“You ready to stand up?” Cypher asked her, drawing her attention away from the others. She looked up at him and nodded.

“Definitely, I seriously need to p...” She stopped in mid-sentence as she considered her company. Cypher laughed. “Do you need some privacy?”

“That would be good,” she told him. She walked off into the trees, promising not to go too far and making Cypher promise not to follow, though she could tell that he didn’t like her going off alone.

When Lilly returned she saw that Thalion and Cypher were deep in conversation. She wasn’t really sure what to do with herself so she leaned against a tree and tried not to stare at the warlock warriors, while at the same time trying to take in as much as she could by nonchalantly casting glances in their direction.

“You’re a good fit.”

Lilly jumped at the deep voice that had come from right beside her. She turned and had to look up to see a tall, wide man, with short dark hair, big green eyes, and a sweet smile.

“I’m Gerick,” he told her. “I’m Cypher’s general.”

Lilly nodded. “It’s nice to meet you Gerick. Um, what did you mean, I’m a good fit?”

“For him,” he nodded towards Cypher. “You bring him balance.”

“How can you tell,” Lilly asked, as her forehead wrinkled in question.

“There is a peace about him that I have not seen since he was very, very young.”

Lilly watched Cypher talk to Thalion and she thought about how he had looked when she first met him. He was still incredibly handsome, but she had to agree that some of the stress that had been on his face then, was no longer present. Even with everything they had been through and would undoubtedly be going through soon, Cypher did seem oddly relaxed. His eyes came up and met hers and he smiled at her. She smiled back and she agreed with Gerick, she and Cypher, for whatever messed up reason, were a good fit.

Q

“Peri.”

Peri jumped at the voice behind her. She pressed her hand to her heart as she turned and met Cyn’s stare.

“Are you trying to kill me? Crap, give me a warning or something next time.”

A single eyebrow rose on Cyn’s face. “I asked you to show me where you were.”

“Yes, but you didn’t say you were coming now,” Peri snapped. She stood in the field where only a day ago, a massacre between the packs was at its beginning. Vasile had once again proven why he was the strongest of their race. When other Alphas had tried to get their wolves under control and failed, Vasile’s power alone brought them to their knees.

“What are you doing out here?” Cyn asked.

Peri glanced back at the field that she had been staring at before the other fae had arrived. “It’s a long story,” Peri answered.

“Isn’t italways,” Cyn retorted as she walked over to stand next to her mentor and longtime friend.

Cyn waited quietly, knowing that sometimes Peri just needed a captive audience for her to start a tale.

“Okay, so the damn wolves can’t keep themselves out of trouble,” she began and Cyn grinned to herself as Peri told her, in only a way that Peri could, the events that had taken place. Cyn listened quietly and when Peri was finished relaying her story, she decided that she would take her battle with the Draheim over the wolves and their mates any day.

“So, that’s my mess,” Peri told her, as she folded her arms across her chest. “How goes it with the Warlock King and the human?”

Cyn smiled. “Well, they’re not near as bad as your wolves,”

Peri snorted. “For some reason I believe you.”

“I told you that I had a surprise for you,” Cyn reminded her.

“Yes, and you know how I hate surprises, so please tell me that Lilly isn’t somehow knocked up, or that Cypher hasn’t been surreptitiously plotting with Mona all along because she’s having his secret love child.”

Cyn rolled her eyes. “What’s with all the baby talk?”

“Jen’s pregnant, the Fates want her kid, and Decebel just might kill anything or anyone who comes near her at any time. Sorry it’s a touchy subject.”

“Okay, well breathe easy then because no one is having anyone’s love child. However,” Cyn paused and cleared her throat, “Thalion is sort of involved.”

Peri’s head snapped up as she looked at Cyn.

“The Elf Prince is here?” Peri’s eyes widened.

Cyn nodded. “We sort of needed something he had.”

“Yeah, I bet you did,” Peri muttered.

“Perizada, we are not going down that road so just forget it.” Cyn nearly sounded like a jaded teenager.

“It was bound to happen one day. You two have been swooning over one another for centuries now. Just go ahead and get you a taste so you can be done with it.”

Cyn shook her head in exasperation. “This isn’t about me or Thalion or us together. Cypher needed more information about opening the veil to the underworld. He had planned to get it from his brother. As I told you, that plan sort of got crushed by a Draheim, so we had to resort to plan B.”

“Otherwise known as, Plan Hot Freaking Elf Prince Come Light My Fire,” Peri laughed, when Cyn crossed her arms and began tapping her foot.

“You done yet?” Cyn asked, with a scowl.

Peri laughed, but finally raised her hand. “Yeah, yeah okay I’m done.” She leaned her head back, stretching her neck and feeling the slight strain in it relax just a little. “So, is Thalion able to help?”