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“But that is to be expected from one such as—” Æsubrand caught himself just in time.

Or maybe not.

“One such as me, huh?”Alphonse asked.“You know, you’re burning through that whole compassion thing real quick.And for the record, some of us low-life scum—”

“I did not say that!”

“But you thought it.And us low-lifes think kind of highly of ourselves, too.”

“It’s not about what you think!Reputation is everything—”

“Where?”Bodil suddenly piped up, causing Æsubrand to look at her.

“What?”

“I said where?”the beautiful fey asked, her dark eyes gleaming.“Where does reputation still matter?In your father’s court?In mine?Before the soldiers who served with you?For they are all gone.”

She never raised her voice, but the hairs on my arms suddenly stood up.

“Reputation is meaningless,” she added flatly.“As are most things now.Only the mission matters.Only that is real.Or else...”She looked around.“This will become all that is.Can you stomach that, Prince Æsubrand?Can youlivewith it?”

“No.”It was a whisper.

“Then let the vampire—” she caught herself.“Let Alphonse go and come and eat.You will need your strength.”

And to my surprise, he did as she asked.

Alphonse turned to me.He was done with his snack and likely didn’t need another, at least not yet.And when he did, it wouldn’t be an animal he’d be going for.

But right now, he wanted information.

“So, when are you gonna do it?”he asked.

I ate soup to give myself a second because I knew damned well what he meant.And why he was in such a good mood.Alphonse thought the battle was over, and our victory was on the horizon.Because that was how this was supposed to work, why we’d fought so hard to get here, and why my head buzzed every time I thought about what lay ahead.

“Do what?”Enid asked.

“You know, that thing she does.”He waved a hand; I guessed to indicate a shift.“And flip out of here to go see Rhea, her heir, and then…”

He trailed off, his sunny smile still in place but his eyes going dark.Because I was still hunched over my bowl, eating soup as noncommittally as possible, and he wasn’t stupid.He knew me.

He had since I was a kid, when I’d served as court seer for his old boss.Alphonse had been the bruiser who made a mockery of the tall, dark, and handsome vamp trope and served as Tony’s chief enforcer.He’d been good at his job, and not only because he could pick up and break most vamps in half.But because those dark eyes didn’t miss much.

At least one thing hadn’t changed, I thought grimly.

“You can do that, right?”he said slowly.“Your power is back, and you’re just resting up to be able to use it.Right?”

I licked my lips and tried to think.

But not fast enough.

“Oh, son of abitch!”

Chapter Three

Icouldn’t sleep despite the bottle of possibly moonshine Alphonse had found under a collapsed counter and shared around, which had had fifty extra years of aging and mellowed not at all.So, I left the bearskin behind and climbed the staircase Bodil had found that let out onto the rooftop garden she’d mentioned.Only it was more of a hilltop garden since that was what this place looked like from the outside.

Bodil wasn’t there, having decided to get some sleep, as she was as exhausted as the rest of us.But somebody else was.Pritkin had talked Alphonse out of the remains of the bottle, and he shook it at me as I walked over to join him on a rickety-looking wooden bench that had somehow survived the apocalypse.