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“There are so many things in this world I can’t pretend to know, but I need you to hear and believe me. You are not a monster. You are a survivor and every bit as much a victim as the others he hurt. Did you ever enjoy the things you were forced to do?”
“No!” she cried, unable to hold back a sob as her guilt overwhelmed her. “Never.”
“What would have happened if you had refused?” Luca asked.
“More would have died. His rampage would have come earlier.” Her voice was flat, as if the meaning of the words hadn’t registered.
Luca grabbed her other shoulder and shook her gently. “Listen to yourself. If you hadn’t been there, who knows how many more innocents would have died? It was a rotten, terrible role to be forced into, but you stood between the people and his whims. We will all spend centuries trying to fix the many things Nadya broke. You’re no more a monster than I am, or Ash, for that matter. We’ve had to do monstrous things, but we are not monsters.”
Some of the emotional weight she carried seemed to slip from her shoulders. “The best I can promise is to try to accept that. Things happened as they did. If you hadn’t gone, there would have been no one to rise against him. I hated what he made me do, but I survived by knowing that you would come home to claim the throne one day.
“Now, you’re here, and we can finally move forward. Just because I don’t often talk about my feelings doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I do have a heart.”
“Of course you do. You’re not as evil as you pretend to be. It sounds empty, but adjusting and processing your repressed emotions takes time. The most important thing is that you aren’t living like that anymore. You never wanted that life anyway. Give yourself some credit. You’ve grown so much. We could not have talked like this a year ago.”
She took a deep breath and glanced at him. She still looked troubled. “Thanks for coming to check on me.”
“You’re welcome. I’m sorry it took me so long to do it,” Luca apologized as they watched the sunrise.
Ash awoke in the royal chambers when Dani dropped on top of her. “Oof! What the shit, Dani?”
“I have vampire news for you. Shit’s going down in Paris. Is the vamp squad ready for another mission?”
Ash looked at the hazy dawn light streaming through the windows. “What time did you get up?”
Dani laughed. “Haven’t been to bed yet. Couldn’t sleep and needed to be useful.”
“You know we don’t have to live on a vampire schedule, right?” Ash asked, amused. “You’re useful merely by existing. Since I’m awake, what’s going on in Paris?”
Dani winced. “It’s nasty. There have been multiple reports of desiccated corpses completely drained of blood. Police have labeled the deaths as animal attacks, but I’m reading it as vampires.”
“You are shockingly good at this.”
Dani grinned. “You got the fangs. I got the brains. Your dragon introduced me to some of his government contacts via the ever-efficient Niletean, and the CIA has access to far more effective search methods than Google. They helped identify problem areas and added me to the task force contact list as an American consultant.”
Ash nodded. “That’s fantastic! I haven’t even had the meeting yet. They’re not giving you any problems?”
“Nope. I get the feeling they’re happy about having a human liaison. Oh! I don’t have to give up my American citizenship. Neither do Mom and Dad. We can’t do much for you legally, what with marrying a king, but they said, ‘Uncle Sam will always claim Ms. Mosier.’ They hinted that they are eager for you to get the cooperative task force going. They are offering your team access to a shit-ton of resources to help. It’s the hot gossip around the palace. Tons of people want to volunteer.”
Ash smiled. “That’s great news. The first item on today’s to-do list is to get with Eiko and figure out how to contact the witch families. We need representatives to speak to the humans. I would like them to join the task force, too. Ugh, we can’t keep calling it that. We need a name.”
Dani looked thoughtful as she considered it. “How about Supernatural Unified Protection and Enforcement? You can call it SUPE.”
Ash shook her head. “Nah. If we’re creating an alphabet agency, it has to have a cool name.”
Dani’s face lit up with excitement. “SPARK. That has to be it. It’s perfect!”
“I love it! Now, what does it stand for? Supernatural Protection Alliance and Response Knights.”
Dani smirked at her sister. “You’re going to resurrect chivalry, aren’t you?”
Ash shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt to try. I think the Gaia Trianon nations should bestow royal titles on the SPARK members. Knight for the ones who go out and fight and chevaliers for those who work in headquarters doing all the Winchestering.”
“Like me?”
“Yes. You’ll be the first Chevalier inducted into the Royal Order of the Spark if you want to.”
Dani beamed. “Thank you! I accept! Come on, get dressed. Let’s go see Eiko.”
