by S. Young
“Please, Caia,” he insisted. “They say that hope dies last, and I think that is true. I thought I had given up hope a long time ago, but I hadn’t. And because of you, that hope was not in vain. When we fight the Midnights, when we meet them on that battlefield, it will be because you have reminded us of who we are and why we shouldn’t be so unsure of ourselves that we would let a race of people keep us down for centuries under the decree that we should be ashamed. Take the coin, Caia. I hope it will always remind you of what you have done for an old creature like me—and for all the young creatures who deserve a chance to live without persecution.”
Caia placed the coin under her pillow, keeping it safe until she left the Center and could find a more secure place for it.
“There is one visitor I’d like you all to meet,” Reuben spoke to the Council, and everyone turned toward the door. Caia gasped as the tall, elegant warlock strode into the room, dressed as dapper as ever in an expensive three-piece suit and greatcoat.
“Nikolai.” She hurried to shake his hand. He smiled kindly at her and then gazed warily over her shoulder. Uh-oh. The Council.
As she feared, when she spun around, the Council had all lined up, prepared to defend or attack, Caia wasn’t sure.
“He’s not an enemy,” Reuben snapped. “I’ve already explained Nikolai’s position.”
“Forgive us for being a little unsure,” Alfred snapped back. “You’ve just allowed the Regent of the Midnight Coven into our midst.”
“Ex-Regent,” Nikolai corrected and spread his hands in a surrender gesture. “I’m not here to harm anyone. I’m here to fight with you.”
The Council seemed to sneer collectively, and Caia felt a rush of annoyance. She understood they were nervous about having a Midnight among them, but they didn’t treat Laila and Eliza with suspicion.
“I can vouch for him,” she said, suffusing authority into her words. “He’s on our side. The Petrovskys have been on our side for three centuries.”
“We have only Reuben’s word on that,” Benedict huffed.
Caia exhaled in exasperation. They needed someone to soothe the situation. She looked around and met Marion’s gaze. Laila, she mouthed.
Marion nodded and hurried away.
“There’s someone I want you to meet, Nikolai.” Caia smiled brightly at him, trying to show the Council she wasn’t afraid of the man. “She’s a Midnight as well.”
Nikolai raised his eyebrows. “Little Eliza? Reuben told me her tragic story.”
At the thought of the poor girl, Caia’s smile dimmed. Eliza wasn’t having such a good time of it. She wouldn’t speak to anyone, and she refused to join them in any social sense. The only person she was unafraid of was Penelope who appeared to have grown quite attached to the little girl. The Council had thought to place Eliza in a home where she would be safe and free from abuse because of her blood, but Penelope had requested she be allowed to care for the girl, and no one could think of a better situation for her. Penelope was trying her hardest to see Eliza through her grief.
“No, not Eliza.” She shook her head. “Another special young lady.”
Laila drew forward and shook Nikolai’s hand as they were introduced. Caia could see Nikolai was intrigued by her, not only because of her unusual energy but because such a tiny person of Midnight blood had managed to gain the trust of the most important people in the Daylight Coven.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Laila,” he said gravely.
Laila smiled sweetly at him, her eyes shining with honesty. “You, too, sir. I much admire what you have done for Reuben and Caia.”
As Caia had hoped, the tension eased out of the Council like a deflating balloon. Laila’s calming presence melted their distrust as they watched her with the Midnight. In her short time at the Center, people had grown to like Laila as much as Caia did and to trust that, for some reason, she had a greater sense of intuition than others. If she approved of Nikolai, could he really be that bad?
Glad her plan worked, Caia turned to Penelope. “Perhaps the Council would like to sit with Mr. Petrovsky to discuss his time with the Midnights.” She glanced at Nikolai. “Would that be all right? You do know who the major players are, and we don’t know much about Orina Beketov.”
“Of course.” He nodded.
Penelope shrugged away from the Council, taking charge. “Mr. Petrovsky.” She took hold of his hand tentatively. “I am Penelope Argyros.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Argyros.”
“Please, call me Penelope.”
“Then you must call me Nikolai.” He grinned at her, his eyes twinkling.
Caia almost laughed when Penelope blushed under his regard, a girlish giggle escaping her. “Would you care to sit down, Nikolai? Some refreshments, perhaps?”
“Please.” He followed her to the table as she gestured for the rest of the Council to take their seats, Benedict scowling all the way. “Coffee would be wonderful.”
Caia grinned, satisfied, and squeezed Laila’s shoulder. “I don’t know what we would do without you.”
Laila smiled back.
31
City of Light
Paris smelled wonderful. It was a perfect day, crisp and clear. Caia perused cool postcards and trinkets displayed on the shelves of the stalls that lined the sidewalk of the Seine, snuggled warm in her duffel coat and the purple scarf Lucien had bought for her that morning.
“Caia, what do you think?” Jae grinned, holding up a postcard with four haggard old women in black witches’ hats and robes, sitting around a table drinking tea. “It’s you, Marion, Laila, and Penelope in a hundred and fifty years.”
Caia snorted and reached for it. It was pretty cool. “If we buy four postcards, we get them for two euros.”
Her friend’s eyes lit up, and she immediately turned back to hunt for three more funny cards. A sparkle caught Caia’s eye and she looked at the cluster of Eiffel Tower souvenirs. There were little ones, big ones, medium ones, tiny ones on key rings. Some were made of plastic, others metal, but the one that caught her eye was a very kitschy one on a key ring, the entire thing sparkling with diamanté to resemble how the Tower appeared during the light show. Apparently a lot of Parisians hated the light show, but Caia loved it. She and Lucien had taken to sitting on the window seat in their room at the Center every night to watch the Tower flash in and out of existence, a million brilliant diamond lights bringing it to life in the dark.
“Do you want it?” Lucien whispered in her ear, heating up skin that had grown cold without a hat. She leaned back into him.
“Yeah, but I’ll get it.”
“No need.” He reached past her before she could do anything, lifting the key ring from the display. He turned to pay the market seller for it.
At the sound of a giggle, Caia glanced over to see Jaeden had abandoned the postcards and was wrapped around Ryder in a passionate kiss. Caia immediately knew the tourists from the French. The tourists were the only ones who paid attention to the couple as they passed them.
“Hmm, that looks nice,” Lucien murmured as he came around in front of her to hand her the key ring.
Caia smiled and took it from him, putting the gift deep into her pocket for safekeeping. “Thank you.”
Lucien frowned. “That’s all?”
She made a face and reached for him, pressing a sweet kiss to his lips. She wasn’t really into the kind of PDA that Jae and Ryder were. Lucien threw her an amused look and then put an arm around her, drawing her into his side. “Where to next?”
Tomorrow was the battle, and Caia had wanted to escape from it all for just one day, just one glorious day of normality and fun. She was only nineteen, after all. And she was in love and in Paris, no less. It hadn’t taken much to convince Lucien, Ryder, and Jae to join her for a day out in the city where they could just be young and have fun.
That morning they had a sweet breakfast of cakes and pastries from an amazing chocolaterie and patisserie on the Avenue de Friedlan
d. Afterward, they strolled up to gaze at the Arc de Triomphe and then wandered down the Champs-Élysées, where Jae ogled the clothing stores and Ryder marveled over the McDonald’s restaurant that sported the only white M in the world.
“It’s not that cool, Ryder.” Jae pulled him away as Lucien and Caia walked on.
“It is unique. The golden arches can be found anywhere on earth … here it’s white. It’s one of a kind. You know how I feel about one of a kinds.”
“I do?” she asked dubiously as they caught up with Caia and Lucien.
Ryder grinned at her. “I’m with you, aren’t I?”
“Dude.” Lucien smirked. “Smooth.”
Caia laughed. It may have been cheesy but Jaeden loved it, pulling Ryder down for an amused kiss.
They made their way to the Seine and perused the markets and the city’s architecture. At present they were at Pont Neuf, not far from where they’d come out of the Center at Notre-Dame. The Louvre sat across the river.
“Louvre, then?” Lucien asked, following her gaze.
“Actually”—Jae appeared beside them, entangled in her mate—“I heard Musée d’Orsay is better.”
“It’s certainly smaller.” Ryder raised his eyebrows pointedly. “Got my vote.”
“Caia?” Lucien asked, and she chuckled as Jae and Ryder frowned at being ignored.
“Musée d’Orsay sounds good.”
“And then lunch,” Ryder begged.
Caia huffed, “We just ate a little while ago and you had the most to eat.”
“Hey, that chocolate cupcake thing was tiny.”
“The three pain au chocolat and two croissants that followed it were not.”
He puffed up his chest. “Me man, me need more food than tiny waif female.”
The Musée d’Orsay was wonderful, but Caia decided it was time to leave when a bored Ryder thought it a great idea to clamber up on a priceless sculpture of the Archangel Gabriel to get his photograph taken. She masked the incident with magik and hurried them out of there with one last look at the stunning clock that graced the high wall above the exit.
“Now the Louvre?” Jaeden queried as the cold air nipped at their skin.
“No.” Caia blanched, thinking of the damage Ryder could still do. “I don’t think we should take the risk.”
“I wanted to see the pyramid from The Da Vinci Code.” Ryder took hold of Jaeden’s hand and led them toward the museum.
“OK,” Lucien gave in. “But we’re not going inside the actual museum.”
“OK, Dad.”
The rest of the afternoon fell away in laughter and ease. They tucked into a great lunch at a café on the corner of Rue d’Arcole beside Notre-Dame Cathedral. Despite the weather, Caia insisted on sitting outside at the wicker tables. During lunch her eyes continually went to the cathedral.
“It’s something else, isn’t it?” Lucien mused, following her gaze.
She nodded. “I wish we could go in.”
“Why don’t we?” Jae asked, munching on her crêpes with gusto.
Caia laughed humorlessly. “We have a battle tomorrow … I don’t think we should piss off the gods the night before a fight by entering the home of the god who stole their fan base.”
“Ah, true.”
After lunch, they jumped on the Métro to Montmartre, where they got lost before eventually finding the steps that led up to the Sacré-Cœur. Ryder raced past them like a big kid, using his lykan grace to bound up the stairs past tourists without knocking them over.
Caia grinned as he bounced at the top, punching the air before raising his hands in triumph.
“What the Hades is he doing?” Lucien muttered in amusement.
Caia laughed. “Rocky!”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Sylvester Stallone!”
He shrugged. “Some actor, right?”
Caia raised an eyebrow. “I have no idea how you and Ryder became best friends.”
The Basilique was beautiful, but as the light started to fade, they shuffled back down the steps to find the nearest Métro station. The pack was having a special dinner tonight and had invited Marion, Vanne, Reuben, Nikolai, and Saffron to join them. Of course, Laila and Vil would be there, but they were part of the pack now; they weren’t guests.
There were only two seats available on the train and, like the gentlemen they were, Lucien and Ryder made sure Caia and Jae got them before wandering a little away to stand in the middle of the aisle. Everyone else held on to the poles and handrails. With their balance, Lucien and Ryder didn’t need to.
“I hope Alexa likes her gift.” Jae bit her lip, worry creasing her brow.
“Let me see it again.” Caia held out her hand.
Jae pulled out the jewelry box and Caia took it from her, opening it to look over the necklace nestled on velvet. They’d been passing the window of one of the many antique stores in the city when a silver necklace had caught Jae’s eyes. The pendant was stunning. Lounging on the silver crest of a half moon was a sleeping wolf carved in jet.
“She’ll love it,” Caia whispered.
These last days had not been easy for Alexa. Not only was she still mad she hadn’t been able to take revenge against Marita personally but she’d felt betrayed by Jaeden who she thought had become a good friend. Jae was trying her best to make it up to her. Last night, when Lucien gave Alexa permission to fight in the battle, her mood improved somewhat. Jae was hoping the necklace would finish the job.
When they reached Notre-Dame Cathedral, Caia cloaked them with magik and took hold of them all as they entered the portal that Penelope had promised to leave open and guarded for the day. They stepped back into the Center, now old pros at using the portals.
It was a bit of a hurry to get back to their rooms and wash up in time for dinner, but they got to Ella and Magnus’s suite where the dinner was being set up with time to spare.
When they arrived, however, everyone was already there. The anxiety and fear over the next day had brought them together early. Even the kids knew something was up, sticking close to one another and eyeing the adults perceptively. It made Caia feel guilty for not telling them what was going to happen in the morning.
Isaac, Imogen, Christian, Lucia, Julia, Mal, and Cera would not take part in the fight tomorrow. They had children and siblings who needed them. As for Draven and Kade, they wanted to fight, feeling they had nothing else to lose but each other. That meant Vil, Laila, Lucien, Ryder, Jaeden, Irini, Alexa, Aidan, Ella, Magnus, Draven, Kade, and Caia were the members of the pack who would be on the battlefield in the morning. They would be joined by Marion, Vanne, Reuben, Saffron, the Council, Phoebe MacLachlan, her Alpha, and fifteen members of their pack. That was only the beginning. The entire Center would be there, along with thousands of Daylights. It was going to be the most awe-inspiring thing Caia had ever witnessed.
Laila and Vil fluttered from person to person, trying to ease the tension and fear. It worked somewhat, but Caia thought perhaps there was just too much emotion among them all to be soothed. Lucien tried to keep it light as everyone took their seats. Caia watched carefully as Vanne and Marion sat next to one another, their shoulders brushing, their eyes meeting often. Caia smiled, hoping they were friends again … and maybe more someday, she mused.
“This looks amazing.” Lucien gazed over the myriad dishes decorating the table.
Vanne shrugged. “I had the kitchens put in a little extra time. Thank you for inviting me.”
“And me.”
“And me.”
The grateful murmurs of Marion, Saffron, Nikolai, and Reuben filtered down the table.
“I’m glad you all came.” Lucien smiled back and squeezed Caia’s hand. “For tonight, why don’t we forget about tomorrow and just enjoy each other’s company.”
And that’s what they did. Friendly teasing and banter accompanied the meal. Reuben was battered with questions about how old he was and was he there when Marie Antoinette lost her head and did he meet Wil
liam Wallace and was Julius Caesar really such a dick?
He laughed it all off, answering the questions gamely, looking to Saffron for help when he could. As for the pack, they looked happier than they had in a long time. They laughed and were able to speak of those they had lost with a sad humor and sweet remembrance. Alexa laughed at something Jaeden had said, twiddling the wolf pendant that hung around her neck.
For a moment, Caia was debilitated by a sharp feeling of utter terror. Would all this be gone tomorrow? Would the pack be destroyed once more, just as they were regaining themselves? And would it be her fault?
Caia, don’t, she pleaded with herself.
Fear was for everyone else. They needed her to be confident and assured of what they were doing, of what she was taking them into. This had been her idea. She had no right to fear or doubt.
“You okay?” Lucien whispered, leaning into her.
She sipped her wine and threw him a smile. “Of course.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Sometimes Caia wished her mate didn’t understand her so well. “Really, I’m fine.”
He didn’t say anything more, but as they lay together that night, trying to catch their breath after having lost themselves in each other, Lucien propped himself up on his side and gazed down at her, his eyes narrowed and serious. “You’re allowed to be afraid, Caia.”
Warmth sprung to life in her chest at the knowledge he understood her so perfectly, but she shook her head with a sharp jerk. “No, I’m not.”
He scowled. “Of course you are.”
“Lucien, I started this. This was all my idea. I can’t be afraid when everyone else is or they’ll think I’m not sure we’re going to win this thing.”
“Caia, they know there is a risk we won’t win. They’re not stupid. They’re not blindly following you into battle because they think you’ve given them a 100 percent guarantee of survival. They’re following you into battle because they believe in this … not because they think your lack of fear is a promise of victory.”
Her laugh caught on a sob. “Then I guess I should tell you I’m terrified.”