Set smiled at me with reassurance. Barend was on one knee, muttering his gratitude without making eye contact. Agreeing that he now owed a debt of honor.
“What will happen to Antoine?” I asked Set.
“We’ll take him home. Heal him. Our thanks to you, Noa,” she added quietly. “Barend won’t forget. Neither will Antoine. Their gratitude protects you.”
“I just want this over.”
So did the vampires. They closed in, cradling their sire before all of them vanished. Other than Set.
She gripped her hands. “Amal is close. I feel her energy.”
“Is she alone?”
“Too much turmoil to expect it.”
“I need them together,” I said evenly. Grayson and Amal.
“Shall I come with you?”
“No, she’ll know it’s a trap.”
“Then… may I?” Set slid a hand around my nape, leaned in with her fangs descending; my chest jerked like I’d been hit with a defibrillator.
“For protection,” she said, pulling back a fraction. “If Amal tries to turn you. My claim is stronger than hers. My venom in your veins will stop her.”
“Venom.” But the word “claim” chilled my blood. “You didn’t leave enough in the ruined runes?”
“The runes continue to protect you. The magic has healed. I offer an added level of protection.”
“What Barend offered.” Sacrificing a part of myself to achieve the goal.
“Not what Barend offered.”
Stress whipped through my veins, heated my fingertips. Angel quivered with readiness.
I forced my stiff lips to move. “How is it different, Set?”
She’d been Cleopatra’s handmaiden. Turned centuries ago, with knowledge gathered since the time of the pyramids and priests in white robes, the mysteries in mummified cats and a history of runes.
She cupped her palm against my cheek. “I know it’s hard to see the end. But in every life, we must choose to do what is right, no matter how it hurts. Duty does not come without cost, nor is it offered to the weak, those who sit and wait. Afraid to live. I would not turn you unless you asked, Noa Bishop. And even then, I would not turn one as strong and honorable as you.”
Her hand slid away while a smile played around her lips. “Your life as a vampire would be a disaster for the rest of us.”
“Julien,” I murmured. Too honorable to fit easily into vampire life.
“Julien,” she agreed. “Somewhere, along the thread of light, you’ll see the answers. What you’ve been asked to do. All I offer is protection.”
“How big a bite?”
“Not big at all.” She leaned in, her fangs a delicate piercing against the side of my neck. Seconds passed before she withdrew. “Now go. Find him.”
Angel jogged beside me as we ran down a silent corridor. “Up ahead,” she said without panting from the exertion. “Amal has a second throne room.”
“Thank you for being here.”
“No place I’d rather be—other than that tavern in town, drinking with the victorious, toasting the end of the blood queen and the rescue of the king.”
“Dread lord,” I said. “He’s not really a king.”
