The spear of water circled up and over their heads, tossed back and forth by Emil and Kato while the ancient heaved his shoulders, pulling the waves higher and higher against the old fortress walls.

Lucien saw Arosh and Saba watching from the opposite wall. Saba looked curious but unconcerned. Arosh simply looked bored.

Kato lifted his arms, and the whole of the ocean seemed to follow him, rising above their heads before it crashed down over Emil. The younger vampire held up both arms, holding back the water longer than Lucien would have predicted.

“Oh my God,” Makeda breathed out. “How…?”

“Age and practice.”

The water crashed over Emil, but it did not carry him out to sea. He flipped and rose on a crested wave, riding the water toward the old sea god. Kato held up a hand and the water halted, but Emil didn’t. He leapt toward Kato, twisting in the air above him and falling past the edge of the rampart and into the water.

For long seconds there was only the crash of waves below.

Then another jet appeared, shooting Emil up and back onto the rampart before Kato shoved him back into the sea with a grasping wave. Emil came up again, but Lucien could see he was tiring.

“Yield,” Kato shouted.

“No!” Emil rose again, flipping over Kato’s head and aiming a spear of water at the old vampire’s back. Then another. Then another. The triple shots were too fast for Kato to dodge and they knocked him over. The old vampire landed in a cushion of water and sprang back to his feet, turning as Emil brought another spear, this one aimed at Kato’s face.

“Yield,” Kato commanded again, batting the shot to the side, “and I will spare your children.”

Emil dove into the sea again, only to rise on another wave, this one even larger.

“He’s far stronger than I thought,” Lucien said.

“And determined,” Makeda added.

Emil’s wave broke over Kato, but it did not knock him down. He stood with the water lifting him from the rampart, the waves crashing over the edge of stone and splashing into the courtyard below.

The ancient water vampire was laughing. “Yield, young one! Give me your fealty. For I would have you as a friend, Emil Conti.”

Emil hung from one of the old towers, water dripping from his black hair and coating his skin. Hanging from the tower put him face-to-face with the ancient as the water lifted him.

“Make me second only to you,” Emil said, “and I will give you my glad fealty, ancient king.”

Kato’s eyes narrowed as he examined the vampire who was still hanging on, unyielding before the awesome power of the ancients.

“You will be challenged,” Kato said.

“I will face those challenges as I have faced you.”

Kato spread his hands, and the water lowered him to the old stone rampart. “Yield to me, Emil Conti, and you will be second to me in power over the ancient sea.”

Emil jumped down, walked over, and bent to kiss Kato’s outstretched hand. “My lord.”

“You are a worthy opponent. Rise and greet your king.”

Emil stood, and Kato bent to kiss both his cheeks.

“What just happened?” Makeda said. “Kato’s not going to kill him?”

“Emil is very smart,” Lucien said. “And possibly more rash than I’d anticipated. But it worked out for him in the end.”

“How?”

“All the others bowed without challenge,” Lucien said. “By challenging Kato—even if he didn’t win—he has risen above the others in Kato’s estimation and reputation in our world. The court in Rome will be second only to Alitea when Kato and the others take control.”

Lucien put his arm around Makeda and steered her back toward the fortress. The air was damp and misty, churned up by the battle they’d witnessed. A fire would be very welcome.

“Kato could have killed Emil,” Makeda said. “He wasn’t even struggling.”

Lucien kissed Makeda’s temple. “But he didn’t. And Kato respects him more for taking the chance. Plus, it gave Kato an opportunity to stretch his muscles.”

“A practice run before Laskaris?” Makeda shook her head. “Nothing in this world is simple, is it?”

“Simple?” Lucien glanced over his shoulder to see Emil and Kato deep in conversation, their earlier fight forgotten. “What would be the fun in simple?”

Two hours before dawn, rough agreements with both Naples and Rome were settled, and warriors from both courts were traveling to Crotone to join Kato and Saba. Emil had left after promising a large yacht to take their party across the Ionian Sea, and Filomena had departed after him. Lucien was feeling remarkably sanguine about their upcoming assault on the fortified compound of Alitea, but Makeda was pacing the ramparts.

“We should have heard by now,” she said. “We should have heard something.”

“We’ve been traveling all over the place,” Lucien pointed out. “If a messenger was sent, he might not be able to find us.”

“But the pilots all have mobile phones. Dr. McTierney has their numbers.”

The fact that they’d heard nothing about the success of the Elixir trial was beginning to worry Lucien as well. Saba had staked her authority partly on the ability to cure the afflicted. If it came to nothing, her position would be weakened, and her word would no longer be seen as reliable.

“I could try to call Carwyn,” Lucien said.