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No, I’m not avoiding you. There’s a young woman who I want to make sure isn’t going to be trapped in a bad marriage. In the meantime, you can wear my favor in case you need to ride into battle without me.

It took an embarrassing long time for me to figure out that the favor she referred to was the purple ribbon that had held the notes together.

And even longer to figure out that she was making a melodramatic quip about Wurrak culture.

The majority of the males and, only recently, a few women strove to be great warriors.

Knights, they were called. Since there were very few battles in their lifetimes, they held mock ones called tourneys.

And they would wear a scrap of fabric that was either requested or offered by a lady.

Generally, those ladies were romantic interests, but not always.

Either way, I was ridiculously pleased with the ribbon and convinced myself that I could detect a faint lilac scent from it. I tied it around my wrist.

Instead of being alone the guesthouse, I had regular visitors.

Gabriel came by to crow about his romance with Sylvis and ask for advice.

Rayven came to complain about Zareth’s and Xochitl’s decorating and pondering strategies for offering advice.

Razvan came to ask if I wanted to go to Earth and watch Rage of Angels in a recording session.

“Gabriel’s your best friend, so you’ll have an excuse to be there.” He gave me a conspiratorial smile. “Don’t tell anyone that I know how to open the portal on my own.”

“Are you not supposed to know?”

“It’s never been outright stated, but the people of Aisthanesthai are wary about us. Our alliance with their queen is quite new. Immigration negotiations have barely begun and accommodations for our feeding only opened last year.”

“The blood houses.” I’d visited the one in the village.

It also served as a restaurant for non-vampires and the food was very good.

I wasn’t too sure about the brothel on the top floor.

All my vampire friends had their Brides that were true-bonds, but their subordinates apparently availed themselves at times.

I heard it was very busy after both recent battles.

But since then, the customers were mostly human.

“The moment the Conclave was informed that we would be spending time in this world, a law was made that we cannot drink from anyone without consent.” Razvan made a mock grimace that showed his fangs.

“As one who loves the hunt, even after the Elders passed the law against killing, I was at first vexed at this rule, but now I understand. Everyone else pays for their meals and so should we.”

Even though both Razvan and I could fly, he drove us to Spokane—the territory he ruled over—in his car. I hadn’t been in a car in over fifty years, and, to my embarrassment, got terribly nauseated. Thankfully, my stomach settled a few moments after exiting the steel death trap.

Gabriel was joyous to see me at the recording studio that I learned Razvan had built in Spokane. The rest of the band wasn’t as enthused, but they had lost all their hostility and most of their wariness.

The music sucked me in and I found myself at first irritated every time Razvan spoke into the microphone into the earphones they wore, stopping their playing and making one or more of them redo a part until it was to his liking.

Eventually, as I heard the improvements he suggested, I became fascinated at the process.

My admiration for Kerainne’s daughter, my cousin, and their friends doubled.

Professional music was harder work than I ever could have imagined.

Halfway through, when Aurora called a break, Razvan asked me, “What’s with the ribbon?”

“My lady’s favor.” I grinned and told him about Zareth and Kerainne visiting Wurrakia and the note Kerainne had written.

And that’s when I learned that my lady wasn’t being melodramatic about battle.

Razvan explained the scheme they’d come up with to lure a cell of Mephistopheles’s cultist vampires out of hiding.

The band would play a concert in Lewiston in two weeks.

Apparently, this had been set up shortly after the attack on the Nightwatch Society safehouse in New Orleans.

I don’t know if I was the last to be told about it, or if it was discussed with me but I’d been too distracted at hearing about Sylvis being wounded and Gabriel saving her life with blood magic.

“Do you think Kerainne and Zareth will remain in Wurrakia that long?” On one hand, I dreaded being away from her that long. On the other, because of Delgarias’s vision, I wanted her as far from battles as possible.

Razvan shook his head. “The King has already been paying visits to Coeur d’Alene to continue the band’s magic lessons. He says they expect to return the week before the concert.”

“Will I be able to aid you in this mission?”

The vampire shook his head. “Delgarias says no luminites…aside from Nikkita, as she has experience taking out cultists in their hideouts. Kerainne will be watching over Kiara.”

“Then why did she mention me riding into battle?”

“Probably because the Evil One or his cultists could attack anywhere at any time. Though there is a possibility…” he trailed off and twirled his moustache.

“Of what?”

“That she gave you the favor because she’s starting to admit she cares about you.”

“Oh.” Then I realized something.

The last two times Kerainne had abruptly left, I’d been furious with her for not leaving me a note.

This time, she had. And when I’d abruptly been called to return to Luminista, I’d sent her a letter assuring her that I wasn’t storming off in anger.

I wanted her to know I was making an effort to be better.

Was the note and ribbon a message saying she wanted to do the same?

That hope—along with time spent with my friends on Earth and in Aisthanesthai, carried me through another ten days before Zareth and Kerainne finally returned. Although she didn’t come running into my arms like I dreamed about night and day, she did greet me with a smile.

“How is the young lady you worried about?” I asked, because what was important to her was important to me. Why had it taken me so long to figure that out?

“I think she’ll be just fine.” Her green eyes went far off and dreamy like when she read a story or watched a movie with a happy ending. “I’ll tell you all about it later.”

“Did you learn anything new about Mephistopheles’s attack?”

Zareth nodded. “Mephistopheles had an agent who’d ingratiated himself to the girl’s father and gained a position as an advisor.

He convinced the foolish man that if he gave information to Mephistopheles regarding the next tourney and convinced his knights to gather a handful of healer mages, he’d be rewarded the Lordship of Wurrakia. ”

All Kerainne wanted to do for the rest of the day and the day after was watch movies in the relaxation room. She allowed me to join her and, even though her taste in violent films still shocked me, it was wonderful to sit with her in utter peace, not needing to say anything.

After resting, she let me accompany her to Earth, where we spent a lot of time at the McNaught house and at the studio, watching the recording sessions coming along.

I got better about riding in cars…except for Xochitl’s car.

Not because she was devilishly amused with making me sit in the backseat, though that did make the car sickness worse.

It was because Little Beast—as it was called—was somehow sentient.

Xochitl cheerfully shrugged at my questions.

The day of the concert arrived, and Kerainne allowed me to stay with Kiara.

It was the second time we’d been alone together since she returned from Wurrakia.

Well, sort of alone. The half-vampire toddler was a whirlwind of energy and brought back fond memories of times Kerainne and I spent with Nikkita and Gabriel when they were that age.

Together, we worked on her reading and counting lessons. The girl was astonishingly bright.

It was a welcome distraction from wondering how her daughter and our friends were doing. But by the time we tucked Kiara in her bed for a nap, I couldn’t help blurting out my worries.

“Delgarias told me about his vision of a luminite being captured. What if it’s Nik or Gabe? Gabe’s so young.”

Kerainne’s eyes reflected my worry, but she forced a smile and shook her head. “There may not even be a battle. The last attempt to take out the Lewiston cultists failed because they hid. They’ll likely know that the concert is a trap and avoid it.”

But she was wrong. Not only did the trap lure out the vampire cultists and the Evil One’s mages in a way that led to an open battle inside of the concert venue, right in front of the human nulls, it also led to Sylvis and Gabe chasing them into Qua’ al-fán.

My cousin and best friend managed to rescue a blood mage who’d been taken in the attack on Shalafi. And a luminite from Medicia.

Before we could process that earthshattering news, Gabriel told us that he died after they passed through a portal Sylvis created to get them back to Earth…

and Sylvis had drowned herself in the river to go after him.

She’d ascended to Luminista and not only stopped Silvara Leonine from imprisoning Gabe, but also negotiated a betrothal so the matriarchs would finally have the Leonine-Jagwolfe marriage they’d been after for so long.

“Maybe now, we’ll find out why they wanted this match so badly,” I whispered to Kerainne while she stared in stunned silence at the rescued captive.

She didn’t seem to hear me as she shouted. “We need to go through the portal and rescue our people immediately!”

Gabriel nodded. “Sylvis made it stationary and put a lock on it. Let’s get some weapons and—”

“No!” Akasha shouted in such a commanding tone that I finally realized why Delgarias referred to her as the General . “We need to wait until our ranks and alliances are more unified.”

Xochitl and Zareth voiced their agreement, but Kerainne and Nik still tried to argue.

Surprisingly, Tanis, the rescued luminite captive, sided against going back for his kin right away.

“You can’t know how dangerous it is there,” Tanis had said.

“The wastelands are so large and widespread that your armies could die of thirst and starvation before engaging in combat. And most of the captives have either been trapped in marble or are locked away so securely that it’s impossible to get near them. ”

Alaine, the rescued blood mage, nodded as he spoke.

Still, the matter wasn’t settled until Delgarias and Jayden performed a vision-seeking spell and confirmed that it was best to leave the portal alone for the time being.

I offered to take Tanis back to Luminista, but he shook his head. “I already told Lady Jagwolfe that I’d rather remain here and help the Queen in the war.”

It wasn’t until he knelt before Xochitl and pledged his fealty that I realized he was referring to Sylvis, not my mother.

After Tanis and Alaine were given guest rooms and Zareth went to contact the mage university to get in touch with the blood mage’s family, Xochitl summoned drinks for everyone and sat next to Kerainne.

“You wouldn’t believe how badass Sylvis looked when her wings came out onstage, Mom!”

Kerainne grinned at her, though her green eyes were wide with astonishment. “Your wings came out in front of everyone?”

Sylvis blushed. “Zareth cast an obscuring spell, so the audience thought it was part of the show.”

I shook my head in wonder. “I didn’t think you had enough luminite ancestry to gain wings and ascend.”

“I didn’t. Not until the blood transfusion after I almost died in the battle in New Orleans.”

And that’s how we learned that Gabe was a blood mage. When he’d given his blood to Sylvis when she’d been wounded in the last battle, he’d changed her blood quantum, making her almost full luminite. I predicted some interesting implications for that development.

When Zareth returned to the dining room, Gabriel dropped another world-shaking bit of news.

“The Leonine and Jagwolfe matriarchs will be visiting in three days to hammer out the details of our betrothal agreement.”

Both Kerainne and Xochitl stiffened. I remembered all the suffering Silvara inflicted on Kerainne, her own granddaughter…and how that was partly my fault. My stomach twisted as I remembered how she’d reacted when Xochitl appeared in her welcoming hall.

Abomination , she’d called her.

I put my arm around Kerainne. “I won’t let her take you back.”

“None of us will,” Gabriel vowed, and everyone at the table voiced their agreement.

Xochitl met my eyes briefly before Zareth tucked her under his arm. Instead of suspicion or hostility, there was a glint of respect as she gave me a slight nod.

My earlier hope of winning over Xochitl morphed from a means to regain her mother’s affections to genuine desire to become part of her family. And not just Xochitl. I cared about everyone involved in this multi-world war.

For the entirety of my long existence, I’d thought I knew where I belonged and what my purpose was.

Now I knew I’d been wrong. And I was ready to embrace these chaotic and special people and their dangerous purpose.