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  "Please tell your queen that we decline her offer to converse with her. The price she asks for her counsel is too dear."

  Ash stepped forward. "Isaac, think this through. This isn't just about Kristin. This is our opportunity to bring down the entire Coun'hij. That's the first step towards the kind of golden age our people experienced under Alec's ancestors.

  "Alec could unite the packs. We could hunt the vampires to extinction. We could even bring order to the cats south of the border. That wouldn't just benefit our kind, that would represent a turning point for the humans in those countries too. I've been down there and met some of those people. They are good people stuck in a system that is corrupt. They deserve better."

  For a moment I was tempted to tell Ash that his dream had been dead before it had even started, that his sister was planning on using her question to save her people rather than saving Kristin, but at the last second I thought better of that.

  "I have a plan, Ash. The hack that we talked about on the way down here could work. If you're still willing to fund the attempt then I think you can get what you want, what we all want, without Set needing to die."

  "And if I'm unwilling to just walk away like that?"

  "I don't think that you're a match for Set, not without your weapons, but if you do manage to kill him somehow, then I'll kill you in turn."

  "You'd do that? After all that we've been through together? You'd do that knowing that you'd be sentencing Kristin to insanity and death?"

  "Yes, Ash, I would. Alec was right. I've been confused for a while now, but I back my friends up. It's just what I do. You and Set are both my friends. You've both saved my life and I'd like for nothing more than the two of you to get along, but if one of you attacks the other without cause than I'll kill the one who instigates the fight."

  Ash gave me a hard look, the kind of look that told me he was seriously considering his odds of surviving both fights, but after a second he nodded.

  "You honestly believe that this plan of yours can work?"

  "Absolutely. Everything you'll need in order to carry it out is on a file on my tablet with your name on it."

  "Okay, I hope you're right, and I'll back your play on this one."

  Celeste probably would have said something too, but she knew that the decision was out of her hands. Set and the rest wouldn't let her fight, and Ash had just agreed to abide by my decision, which meant that her only other option would be to throw Jax into the ring, and we all knew that would be like tossing a baby chick into a pool filled with piranhas. Even in his current state, Set would make short work of Jax.

  My decision was going to stand. Set might still die as a result of us having come to his enclave, but it wouldn't be at my hand.

  "We'll be at the path to the portal within the next half hour, Set."

  Set gave me a tired, thankful smile and then turned to go, but before he could even take a step another worker came running out of their cavern. It took less than a second for the agitated lamia to deliver his message and then Set turned back to us.

  "My queen bids you attend her immediately, both of you. She says no further challenge is necessary."

  Chapter 28

  Isaac Nazir

  The Lamia Enclave

  There was no question which two of us he was referring to. Ash wasn't happy at being excluded, but he agreed to go back to our rooms and help Jax get everything packed up and ready for our departure.

  As soon as Ash was gone, Celeste and I followed Set inside the lamia cave. I couldn't have said for sure what I was expecting, but I was left with a vague sense of disappointment. It looked a lot like our quarters.

  The chairs were subtly different, like they'd been designed for bodies that didn't quite match up with what I saw each time I looked at a lamia, but that wasn't really a surprise. I already knew that something was messing with my perceptions there.

  The rooms and halls that we walked through were well-lit with the same softly-glowing spheres that I was used to seeing in our rooms. Their caves were just a much bigger version of ours.

  If I'd been expecting something more alien in their habitat and been disappointed, my expectations were more than fulfilled where their queen was concerned. We walked around a bend in the corridor and then suddenly there she was, a tiny woman no bigger than Celeste or I, whose power filled the room she was in to capacity and then beyond.

  Her skin glowed, but not with the normal glow that I was used to seeing from all living things. In this form, with eyes that were only a little better than what a normal human was born with, I shouldn't have been able to see any more than a very faint glow. Instead she lit up the room.

  There were still half a dozen of the glowing melons hanging from the ceiling, so I couldn't be sure whether Set and the rest of the lamias saw the same kind of cool, white radiance coming off of her that we did, but I got the feeling that Celeste and I could have easily read a book with nothing more than her as a light source.

  "Welcome, Isaac Nazir and Celeste Hunt. You have done well. You have earned your question. I will answer in the best way I am able."

  Her voice was…odd. Her English was crisp and unaccented, but there was something on the trailing end of her words. I couldn't tell if it was just because I was a shape shifter and had better than normal hearing, but it almost sounded like there was a chorus of people repeating her words.

  I shook my head in disbelief. Even that wasn't quite the right description for what I was hearing. A chorus of people talking at the same time as her would have rendered her words unintelligible, but that wasn't what was happening. It was only the last few sounds of the last word in any given sentence.

  The queen looked over at me and smiled. "Such a questing mind, Isaac Nazir. I wish that you could remain here with my people. I would enjoy filling you up with knowledge the likes of which you can't even begin to imagine, but such a thing is not to be. Your brightness already is nearly blinding. Even now the Consumed would be upon us if not for the fact that your glow dimmed during the time that you struggled on death's door."

  "I too regret that I can't return another time. There is much that I would like to learn."

  Her smile turned sad. "Yes, you can't stay, and you can't return, but maybe that is for the best. We would have to change you at the same time that we taught you. You would become something different, something greater in some ways and lesser in others. That is always the price of change."

  She looked at Set, reaching out a hand to him, and he dropped down to his knees so she could place her hand on his head. "Our poor consorts are the perfect example of that. Changed from what they were into something else, their bodies constantly at war with themselves. I wish that we had been able to see another way."

  Set changed before our very eyes. It was like looking at time lapse photography. In a matter of seconds he went from aged and decrepit to being once again the vibrant individual he'd been when we first arrived at the enclave.

  "My most faithful of consorts, I regret putting you in such trying circumstances, but it was necessary. You bore it well and I am proud of you. Your honor is intact and you have moved the work forward in important ways."

  I found myself wishing that I could transform to my wolf body so that I could see what she looked like with those eyes. Something about Set's queen demanded that she be viewed as a being of pure light.

  Set reached up and clasped his queen's hand, holding it against his head as though worried she was going to withdraw from him.

  "It is enough for me to know that the work continues. Honor does not demand recognition for my small contribution."

  The queen shook her head at him. "There are no small contributions, Set, but yours are greater than most. You offer all that any man or woman can offer. Your energies and loyalty combined with a willingness to sacrifice whatever needs sacrificed to move the work forward. It is upon such things that all works, large or small, move forward."

  She was responding to Set, but she was lookin
g at me by the end of her statement and chills raced up and down my spine as I realized that she knew exactly what I was planning. I opened my mouth to ask her how much she knew, but she held a finger up, silencing me.

  "It is not proper for consorts to ask questions when queens are present. We get so few opportunities to commune together."

  She turned to Celeste and smiled. "Ask your question, child."

  It was the kind of thing that could have sounded condescending, but it didn't. Even Celeste didn't seem inclined to take offense.

  I looked over at Celeste and realized that she looked more like the queen than she ever had before. The simple white clothing she was wearing soaked up the light from around the room and then re-emitted it, subtly changed so that it was now Celeste's light.

  "How do we find the Coun'hij? We need to find them and destroy them so that our people can free themselves. Any help or information that you can provide would be appreciated."

  I stopped breathing. I wanted to breathe still, but my lungs refused to function. The oral histories that had been passed down to Celeste all indicated that the queen would answer only one question. Celeste had just used our only question to save Kristin and bring down the Coun'hij.

  Somewhere along the way she'd become willing to sacrifice her people to save the rest of our race. Even if that meant putting Alec Graves back into power. It was the one thing that I'd nearly given up hope of ever seeing happen. She'd just removed the one barrier between us.

  The queen shook her head at Celeste, but the gesture wasn't scolding. If anything it was just sad. "Freedom isn't what you think it is, and the destruction of overlords just reveals new overlords. Sometimes the new masters are external, sometimes they are internal. Freedom doesn't guarantee happiness."

  "No, nothing external guarantees happiness, but there are more reasons to fight than just happiness. Justice is worth fighting for. Ending oppression is worth fighting for."

  The queen turned back to me, but I hadn't technically asked a question. "You're right, dear Isaac. If only more of your people and mine understood that."

  She turned back to Celeste as she finally withdrew her hand from Set's head. Set looked sad, but didn't protest.

  "I cannot answer that question for you, not now at least. Telling you where to find your enemies would lead to the failure of our work, but just as important, it would lead to the failure of yours."

  I felt Celeste stiffen next to me and realized that we were holding hands again, that or maybe we'd never stopped.

  "So this has all been a waste? Everything we've been through was for nothing?"

  "Would you say that the changes you've been through are a waste? You've both learned things about each other and yourselves that were vitally important. If for no other reason, your time here was well-spent."

  Celeste was shaking now. She was gripping my hand tight enough that I had to squeeze back in order to avoid being hurt.

  "I could have used my question to save my people back in New Orleans. If I'd known this is how you were going to answer me I wouldn't have wasted my question."

  The queen pulled back slightly. She didn't actually move, but I felt a difference in the air, a hardening of the energy around us.

  "No outcome is ever sure when you undertake it. Your question was not wasted. Eventually you will know the full measure of its value and you will regret your hastiness."

  Celeste pulled as though to drag me back towards the surface, but I held my ground.

  "Thank you for your wisdom."

  The queen's face softened slightly. "I will not promise you what you seek, Isaac Nazir. I will, however, commend you on the feelings and principles that cause you to undertake the course you have already selected."

  "Even though you already know exactly how things will end up?"

  "That was a question, Isaac Nazir, but some rules were indeed made to be broken. I do not see all, but I do see the results of that which you are most concerned about."

  "You make us take you on faith just like you do with Set."

  "Perhaps, but that is not the primary cause for my actions. I am not infallible. The path that I have embarked on has required a price. I am less than I was when I embarked on it."

  "Then why?"

  "Because each action ripples through the time stream forever. Sometimes the ripples are small, sometimes they are large, but they never fully dissipate. There is a cost to everything, Isaac Nazir, and much of what I—my sisters and I—focus on is limiting the costs that must be paid to achieve that which needs to be achieved.

  "You have various costs that could be paid, I am merely shepherding you onto a path where the cost you pay will be the best cost."

  "Not the smallest cost?"

  "Not necessarily. The smallest cost is not always the best cost. Besides, you are already willing to pay the ultimate price, does it matter which price you ultimately end up paying?"

  It did. It mattered because I didn't want to die. I wanted a way out, just like anyone else would have, but she was right. I was finally ready to accept the responsibility for my actions.

  "Thank you, I think I understand."

  "You're welcome. You're wrong. You don't understand it all, but you understand more than most. You understand enough."

  As Celeste and I turned to leave, the queen said one more thing. "Your work and our work are not incompatible. In fact, our key is also your key. We won't let you go completely unguided into the darkness that awaits us all.

  "Tell your friends about us, tell them that if things become impossible that we will come to them. Tell the key. Tell Alec Graves. He needs to know, everything depends on it."

  Chapter 29

  Isaac Nazir

  The Lamia Enclave

  Everyone else had already packed up and left our quarters. Jax was able to walk under his own power, as was Ash. Kristin was awake now, but still worryingly weak. It had been obvious that she wasn't going to be able to walk to the portal. I'd expected for Ash to pick her up and carry her out. He was just a wolf, but that still made him plenty strong enough to carry Kristin however far she needed to be carried.

  It had shocked all of us when Set had arrived with three workers a couple of minutes before we were ready to go and offered to carry not only our bags, but Kristin too. For a second I thought that Ash was going to refuse the offer, but something in Set's eyes convinced him to trust the lamias.

  As the workers picked up the bulging black duffle bags, Ash passed Kristin over to Set, who thanked him for the honor of carrying a queen, and everyone started towards the valley. Just before he got to the exterior doorway, Set turned back to me.

  "You have calls that will be arriving soon, Isaac Nazir. My queen has agreed to help establish the portal to get you back to the spot in the time stream that you requested, which means you have plenty of time to talk to the friends who are calling you. Stay here where you can have some privacy, we will all be waiting at the portal when you are done."

  Kristin mustered up a weak smile for me and then both of them were gone. It was just me and my phone.

  Not even five seconds after my phone finished powering on the first call arrived. It was Jasmin of all people.

  "Jasmin, is that really you?"

  "Hi, Isaac."

  Her voice was like a little slice of paradise. She sounded tired and like she was under more stress than normal, but it was still her, and that was one of the best going-away presents that anyone could have given me. It wasn't just chance that had made her call arrive now, just before we left the enclave. I was apparently a much slower learner than I liked to think I was, but I'd at least figured that much out.

  Set, probably working hand in hand with his queen, had manipulated things so that I would have a chance to talk to Jasmin now when I most needed the sound of a friendly voice to give me the strength to go through with what I needed to do.

  "You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice. Everyone else has pretty much gone dark lately."

/>   Jasmin was quiet for a second. With someone else that might have meant that they were trying to decide how much to tell me, but this was Jasmin. She'd just come right out and tell me what was on her mind. She just needed a minute to fit the fact that I was getting blown off by Alec in with everything else she knew.

  "I was afraid of that, I just tried Alec and he didn't pick up. Are you, Ash and Kristin all okay?"

  It was the one question that I couldn't answer. Kristin was awake now, but she hadn't managed much more than an occasional weak nod or smile. There wasn't any way to know for sure how much of that was from her injuries and how much was because of Dream Stealer, but it was easy to assume the worst. Ash was obviously still worried about her, but it wasn't my place to fill Jasmin in on all of the gory details.

  I was still debating how much to tell her, when she apparently decided that I needed a nudge.

  "Tell me the truth, Isaac."

  "Things are pretty bad here. Kristin got hurt and lost a lot of blood. I've spent weeks worrying that she was never going to wake up from her coma. We got forced down to the territory claimed by Ash's old pack."

  "What the crap were you guys thinking? You have to get out of there right now or Onyx and the others will kill you!"

  It was such a simplification that I wanted to scream. My beast didn't appreciate being ordered around, but he'd hardly even stirred since I'd woken up an hour or so before.

  It was another thing to worry about. A few days ago I would have given anything to have my beast calm down so that I wasn't always on hair-trigger. Now he'd calmed down and I was worrying that he'd been permanently damaged by the lamia poison that had come so close to killing me.

  I was about to head right back into Onyx's territory, and Jasmin was telling me to get out. I wanted to follow her advice. Two months ago I would have just told her that I didn't have any other choice but to go back to New Orleans, but now I knew that wasn't right. I just couldn't live with all of the other choices out there.