he approached. "Send your men to help keep guard over Leopold. You stay with me."

Everything Melly had ever heard about illusion spells unfolded now like a textbook case.

People tend to see what they're expecting to see, what fits the stories they know. They believe the evidence of their eyes, because it takes far too much effort for the brain to question every bit of information it accumulates. The more outlandish the illusion, the more difficult and fragile the spell became.

Shane was a clever, very dangerous man. This illusion apparently fit with the stories in the guards' minds.

"Yes, sir," said Benet. He snapped his fingers at the other three guards. "Go."

They shouldered their weapons and headed toward Melly, Xavier and the Light Fae guard. Whirling at the same time, Melly and Xavier waved the Light Fae back. They retreated back down the hallway several yards, weapons trained on the open space in front of them.

Moments later the three Nightkind guards walked around the corner. As they came face-to-face with ten soldiers pointing guns at them, they froze. One by one they raised their hands in a universal gesture of surrender.

From the great hall, a single shot rang out.

In the split second that followed, while the hostages in the great hall screamed or exclaimed, Xavier raised his gun and double-tapped each Nightkind guard in the head. They vanished into dust, their weapons clattering to the floor.

Recoiling, Melly stared at Xavier's hard expression.

He said, "Once a traitor, always a traitor."

The Nightkind was Xavier's demesne too. She didn't question his right to execute the soldiers. It wasn't her place to do so. Turning, she ran into the great hall, followed by the rest of her team.

Benet had disappeared, and so had the Dominic illusion. In his place, Shane stood with his hands up, his gun pointing to the ceiling. He was speaking calmly as he tried to deescalate the group's panic.

Melly didn't bother trying to talk over the hostages' noisy reactions. Instead, she raced straight to Annis. The Vampyre gave her a wild-eyed look. "Melisande? What on earth are you doing here?"

Melly told the other woman, "I'm glad to see you're all right, Annis. Evenfall isn't secured, so we don't have time for extensive explanations. Julian's battling Dominic and Justine, and we're here to help you get to safety. Get your people under control and follow me."

Melly gestured her team back while Annis and Xavier worked to calm down the group. In short order, they headed back down the hallway toward Julian's suite.

Annis joined Melly, Xavier and Shane. Melly told her, "We're going to send you down a tunnel. There's no real shelter at the other end the tunnel lets out into the woods but it's shaded enough that it's safe for Vampyres, and it's a good distance from Evenfall. It's the most safety we can offer you on such short notice."