My heart clenched. “From another Blackbird?”
“Yes, but luckily for us all, Owain realized something was off and used the council’s ultraviolet light on Daniel. The reaction was immediate and almost deadly.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. Owain’s currently in emergency being patched up, and Daniel is now under the care of the council specialist team.”
“I take it the royal family is now being moved?”
“No, because this whole attack might be nothing more than a setup—a means of getting the royal family out of a location that hasn’t been breached for hundreds of years.”
“There will be more infections within the palace ranks,” Mo said.
“Yes, which is why no one but the core team will be allowed to enter the secure apartments. There’ll be no shift rotations or relief until this is over.” He hesitated. “All other Blackbirds have been ordered back to London to deal with the invasion—including me.”
My heart just about leapt into my throat and, for several seconds, I couldn’t breathe. “And are you going?”
His gaze came to mine. “No. My duty is here. You are the Witch King’s heir, and it’s our goddess-given duty to protect you at all costs. That doesn’t alter just because the king is now a queen, and one who no longer sits on England’s throne.”
Relief hit so hard, tears stung my eyes. I blinked rapidly and said, “And the response from your fellow Blackbirds?”
“Let’s just say I may not have a job to go back to if this all goes to hell and we don’t stop Max and Darkside.”
“If we don’t stop Max and Darkside,” Mo said gravely, “none of us are going to care one jot about jobs or anything else. We’ll all be either dead or enslaved.”
“And on that cheery note,” Luc said, “why don’t you two go upstairs and get some rest. I’ll stay on watch.”
I frowned. “Why? We’re perfectly safe—”
“I’m not going to risk losing you a second time,” he cut in, voice steely. “You need to recover from your ordeal without any sort of distraction.”
“You’re hardly a mere distraction,” I murmured.
He ignored me. “Besides, I don’t for one instant think it’s wise to be taking any sort of chances right now.”
“On that, we agree,” Mo said. “But in the morning, Gwen and I will be flying back to King Island.”
“Why?”
She quickly updated him on all our plans, and then added, “There’s a dark gate in Kendal—it might be worth you checking it while we’re grabbing the DNA.”
“Unless Riona can give us more information about the gate she was taken through, it could be a pointless exercise.”
“We should have the information by the morning, but even if we don’t, it’s worth placing a light lock on it. It won’t stop dark elves, but at this point, demons are our main worry.”
He nodded. “And if it is one of the way station gates?”
“Then we open it and magically blast the shit out of the fucker.”
Amusement creased his features. “While I highly approve of the strategy, if it was actually possible to destroy the connection between our worlds that way, wouldn’t we have done it before now?”
“If we were talking about a regular gate, yes. But way stations, if they do exist, have somehow been altered via dark elf magic. What they create, we can destroy.”
“Anything that inconveniences the bastards is a good thing at this point in time,” I said. “Especially when we’re still playing catch-up.”
“Only to a point,” Mo said. “We have Elysian, remember.”
“And the hand that drew her is untrained in any sort of magic. The sword Max has is still very powerful, and he’s been well trained in the use of elemental magic.”
“A fact that may yet work to our advantage.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And how did you reach this rather unbelievable conclusion?”
A smile tugged at her lips but didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Because you’ve already used Nex and Vita in ways none of your ancestors ever have. Then there’s the fact that Elysian responded to you so fiercely in the tunnel, it brought the whole thing down. Let’s just say that I doubt any of the previous witch kings would be your equal when it comes to what you can achieve with her.”
“Let’s not forget that using Elysian cost one of those kings his life.”
“Because he didn’t step fully into the gray to call on her full power. You will not be that daft.” She gave me a steely look. “Will you?”
“Of course not.”
“That didn’t sound convincing to me,” Luc said.
I glanced up at him. “Trust me, I have no intention of dying until I ravish a certain Blackbird.”
A heated mix of amusement, desire, and determination burned in his bright eyes and washed through our connection. It warmed in a way that was hard to describe and yet utterly delicious. “Thus with one statement ensuring you and I will not be having sex until this war is completely over.”
“Something I’ve become resigned to anyway.”
“Which doesn’t mean you’ll in any way stop testing my resolve.”
“You’d be hugely disappointed if I did.” I returned my gaze to Mo. “I take it we’re leaving at dawn?”
“As soon as the sun hits the horizon, yes.”
I pushed up from the sofa. “Then I’d better go to bed. I’ll see you both in the morning.”
Luc’s gaze fell to my lips and, for an instant, I thought he was going to lean across and kiss me. “I’d offer to tuck you in, but that could be dangerous.”
“You can tuck me in,” Mo said, her eyes glinting wickedly. “I wouldn’t object.”
“I’m betting Barney would.”
My voice was dry, and she waved a hand. “He’s a dear but, seriously, not a patch on the magnificent specimen that stands before us.”
“She window-shops,” I said, glancing back to Luc. “You’re perfectly safe.”
“True enough,” Mo said. “Had I been a few hundred years younger and you, my dear Blackbird, unattached, it might have been a very different matter.”
“A compliment indeed,” he said gravely.
“Which is a polite way of saying thanks, but no thanks,” she said, with a laugh. “You Blackbirds are always so damn polite.”
“Not always,” he said, amused. “And certainly not when it comes to women—as was noted before.”
She harrumphed and climbed to her feet. “I expect breakfast to be ready for us in the morning in compensation, then.”
“That I can do.”
I walked around the sofa, blew him a kiss, and then headed up the stairs. Mo followed and disappeared into the smaller bedroom. I stripped off, tucked my knives under my pillow, and then climbed into bed.
I kept Elysian on. Just in case.
It was close to seven when I went down the following morning. Luc was at the stove, frying up enough bacon and eggs to feed an army. There was also a stack of toast waiting on the bench, along with butter and various condiments sitting nearby.