“What notion?” Blair demanded.

“A way…how did he put it? To thumb our noses at Lilith. But—”

“I’m for that.” Blair patted Larkin’s arm. “Why don’t you go in. I’ll be right behind you. I just want a second with Moira.”

“All right. But don’t stay on your feet too long.”

“Listen to him, after he’s tossing you around in the air. I do wish you happy, Blair.”

“I want you to know I’m going to try, every day of my life, to make him happy. I want you to know that.”

“You do make him happy.” Moira angled her head. “We’re friends, aren’t we, you and I?”

“You, Glenna, Hoyt, Cian. Best friends I ever had in my life.”

“I feel the same, so I’m going to be honest with you. It will hurt when he goes. It will hurt my heart, and when he’s out of sight I’ll weep until my heart’s dry of tears. Then I’ll be light, and I’ll be happy. Because I know he’ll have what he needs, what he wants, what he deserves.”

“If there’s a way we can come back, to spend some time, to visit, you, his family, we’ll find it.”

“That’s a nice thought to hold on to. And I will. Come now. He’s right, you should be off your feet.”

“I think I feel better than I ever have in my life.”

“That’s love for you, but still, you’ll need your strength for what Cian has in mind.”

I t was nose-thumbing, Blair thought. And chest-beating. And it was perfect.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Glenna asked her.

“I am so up for this. It’s so in-your-face.” Blair grinned at Cian. “Good thinking.”

He looked up at the sky, watched the stars wink to life. “Good clear night for it. It’s not what you’d call battle strategy, but—”

“Damn straight it is. Demoralizing the enemy is always good strategy.” Blair turned the swords she held. “So I’m set?” she asked Glenna.

“You’re set.”

“Okay, handsome. Make like a dragon.”

“In a moment. First, I have something for you, and I want to give it to you here, in front of our circle. One of the symbols of Geall is the dragon. One of our symbols as well, you and I. So I want you to wear this, for our betrothal.”

He drew out a ring of bright gold shaped like a dragon.

“Glenna drew a picture of it when I told her what I’d like. And the goldsmith used it to make the ring.”

“It’s perfect,” she murmured when he slipped it on her finger.

“And to seal it.” He framed her face, kissed her warmly. And shot her a grin when he eased back. “Now let’s go thumb our noses at this bitch.”

He flashed into the dragon. Leaping onto his back, Blair lifted both swords high.

“T hey rose into the sky,” the old man said. “Across the moon and stars and the dark behind them. And over the world of Geall, those swords flashed flame for all to see. With them, the demon hunter carved these words into that sky.

“Bright blessings on Geall and all humankind. We,” she wrote in fire, “are the future.”

The old man lifted the wine that sat beside him. “It was said that the queen of the vampires stood below, cursing, shaking her fists as those words shone bright as the sun.”

He sipped the wine, held up a hand when the children spread around him protested that couldn’t be the end of the tale.

“Oh, there’s more to tell. More indeed. But not tonight. Go on now, for I was told there’d be gingercakes in the kitchen for a treat before bedtime. I’ve a fondness for gingercake.”

When he was alone, and the room quiet again, he sipped his wine. He nodded off with the fire warming his bones, and his mind drifting to the last of the story.

To the time of knowing.