He told her, “Carling and I built Evenfall. I know ways in and out of that place that nobody else does. I’ll get us in.”
Xavier said, “We have to move fast. What kind of force can we put together quickly?”
Julian switched his attention to the younger man. “I have fifteen here at the house.”
“Mom sent me twenty troops, including Shane,” Melly told them. Shane alone was worth at least five other fighters in battle. “I haven’t had a chance to inspect them, but I know they’ll be some of our best. My sister would have been in that total. I just sent her home again, so I have nineteen.”
“My estate is so close, I can get six to meet us,” Xavier said.
“No.” Julian pointed at Xavier. “You’re no good in a fight right now. You’re out. It’s uncomfortable just to watch you move. It’s one thing if you’re forced to defend yourself, but that’s different from choosing to go into active combat.”
Xavier’s face tightened in frustration, but Melly noted how Tess’s tension eased.
The younger Vampyre said, “I’m not only close with Gavin and Yolanthe. I have other friends in Evenfall too.”
“None of them would want you to risk your life, not when you’re still recuperating. I rarely give you a direct order, but this isn’t open for discussion, Xavier.” Julian paused. “For this conflict, you may do anything you can to help, except go into battle yourself. Understood?”
The younger Vampyre bowed his head. “Yes, sir.”
Julian turned incisive. “I count forty-two. That’s Melly and her nineteen, me and my fifteen, and the six from Xavier. That’s a good, fast strike force. Any more would be difficult to take on the route we’re going to use to get in.” He thought for a moment. “We’ll leave in fifteen minutes. Do what you have to do to get ready. Xavier, get your six deployed. I want an advance scout to check out the grounds around Evenfall. If I were Dominic, I would set an outside guard around the perimeter. Make sure your people focus on the northeast side. We’ll be using a tunnel entrance in the forest. Tell them to get as close as they can for reconnaissance but not to take any unnecessary chances.”
“Yes, sir,” Xavier said again. Drawing out his cell phone, he walked out of the room.
Julian looked at Tess, who watched him with a fascinated gaze. “We need to make sure we have transportation for those we have here. Make it happen.”
“Yes, sir.” Tess bolted out of the room.
Once they were alone, Julian took Melly’s hands and pulled her around to face him. “About your sister.”
She shook her head. “It’s not important right now.”
He cupped her cheeks and turned her face up to him. “It is important. Tell me quickly if you’re okay, and I’ll let it go.”
“I’m okay,” she told him. She curled her hands around his thick wrists, drawing comfort from his touch. “I told her I needed space, and I would get in touch with her in a few months. I also said she needed to get over the fact that you and I are together again if she wants to continue to have a relationship with me.”
“If she loves you, she’ll get over it,” he said. The gentleness in his hands belied the grim set to his mouth. He kissed her forehead. “She’s not my favorite person right now, but so will I. Eventually.”
“I think she will,” she replied. “Get over it, I mean. For what it’s worth, I also think she deeply regrets what she did.”
“That’s something.”
His reply was so studiously neutral, she narrowed her eyes at him. “She also could have confessed at any damn time during the last twenty years, so that’s the other thing.”
His expression turned dry. “Well, yes.”
She lifted up to kiss him, and his hard lips softened to caress hers. Pleasure stole into her, and like everything else good that had happened between them over the last couple of days, she grabbed onto it with all her might.
She murmured against his mouth, “I’m glad we got that quickie.”
“Me too,” he whispered.
Reluctantly, she drew back. “You have things to do, and I’d better brief Shane and the others so we can leave on time.”
She watched the battle commander come to the fore in his expression. The intelligence in his gaze was sharp enough to cut steel.
Damn, that was hot.
He glanced at a clock on the mantel of the fireplace. “Ten minutes.”
“We’ll be ready.”
She went to find out where Gregoire had stashed her troops. Even though the mansion was capacious, there were actually very few places where nineteen guards could wait comfortably.
She found them in the massive dining room. Gregoire and his staff had moved quickly. Large trays of sandwiches dotted the long, gleaming table. Most of the food was already gone.
As soon as the men and women saw her, they came to their feet. She knew all of them, and their relieved smiles lit her heart. She said, “Good morning. Thank you for coming.”
Shane strode forward to hug her. “It’s wonderful to see you.”
He was a tall man, even for the Light Fae, with a muscular build and a strong, contained Power. He kept his tawny hair clipped short, which emphasized his lean jaw, high cheekbones and somewhat blunt, puckish nose.
In repose, he had a stern grace that was balanced with a bright, ready smile, and he was one of the most dangerous magic users she had ever met. One of Melly’s favorite things to do as a child had been to ride on his shoulders, and she loved him like an uncle.
“It’s so good to see you too,” she told him. Her gaze swept the others in the room. “It’s good to see all of you. Now, eat fast. We’re about to go to war.”
The atmosphere in the room sharpened, as if she had unsheathed a gigantic sword.
Once Julian was alone, he shut the office door. Then he leaned both hands on the door panel and hung his head. Days ago, he had reached some kind of breaking point, and shit still kept happening. It pushed him somewhere uncharted. He had to figure out how to navigate through the strange landscape he found himself in.
Yes, relationships were breakable.
He wasn’t surprised that Dominic might have considered both sides of the Nightkind dispute. Dominic was, after all, primarily a mercenary and experienced at choosing the option that gained him the greatest advantage.
No, what surprised Julian was that he had believed Dominic would pick him.
Trust could be broken. So could faith.
At that, Julian’s thoughts inevitably shifted to Melly. Inevitably, because he always thought of Melly now.
Somehow she had walked a line with her sister. Without trashing everything, she had stood up for herself and had made her needs clear. Bailey might choose to ignore them, but if she did, she would be the one who broke the relationship, not Melly. In spite of how angry and hurt Melly had been, she held true.
She had also shown him how to win free of an impossible situation. Just like down in the tunnels, when she had picked the locks and freed them both with almost nothing but ingenuity and perseverance.
In his bedroom, he had been faced with two impossible choices. Like a classic riddle, both led to failure, until Melly reached out past all self-protectiveness and kissed him.
She was a goddamn Houdini, was what she was.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. He had been born and bred to win, no matter what the cost. He fought dirty because he fought for survival, not for any moral code or sense of honor. He threw sand in the face, kicked his opponent in the balls and went for the jugular.
That didn’t always gain him a victory.
The truth was, he was a dark creature in heart as well as in body. He was always standing at midnight.
He lifted his head. Maybe he could make different choices.
Maybe he could get in front of this and change his life, but in order to do so, he would need to make an intuitive leap.