“Not during the bloodchange. She’ll be out cold.”

“Even then,” I insisted stubbornly. “You don’t know her like I do.”

“Lucy.” He looked beaten. “Listen, you have to face—”

“No,” I interrupted fiercely. “You listen. We will find her. We will save her. Period.

Okay?” I blinked back tears, fighting a bubble of hysteria in my throat. “Okay?” He stepped closer, and I had to wipe my eyes so he wasn’t blurry.

“Shh.” He touched my cheek very gently. “Okay, Lucy. Okay.” I pushed away from the tree even though my legs still felt like jelly. “So we keep looking.”

He looked at me for a long moment and then nodded. “If Mom’s planning to attack the courts, she’ll do it through the side entrance there. No one ever uses it anymore.

If they’re not there, we’ll leave a message for them.” I armed my crossbow. He winced.

“Careful with that thing.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

We climbed through the brush, using tree roots as handholds, scattering pebbles underfoot no matter how carefully I stepped. The entrance was blocked with rocks.

They weren’t there.

Nicholas didn’t lose his temper again, only crouched and made marks on the rock with the edge of a broken stone. There were no marks already there, waiting for him to decipher. His parents hadn’t been this way after all.

“And if your dad was the one with the plan?”

“Then he’ll already be in there, talking treaties.”

“They might still be looking for Solange, might have found her and brought her home.”

“Maybe.”

“So what do we do now?”

“Plan B.”

I stared at him, the back of my neck prickling. “Plan B?” He nodded grimly. “Royal guard, coming from the west.”

“Shit.” I fumbled for the set of handcuff s we’d found in the weapons room. We’d made sure to open the links in the chain that secured them together so he could break free if our plans went awry, which they already had. He held out his wrists and I snapped them shut. I, at least, got to keep all of my weapons, though he had made me hide my pink rhinestone stake. I added a swagger to my walk. I was pretty sure all Helios-Ra agents learned the swagger along with how to sharpen their weapons and the proper way to apply holy water.

“Why are you limping like that?” Nicholas demanded.

“I’m swaggering,” I informed him.

“You look like you’re wearing a diaper.”

Charming. And I had a crush on this guy.

Wait.

I had a crush on this guy?

“Now what?” he asked. “You’re making weird faces.”

“Nothing,” I said quickly. “Never mind.” One crisis at a time.

Speaking of a crisis.

Two of Natasha’s Araksaka came at us, quick as wasps. The insignia of Natasha’s house was tattooed over the left side of their faces: three detailed raven feathers.

One was a huge oiled man who belonged on the set of Conan the Barbarian. The other was a petite black-haired woman whose smile was feral enough to make my palms sweat again.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“I’m here to collect the bounty,” I announced, my voice cracking only slightly. I tossed my hair off my face in a way I hoped looked cool and nonchalant and not like a nervous tic, which it most definitely was. The woman sniffed, narrowed her eyes.

“Human.”

“Go away, little girl,” the man said brusquely. “You don’t want to come in here.” The woman took a step closer. “Humans don’t collect bounties,” she snarled.

“Helios.”

I moved the crossbow slightly, still keeping it at the level of her chest. Moonlight glinted off the dented sun pendant around my neck. “I’m with Hope, actually.” Something flickered in their faces but I couldn’t read it. She jerked her head in a nod for us to follow. I poked Nicholas in the shoulder with the crossbow.

“Move it,” I ordered. He walked slowly in front of me and I tried not to look as if I was nervous enough to drop my crossbow and shoot myself in the foot. Which was a distinct possibility.

It took forever to climb down and around to the cave entrance. Two more guards waited at the door. They didn’t say a word, barely glanced at us. Halfway down a damp tunnel, a woman with long curly hair stepped into view, and several more guards came up behind us. They bowed, but only quickly, so I guessed she wasn’t Lady Natasha. I expected the queen of the vampire tribes might not pout so peevishly. But then I’d never met royalty, vampire or otherwise.

“Is this a Drake boy?” She sniffed once, disdainfully. “Pretty enough, I grant you, but hardly seems worth all the fuss.”

“Juliana, go away,” the female guard snapped impatiently.

Juliana frowned. “You should be more polite. I am the queen’s sister, after all.”

“Go away, my lady,” the guard amended. “Lady Natasha’s orders are to keep you safe.”

“I hardly think these children are a danger to me,” she said scornfully, but she eventually drifted away. The rest of the guards pressed behind me. The silence stretched, like a bowstring about to snap. I knew the rules: show no fear. And I couldn’t just wait around until they decided to rip out my throat.

“Look, are we going to stand around here all night staring at each other? I want my reward.”