“And to you.”

I sighed as I hung up the phone, wondering whether I’d done the right thing. Black and white no longer seemed to be so absolute anymore. It was getting harder and harder to distinguish which was which.

Nora left an hour later, Rene’s borrowed cab right behind the one Catalina had called to take her to the airport. I stood at the window in Drake’s bedroom and watched as Rene helped put Nora’s meager belongings into the back of the taxi.

“My life sucks,” I said, leaning my forehead against the window. The door behind me closed. I didn’t have to turn to know it was Drake. I felt his presence as a warm, tingling energy.

“You are having a bad period, I agree. But it will smooth out.”

“Nora has left me,” I pointed out, leaning back into him as he wrapped his arms around me, his hands on my belly.

“But she may return. You do not know what the future may hold.”

“That’s what Rene said. He also said Istvan is OK.”

Drake’s warm breath touched my ear, making me shiver. His lips following shortly behind made me melt against him. “I know. I just spoke with him. He is getting proper care. It is you I am concerned about. Are you all right?”

“No. Everything is ruined.”

“Everything is not ruined.”

“Yes, it is. Istvan is hurt.”

His lips moved to my neck, hitting the one spot that drove me crazy. “You just said he is mending.”

“I’m a prince of Hell.”

He bit my earlobe. “That does not mean you have to remain so.”

“Jim is calling up everyone it knows and is telling them it’s second in command, and if they want any favors, to get the appropriate bribes in order now.” I turned in his arms and buried my hands in his hair.

“You should never have given it a cell phone. I will cancel the service.”

His eyes were so beautiful, so bright with emotion, it hurt to look at them. I dropped my gaze, but Drake wouldn’t allow me to try to hide my shame. He lifted my chin and kissed each eyelid as hot tears squeezed out of them.

“I’m damned,” I said, the words as hard and abrupt as the pain inside me.

“You are proscribed. There is a difference. Kincsem, do not hide yourself from me.” His thumb swept gently along my cheekbone, brushing away the tears of blood.

“This, too, we will overcome. Do not give up hope, for I have not.”

I shook my head, fatalism filling me. “I have no hope. I’m doomed.”

“Is that what Rene said?”

I glanced up at him, a little confused. “No, as a matter of fact he didn’t. He said something about one path ending and another beginning. Why?”

Drake was silent for a moment. “You said you suspected that Rene was not who he seemed. Have you not yet figured out just who he is?”

“No, other than I know he’s not mortal. The guy at the Guardian place said he was a”—I dug through my memory for the word—”daimon. That was it. Do you know what it means?”

“Yes. It is Latin.”

“For?” I bit Drake’s chin. “Come on, this has been driving me nuts. I need to know who Rene is.”

“Daimon is a word meaning fate,” he answered slowly, his eyes smoldering with familiar passion.

“Rene is ... fate?” I asked, nibbling on his delicious lower lip, my hands sliding down to his back, and farther down to his oh-so-delectable butt.

“One of them, yes.” Drake’s hands did a little exploration of their own.

My heart dropped as I thought about what fate had in store for me. I pulled away from him and turned to look back out the window. “I could just punch Rene in the nose for what he’s done to me.”

“He has done nothing. Fates do not make your life, kincsem. They simply assist you to follow the path you’ve chosen.”

“Oh. Well, that would explain a lot. But it doesn’t change things, Drake. Not even your mind-numbingly fabulous kisses change anything. I’m still damned. Everything has been stripped from me. Everything I wanted and worked for is gone or ruined, all because of my incompetence.”

“You have me. And I love you.”

I slumped against the window again for a moment before turning and flinging myself in his arms, kissing him with every morsel of love in my being. “Boy, you sure know how to squelch a pity party, don’t you?”

“It was an excellent attempt, but such a maudlin attitude does not suit my mate.”

“The red dragons are at war with us. And now Fiat—” I started to say.

He kissed the words right out of my mouth. “That, too, we will deal with. We have been at war with the red dragons before. Sooner or later Chuan Ren will realize that war is not the answer. Until that time, I will keep the sept safe.”

‘And Fiat? If I’m technically his mate now, what does that mean to us?”

“Nothing. I will determine what to do about Fiat as soon as I know what his intentions are.”

I looked at the man I held in my arms, his eyes blazing his emotions, every angle of his face as well known to me as my own, his being so closely bound to mine that I knew no one would ever be able to separate us again. Somewhere along the line, I’d taken him into my heart, and he’d filled the empty spaces in me I’d not known existed. I nodded, my throat tight with unshed tears. “Your heart rate is up,” I said, my lips on his pulse point.

“You have that effect on me,” he answered, a smile in his joke.

“Well, you know what they say: When two hearts race, both win.”

He lifted my chin to kiss me again. “Who said that?”

“I don’t know. I saw it in on the inside of a Dove chocolate wrapper. But it fits, don’t you think?”

“Yes, it fits.” His hands slid around to my stomach again. “Does my child rest in there?”

Fear pricked at me for a moment, but as I stood there clasped tightly to Drake, I realized that there wasn’t anything I had to bear alone. Fiat, the demon lords, Nora and the Guardians, even Rene the master of fate—all of them could be faced so long as we were together.

“I don’t know,” I whispered, peeking up through my eyelashes at him. “I really don’t know.”

He nuzzled me, the gesture so unlike the stern, arrogant, unbending Drake, I turned into a big puddle of goo.