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“Beyond that,” Risna adds, stroking Florin’s soft fur. “If the Bloodlust is truly why you refuse to even entertain approaching this subject with Alyvia, Quill has put down hundreds of vampires who couldn’t be rehabilitated from their affliction.” She narrows her eyes at the wolf. “He fasted for centuries before siring Rory, and he wouldn’t have even been in Adelphi if it weren’t for Mihal forcing us to stop the ascension.”

“I’m well aware of Quill’s good deeds. It is not me who you need to impress,” Ash says, gaze drifting out the window to where Rory and Cress head toward the castle. “How do the heiress and your childe know one another?”

It took all my restraint not to follow Rory down the shore when she left an hour ago. But as she walked arm and arm with Cress, I knew she was safe, and that’s precisely why I didn’t give into that primal urge. Cress loves Rory, nearly staked me for her.

“They’re longtime friends from Adelphi,” I say. “From the short amount of time I’ve seen them together, they’re both dreamers who long for a better future between creatures and mortals. A future Mihal will never let come to fruition.”

“Mihal has always been a problem,” Ash agrees. “You know Alyvia’s grandmother wasn’t one of the four who betrayed Godrick?”

“Yes.” My jaw clenches. “You forget I’m as eternal as the stars. Those who backed Mihal later met… unfortunate ends.”

Ash’s marigold eyes light with understanding. Those unfortunate ends were brought about by the hands of the four vampires sitting in this room.

It was justice. Swift and remorseless. Spread out to look like accidents.

A genie suffocating beneath the weight of a lover. A warlock’s spell went wrong. A nymph lost in a labyrinth of poison ivy. A siren crushed by a bronze figurehead.

Nerissa helped with the last bit and then claimed her seat on the council.

“Good riddance,” Kaleb grumbles, folding his arms across his chest.

His leader holds up a hand to silence him. “Cress has always believed Norica would be remade by the dreamers, by those with their heads in the clouds, by those who chase peace over war. It is why Alyvia named her the heiress.”

Risna’s gaze slides to mine, her thoughts blatant: Convince Cress, and we secure Alyvia’s backing.

“Why are you telling me this?” I ask.

“Because the world needs more dreamers, Quill.”

There’s a knock on the door before it opens, and Rory enters the receiving room with Cress right behind her.

“I’m terribly sorry to interrupt,” Rory says. Her eyes shine with worry.

“You didn’t,” I say quickly. “Are you all right?”

“Well, I just met a siren.”

I’m on my feet and across the room before she can blink, assessing her. If even a hair is out of place, I will tear the sea apart until no siren can ever sing again. I will⁠—

“I’m okay,” she says. She laces her fingers through mine as if she’s aware of my thoughts, and she might very well be. She’s acclimated to life as a vampire far easier than I or my kindred did. Though the enchanted ring on her finger certainly helps. She tilts her head toward the next room as she presses a clamshell into my palm and folds my fingers around it. “You should listen to this.”

“Excuse me for one moment,” I say to the rest of the room.

“Don’t bother.” Ash stands. “It’s about time for us to hit the ol’ dusty trail. Are you ready, heiress?”

Purple shadows swell beneath Cress’s eyes as she sizes me up from where she stands beside Rory. Even the rosy glow of her skin has dulled since I last saw her in Carver’s townhome. Motherhood must be taking its toll on her.

“Is Rory safe here?” Cress demands. “Because if she is not, she will leave with me and our pack will protect her.”

“A fledgling vampire living among warm-blooded wolves,” I muse. “I can only imagine how that would go.”

Poorly. That’s how. And she knows it as well as I do.

She bares her teeth. “I do not fear my friend.”

“And you have no reason to fear for her, either,” I snarl.

Tension coils in the space between us. I glance at Rory. Beautiful as always with her rich, dark hair, cascading as pretty as the waves against the shore just outside the arched windows, but there is something distant in her gaze.