“It was the boy,” Moira said before Cian could answer. She shook her head at the whiskey Blair offered. “Lilith’s boy, the one she called Davey. He came at us, riding a little pony, waving a sword no bigger than a toy.”

“He wasn’t a boy,” Cian said flatly.

“I know what he was.” Moira simply closed her eyes.

“A kiddie vamp did all this?” Blair demanded.

“No.” With some annoyance, Cian scowled at her. “What do you take me for? The soldier—trained and seasoned—Lilith must have sent after the whelp did this, except for the shagging bite.”

“How do I treat it?” Glenna asked him. “A vampire bite on a vampire?”

“Like any other wound. You can sure as hell hold the holy water. It’ll heal quick enough, like the others.”

“It was a foolish risk going out there,” Hoyt said.

“It was necessary,” Cian shot back. “For me. And our happy news is whatever holds that place doesn’t stop me from dusting another vampire. Moira.” Cian waited until she opened her eyes and met his. “It had to be done. There might have been others coming behind the one she called Lucius. If I’d gone after the young one, it would have taken time and left you alone. He was no less your enemy because of his size.”

“I know what he was,” she said again. “He was what killed Tynan, what tried to kill Larkin. What would have killed us both tonight if it had gone another way. Still, I saw his face—under what it was, I saw his face. It was young and sweet. I saw Lilith’s face, and it was the face of a mother, terrified for her child. I put the arrow into it as it ran away, crying for its mother. I know, whatever comes now, nothing I ever do will be worse than that. And I know I can live with it.”

She let out a shuddering breath. “I think I’ll be having that whiskey now after all. I’ll take it up with me if you don’t mind. I’m tired.”

Cian waited until Moira left the room. “Lilith will try for her. She may not be able to get physically into the house, but in dreams, or illusions.”

Hoyt rose. “I’ll see to it, make certain the protection we have is strong enough.”

“She won’t want me now,” Larkin murmured. “Or any of us,” he added with a quiet look for Cian. “She’ll need to curl up with it for a while. And she will live with it, just as she said.”

He sat now, across from Cian. “You said the one you fought was called Lucius?”

“That’s right.”

“That’s the one I tangled with, along with the boy, in the caves. I’d say you’ve just taken out one of Lilith’s top men. A kind of general. This would be a very hard night for Lilith, thanks to you and Moira.”

“She’ll come harder now because of it. We’ve destroyed or damaged those closest to her, and she’ll come at us like bloody vengeance.”

“Let her come,” Blair said.

S he would have come, then and there, so mad was her fury, her rage, her grief. It took six guards, and Midir’s magic to hold her down while Lora dosed her with drugged blood.

“I’ll kill you all! Every one of you for this. Take your hands off me before I cut them off and feed them to the wolves.”

“Hold her!” Lora ordered and forced more blood down Lilith’s throat. “You can’t go to their base tonight. You can’t go with the army and attack. Everything you’ve worked and planned for would be lost.”

“Everything is lost. She put an arrow in him.” She whipped her head, flashed fangs and sank them into one of the restraining hands. Her own screams mixed with the howls of the wounded.

“Release her, and I’ll take more than your hand,” Lora warned. “There’s nothing to be done for him, my love, my darling.”

“It’s a dream. Just a dream.” Bloody tears ran down Lilith’s face. “He can’t be gone.”

“There now, there.” Signalling the others back, Lora gathered Lilith into her arms. “Leave us. All of you. Get out!”

She sat on the floor, rocking Lilith, cooing to her while their tears mixed together.

“He was my precious,” Lilith wept.

“I know. I know, and mine.”

“I want that pony found. I want it slaughtered.”

“It will be. There now.”

“He only wanted to play.” Seeking comfort, she nuzzled at Lora’s shoulder. “In a few days, I could have given him everything. And now... I’ll peel the skin from her bones, pour her blood into a silver tub. I’ll bathe in it, Lora. I swear it.”

“We’ll bathe together, while we drink from that turncoat who took Lucius.”

“Lucius, Lucius.” Tears ran faster. “He gave his eternity trying to save our Davey. We’ll build a statue of him, of both of them. We’ll grind the bones of humans and build it from their dust.”

“They’d be so pleased. Come with me now. You need to rest.”

“I feel so weak, so tired.” With Lora’s help she gained her feet. “Have whatever humans we have left in stock executed and drained. No, no, tortured and drained. Slowly. I want to hear their screams in my sleep.”

M oira didn’t dream. She simply dropped into a void and floated there. She had Hoyt to thank for the hours of peace, she thought as she began to wake. Hours of peace where she hadn’t seen a child’s face blurred together with that of a monster.

Now there was work to be done. The months of preparation had whittled down to days that could be counted in hours. While the vampire queen mourned, the queen of Geall would do whatever needed to be done next.

She stirred, sat up. And saw Cian sitting in the chair near the simmering fire.

“It’s still shy of dawn,” he said. “You could use more sleep.”

“I’ve had enough. How long have you watched over me?”

“I don’t count the time.” She’d slept like the dead, he thought now. He hadn’t counted the time, but he had counted her heartbeats.

“Your wounds?”

“Healing.”

“You’d have had fewer of them, but I was weak. I won’t be again.”

“I told you to go. Didn’t you trust me to deal with two of them, especially when one was half my size? Less.”