Fighting their way through the guards, they spilled out into the inner halls of the Ivory Tower.

“This is too easy.” Leo frowned. Nothing good ever came of anything easy.

“I concur,” Rosalind replied. She looked up through the hollow core of the Tower to the top, where the throne room and the atrium lay. “Where are the rest of the guards?”

“Up there,” Mina murmured, “surrounding the key to the Echelon’s power.”

The queen.

“Good luck then.” Rosalind ruthlessly primed the pistol she was carrying. “I’ll go rescue my husband and see what we can do to follow you.”

She and Perry vanished, leading the Nighthawks.

“Let’s hope they’re still alive,” Mina murmured.

Lynch was a friend, and Garrett too. Leo frowned and led her upward, thighs burning as they ran up the stairs. There was an elevation chamber located at the bottom, but he didn’t trust it. Locked inside the brass chamber, they’d be at anyone’s mercy.

Reaching the fifth-highest floor, he held out a hand to slow her. If they were going to start encountering guards, here was where they’d find them.

Climbing the stairs on cat-silent feet, he felt her hand slip into his and squeeze it tight. Nervous. For her queen, no doubt. Leo squeezed back. The sounds of fighting broke out below them, hurried shouts and the clash of swords.

And he could hear footsteps coming from above…

A dark figure glided around the corner of the spiral staircase, striding with lethal grace. Light gleamed on the man’s pale skin and white hair, and his hand slid down to the hilt of his sword as he stopped in the middle of the staircase.

They both froze.

Caine. The sudden flare of rage blackened Leo’s vision, the world springing into stark relief as the darker side of his nature rose. A thousand twisted, conflicting emotions. Guilt, fury, rejection, need…

“What the hell did you do here?” Caine waved a hand, indicating the Tower and the madness outside. “Does this mess belong to you?”

Leo took another step, his body angled between the duke and Mina. “Stand aside.” His hand went to the hilt of his sword.

Caine’s eyes narrowed, locking on the way Leo protected Mina. “Fraternizing with the enemy? I thought I taught you better than that.”

“The only enemy I see is the one who turned his back on me,” Leo spat, stepping closer. “The duchess has proven more loyal than you ever did.”

“What the hell did you expect me to do?” Caine snarled. “I swore an oath to uphold my prince’s right of power. He said you weren’t to be harmed. If I’d had time, I could have argued against the exile…or worked to see you reinstated—”

“He wanted me dead all along,” Leo shot back. “And you just sat there.”

They stared at each other.

Caine was breathing hard. “No,” he said. “I didn’t know the consequences. I didn’t…expect it.”

“You?” Another step forward, fingers curling tight around the hilt of his sword. “The great master of the game? Looks like you were outplayed then, by your own prince.” Turning, Leo gestured to Mina, too aware of time passing. The sounds of fighting were growing closer, ringing up the hollow center of the Tower. The Nighthawks, no doubt. “Get out of our way.”

Caine’s expression tightened. Here were grounds that he understood. “No. I won’t let you do this. This is madness! If you take another step, then you are committing treason—”

“You’re several months too late for that.”

The shock on Caine’s face… Leo had no time for this. “Go,” he said to Mina. “Go and protect your queen.”

“We could take him together.” A hand strayed to the sword at her side.

“No, we couldn’t,” Leo replied softly, and he saw on her face the shock as she realized what he was saying.

He was the only one who knew the extent of Caine’s reflexes now. In times past, vampires had slaughtered hundreds before they’d been taken down. Caine had all of their reflexes, their speed, but tempered by cunning and the possession of his senses. He’d be virtually unbeatable, and time was working against them.

Mina couldn’t move, her eyes wide and haunted. “Leo?”

“Go,” he said, in a softer, knowing voice. “Protect your queen.”

“No.” She knew exactly what he was saying; he could see it. “No, I’m not going. I’m not—”

“We made these choices. This is war, Mina. I can give you the chance to get to her. Isn’t that what you want?” Her hands shook, where they never had before. Leo’s voice softened. “I don’t regret it. I don’t regret a thing. Remember that.”

Caine shook his cape back over his shoulder. “Don’t be a fool, boy. You’re not strong enough to defeat me. Nobody is, not anymore. Don’t make me kill you.”

* * *

“Kill you…” The words echoed in Mina’s ears.

Leo tugged her hand to his lips. Their eyes met, his mouth breathing the sweetest of caresses over her knuckles. This…this was the cost of everything she’d set into play. It was too much of a price. She wanted him forever, damn the consequences. “No,” she said.

“I finally caught you,” he whispered, letting out a harsh laugh as he pulled back. “You’re finally starting to see why I could never let you go. I love you, Mina. I love you for everything that you are and that you could be, but I need you to go now and finish what we’ve both started. Do me proud. Kill that bastard and get the queen out of there.”

Everything screamed at her to stay and fight at his side. But as much as she wanted to stay, innocents would die for this—the queen would die—if she didn’t finish what she had set in place. The indignity…that she couldn’t even tell him how much he meant to her, because at the moment, she couldn’t even speak.

Fighting spilled out into the staircase below them, Nighthawks swarming into view as they dueled with the Coldrush Guards. If she wanted any chance at this, she had to go now, before anyone else got to the queen and forced the prince consort into a position he couldn’t win from.

“Be strong,” Leo said, stepping back and letting go of her hand. “I’ll wait for the Nighthawks as much as I can. You know I’ll wait for them. And I’ll come for you.”