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  "Yet I gave no leave for a hunting party to disperse. I wonder how that happened, Isaac."

  The councilman appeared flustered, stuttering some nonsense for a moment.

  "Besides, I believe this is something that our people have a right, a duty, to witness," Gray went on. "You will bear witness as well."

  I felt a small thrill inside me at his words. They gave me hope for what might come next. Yet still, I had my doubts, and my hands trembled at my sides.

  "What are you speaking of?" Isaiah demanded. "What are we witnessing?" Then he turned, as if taking note of our arrival just now. "Why are they in the hall? Thomas, you know better than to bring prisoners into the hall like this. Take them to the dungeons at once!"

  But Thomas did not move, not that he would have had the opportunity to before Gray spoke. At last, his eyes met mine, and my breath caught in my throat. He smiled and winked.

  "No."

  Up till now, there had been idle chatter in the hall—a great many vampires had gravitated here, sensing that something important was happening by the way the king and councilman were arguing with one another earlier, no doubt. But at that one word from Gray, a word he spoke in such a quiet yet commanding voice, they all fell silent.

  "My lord! What do you mean, no? They are blood mages. They must go to the dungeons!"

  "And I say they must not." He turned back to Isaac, baring his fangs in a clear threat to the man. "Do you challenge me?"

  The man bowed. "Your majesty knows that one cannot challenge the king."

  "Then be silent while I speak, or lose your life," he said, yet his voice was completely unaffected. He turned then to look at the vampires that had crowded behind the two of them. "My people! A great injustice has been allowed to stand for years, unchallenged, that must be corrected. We all know the history of the blood mages, do we not? That they terrorized the world, and it was only by the grace of our forefathers that they were contained and caged, that their blight was removed from the Earth?"

  Several murmurs of assent were heard, but no one truly raised their voice.

  "And you all know that I, as king, gained access to the generational knowledge of all the kings that came before me when I assumed the throne."

  Again, they murmured their assent.

  "So it should have been that if there was a fault in what we were told of the mages, I would have known of it. I would have had access to the first king's memories of the war with the mages. If there was a lie, I would have known it the moment I assumed the throne." He paused, but no one said a word to disagree with him. "And yet there was a lie that was not revealed when I took the throne. I would not have found it if it were not for this woman." He turned and gestured to me. "You all know her. Many of you fought beside her, more of you have spoken with her, and I challenge any one of you to say that she is the monster we were warned of." He waited again, but no one stepped up to the challenge. "And yet you also know that she is a blood mage. How do we accept these two truths? I confess, at first I did not even think to compare them. I am at fault for that. I allowed my fascination with her to distract me from this, this lie that we have all been told, when I should have been aware of it and fought for our ability to see the truth and know reason. It was only after she challenged me, telling me that her people were healers and not warriors, that I even thought to compare what she was with what I had been told to expect of a blood mage. I admit, I dismissed her claim that her people were healers out of hand. It was only afterward that I thought to compare her and our history, and only when I recognized that the truth of what she was did not align with what I had been raised to believe—no, not just that, but what the generational knowledge assured me was the truth. Now, a weaker man would have assumed that Nina, a blood mage, had bespelled me to believe that she was different than what she was. It would be easier to believe that, most certainly, but a king's duty is not to take the easy road. It was my duty, to all of you, to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we were not living with a lie to guide us."

  "You cannot be serious!" Isaiah snapped, apparently having reached his breaking point with Gray's speech.

  "I said be SILENT when I SPEAK!" Gray turned on the man, towering over him, and roared. The man fell to the floor, terrified, and I could only stare in shock at what I was seeing. I had never seen Gray behave so…had never seen him stand up to the Council like this.

  And he was doing it for my people.

  "As I was saying, before this insect thought to stop me from giving you what you deserve—the truth," he said, turning back to the crowd. "It was my duty to launch an investigation into this, though I could not do it publicly, for as you have seen, there are those who are dedicated to maintaining the lie. We all know that our first king contracted a mage to create our collars—iron and ancient magic are what bind the blood mages, and we are not the benders of magic. A mage had to have a hand in it. What we don't know is that the first king also, before he died and passed on the throne to his heir, had his memories altered by the same mage. He had a knack for public speaking and had already convinced those who were alive at the time that the blood mages were monsters that had to be contained. That was how he rose to power, after all. But he knew that once the throne passed to his heir, the truth would come out. So he had his memories altered so that his heir would never know the truth. And that is how we have all been allowed to live with this lie. A lie that has caused us to be the perpetrators of injustice, pain, and anguish to those who were dedicated to healing and caring for the masses. A wise woman said to me that there was no reason we all could not live in peace and harmony with one another." He paused, looking over his shoulder at me. "And I told her she had pretty dreams, but that was all they could be. I was wrong. We are better than our ancestors. We have an opportunity, now that we know the truth, to make the change that is necessary to right the wrongs of the past." Again he paused, looking at all of them, but they remained silent. I saw that many of them were shocked, so much so that I could see it on their faces—they had forgotten decorum, were incapable of hiding their emotions as they had done all their lives. "If you doubt me, remember what caused me to look into this in the first place. Remember the woman who won your hearts—Nina. She fought for your lives. She protected you, just like she's since protected these people, these healers who do not deserve to live in chains. Stand with me and make a change for the future."

  He clasped his hands in front of him and took a step back to indicate that he was done speaking.

  For several tense moments, there was simply shocked silence in the room, and then the Council went wild. Aside from Isaac, who had been crazy enough to challenge the words of his king directly, the others had been standing to the side, silent until now. But this was too much for them, apparently.

  "Guards!" one of them shouted. "Guards, our king has been tainted by the blood mage! She controls his mind, as all blood mages would do to us if given half the chance! Take him, now, before he can do more harm to our people!"

  "If I had his mind under control, why wouldn't I silence you?" I snapped, taking a step forward. "If I were the kind of mage who would peek into your minds and find all of you who do not agree and bend you to my will so that you would, why am I not doing that right now? Why do I allow you to speak your mind?"

  This seemed to cause a stir in the crowd, for they all began to murmur together, words that were just quiet enough so that I couldn't make them out.

  But it hadn't been necessary for me to speak, beyond the potential good it had done the crowd to have that pointed out, because not a single guard so much as inched forward. You would think some of them would have been so conditioned to obeying the Council that they would move first and think later, that they'd have taken a step at least and then thought better of it. But they didn't. They remained still, positioned at the walls of the hall as they were.

  There was tension in the room as the rest of the Council took up the call, commanding the guards to seize Gray.

  At last,
one of them stepped forward, and I felt my heart plummet at the sight of it. I recognized him—Tyler, the head guard. He turned and looked at me, a warmth in his eyes that confused me.

  "You saved my brother in the battle before the castle, my lady. I never thanked you for that, to my great shame. But I am not ashamed, now, to say that my brother is more dear to me than anyone else. I know that we are not meant to love one another, not truly, aside from our mates. But the thought of losing my brother is more than I can bear, and you spared me that pain. I cannot ever repay you for that, though I believe our king has the right idea for how to take a step toward that."

  I smiled weakly, not certain how my legs were still holding me up. I hadn't expected that. Not at all.

  Gray turned to the guard. "You have no reason to be shamed for loving your brother as you are meant to. There are more truths that I have to share with all of you, though they are not as pressing as the current situation. But I will tell you that our way of life, of not trusting one another, of holding ourselves apart, is not how we were meant to be. Love one another. Be open. And be proud that you are strong enough to share yourself with more than just your mate. It takes great courage to trust those who you do not know so well as your other half."

  Tyler smiled, ducking his head. "Thank you, your majesty."

  "She saved my father!" A vampire from the crowd stepped forward.

  "And my sister!"

  "She saved my father, too!"

  "I remember. I saw one of those monsters mere feet away from my mother, and she froze it in place!"

  More and more of them stepped forward, calling out their thanks and pointing out what I had done, and I couldn't help it, the tears started pouring down my cheeks at the sound of their gratitude. I hadn't fought for them to be thanked, I had done it because it was the right thing to do at the time. But it meant so much to hear them thanking me, to know that they appreciated me and didn't fear me.

  I had told Gray that I couldn't come back because the vampires would always hate me, but it seemed that excuse was gone now.

  "Your majesty!" one of the Council cried, but I saw that he wasn't talking to Gray. He had turned, and when he called out the title, the room fell quiet again. Coming down the grand staircase was Gray's mother, the dowager queen, Eleanor. She walked slowly, without hurry, and her grace was unparalleled. "You have no idea what your son has done!"

  "On the contrary, I have heard everything," she said, her voice serene, as if she had not a care in the world.

  "Then you must do something!" the councilman demanded.

  She arched one eyebrow at him but said nothing. Instead, she just kept walking, as slow and controlled as ever, until she stood right in front of me. I trembled, my whole body practically vibrating. This was it. She'd always said I was trouble and that I was a distraction for her son, and now I had gone and made him turn his world upside down, and she was going to kill me for it. I couldn't look at her.

  Then I felt her hand smoothing along my hair.

  "This woman made the ultimate sacrifice for me, and I allowed custom to dictate that I could not show my gratitude. My son is stronger than I, as a true king would be, and I would follow in his example. Thank you for saving me, daughter."

  Twenty

  The grace of any and all deities out there was all that kept me from fainting the moment she called me daughter. My heart was beating a thousand miles a minute, and I could barely breathe. I didn't know what to do or say.

  The Council was down for the count. I could hear Gray issuing orders for the mages to be released from the dungeons, although it kind of sounded like he was far, far away, because there was a roaring in my ears. Because the freaking dowager queen just called me daughter.

  Oh my god, Gray told her that I'm his mate. And she just publicly approved of me. She just acknowledged me in front of everyone.

  And no one was yelling at her. People were hopping to follow Gray's commands, and the guards were taking the Council into custody, and Eleanor was just smiling down at me with an amused expression on her face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alex looking perfectly smug right now.

  Well, he did say that Gray would do the right thing, and I hadn't believed him, but he'd been right. I supposed he deserved to be a little smug.

  I realized, rather numbly, that Gray had also just destroyed all of my excuses in one swift blow. He'd gotten rid of the Council, freed my people, and gotten the court to accept me. I literally had no reason at all as to why we couldn't be together, and that terrified me.

  "Darling, you don't look so well," Eleanor said, tilting her head to the side. "Are you all right?"

  Thankfully, Eva stepped up to my side. "Your majesty, if I may. Nina here has been holding a spell on a hybrid to keep it contained for quite a long while now, and it has taken quite a toll on her strength. She'll need to do something about it soon."

  "Oh, how horrible," Eleanor said. "Is there anything that we can do?"

  But Gray appeared beside her before either Eva or I could say a word.

  "Mother?" he murmured, inclining his head to her. "I would like a word with my mate, in private."

  "Oh, um…" I wet my lips, trying to think of what to say. I couldn't be alone with him just now. I was overwhelmed with everything that had happened, and Eva was right, I still had the hybrid to deal with. "We were just telling your mother that I have a hybrid outside that I'm actually holding a spell on right now. It's taking a lot of energy, and if I could just have a few minutes with it, I can finish up and let go of the spell."

  He didn't appear even the littlest bit upset that I had sidestepped his request to speak.

  "Take however much time you need, varina. I will wait however long you require." His eyes were locked with mine as he spoke, and I knew the double meaning in his words. He was prepared to wait an eternity for me if I made him.

  I won't. I can't. But I need to breathe, to think.

  I smiled at him. "Thank you."

  And I meant it for more than just that. For all that he had done.

  "Did I not say that I would do anything for you?" He smiled. "But I don't want you to think that is the only reason I did any of this. You were right, and I needed to hear what you said to me. I truly believe every word I said; we committed a horrible crime, and it is time to put it right."

  "You don't know how much it means to hear you say that," I whispered. "Thank you."

  "Of course. Now, don't allow me to keep you when you have things to attend to. I don't want to pressure you into staying."

  And again, I heard the second meaning in his words. I blushed, muttered another quick thank-you, and made my exit from the hall.

  The guard and the hybrid were standing just outside the door, waiting for me. I was glad to see that nothing had happened between the two of them and that my spell had held.

  "Thank you for watching over him for me," I said.

  "Of course, majesty," he said, bowing his head.

  "Um. Um. What?"

  He didn't meet his eyes, but I could see the curve of his lips. "Our king is very loud when he is passionate, and I heard what was said. It is a good thing that he took this stand. I have long been tired of the way things have been these many years. And we have you to thank for bringing this change about, as he said."

  "Oh." That was all I could say, apparently. I really wasn't used to this amount of attention. "Well, thank you. Um, do you know of anywhere I could take the hybrid where no one else will stumble on us? I'm going to try and get information out of it, but if things get violent, I don't want anyone to get hurt."

  He cleared his throat. "If you fear violence, I should not leave you alone with the creature. The king would have my head if I allowed anything to happen to his mate."

  Oh good lord, so everyone knew about that now, thanks to Eleanor.

  "Right, well, if you'll recall, I did fight with everyone against the army of hybrids. I'm not fragile. I can handle one hybrid. I've done it a hundred times just this pa
st month."

  He shifted from side to side. "All right, as you say, majesty. There is a secluded grove just around the castle there. I believe everyone will be inside for a while yet, so no one should come upon you there, and it is still close enough that if there is danger, I can hear and come to your aid."

  "Thank you. I appreciate that," I said, then laid a hand on the hybrid and resumed control of its mind, releasing the paralytic on its legs, and led it away from the castle doors and to the grove the guard had indicated.

  Once there, I forced the hybrid to a kneeling position—it was much taller than any man, wolf, or vampire I had ever seen before, and I was very short already. So it had to kneel for us to be face-to-face. I released the paralytic around its throat as well, so that if it could speak, well…it could.

  "All right, I know there's some intelligence in you. You looked at me and you knew what I was, what I was doing, and that I was the one that spared your life. I don't want to hurt you, so please, just work with me."

  To my surprise, it did not bare its teeth at me or snarl but rather just grunted.

  "Can you talk at all? It would speed things up a lot if you could say yes to that, or maybe shake your head if you understand what I'm saying but you can't speak? Do you know English?"

  It gave me a level look, and there was no doubting the intelligence in its eyes. I swallowed. Whether or not it could talk, that look already confirmed what I had thought—at least some of the hybrids were capable of rational thought. But not all of them, as I had seen.

  Why were some capable and others not?

  "Look, I'm sure you don't want to die. I don't want to hurt you, either. Just do me a favor and either nod or shake your head."

  Slowly, it turned its head from one side and then to the other, then faced me again. The whole time, its eyes did not leave mine.

  "Oh my god, you can understand me," I whispered, and my hand flew to my lips.

  It lifted its head, then lowered it.

  "But you can't speak?"