As for Merl, he hung back, leaning against the wall a few feet beyond Luken.

He occasionally drew a lit cigarette to his lips, which he held low and away. His gaze, however, rarely strayed from Endelle. Vela thought Braulio might be wise to find his way back to Second Earth, the sooner the better. To leave a woman hanging for a month, especially one like Endelle, didn’t bode well for the longevity of the relationship.

Samuel hadn’t lost physical contact with her from the time they’d been in the darkening, always holding her hand, touching her, drifting his hand up and down the center of her back. Her chest kept expanding.

Samuel had been right. She’d loved her adventurous life and the death vampire attack so many decades ago had stolen that from her. But her spirit had been reborn over the past two days through so many harrowing experiences.

She wouldn’t be a counselor; she’d made that decision. But just what would occupy her time she couldn’t say except that Endelle had just added Vela to her immediate staff as a Third Earth Liaison, duties to be defined as events unfolded.

“Because we have Vela’s future settled as well,” Endelle said, turning toward Samuel, “I think I need to make something clear to you, Warrior. We haven’t had an induction into the Warriors of the Blood since Jean-Pierre here,” she waved a hand in his direction to her left.

“And that was over two-hundred-years ago. You’d better do us proud.” She then called out to Luken, “How about you take it from here.” Luken stepped away from the balcony, moving past Endelle so that he could face Samuel. Kerrick shifted back into position next to Santiago, to make sure his daughter didn’t escape.

Luken was the biggest of all the warriors and had a tenderness unsurpassed, for a man built for war. His crystal blue eyes never looked less than haunted and Vela knew his gaze skated everywhere struggling hard not to land on Havily, who he’d loved from the time of her Ascension over a hundred years ago.

Luken was a good man, a worthy man, former European Two royalty, and wore his long blond hair, like all the What-Bees did, caught back in the cadroen.

“Warrior Samuel, back-up Section Leader for the Thunder God Warriors, I invite you to join the Warriors of the Blood. If you accept, you’ll be under my direct leadership and subject to terms of service as dictated by the Supreme High Administrator of Second Earth. And I do mean dictated.” A masculine chuckle flowed through the room.

“All the warriors present in this room discussed and approved your invitation to rise to Warrior of the Blood status by the only manner a warrior can rise: unanimous agreement and consent.

Your service will continue until you are called to either Third Earth for permanent ascension, or until the Creator should call you home. Do you accept our invitation?” Vela tried to leave Samuel’s lap because the moment seemed to call for some level of decorum, but he prevented her, saying quietly, “Don’t leave. This is the way I want it; with you close by.

We’re connected now.” Her throat tightened. She met his gaze and nodded.

To Luken, he said, “I accept. With all my heart, and without the smallest reservation, I accept.” The cheer that went up, so full of the deep masculine sound of the warriors’ combined voices, thrilled Vela to the center of her being. Nothing could have been more perfect or more beautiful.

Endelle glanced at Marcus. “What the fuck are you doing on your cell? Can’t you see we’re having a goddamn moment here?” But Marcus looked up at her and said. “I know this isn’t the most appropriate moment, and Warrior Samuel, forgive me for this, but if we had the induction ceremony in Paris—” He let the suggestion hang.

Samuel said, “I thought it would be here, at the palace. I assumed it would be.” Vela shifted to look at Marcus. “I get it,” she said, turning back to Samuel. “One of the rogue generals operates a base out of Romania Two and his strategies include working our allies in Western Europe. A ceremony in Paris would send a strong message.”

“Exactly,” Marcus said.

Endelle rolled her eyes. “Does everything we do have to involve some kind of political slant?” At least five of the ascenders responded in unison, “Yes.”

“Well, shit.” She scowled. “I was looking forward to a kegger in the desert.” Marcus just shook his head.

“Fine-uh,” she stated. “Luken, you came out of that damn royalty jungle in Western Europe Two, and I know you were glad to get the hell out. You okay with this?” Vela knew that Luken had fringe ties with European royalty and that he hadn’t been back from the time he’d signed on as a Warrior of the Blood centuries ago.

“Of course,” Luken said. “We have to do everything we can right now.” However, he turned to Marcus and lowered his chin. “But don’t fucking ask me to do more than that, you got it?” Marcus waited a beat, holding Luken’s gaze steadily, then said, “Understood.” Endelle tilted her head. “Samuel, you good with all this?”

“Absolutely.” The Supreme High Administrator of Second Earth made a raspy sound at the back of her throat. “Damn war.” She glanced around, her gaze finally landing once more on Samuel. “Take your woman home. You still live in your Scottsdale house, not far from Gideon’s?”

“Yes.” She smiled. “We have something in common, you and me.”

“What’s that?

“We both like our homes to hang off mountainsides.” He returned the smile. “I guess we do at that.” She nodded a few times briskly.

“Welcome home, warrior. I like this new grayle power of yours and you’ll make a fine addition to the Warriors of the Blood.

Just to be safe, I’ll set a dome of protective mist over your house for the time being, at least until we see if any of Sharav’s buddies want you dead as well.

We’ll pick all of this back up tomorrow.

Both of you be at my office at ten.”

“Yes, Madame Endelle.” She glanced at the group, left to right.

“We have a war to finish, people, and now some sort of Third bullshit to deal with. Those of you heading out to battle, get going. The rest of you, head home.” Everyone started rising from the couches and chairs or leaning away from walls, when Marcus spoke up. “One more thing, everyone. The induction ceremony will be black tie, with a ball afterwards and several receptions preceding. Just thought you should be prepared.” A general round of groans followed, but Endelle summed it up, “Aw, fuck.”

Chapter Nine

“This is your home?” Vela looked around awestruck.

Samuel smiled. “Not what you expected?”

“I should say not and yet it suits you so well.” Just as Endelle had said, he’d built the house on a hillside overlooking the northern reaches of Scottsdale Two, but the entire back half of the large sprawling home encompassed a massive atrium, three stories high.

He led Vela into the atrium, where three large, wood-carved hawks, painted in great detail, cruised the air streams. A forest of plants below them sweetened the air. “I’d had a sort of vision for this decades ago. I needed a house, but I thought, what the hell, I didn’t want the same-old, same-old.” He gestured west. “You can see through the front windows and the view is beautiful night or day. That long ridge in the distance the White Tanks, of course, and beyond that the White Lake Resort Colony.” She turned back to the atrium. “This is amazing. Stone, wood, glass.” She turned toward him. “Who did the work for you?”

“A designer. I don’t know if you’ve heard of her. Tazianne?”

“Of course. Who hasn’t? She’s won a lot of awards. I know that Warrior Antony has a piece in his villa.” She tilted her head. “You’re an amazing mix, Samuel: powerful as hell, kind, and now a surprising architectural aesthetic. And yet I’m not surprised. I’ve had a sense of you from the first, a gift of the breh-hedden, I think, and all of this fits, helping me to see the whole man. Although I suspect if I went to the fridge—” She let the words hang.

He shrugged. “What can I say?

Unfortunately, Merl and I have a few things in common.” As he met Vela’s gaze and absorbed her compliments, all that she’d said beyond the oh-so-true food comment, the shift in his life stunned him. How much his world had changed in two days that what had seemed right, now seemed so wrong, that he had lived his solitary existence content. “I want you to know that you’re the first woman I’ve brought here, Vela. I want you to know that, how much you mean to me.” She nodded and reached for his hand.

“So what do you want, Samuel, here, tonight? Do you know?”

“There’s only one thing I want right now, but I’m not sure how you’ll feel about it.” He drew her into his arms, adjusting to make sure he didn’t pin down all that hair, and took a deep breath. “I want to complete the breh-hedden with you.” She slid her hands around his neck.

“You know that means mind-diving, right?” But she smiled, such a beautiful smile, her large blue eyes glittering.

“I know that it means you’ll know more about me than you may ever want to know.” A chill went through him of what he’d endured at Sharav’s hand. He hated the thought of her seeing any of that.

“Samuel, I’m prepared. And I know that I’ll see things that will distress me, but I can handle it.” He nodded. “Okay. So the breh- hedden is what you want as well?” he asked.

“Without question. You were so right about me. When I was chained up in Duncan’s cell, and your power beat at me, I remembered something about that attack in 1922: I wasn’t as unequipped as I’d always thought. I called for Jeff. I did that myself telepathically. The moment I realized my part in surviving the attack, I knew I wouldn’t ever go back to my former life, that what I wanted, what I needed was right here with you, with this crazy darkening power, and with whatever the future holds.” He kissed her, a single kiss on the lips then drew back. “I hated seeing you chained up then attacked by my own power and it’s going to take me some time to get over what happened to you, to us. At the same time, it pushed me where I needed to go. You were right; I’ve been afraid of connection all my life.”