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I went up to my suite and debated on whether to present as a Medician royal as I had for the first Conclave meeting I’d attended, or as a high sorceress as for the second one.

Given the cold weather, I opted for the latter, but still packed my crown.

I then packed a few things from my treat box, the bottle of Highland Lilac of Rochester perfume Xochitl gave me for my birthday, a change of clothing, and pajamas.

Those I debated on for a ridiculously long time.

Though I usually opted for comfort, Lucian would be coming to Niji too.

And what if I lost the battle with my willpower and wanted to do more than sleep?

I settled on a compromise. A long black satin nightgown made with Shellandrian lei fabric.

Unlike the itchy lace in Earth-made lingerie, the floral-patterned lacy parts around the bodice and thigh panels weren’t itchy.

The impulse purchase shortly after my return to Aisthanesthai made me feel guilty, but now I thanked my past self.

When we gathered in the courtyard to open a portal big enough to accommodate all twenty-two of us, my heart gave a twinge when I didn’t see Lucian.

Was he not invited? I hadn’t heard anything of the sort.

Isis and Chaos yowled complaints in their cat carriers while Xochitl tried to reassure them that they’d be released soon.

The only reason Isis was in a carrier, my daughter had explained, was because Chaos would have a tantrum about the Siamese getting special treatment.

Unfortunately, Zareth’s fluffy gray and white cat lived up to his name, and would bolt off for any reason.

He was also having trouble being leash trained.

So carriers were necessary for now. Rayven’s cat, Irving, was also in a carrier, but he was under a sleep spell, being unaccustomed to traveling.

The cats were coming because Xochitl wanted to show the Luministan guests her bond with cats.

Just as Zareth bade us to pull out our transport crystals, Lucian came flying over the nightmare forest, a bundle of black velvet in his arms.

“Sorry I’m late.” He let his wings recede and put on his purple ceremonial robes that Rayven had gifted him for Christmas.

I hid a smile as he took his place beside me.

The palace in Niji looked even more warm and welcoming than it had when we’d hosted the Solstice ball.

The servants waited in orderly lines to bow for my daughter and husband and show each guest to their rooms. Three suites were reserved for Silvara, Lucinda, and Lucretia.

The others went to me, Nik and Del, Gabriel and Sylvis, Rayven and Tiana, Silas and Akasha with their daughter, Beau and Artavian, Razvan and Jayden, Radu and Lillian, Aurora and Tony, and Tanis.

Xochitl and Zareth had their own private tower elsewhere in the castle.

The rest of the guests, both luminites and the sixty vampires that would arrive tomorrow, would stay in the guest rooms below us. I hope my daughter made the right decision in having an army at her back.

Lucian’s suite was next to mine. I couldn’t decide if that was a blessing or a curse.

And did Zareth or Xochitl make sure to put us close together, or was he merely putting all the luminites near each other?

I was tempted to invite Lucian to share my suite, but wasn’t ready.

Even though sleeping beside him for the first time in decades had felt so good that leaving his bed was agony.

I didn’t have time to think about that, or the sexy nightgown I’d packed, because the rest of the night was spent preparing for our royal guests.

Rayven insisted that both the dining room and ballroom—where a bunch of long tables were adjoined for the meeting needed to be redecorated, Tiana and Lucian took over the kitchen, and Razvan wanted to set up a stage and sound in case the guests wanted to hear Rage of Angels play and display their magic—I laughed at my futile effort to imagine Silvara or any of the other stuffy residents of Luminista hearing heavy metal for the first time.

Xochitl followed the three cats around the palace while they explored and sniffed, warning them that they better not pee on anything.

Nik, Del, Anthony, and Radu went out to the courtyard to build a pyre to burn Gabriel’s corpse in the Leonine tradition.

And somehow, I got roped into giving Zareth a crash-course on Luminite etiquette.

By the time we had everything as ready as it could be, I didn’t even have the energy to change into any of my nightclothes before I collapsed on my bed and fell fast asleep.

When I awoke, it was only an hour until sunset. I tried to bathe quickly, but the large, jetted tub with lilac scented salt, was too luxurious for me not to linger. The only thing that motivated me to get out was that I didn’t want to miss Gabriel’s death by vampires.

I dressed quickly in an emerald green velvet gown with matching slippers and jewelry, tying my bottomless pouch to the belt on the hip.

I’d don my robes and crown later. After quickly applying makeup, I hurried down to the dining hall that dwarfed Zareth’s.

The vampires left to pick up their selected people from Earth.

The rest of us were served a light breakfast of potato pancakes, various fruits, and American-style biscuits with honey.

I gave Zareth a grateful smile. He may not have known everything about tense meetings between nations—worlds in this case—but he did know to serve foods that were easy on the stomach.

My own stomach pitched horribly with nervousness.

Seeing Queen Silvara again would either be terrible, or wonderful.

On one hand, her hateful words and cruel treatment of me still hurt.

On the other, part of me did look forward to flaunting my pride in my daughter, her part-luminite friends, and my wonderful found-family of vampires and mages.

I called upon my royal upbringing to feign serenity while forcing myself to finish at least half of the food on my plate.

By the time breakfast was done, the vampires had returned.

There were now sixty-five of them, including Delgarias.

Twenty from each city Silas, Razvan, and Radu ruled over.

Shen Li, Silas’s enforcer, held a cat carrier, from which I heard Akasha’s cat, Isuzu, yowling.

The fearsome vampire warrior’s frown probably would have frightened me if I was capable of fear.

After breakfast, Kiara was led to the castle nursery with servants and guards who vowed to entertain her during the meeting.

We donned our robes and went out into the front courtyard, illuminated beautifully with strings of lanterns.

Gabriel shivered in his robe as the five vampires surrounded him their eyes glowing lightly with blood thirst. Another thing that non-luminites would find frightening.

My cousin dropped the robe, dressed only in boxer shorts and a t-shirt.

As the tallest, Delgarias stood behind him. Silas and Anthony grasped Gabe’s left and right wrists, and the Nicolae twins knelt and asked him to spread his legs further apart so they could reach his thighs better.

Silas’s green eyes glowed brightly as he met Gabe’s blue ones. “No pain,” he said in a low voice that seemed to enthrall all of us watching. “Only innocent bliss.”

Gabriel’s eyes clouded over and all five vampires struck in tandem. Six pleasured groans sounded before the sounds of swallowing took over. When the luminite lost consciousness, Delgarias held him up.

Only minutes later, it was done. In a synchronized motion, all five vampires withdrew and gently laid Gabe’s lifeless body on the robe. The smile on the corpse’s face made me a little uncomfortable even as I felt a touch of envy.

I’d quickly learned that the poets and writers could go fuck themselves.

Dying was almost always not worth romanticizing, unless one you could get that peaceful oblivion from the right drugs.

Even then, it still usually sucked. Death by vampire, on the other hand, looked pretty appealing.

I wondered if I could get these ones to help me out for the next time I had to visit Luminista.

And as I saw the heat in Nik’s eyes as she returned to her husband’s side, I realized that she probably didn’t mind him being a vampire anymore.

Nik, Del, Lucian, and I carried Gabe’s body to the pyre.

Technically, Xochitl, Sylvis, and Tiana were supposed to help us too, but none had been raised in luminite culture, so they’d hung back with Zareth.

Tanis had remained inside with Beau, Artavian, and Jayden. The vampires made him uncomfortable.

Just as we lit the pyre, magic crackled in the air before there was a flash of golden light. We turned to see Gabriel and thirty luminites standing in the courtyard, including my grandmother and Lucian’s mother and great aunt. Quickly, I put on my crown, cursing myself for almost forgetting.

Xochitl and Zareth approached them hand in hand, their free hands holding their mage staffs.

“Welcome, luminites of Leonine and Jagwolfe clans.” My daughter’s voice rang with power and authority as she inclined her head in a slight bow.

I watched Silvara’s face closely. If she so much as sneered at my daughter, I would…well, I didn’t have the authority to do much, but would still make my displeasure known.

But instead of disdain, Silvara matched Xochitl’s bow and spoke politely. “Queen Xochitl, thank you for willingness to host Leonine and Jagwolfe clans to discuss many important matters.”

I’d expected Lucinda and Lucretia to look at me with disgust. Instead, the pair eyed Lucian and me with speculation. If they tried to meddle in our relationship again, I would not be happy.

The luminites allowed us to lead them into the castle, casting nervous looks at the army of vampires flanking them.

We filed into the ballroom and sat at our designated places at the tables arranged in a hexagon so we could all face each other and if one needed to be seen and heard by all they could stand in the center.

I ended up on Xochitl’s left side, with Lucian on my right.

Delgarias sat on Zareth’s right with Nik on his left and Tiana on her right with Rayven at her left.

Sylvis sat on Lucian’s left side with Tanis in between her and Gabriel.

The other four vampires framed our other sides, Silas and Anthony on Zareth’s side and Razvan and Radu on Xochitl’s side.

Silvara and Lucretia mirrored the King and Queen of Aisthanesthai.

Lucinda, Lucian’s mother, sat across from us, along with his father Roland.

Other Jagwolfe and Leonine nobles filled in the rest of their side while the remaining delegation stood behind them, facing the vampires and castle guards behind us.

Pleasantries were exchanged. Some even sounded sincere.

The first negotiation was to set Sylvis and Gabriel’s wedding out for a year.

While the Jagwolfe delegation tried to argue, Sylvis explained that she hadn’t even had a chance to introduce Gabriel to her own parents yet.

Tanis was asked again if he wanted to return to Luminista. Again, he refused.

The luminite water mage stood bravely and declared in a shaky voice, “Queen Kerainne is my matriarch now and Xochitl Leonine is my queen. I’ve pledged my fealty and will aid her in any way I can to help her defeat Mephistopheles. Even if that means marching back into Qua’ al-fán.”

Mention of Qua’ al-fán brought more questions about the other luminites trapped there. Tanis gave a list of everyone he’d seen in those twenty-six years, but, to my shame, I only recognized a few names. Wherever Tanis had been kept, it was away from anyone from the palace or its vicinity.

After that, Tanis was too exhausted to continue.

Jayden, who also had a hard time in tense situations involving too many people, left her seat to escort him back to his suite.

Zareth motioned for some of the castle guards to go along, doubtless to make sure none of our guests tried to take him away.

Silvara, Lucretia, and Lucinda then shocked us all by offering sincere apologies to Xochitl, Nikkita, and even me.

“We were unaware of the Prophecy and the important roles you three have in its fulfillment,” Silvara told us. “We all want the Evil One gone and our people liberated as much as you do.”

Zareth stood. “Then perhaps Luminista should become closer to Aisthanesthai. With Medicia gone, the bond between our worlds was severed. But when Xochitl came to Aisthanesthai and brought the sun back to this world, she also brought more luminites.”

He gestured at me, Lucian, Sylvis, Gabriel, then Tiana before sitting.

Delgarias stood. “And now the Prophecy has foretold that without an alliance with Luminista, we will lose the war and Mephistopheles will triumph.”

Some of the luminites behind the royals at the table gasped and murmured in alarmed tones. Unfortunately, the matriarchs and their fellow nobles refused to make an alliance with Aisthanesthai and add their considerably powerful forces to the war.

As we’d expected. The discussion continued for what felt like hours. We were at a disadvantage in that we had no way to trade with them because luminites couldn’t bring anything back to Luminista except for themselves.

Then, Gabriel surprised us all by declaring that if they wouldn’t make an alliance, then he’d refuse to sign the betrothal contract and he and Sylvis would remain in Aisthanesthai.

Eventually, Silvara and Lucretia compromised, declaring that any willing luminite in their territories had permission to make their own decision to come to Aisthanesthai or Earth to pledge themselves to our cause.

Then it was time for the banquet. I spoke to my grandmother as little as possible, but didn’t object when she asked Xochitl and Tiana questions about their lives and powers. After all, they were family.

After the meal, the matriarchs made Razvan the happiest vampire in the world by asking for a demonstration of Rage of Angels’ music.

The shell-shocked faces of the visiting luminites surpassed even my funniest imaginings.

As they were not on a nocturnal schedule, they retired for the night before the rest of us.

On her way to her suite, Lucian’s mother dropped a bombshell when she quietly whispered, “When Gabriel freed you from your imprisonment, he didn’t work alone. My son helped him.”