“Alexandra, we swear never to tell,” Gabriel said. “All of us.”

Korvel nodded. “I will take Simone away with me. Richard will never know.”

“Like I’d throw you under the bus, Alex,” Nick said.

Alex walked up to Korvel. “If she lives, are you planning to bond with her? Make her your sygkenis? After everything you did to separate me from Michael, why should I hand her over to you?”

“If you don’t want me to have her, then you can take her back to America with you.” He looked past her at Simone. “You can tell her I’m dead, or whatever you like. I will never try to see her again. Only save her, Alexandra. Please.”

Alex picked up the syringe, stabbing it into her arm and filling it with her blood. “This should go to work within a few minutes. Gabriel, I assume you know the difference between a human beginning the transition to Kyn and one who dies from Kyn blood poisoning.”

“I have witnessed both many times, Doctor,” he said.

She went to sit on the side of the bed by Simone and prepare her arm for the injection. “After I do this, I’m leaving. I don’t want to know what happens to this girl. Ever.” She slid the needle in and pressed the plunger down slowly.

When it was done, Alex stood and gathered up her things, stuffing them in the case.

As Alex passed her, Nick touched her arm. “Thank you for giving her a chance.”

“Is that what I did?” She stalked out of the room.

Korvel took Alex’s place beside Simone and focused on her face, while Nick joined Gabriel at the foot of the bed.

She curled her hand around his. “Alex was right. I couldn’t ever thank Elizabeth for what she did. She murdered my parents.”

He tucked her against his side. “Alex spoke without thinking.”

“If it had been different, if she changed only me, and somehow I still found you, then maybe I could thank her.” She squeezed his hand. “After I kicked her ass.”

As Alex had predicted, it took only a few minutes, and in that time Korvel must have realized what was happening, because he climbed onto the bed and held Simone against him, his cheek resting against her short hair. Nick glanced at Gabriel, who shook his head.

And then the woman who had never lost a battle finally stopped fighting.

Chapter 21

O

nly one ferry from the Scottish mainland sailed to Í Árd, and only when it was summoned by radio from the medieval villa that no one knew had been transported from Italy brick by brick to the supposedly uninhabited island. A month seldom passed without the ferryboat captain making at least one trip, but on this night his instructions were to stay away. And so he went to his favorite pub to have a drink with the lads and talk about anything but his work. Within the center courtyard of the villa a hundred men stood in facing ranks, their battle armor polished like glass, their swords drawn and held aloft, the tips touching those across from them to form a steel canopy. Richard’s black-and-gold standard had been raised, but another fluttered beside it, one Korvel had not seen since childhood, when his grandfather had carried it into battle.

Silver larkspur against a green field, the long-lost emblem of the house of Korvel. The symbol of everything he had once believed important, and noble, and good.

He walked through the ranks, holding Simone’s body so that his steps did not jar her, the fluttering white silk of her skirts caressing his arm. When he reached the gardens in the courtyard’s center, he saw the high pyre of carefully stacked wood. Someone, probably Richard’s tresora Éliane, had placed hundreds of white blooms atop the wood. On this bed of roses he placed the body of the woman he had not saved, and as the flowers’ fragrance enveloped them, he bowed his head to kiss her still, cold lips.

“If there is a heaven, I know you are there,” he whispered to her as a circle of guards bearing torches marched in formation to surround the pyre. “Surely God recognizes an angel when he sees one. I did.”

“Captain.”

“I have served you for seven lifetimes, my lord.” He didn’t look at Richard. “You can give me a few moments with her.”

“As you will.” His master made a gesture, and the men drew back.

He turned back to Simone, resting his hand on the silk head rail covering her shorn hair. “I know I gave you my word that I would go on and live for us both. But you were wrong about me, love. When I have to be, I am a most convincing liar.”

A drop of rain fell, landing to bead on the curve of her lip, and then another trickled down from her brow to the corner of her eye. Korvel reached to wipe them away, and only then did he feel the sting in his eyes and realize they were not rain at all.

He had not wept since his mortal life, and he brought her hand to his face so she could feel this last miracle.

“Korvel.” The high lord’s voice, which he could use as an instrument of pleasure or a weapon of pain, grew curiously gentle. “You must come away from there now.”

Suddenly everything became simple. He stepped down and took the torch from Stefan. “It seems that I will be breaking faith with you again, my lord. It will be for the last time. Forgive me.”

Richard seized his wrist. “You are not thinking clearly. She would not want you to do this.”

“For once the vampire king’s right, Captain.” Nicola walked up to the pyre. “I can guarantee you she wouldn’t want this.”

“You should understand better than anyone.” Korvel glanced at Richard before he lowered his voice. “You know what it is to have no more reason to live.”

“Maybe I did.” She eyed Gabriel, who came to stand beside her. “But not anymore.”

Looking at them, knowing they had everything that he had lost, proved too much for Korvel. “Let me go, my lady. I only want to be with her.”

“Oh, for God’s sake.” As he turned to the pyre, Nicola plucked the torch from his hand and tossed it away. “I’m not letting you do this. Friends don’t let friends set themselves on fire.” She turned to Gabriel. “Can’t you order him not to do this?”

“He has not yet made an oath to me.”

“Details.” She made a dismissive gesture. “You said you wanted to hang with us, Captain. I’m holding you to that.” She cringed and held the sides of her head. “Oh, shit, not again.”

Everyone in the courtyard went still, including Korvel, who didn’t try to resist. She’s dead. You can kill me now, too.

On the other side of the pyre a shadow shifted. I never harmed her, warrior. It was your intrusion that caused this. But it is done, and she was not the last.

Korvel saw Nicola walk up to the pyre and pull the head rail from Simone’s body. What are you doing?

See with your heart instead of your eyes, Korvel, and perhaps you will find an answer.

Furious voices shouted from the ranks of the men as they regained control of their bodies. Gabriel went to Nicola, who was standing and staring at the pyre, while Richard strode around it, looking at the shadows.

“Silence,” the high lord snapped, and his powerful voice rendered everyone mute. “I will know the cause of this.” He eyed Korvel. “What was that thing in my head?”

“I cannot say, my lord.” Korvel took the head rail from Nicola’s hand and carried it back to Simone’s body. “But I do wish you luck with it.”

Nicola finally moved. “Captain, you heard him. Look at her with your heart.”

Korvel didn’t want to look at anything but her. In death she had the peace that she had never known in life. He brushed her hair back from her brow, lifting the head rail to drape it back in place. The fabric slipped from his fingers as he touched the top of her head and drew the hair back down over her brow.

The hair that she had cut off two days before had grown six inches.

The sound of Nicola arguing with his master made him look over at them.

“What has any of this to do with your ability?” Richard demanded.

“I can always tell how many humans and vampires are in one place. Dead or alive.” She flicked a hand at Éliane. “I’m telling you, the only human on this island is your honey over there.” She came over and climbed the pyre.

He caught her arm. “What are you doing?”

“Ruining the bonfire party.” She bit into her forearm and then held the open wound to Simone’s lips.

Korvel stared. “You can’t revive her, Nick. She’s dead.”

“No, she’s not.” Nicola grinned and took away her arm as Simone’s eyes opened. “Hey, girlfriend. Welcome back to the land of the never-dying.”

Simone touched her mouth, and then looked all around her. “I’m alive?”

“Yes, and you’re going to stay that way. For a very, very long time.” As Simone sat up, Nicola put an arm around her and helped her down from the pyre. “Easy, sister. You’re still weak.”

Rose petals floated down onto Korvel’s shoulders and chest, but he could not move, or blink, or breathe. “Simone?”

She nodded, pulling away from Nicola as she came to him, her steps unsteady but her gaze unwavering. “I could hear you, but I couldn’t move.” She touched her mouth. “I’m Kyn now. How can that be?”

“You’re alive.” His hands shook as he reached for her, pulling her against him, wrapping his arms around her. “That is all that has to be.”

Richard joined them, studying Simone before he spoke to Nicola. “There was no spark of life left in her body when Korvel brought her to the island. We would have felt it. How did this happen?”

“Sorry, I’m the thief.” Nicola looked past him. “You’ll have to ask the doctor.”

As if on cue, Alexandra Keller came into the garden. She carried a medical case and looked highly annoyed. “I hate Ireland. I hate planes. I had to haul a drunk ferryboat captain out of a pub to get here. He almost took me to Greenland.” She finally saw whom Korvel had in his arms. “So this is how you keep your promises?”