"No!" Gavin's voice could be heard by every vampire in the palace. "No!"
* * *
"What the hell?" Trevor, who'd had to slow down to allow Kooper to catch up, watched as debris exploded high into the sky, followed by the loudest boom he'd ever heard.
"What is that?" Kooper, winded from attempting to keep up with the vampire at his side, blinked in shock as the Comet's Tail Casino was reduced to rubble and blown skyward at an accelerated rate.
"Maybe that's why all those people were screaming and running. Call for backup, we may need it for casualties," Trevor muttered. "Kooper, this isn't meant as disrespect, but I'm about to give you a lift." Trevor lifted Kooper one-handed and raced toward the explosion.
* * *
Breanne's Journal
I gazed briefly at my reflection in a casino window across the street. I'd never seen my eyes do that before. They were a solid cobalt blue and stars fell through their depths. I had no idea what that meant, but I knew one thing; Erithia and her twelve were dead, and so was my sister. Hunching my shoulders, I did what I'd promised myself I wouldn't and folded space to the palace.
* * *
"Lissa's dead. I'm going to Le-Ath Veronis," Dragon appeared beside Kiarra.
"I know." Kiarra's eyes were filled with tears. "I heard that Winkler's wolf is howling beside her body, and Gavin won't let anyone else touch her. Go, I know your boys are probably going crazy with grief."
"They are. They can't even send coherent mindspeech," Dragon muttered, wiping moisture from his face. "I have to go."
"Let us know if you need anything," Kiarra called out when Dragon disappeared.
* * *
Breanne's Journal
I was glad her study was so large—so many people wouldn't have fit if it weren't. I didn't know her—not really, so mine were the only dry eyes in the place. Elbowing a few mates aside, I stared at Gavin, who wept and clutched Lissa's body against his. A very large wolf howled and cried with grief beside them.
Lissa was covered in blood—it soaked her clothing and stained the rug beneath her. What a horrible way to die. Sighing as those around me grumbled and muttered at my presence, I lifted my hands. People started backing away when I began to glow. And then I
Changed What Was
.
Chapter 16
Breanne's Journal
Only one big problem remained, and honestly, I considered leaving him where he was. Cheedas sat on a bunk in the Queen's dungeon—someone had sent him there shortly after he'd stabbed Lissa. I stared at him for moments before he raised tear-stained eyes in my direction.
"Fuck," I sighed. Cheedas loved Lissa, with a father's love. I'd seen it the first time I'd read him. He'd never had love for me after Gavin spread his poison, but I wasn't sure I could blame him completely for that. Erithia had accomplished one of her goals, at least for a short while. She'd managed to kill the Queen of Le-Ath Veronis. Somehow, nobody had counted on me coming in to change that.
"Well, Master Cook Cheedas, we have to take a little trip," I said, shaking my head at him.
"Who are you?" he asked, staring at me. I blinked at him in shock. A part of him had changed, and I realized after a moment that he'd had a cloud about his mind, just as Gavin did. Somehow, that had been removed. He—in his mind, anyway—was seeing me for the first time. Yes, he still held the obsession, and if he ever saw Lissa again, he'd attempt to kill her again. I had to deal with that, and it involved something I'd read from the Larentii but hadn't attempted because it frightened me. I gathered Cheedas into my mist.
As it turns out, bending time was easy.
"Who are you?" Erithia hissed as I stood inside the kitchen of the Hurricane Casino hours earlier. The Cheedas she'd obsessed was already on his way back to the palace. I dumped the Cheedas I'd taken from the dungeon in front of her.
"Nobody," I stared at her, unblinking. "Well, maybe not. I hear I'm the Vhanaraszh, whatever the hell that means."
Erithia's eyes flew wide and she drew in a sharp breath. "Kill yourself. Immediately," she placed obsession on me. I laughed. I'd attempted suicide in the past, but had failed miserably. Now wasn't the time.
"You wish," I hissed, showing Erithia red eyes and fangs. "Remove your obsession from Cheedas, here," I ordered, "or I'll kill you the same way I killed your brother." Who knew she'd be so frightened? She backed away, hands and voice trembling.
"I remove my obsession," she quavered to Cheedas.
"Good," I said before hauling Cheedas into my mist and taking him back to the dungeon.
"They'll discover you really didn't have anything to do with Lissa's attack," I sighed, staring at Cheedas, who sat on his bunk again, completely dejected. I hadn't removed his memories of the attack, I'd just gotten the obsession removed. I'd had to butt two timelines together to do it, but as it turns out, it was tiring but not debilitating. It might be debilitating to do it on a much larger scale, but at least I knew it was possible.
"Well, Cheedas, I wish I could say it was fun, but we both know it hasn't been anything close. You won't remember I was here." I misted the hell out of Lissa's dungeon.
* * *
Lissa's Journal
All of them remember. As do I. I'd died. My other self—the Nameless One that I was, had hovered over my body, watching my mates grieve. A part of me wanted to comfort them, while another part of me wanted to fly away in freedom. I was grateful, too, when Breanne appeared. I was frightened for her as well, as she still didn't realize what she was. As a Nameless One, that information came to me easily. My sister. Vhanaraszh to the Larentii. Q'elindi to Karathia. Mighty Heart to all of us.
How had this happened? That she would be all those things? I wanted her back, but hesitated to attempt mindspeech. I knew how she'd been treated, and I wanted to weep. She had no love for me, and that was the most distressing thing. How could she have anything other than resentment for me? I'd been instrumental in placing her in an untenable situation, and nothing had been done to alleviate her pain and difficulty.
"My love, you should rest," Reemagar, Connegar and Karzac all stood beside my bed after forcing the others back. Everybody was inside my bedroom, including Norian. My talk with him would have to wait. A meeting with Griffin was added to my plans as well, and I wondered briefly how that might go. The fourth person who stood at my bedside, however, was the biggest surprise.
My sister, when she
Changed What Was
, didn't only bring me back from death. Had she planned this when she held her hands over my body and became so bright none of my mates could look upon her?
It didn't matter—the moment I'd awakened, he'd been there. Nobody else thought to stand in his way, either, and he'd already told me—aloud and in mindspeech at least a dozen times since then, how much he loved me. The funny thing? I felt exactly the same. I stared into Merrill's piercing blue eyes and he winked at me as Karzac placed me in a healing sleep.
* * *
Breanne's Journal
Corent wasn't in the groves when I landed there; he'd gone to the palace. It was just as well. He was the one who deserved something from me, and I intended to see that he got it. Drawing in a breath, I bent time.
I now stood on Le-Ath Veronis in the past and stared at bodies—so many bodies—they littered the ground like crumpled and forgotten dolls. The Green Fae and their half-Fae children—all dead. Even the crystal they called Indis-Banuu was laid in a pile at the center of the bodies, all of it drained, blackened and cracked.
They'd emptied every bit of energy they could lay claim to, and it still hadn't been enough to seal the leak. One of their own had tapped the core of Le-Ath Veronis, causing an energy leak that spelled doom for the planet.
I knew, too, that these bodies would be discovered in a very short time. I had to work quickly to accomplish what I'd come to do. No—I wasn't going to fill the core with new power, like another could. That one wasn't old enough yet, where and when I stood. I was about to
Change What Was
—again. But first, there were two who might fade beyond my help if I didn't act quickly.
Corent looked as if he were sleeping, as did Willow, who lay nearby. Both were dead. I reached out my hand. "Live," I told Corent and Willow softly, touching each forehead gently. Corent drew a breath and rolled over in his sleep, still exhausted. Willow moaned. Without much thought, I sent Willow where he'd ended up; Morningsun. I touched Corent again, brushing dark-blue hair away from his face. He could rest while I repaired the evil done to my sister's world.
Then, I gathered power about me, smiled into the wind and reversed time for Le-Ath Veronis.
* * *
Lissa's Journal
Breanne has disappeared. I searched for her, but Connegar, Reemagar and Conner tell me it's futile to do so. Conner, her eyes filled with stars, informed me that I'd have to wait for signs or other indications to discover where my sister had gone.
Something that looked like joy lay on her face, too, but I didn't ask about that. I was too afraid I either wouldn't get an answer or wouldn't like the answer I got. I'd sent a message through Erland shortly after that, and he'd delivered it for me. Griffin now sat in my study, curious as to why I'd summoned him but too afraid to ask.
Griffin hadn't been inside my study since he'd helped save me, Rigo and my children from a Ra'Ak and Zellar on Hraede. He'd been upset, then. He was wary now.
"I wanted to talk to you about Breanne," I said.
"I met her." He looked away from me. "I understand she's missing. I hope you don't want me to help look for her."
Breathing a sigh and reining in my temper, I waited a few seconds for my sight to clear. I'm sure my eyes had gone red in anger—at least temporarily. "Tell me why you did it," I finally muttered.
"Did what?"
"Got another woman pregnant. I wasn't your only daughter, as it turns out."
"Yes you are." Griffin's head had swiveled quickly, his angry gaze landing on my face.
"Maybe you didn't intend for her to be pregnant, but she was. Oh, don't worry," I held up a hand, "Belen assures me the woman was murdered in a sour drug deal after she got out of prison. I think Belen knows why you had sex with her, but he wouldn't tell me. Somehow, the information is blocked and I can't get to it. Tell me why, Griffin."
"What? When?" Belen's name apparently made him sit up and take me seriously. I gave him the date when he'd made another woman—a human woman—pregnant.
"Fuck." Griffin raked fingers through his hair in furious frustration. "I
Saw
her get an abortion. I
Looked
to make sure of it."
"She didn't. I hear she got arrested shortly after that and was sent to prison for manufacturing drugs. Why did you do it, Griffin? Tell me why?" I was almost in tears by that time.
"I had to make sure what I'd done worked," he growled. "I had to use everything at my disposal to ensure that I could make your mother pregnant. The Saa Thalarr were supposed to be sterile—you know that. I expended a great deal of power to change that, and I didn't want Thorsten to learn of it. I traveled into the future a few years and found a woman who was at the proper stage to become pregnant, as a test run. I knew she was pregnant when I left her, but I
Looked
, Lissa. She would get an abortion. I
Looked!
"
"Guess what? Your
Looking
skills didn't work. Maybe your brain was in your pants, how am I to know? Breanne is my half-sister. Get out, Griffin. I see neither of your daughters make a damn bit of difference to you. Just so you know," I added as he rose to leave, an expression of shock on his face, "Breanne appears to be the Vhanaraszh and a Q'elindi. The Larentii have confirmed it."
Griffin's face nearly crumpled as he folded away. For some reason, I didn't want him to know what else my sister was. Let him find out on his own and then weep at the realization that neither of his daughters would give him the time of day.
* * *
Epilogue
Lissa's Journal
Merrill goes to bed naked. He'd shown up seconds after Breanne
Changed What Was
and nobody stood in his way when he gathered me up, held me against him and murmured words of love as he carried me to my suite.
Did any stand against him and tell him no? Of course not. You don't tell
The
King Vampire that he has to back away from his Queen. Frankly, too, his kisses were something I'd longed for, and they didn't disappoint.
Now, as I watched him wander from the bathroom naked, toweling off his black hair and smiling at me with piercing blue eyes, I sighed with contentment. Did I think about destroying the M'Fiyah a second time after Breanne released it? Yes. For all of two seconds. Until Merrill kissed me, and then I was lost forever. Kiarra and I, too, have become as close as sisters, which is how it should have been in the beginning. Griffin has cost me so much through the years.
"My darling, will you leave that fucking journal for a moment and come to bed with me?" Merrill sat on the dressing bench beside me and planted a kiss on the back of my neck.