Rhia had taken her time to get to Egypt. Two thousand miles over two days gave her the time to think about everything Kate told her and figure out exactly what she wanted to ask. With the confirmation and she needed from Keoni and Ares, her return was not so leisurely. She flew fifteen hours straight, pushing herself harder and further than ever until she reached the gardens where Nova and Madeline lived in Paris and collapsed.

At first, the two women thought Rhia was drunk again. She was exhausted, distraught, and rambling, unable to hold up her own weight and barely able string together a comprehensible sentence. They half-carried, half-dragged her to the couch where, after chugging as much water as she could without vomiting, she told them everything.

Nolan was alive.

Even in her near-delusional state from physical and emotional exhaustion, Madeline believed every word. In just a moment, the fractured bond between mother and daughter was repaired. The ease of her acceptance and the fierce determination to believe sent Rhia tumbling into a fresh wave of tears. With her mother on her side, she really felt she could do anything. It was the first time she'd fallen into a completely sober, dreamless sleep in over four months.

Nova had been harder to convince. Rhia didn't take it personally. The canine shifter was a highly trained spy; it was her job to take in a lot of conflicting information and try to weed out what was and wasn't true. It was a bizarre contrast to Maddox's optimistic, almost boyish attitude and charm that somehow worked for their relationship.

She also knew that Nova was just protecting Madeline, who was often blindly supportive of her children. If Rhia believed Nolan was alive, then Madeline would too. If Maddox thought it was a good idea to inject himself into the Organization, she would support him. Nova, who had been living with Madeline since finding out she was pregnant, knew better than anyone how devesting false hope could be.

After sleeping a solid ten hours, Rhia, Madeline, and Nova sat down to talk with Bastian on speaker phone between them. Bastian was still working on deciphering the information on the USB drive Kate had given them but was confident he would have something to show them in a few more days. Madeline instantly offered to turn Rhia's make-up birthday dinner into more of a meeting where they could share the news and make a plan of action.

It was lucky that Atticus and Zesstra were still in Paris and were willing to come, and it was a downright miracle that Cameron, and Val were able to make time in their schedules to come. Rhia hadn't talked to Atticus since his call to tell her what happened, and she hadn't seen him since before that. She'd almost forgotten how big the polar bear was, and how much bigger he looked compared to Zesstra's tall, but otherwise petite form.

But it wasn't until the last of the Wes family arrived that a part of that depression slammed back into Rhia's chest. Cameron was a near-perfect copy of Nolan, from the intensity of his eyes, down to the tone of his voice. Anyone who didn't know the family would have mistaken them for brothers, rather than father and son. The biggest difference was the empty left sleeve where his arm used to be. An arm he'd lost because of her. "Hey, Rhia," he offered her a shaky smile when she opened the door. She could only imagine he felt the same pain seeing her again.

Instead of answering, she reached out to hug him. She hadn't realized how much she missed their friendship, especially when he returned her hug with a tight squeeze.

"My turn!" Val appeared out of nowhere and threw her arms around Rhia and a tighter-than necessary hug. "Oh, my god, it's so good to see you. I'm so sorry I couldn't invite you to the coronation, I really, really wanted to, but... you know, rules and traditions and whatever."

"It's fine," Rhia laughed and pulled back to hold her at arm's length. "Look at you, though. Not very royal, your majesty."

Val was dressed in knee-length leggings and an oversized t-shirt falling off her shoulders. Her long black hair thrown up in a messy bun, and a perfect face of makeup attempted to hide the dark shadows under her bright blue eyes. "I have not gotten to dress like a real person in weeks," she explained. "I swear, the money we waste on stylists..."

"It's not wasted," Cameron corrected her. "You are the queen now. You have to present yourself as such."

Val waited until her father turned away before rolling her eyes at his back. "Speaking of," she jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the man standing a few feet behind her. "Meet my shadow, Major Jake 'Pain-in-my-Ass' Sassarman."

"It's an honor, Great One," Jake bowed. "And I am terribly sorry for your loss. Lord Wes was a great man."

"Jake's the head of my personal security and apparently that means he has to follow me everywhere," Val explained as they walked through the house to the dining room where Madeline was already beginning to host them. "Even to places where he's not invited!"

"It's for your own protection, your majesty," Jake answered dutifully.

Val turned on her heel to face him and gave him a dark scowl before gesturing wildly at Rhia. "What more protection do I need when I'm in the same house as a mother-fucking dragon?"

"Language," Cameron called from the other room.

Val looked incredulously at Rhia. "I'm the queen of the vampires, and I'm still treated like a gods-damned kid."

"You are only seventeen, my lady," Jake reminded her, and despite his best efforts to hide it, Rhia saw his mouth curl into a smirk.

Val's jaw tightened as her face went pink under the concealer, and she pointed at the door. "Congratulations, Sassarman, now you get to wait outside! I hope it rains!"

"As you wish, your grace." Jake held his hands up in a shrug, turned, and started back for the door.

Val glared at his back. "I can't fire him," she said to Rhia, loud enough that Jake would definitely hear. "But I can make him miserable enough to quit!"

Rhia's eyes also narrowed, but for a different reason. A memory nibbled at the back of her mind. She was sure that Nolan mentioned something about the Sassarman family, but... what was it? It wasn't good, she remembered that much. Maybe it wasn't him, specifically... No, it couldn't be. Neither Cameron nor Bastian would let someone with a shady history so close to Val.

Just as she started to follow Val back to the dining room, Jake opened the door. He let out a yelp of surprise and fear and leapt back. Rhia only needed one look to see who it was. The crack in the dam of emotions split wide open, and she flew passed the vampire and straight into the embrace of the newcomer.

Nekros's arms wrapped around her and pulled her tight against him as she burst into uncontrollable sobs. His magic and warmth crashed into her, filling her with all the love and affection and support she hadn't realized that she'd been missing. She had still been working on building her relationship with her biological father before The Great Tragedy, and she had instinctively pushed him away like she had everyone else.

Having no idea how to help his daughter, Nekros had done what he was told and gone after his sister. He did know how to help Luna, as he'd done that many times before, though not quite to the same extent. But he hadn't realized the gravity of his mistake until he felt the weight of Rhia's grief and loneliness. "I shouldn't have left," his soothing voice seemed to come from all directions. "I'm sorry, Rhia. You needed me far more than Luna."

"I told you to go," she let out a strangled laugh and scrubbed at her eyes. "Besides, I wasn't exactly good company for the last four months."

He brushed his hand over her cheek to wipe the tears away and looked hesitantly inside the house. Jake had plastered himself against the wall, staring wide-eyed at the pair of dragons. Again, that uncertainty nagged at the edge of her mind. Jake didn't need to be a vampire to sense the tension and suspicion, and he muttered something about waiting in the gardens, before vanishing. Rhia closed the door as well to give them more privacy. "You don't trust that vampire." It wasn't a question, and Nekros had gone noticeably stiff.

"I don't know. There's something about his family name, but I can't remember what Nolan said."

Again, he brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. "Is it true what Ares said? Is he alive?"

"I... I really want it to be true. The demons said—and I know they aren't exactly the best source—that we're still connected. Keoni and Ares think they're telling the truth, they believe he's alive, so I... I have to hold onto that." She glanced at the door again briefly and bit her lip. "I haven't told them all yet. Bastian wanted to show them the information on the Organization at the same time."

"Do you think they had a hand in it?"

While his voice hadn't changed, the mere mention of the group that had done so much harm to them both had his temper boiling, and Rhia could feel it in his magic. Taking a breath, she focused on remaining as calm as possible, so her own wild feelings wouldn't tip him further over the edge. "I don't know. I have no evidence to show that they did or didn't, I don't even have any real evidence that he's alive except for the word of a demon that claims to have felt my soul. I don't know enough about demon magic, or magic at all, to be confident in anything. The demons said that the Organization isn't our only enemy, so maybe it's not them. But I think it's worth considering, at least."

"Then we will leave no stone unturned. Ares is gathering the other dragons, and we will speak with them together."

"Thank you."

"It is our responsibility as dragons to care for our kin. It is not a shared belief, but I never stopped considering Nolan as one of the kin, and we have failed him for far too long. We will find him."

His smile was so genuine, and she could feel his certainty through their connection. Tears glistened in her eyes, and Rhia buried her face in his chest again. Hope swelled in her heart with the assurances from Keoni, Ares, Bastian, Madeline, and now Nekros. If all of them believed, then she could do this. She would get him back.

The door opened, and Bastian appeared. There was no surprise, or fear, or even hesitation as he turned his attention to Nekros. "Great One," he bowed slightly. "It's an honor to finally meet you in person."

"Bastian Wes," Nekros nodded and accepted his hand. "The feeling is mutual. The kin speak highly of you."

"They do?" Rhia looked between them.

Bastian just smiled mysteriously and nodded towards the house. "We're about to start."

"Right," she shrugged off the revelation that Bastian of all people had a connection to the dragonkin and looked to Nekros again. "Will you join us? We're going to talk about the Organization first, but if you're not comfortable, I can give you the details later."

Nekros chuckled and stepped towards the doorway. "Worry not, Rhia," he assured her with a twinkle in his vibrant green eyes. "I promise not to shift in the middle of Madeline's dining room and destroy the house."

Rhia rolled her eyes and followed him and Bastian to the dimmed dining room where a laptop was set up to a projector aimed at the empty wall. Val and Zesstra were talking in low, excited voices while Atticus and Cameron watched in questioning awe. Judging from the last few sentences Rhia caught before the room went quiet, they were discussing the hypocrisy behind the judgement and expenses of how a queen or princess was expected to present herself compared to kings and princes.

On Cameron's other side sat Madeline with Nova, who was snacking on a bowl of popcorn balanced on her protruding stomach and staring longingly at the bottle of wine in the middle of the table. Jake must have gone out back as he was nowhere to be seen, and Rhia was thankful for that and the silencing spells Zesstra put up around the room. If it turned out that Jake couldn't be trusted, then at least he wouldn't be privy to the details of this meeting.

Before any more attention could be put on Nekros's appearance, Bastian cleared his throat, and pulled all eyes on himself. "Thanks for coming. I'm not going to waste anyone's time, so we're going to cut straight to the point. Last week, Rhia and I were contacted by Katalin Birch. Some of you may recognize the name from the report issued by Seelie King Oberon a few months ago.

"For those who do not remember or know, the short story is that Miss Birch claimed to have a connection to the group we have been referring to as the Organization. It was reported that five of the Seven Sins—two of which are her parents, and one is her mate—were supposed to present her to the Counsel for questioning. That did not happen.

"In our meeting, Miss Birch revealed that her connection to the Organization is the same as Rhia's. She claimed to be, in the words of the Organization, another Entity. She told us that Rhia and herself, along with the rest of the entities, were intended to be weapons. For Miss Birch's part, she has the ability to command an army of demons, and she speculated that the Organization wanted Rhia's ability to bond with the dragonkin. She then handed us this information."

He pushed a button on the projector. After a minute, the image of a spreadsheet came into view, and the room sat in stunned silence. Rhia felt sick. Hearing it from Kate had been one thing. But to see those twenty names followed by column after column of additional information was quite another.

Name; breed; maternal source; paternal source; phase one; designation; custodian; phase two; phase three; status.

And right there on the third and eleventh lines were her and Kate's names.

Rhiannon; Dragon; Phoenix; Nekros; Success; Charlie: Kincaid; Failure; N/A; Lost—kill on sight.

Katalin; Demon (? Sin); Wrath; Lust; Success; Kilo; Birch; Failure; N/A; Lost—kill on sight.

All the other names followed similar formats. Aside from herself and Kate, the one labeled Delta was the only one to fail phase two and was also marked as lost. India had successfully passed phase two but failed in phase three and were marked as eliminated.

Four failures. Out of twenty names. At the top, Alfa was marked as inactive with no additional notes, and at the bottom, the last five names were written as pending in one of either phase two or three.

That left ten. Ten successful entities that were, according to Kate, completely brainwashed and entirely under the control of the Organization. Weapons. Creatures that could and would kill their own kind if they were ordered to.

"How recent is this?" Atticus asked in a breath. His usual stoic mask cracked slightly, and his knuckles clenched tightly on the table.

"We can't be sure," Bastian answered. "Miss Birch received this the night of the Great Tragedy, but I haven't been able to break through the encryption to see the raw data. My personal opinion is that this was created maybe a month prior to being given to her."

"Can we trust her source?"

"Miss Birch claims that the entity 'Bravo' is the one that gave her this information. She was very clear that we should not put our faith in him unless we can guarantee his safety and the utter destruction of the Organization."

Everyone turned their eyes to the second name on the list.

Tytus; Unknown (Ref. 1962-04B-20); N/A; Spec. 04B-20; Success; Bravo; Krawiec; Success; Success; Active.

"Tytus, huh?" Nova muttered, her eyes narrowing in thought. "I wonder why their breed is unknown."

"It looks like how a lawyer would refer to another case," Cameron spoke up. "If this is just a summary database, then there might be a limit on how much information can be stored on the file."

"Almost everything is hyperlinked to another document or database," Bastian demonstrated by clicking on Ref. 1962-04B20 and causing an error message to appear. "Without access to the rest of the system, we won't know what they're referencing."

"Lord Shaw," Nova turned her eyes on her boss. "What are the chances there is enough left of the Tahoe computers to work with this?"

"Everything we managed to save in Tahoe is under heavy encryption," Atticus lifted his shoulders in a noncommittal shrug. "I wouldn't get my hopes up, but... it is possible, I suppose."

"It might be worth checking the Mongolia site as well, if Lady Xiao is willing to help us."

"Can we trust her?" Bastian's voice dropped a few more degrees. His own trust in the Counsel had fallen significantly after what Kate told them. He only trusted Atticus because he was so close to Nolan, and Val's title was little more than honorary so early in her political career. "I would rather keep this as quiet as possible until we know more."

Atticus bristled at Bastian's suspicion, and his lip curled defensively at the other male. "Whatever that girl said about the Counsel, she does not mean the shifters. I trust all my fellow representatives with my life."

"It's not a statement against you, Atticus," Bastian's eyes narrowed a fraction. "This is not a case of one breed over another. It is the individual we must consider. And if you have even a single doubt regarding any of the other shifters, then we cannot bring them in. The fewer who know about this, the better, anyway. We can't risk the Organization finding out that we have this information."

"Would it matter?" Zesstra asked in a small voice. "I do not see what we can accomplish with this information, other than knowing that there are others.

"If they hold to the same pattern as they did with me and Kate," Rhia's throat felt thick as she spoke. "Phase two is where they put us in the world to see how we blend in with humans. Just like me and Kate, they'll all be in a database somewhere. It seems they let us keep the names our biological parents give us, then have us go through the human system to be adopted by the... custodian." She glanced nervously at Madeline, who was managing to keep a straight face and her eyes on the screen. "At the very least, we might be able to look for the ones still in phase two and get them out. The problem is finding them."

"How can that be an issue?" Zesstra was incensed, her glamour flickering in response to her anger. "Surely, someone has to notice that these children are being abandoned!"

"Over seven thousand children are abandoned in the United States alone every year," Cameron sighed, and started rubbing the stump of his arm. "Ninety-eight percent of them are human passing, so end up in human foster systems."

"Human passing?" Nekros snarled, and the whole room went still as every pair of eyes turned to him. "Perhaps to any of you. Did they even once consider contacting the dragonkin? Any of the kin would have taken one look at Rhiannon and known she was not human. Quintiles would have recognized her immediately as Phoenix's daughter!"

"Why would we?" Cameron barked back, his eyes flaring red at the mention of the other dragon and the edges of his shadow darkened. "You've isolated yourselves from the rest of the world. We didn't know half-bloods even existed until last year. Unless they have the eyes, why would we consider approaching that bastard brother of yours?!"

"Hey, hey," Rhia whispered, sliding between Nekros and Cameron. His eyes flicked down to hers, and the fierce glow dimmed somewhat as she continued in the same low, calm tone. "It's not their fault, remember? It was the Organization. They planned it out so I would end up in the human system. They were ready for everything."

Slowly, he exhaled, and his chest and shoulders relaxed. "I apologize, Cameron Wes," he said, his voice back to the low, soft tenor.

"Me too," Cameron grunted and looked away.

Rhia returned to her spot, but not before giving him a lopsided grin and saying through the link, "Besides, would you have really wanted me to spend my childhood years under Quin's supervision?"

The corner of his mouth quirked up, and the rest of his tension disappeared. "Madeline did a far better job raising you than any of us could."

"You wanted me. You loved me. That would have gone a hell of a long way. It still does. Don't sell yourself so short."

"Oh gods," Val's gasp pulled the two dragons from their private conversation, and everyone turned their attention to the young queen. She had gone pale, and her hands were shaking as she raised them to cover her mouth. "Uncle Bast... is this... everything on the file?"

"Yes," he narrowed his eyes and looked at the laptop instead of the projected image, trying to see what she did.

"Then why..." she had to swallow because her mouth had gone so dry. "Why is there an option to turn the filters off?"

Bastian dragged the cursor to the top left side of the screen and clicked on the icon Val pointed out. The document paled and the cursor turned into a spinning wheel as it processed the action. A second later, the list expanded. After a solid minute, the number at the bottom changed from twenty to over five thousand names. Each new row followed the same format as before. The only difference being the word failure in the phase one column and eliminated as their status.

Silence. Even a human could have heard a pin drop in a carpet, it had gone so quiet. Nova was the first to move, standing up quickly and leaving the room. A second later, they heard her retching in the bathroom down the hall. Madeline got up to go to her but wobbled dangerously. Rhia barely got to her before she collapsed into a dead faint.

With Atticus's help, they took her upstairs to her bed. Neither wanted to leave her alone, but Nova came in with two bottles of water and cans of ginger soda, and unceremoniously kicked them out. Everyone had left the dining room. Bastian was halfway through lighting a cigarette before he was completely out the door with his bother close behind. Nekros, too, had gone outside, and Rhia knew instantly that he was feeling trapped by the confines of the house. Zesstra stood in the kitchen, breathing heavily, and Atticus went to her.

The only one left behind was Val. She had taken over her uncle's spot and was scrolling through the document. "It's okay, Val," Rhia said gently. "Take a break. I think we all need a second."

"I'm okay," Val shook her head without taking her eyes off the screen. Her voice trembled slightly, but the color had already come back to her cheeks. "This is insane. Like, actually, fucking crazy. Who the fuck do these people think they are? What do they want?"

"Control?" Rhia sighed and sat next to her. "World domination? What does any large government-like body want with an army?"

"They have an army. They had the technology to take down and kidnap three dragons almost thirty years ago. This," she jabbed at the screen with her finger. "Isn't for an army it's... it's just sick."

"I know. But now we know about it. Now we can do something."

Val started tapping her nail against the laptop and her eyes glazed over in thought. "Why tell me any of this?" she asked slowly. "You do know my titles are basically for show, right? I can't... do anything. I don't have any real power. I can barely get my advisors to explain what I'm signing. Anything I ask my attendants goes through the advisors first, anywhere I go has to be approved by them, and anything I want to do for my people is passed off as a child's dream and not how the real world works. Without Atticus and the other shifter representatives, I wouldn't have even been allowed to accept the seat on the Counsel. Even my dad can't do much to change that, all the vampires see him as a useless cripple which is horseshit. He's the one who should be king, not me!"

Val was starting to hyperventilate and shake uncontrollably. Rhia stood up, pulled Val's chair back, and knelt in front of her. "Hey, Val, look at me, okay?" she said gently. "Deep breaths. In for five, out for five."

It took her several tries to breathe evenly, and eventually the shaking stopped. "I don't know what I'm doing," she whispered.

"Neither does anyone else when they first start. Do you think anyone gets dropped into a position of power with everything lined up and ready to go? Not a chance. I know it sucks. It really, really sucks. But think about this, for a second. The vampires are a monarchy. Your advisors have no power without you. They can't get rid of you, because the next in line is your brother, and guess who speaks for him until he's old enough to accept the crown. Cameron or Bastian. They need you. No one rules alone."

Val looked up, frowning. "What did you just say?"

"No one rules alone. You do have power, Val. You just need something to tip the scales to your side. Your dad is a lawyer. No one knows scummy politics like lawyers."

"I resent that," Cameron said jokingly as he came back into the room. Val finally laughed and leaned back as her father started rubbing her back reassuringly. "Rhia's right, Val. Right now, we play the game the way the advisors want us to. When the time is right, we'll make our move."

Val nodded again, and Rhia backed away to give her space again. Atticus and Bastian had returned to the room as well, speaking in low voices, and she knew there wasn't going to be a better—or worse—time than this. "There's something else I needed to ask you and Atticus," she said carefully. She also watched for Nekros's reaction, as he had been the one to warn her against exactly what she was about to ask. "I need to talk to Aarón Guerrero."

The silence grew stiff and awkward. Val and Atticus exchanged an uncomfortable look while Nekros linked to Rhia. "I do not think that is wise, Rhia,"

"Why?"

Atticus was the one to ask what the rest were all thinking, and he had every right to be wary. The news that the werewolves had been given a seat on the Counsel even after everything had received mixed reviews. The fact that the new vampire queen had endorsed the decision and had approached them for peace negotiations had also gotten a mixed reception. Some thought it was about damn time. Others thought it was a ridiculous idea and that the wolves should be punished even further.

Thankfully, it was Bastian who answered for her. "Because for the last four months, the King of the Lycanthrope has been claiming that he was the one who killed Nolan. When we met with Miss Birch, she was able to confirm that Rhia and Nolan are bound as soulmates. She felt Rhia's soul and through that bond, told us that it was impossible for Nolan to be dead." He looked directly at his brother, then down at his niece. "Our father is alive."

~