“Should we cal Thomas back from his peaceful cel in Heaven and ask him about that?” Chuckling, he pul ed her up his body. She wrestled with him, but she didn't put up too much of a fight, her gaze softening when he rol ed them over so he was back between her legs. The minor angles and shifts to come together were almost instinctual now, fol owing the desire to be joined. She bit her lip as he pushed in, flexed his thigh muscles to make her feel his demand, the thickness. In the semidarkness, her jade eyes glowed.

“As a boy,” he continued in a husky voice, “I dreamed of seeing the Hunt, based on the stories my mother told me. Later, Gideon made them even more vivid, battles with other Fae and gal oping charges through the woods, the Wild Hunt going to col ect dead souls. A lot of magic happens on that night. Should you see a white hart, you're supposed to try to hunt it down, because if you strike the creature through the heart, it will turn into a princess of such beauty, it will make a man weep. And she will love that huntsman for the rest of his life, being his loving, sweet, gracious, faithful and obedient mate.”

“That's a lot of adjectives for a teenage boy to string together.”

Jacob grinned. “We liked that story. We were too young to know that a sweet and gracious female, let alone an obedient one, was indeed something only found in a fairy tale.”

“Whereas arrogant and male go together so well for certain individuals, they might as well be the same word.” Lyssa traced his lips with her fingers, her own parting as he closed the distance between them, pressed in for the kiss with her fingers stil on his mouth. The way he smiled against her, she knew he didn't disagree. Or maybe it was the fact he no longer cared, his big male body strong and ready, his mind impatient to bring her pleasure again.

She was more than ready to accept the gift. Not only would it stave off the horrors of the night, but the homesickness she felt down to the depths of her soul. She hated it here. She wanted to go home. And the fact she felt it the way a child did, as an all - consuming longing, made her even more worried.

She pushed it away. She didn't need a poisonous tea to help her get lost in the temporary balm of sensual oblivion. Just Jacob.

11

WHEN sunrise came, though Jacob was reluctant to give himself to sleep, Lyssa insisted on it. Upon her request, the Fae household staff had provided heavy curtains for the open window. Just before darkening the room for dawn, she lingered there, watching a pair of phoenixes fly past, feathers catching an early glimmer of dawn's rays. Several fairies, trailing glittering dust, winged their way with erratic swiftness across the field. They were laughing and chasing one another. Though one could never tel with Fae, they acted like teenagers, rushing home before dawn's light and their parents' waking betrayed they'd been gone all night. She thought about what Rhoswen had said, wondered if they'd figured a way to slip out to spend the evening carousing in the mortal world.

It was odd, thinking of teenage rebel ion in such a context. But there were far more similarities between the two worlds than Rhoswen wanted to accept. Fae, vampire, human . . . those were just the clothes for the souls trapped inside, all trying to find things that were remarkably the same.

Cayden was out early, doing sword dril s by himself. He was stripped down to breeches and boots, and working up a fine sweat, his long hair tied back but sleek at his temples. She watched him for a few minutes, never averse to studying a fit man exercising the ful range of his muscles in a half-naked fashion, then she let the curtain fal shut.

She could see in the dark, though at this point she couldn't say if that drew from her Fae abilities or her lingering vampire ones. Jacob was watching her.

The blanket was pul ed up to his hips, barely. With one arm over his head, fingers loosely grasping the carved wood spindles of the bed, the other lying loosely on his abdomen, he made a pleasurable picture. His gaze was serious however, concerned.

That concern probed into the dark areas she'd experienced earlier in the evening, and she refused to go there. Not right now.

“I real y don't want you wandering around without me,” he said quietly.

“I know. But I need to see and be seen in this world. I need to understand it better, through my own eyes. And I want you to truly sleep,” she added, with a reproving look. “Don't fol ow me around in your head, and don't worry. She hasn't kil ed me yet, which means there are reasons she needs me alive —either that, or kil ing me would cause her too many problems. That protects us both. She knows enough about vampire lore to know if she kil s you, she kil s me.”

She didn't add whether the converse was true.

She knew Jacob stayed away from that topic as well , neither of them able to confim if her original third marking of him stil existed under the overlay of his. She didn't mind him staying away from it—it wasn't something she wanted to know had been lost, either. Unless it might save his life, though having been in his mind, she knew how he felt about living without her. She felt the same way about living without him.

Crossing the room, meeting those blue eyes that understood and saw so much, she bent and touched his forehead, fol owing it up with a kiss. “So sleep, and sleep deeply. You have a Hunt coming up, after all. And perhaps a white hart to chase, though I wouldn't suggest you catch that princess, if you know what's good for you.”

His fingers curled into her waist and he nudged her chin downward to give her a much deeper, more stirring kiss, one that dispel ed any amusing images of her tucking him in for the day like a child. That thought summoned another feeling, though. Seeing it, he caressed her cheek. “He's probably driving Mason crazy as we speak. Your old friend will rethink any desire he's ever had for his own children.” She snorted. “He's not driving Mason crazy. all he has to do is thrust Kane at Jessica and he turns into the world's best baby. Your son is besotted with her.”

“Not even a year old, and he has his first girlfriend.

A much older woman at that. That's my boy.” Lyssa pinched his arm, hard, and slipped away when he made a grab at her. “Sleep. I'l bring back some of that honey to make you besotted with me, and then you'l be the perfect baby, too.” Some fairly heated images of retaliation fil ed her mind for that remark, images that warmed and bolstered her at once as she closed the heavy oak door behind her. Despite her confident words, once she sensed him settling down, she laid a hand on the door. She didn't know any protection spel s that would stop a powerful Fae queen on her home turf, but she availed herself of a simple prayer charm to keep him safe. Whatever Rhoswen's agenda, the personal and royal motivations were mixed, and that could make an already unpredictable Fae even more so.

But it didn't change what she'd told Jacob. Though they had stayed away from a great deal of the more difficult things that had occurred last night, he'd told her of Rhoswen's ability to bend reality and time.

Lyssa hovering over him in the room wouldn't be as useful as meeting other Fae in this world and seeing what resources and all ies they might garner from that. And she needed some time to think. Not about Arrdol, his hands touching her, his dark eyes coming close, becoming someone else's eyes . . . She stopped, gave herself a vicious shake. She needed to focus on the fact she had a half sister and what that might mean. The rest was the past, gone and buried.

Traveling down the winding stairs to the main floor, she found her way to the courtyard. The castle was bustling with Samhain preparations. all manner of servants were employed in cleaning, cooking, decorating. Knowing Jacob was uneasily moving into sleep, she took a seat on an out-of-the-way bench for a few minutes and gave him the images as a bedtime story. Flocks of Fae girls with flowers in their hair and gauzy garments barely covering their nubile bodies flitted to high points in the cathedral ceiling of the great hal . They pinned streamers of autumn greenery and blossoms there that draped down so close to the floor in places that they brushed the shoulders of those coming and going. Flirtatious sensuality seemed to be a natural thing to Fae females, for like the undines under the drawbridge, the girls shamelessly teased the young guards or handsome court members that passed through, taking quick darts down to tug a lock of hair or steal a hat.

Though Cayden was a somber, steely-eyed type, with a veteran circle of the same around the queen, many of his guard appeared young. Regardless, none of those who came through were averse to bantering back and forth with the laughing girls, fueled perhaps by the festive holiday air.

A veritable army of brownies were cleaning every corner of the great hal . One even scooped up her feet with a surprisingly strong hand to sweep beneath them. He set her slippered feet back down as if she was a piece of furniture, with only an irritated grunt for acknowledgment. Other Fae polished the multitude of long tables that had been set up, another group coming in behind to put down the place settings. Intrigued, she noted the dinner plates ranged from the size of a turkey platter to a teaspoon. Dol -sized tables and chairs had been placed on the big table between normal or larger settings, and those received the tiny plates.

“The Unseelie tradition is to have several representatives from each Fae species join us to celebrate Last Night after we return from our own hunt. Or Haunt, as the case may be.”

Keldwyn stood at her elbow. The Fae wore a plain brown tunic over hose and soft boots. His dagger belt was slung low on his hips, but overal it was a casual look for him, despite the unwavering aristocratic reserve. “You know,” she mused, “I can't determine if you've appointed yourself my fatherly guardian, or if you're just guiding me down the path of good intentions toward hell .”

His lips curved, the smile not reaching those dark eyes. “While I am older than you, Lady Lyssa, you are not the type of woman to elicit paternal feelings from any male. Unless he is your father in truth.”

“So hell it is.”

Lyssa knew Jacob had a great deal of distrust of the Fae lord, but her feelings were more mixed. In the beginning, Keldwyn had been nothing but indifferent to Lyssa, but unlike other forest Fae, he'd not gone out of his way to be unkind to her when she'd been on the run from the Vampire Council.