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"Don't start," I warned them both.

Sadavir moved away, and Robin's husky voice was light and flippant, as if she wasn't over there huffing and puffing because another alpha had touched her omega. "I have no idea what you mean, Ruya darling," she informed me. A chair scuffed across the floor, and she continued. "Sanka, let's hear what you found in the forest."

I suppressed a smile at the way she snapped into business mode. The way Robin moved seamlessly between princess and boss was always a wonder to me. Despite what the cult had tried to instill in me, here was proof that a person could be both a very feminine woman and a strong person at the same time. In my previous life, being both of those things was not allowed. Unless you were The Mother. None of the rules had ever applied to her.

"Right," Sanka said, getting down to business. "It was pretty much as I expected. Standard wards and alarms, but beefed up a bit, the way only a paranorm with money could manage. It probably took a few strong sorcerers working together to set everything up. And as far as I can tell, there's just one magic user's signature that's recent—probably whoever refills and maintains the wards."

Wish you could see this, Cicely said in my mind as I sipped my cocoa and nibbled at a cookie. Something happened in the woods.

His mindspeak was getting stronger and clearer the more he used it, and he was getting better at forming full sentences. I pondered his words for a moment while Sanka went into detail about the magic protections around the emperor's pocket world. Something happened in the woods?

I nudged my knee against Cicely's under the table. I couldn't really send words to him, but I hoped he could feel my curiosity.

Snake keeps watching Yukio. Grumpier than ever. It's amusing.

I arched my brows at that. Yukio grumpier than ever? That was quite a feat. I wondered what Sadavir had done to get under the pixie's skin. Especially if it was bad enough for Yukio to actually show that he was upset.

I forced myself to focus on what Sanka was saying. But I would definitely be asking questions later. "We made sure to leave enough traces of magic around the area that the emperor will definitely know there have been both shifters and fae poking around there. But I'm confident that with the charms I crafted for us, no one will be able to say exactly who was there."

"Perfect," Robin said happily. I knew she was probably hoping the emperor would assume members of the syndicate were poking around and punish the shifters and fae under his control accordingly. "Can you break us in if the vampire bitch doesn't?" she asked calmly.

Sanka chuckled. "It would take a shit-ton of my power, and I wouldn't be much use for anything else, but yeah. I can get us in and out, if our plan to use the vampire doesn't work. And from what Yuko said, some of the wild fae in the area might be willing to help if it comes to that. But I know the vampires won't be smart enough to sense us. We'll get in without needing to bust through. It'll be a pleasure to watch you eat that bastard and end his fucking rein of stupidity."

Martina snorted. "You make it sound so easy, Sanka, but we all know that getting into the pocket world is only half the battle. I still think we should wait for him to come out and ambush him then."

I knew what Robin would say before she even spoke. Her revenge plans didn't just hinge around getting rid of the emperor. She needed to get her birthright back, and there was no way he would carry around such a powerful artifact out here in the real world where it could easily be stolen. Not to mention, we had no idea to know if or when he would leave. We would have to go inside the pocket world to find the object containing Robin's power. And to carry out the rest of her murderous plans.

"No," our alpha princess said, proving me right and making my chest ache for her. "We're not only after the emperor. I don't want a single one of his minions left alive to carry on in his image. Everyone inside that pocket world dies." She huffed. "I'd simply blow it up right now with him and all of his followers and sycophants inside it, if I didn't need to get my birthright back. This will send a message to the rest of the syndicate, though. It will have them clamoring in fear and at each other's throats. All the easier to get rid of them when the time comes."

I didn't comment, didn't speak up. Robin knew how I felt about her plans to annihilate everyone associated with the syndicate and its rulers. She would be slaughtering at least some innocents. People who either weren't aware of the depth of the emperor's evil or who were only there because they felt they had no other choice. Maybe people who had simply made a poor decision and deserved another chance.

She knew how I felt about this. How I feared that the guilt of her actions would darken her soul. Speaking up now, in front of her whole court and a couple of outsiders would only make her dig her heels in more firmly. If there was one thing I had learned about paranormal hierarchies since my rescue from the cult, it was that an alpha couldn't stand having any perceived weakness called out, especially in front of others.

No, that I would do behind closed doors. Because I was still convinced that I would change her mind and alter her course. Yes, the emperor and the leaders of the various syndicate factions needed to go. So many paranorms were suffering under their rule. Less powerful paranorms were literally dying in the streets because they refused to pledge allegiance to the syndicate, or because they had somehow offended the people in power and been ostracized. Someone had to do something about it. And it was clear that someone was Robin and her rebel court. But she didn't have to lose herself in the process. Didn't have to become as wicked as the people she was set on destroying.

Dream later? Cicely asked in my mind. His concern was clear at the forefront of the emotions he sent my way. For Robin? For me? Probably both.

I nodded my head in answer. It had been a couple nights since he visited me in my dreams, and I missed that connection.

"We will proceed at the next full moon," Robin was saying. This wasn't news. Robin already had a rough plan in place for infiltrating the emperor's hideout, now that we knew where it was. She had just needed Sanka to confirm that he could break us in if ambushing the vampire queen during her regularly scheduled visit to the emperor didn't pan out. "Sanka will need to focus on spell crafting until then. Martina, if there are any weapon or equipment needs, we can go over that when we're done here. Yukio and I will go meet with a few of our contacts to form a contingency plan in case anything goes wrong and we need to disappear." She tapped her long nails on the tabletop, and I smelled smoke curling through the room again. Her voice was a purr of anticipation. "If we can avoid calling in all of those favors we've accumulated over the years, all the better. We'll be able to call them in when we cleanse the rest of the syndicate. Time to end this tiring game of hide and seek."

I shivered at the menace and anticipation in her voice and rippling through her aura. At that moment, she was a predator with prey in her sights. Robin had waited decades, patiently planned and schemed for ages to get to this point. She had dreamed of avenging her family and taking back her power nearly all her life. It was difficult not to get caught up in the wild, heady energy that filled the room as the alpha dragon's heart's desires finally came within her reach.

I was definitely going to need some time with Cicely tonight.

Chapter 4

Ruya

That night as I slept, Cicely entered my dreams.

The faun was in his true, unglamoured form here, and I gleefully drank him in with my eyes, the way I only could here, in this enchanted space. Dappled sunlight filtered down through towering, broad-leafed trees, turning his blond curls into gold and making his sun kissed skin glow with warmth. I reclined on a thick bed of moss that was softer than any real-life mattress. His hooves sank into the soft surface as he crouched down beside me.

I reached out and lazily trailed my fingers over the soft, curly brown hair that covered his lower legs, then glanced up to meet his bright green eyes. He was a forest creature, a spirit of the earth and growing things. He looked so at home here, even when he was hiding most of his lower body under long cargo shorts that tried to insert some sense of civility into our dream world.

"You're so beautiful like this," I told him truthfully, still petting his leg. "I wish you felt comfortable being yourself around everyone else."

He huffed a soft chuckle and shook his head at me. "I know you do. Honestly, I do too. It's just… O'Dell was very strict about lesser fae hiding their animal aspects in his court. Silly as it is, I still find it hard to break away from that ingrained demand." He draped his arms over his knees and sighed. His handsome face was so open and expressive. I was used to being blind. I didn't usually spend much time bemoaning my lack of vision, because seeing wasn't something I had much memory of. To me, being blind was just… normal. But here, now, seeing his face made me wish that I could read people so easily all the time.

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