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Balthazar said, “Thank you, Fiona.”

She nodded, acknowledging it, even as she said, “Again, no thanks needed. We’re all in this together as you said. And you are rather precious with Meffy in your arms.”

He snorted. “I earned that.”

“Who knew you would be a cat person. I like both, but prefer dogs,” she said with a grin but that quickly faded as the weight of the situation fell upon them again.

Balthazar was haunted by what Christian and Julian were being confronted with.

They are adventurers. How many times did I watch them get in trouble on their show? They were mortal then and I watched with amusement. Now I would do anything for them to be in this world so I could help them.

Balthazar reached out to Christian again. This time when there was no sense of his fledgling at all, he accepted it as the truth. “I can’t… can’t reach Christian’s mind. I guess that’s to be expected in Moonfall.”

“Whyexpectedin Moonfall?” Fiona asked.

“Moonfall isn’t just separated from the other parts of the Ever Dark by space,” Caemorn explained, “but bytimeas well.”

“Time?” Fiona’s eyebrows rose. “Meaning it’s--”

“Out of our time stream or so it’s thought.” Caemorn waved one of his long fingered hands through the air. “You could meet someone there that’s from centuries in the past or centuries in the future. You could even meetyourselfthere.”

“Wild.” Fiona shook her head. “I had heard of Moonfall, but never really knew much about it.”

“I didn’t encourage people to think about it as Preceptor,” Caemorn pointed out.

“Why?” Fiona’s brow furrowed.

“In Moonfall, the Ever Dark is being destroyed,” Caemorn explained.

“What?” Fiona’s eyes went huge again.

“Some terrible destruction is being wrought there. They say that if you go there at the right moment or stay too long, the whole place is destroyed and then made over again… not thatyou know as you are no longer alive,” Caemorn stated. “That your soul is unmade too. Many rumors are attached to it, but very little true science.”

“Christian will love it then,” Balthazar said glumly. “A scientific mystery.”

“Yes, Christian is wise that way. He will not let there be any shibboleths. He and Julian will investigate them all,” Caemorn agreed.

If they come back...

“It’s the end, which is why Daemon cannot go there,” Seeyr added.

Fiona’s forehead furrowed again. “But Daemon is the ultimate of the Immortals. Why can’t he go to a place where we can?”

“The Ever Dark and Daemon, I think, are more linked than we know,” Caemorn stated. “The creatures reacted to his awakening before he stepped foot in Solace.”

“There are things that are our antithesis,” Seeyr answered her. “Moonfall is Daemon’s. He simply cannot exist in that place of death.”

Balthazar reached out to Daemon again. He needed to confirm what he already knew: that Julian and Christian were in Moonfall. He touched Daemon’s mind again. And, like before, there was thishumthat reminded him of prayer. The Vampire King was so focused on this that he left a chink open in his mind’s armor that Balthazar teased open and slipped inside.

Daemon’s mind was connected to…something… something huge and unknowable and massive and… Balthazar’s skin prickled with sweat as he suddenly started to slip into the Vampire King’s mind and lose himself. He was falling, falling, falling. He was drowning in alien thoughts and dreams and… where was he? Who was he? He was all and nothing. He was the beginning with no end. He was--

No, Eyros, you cannot be here,Daemon said almost sadly.Too clever for your own good.

Daemon!

The sensation of falling stopped. He felt like someone had him by the scruff of the neck and was holding him up to look at as if he was a naughty kitten.

You should not be here, my friend. But I know why you are,Daemon said.