“All we would need,” Barrons said, “are the Nighthawks.”

The world seemed to slow down. Perry felt very small all of a sudden and glanced at Garrett for comfort. The word “war” seemed to hover in the air. She knew what it meant. People would die. Friends and enemies alike. But hope also shimmered in the air between them. No more bloodied bodies and riots.

“Is that your cost?” Garrett asked. “For your cure?”

Surprisingly Blade shook his head. “You’ll ’ave the cure. You’ve me word on it, regardless o’ what you decide.”

Garrett glanced at Lynch.

“It’s your decision,” Lynch replied. “They’re your men now.”

“Aye, and if I don’t agree, I’ll be the one forced to send them after you once the prince consort gets wind of this,” Garrett snapped. A red flush crept up his throat and he turned away, clasping both hands behind his head as he stared at the study wall.

Rosalind shot her a look but Perry ignored it. This was his decision to make, and she refused to see him coerced into it by his friends.

Crossing toward him, she reached out and stroked the hard leather carapace of the back of his body armor to let him know that he wasn’t alone in this.

“What do you think?” Garrett asked.

Perry considered the question. She didn’t particularly like the answer that was forming in her mind, but she couldn’t very well turn her back on the truth. “If it doesn’t happen now, then it will happen eventually. I think it’s inevitable. You only have to look back on the last few years and increasing tensions between humans and the Echelon.

“The prince consort has crushed too many riots, forced martial law down upon the city more than once, and increased blood taxes to a dangerous level. Once he rebuilds the draining factories, he’ll have to put the blood taxes up again to fill them. The working class will rise by themselves, sooner or later, and he will crush them.” Or we’ll be forced to.

“And you?” he murmured. “If I make this decision, then I’m throwing you straight into the heart of this war.”

Perry knew immediately what held him back. She’d nearly died, and he had watched it happen.

“Now or then, Garrett. It will come eventually.”

He stroked her face, gentle fingers brushing against her cheek. “I’m afraid. For you.”

“I know,” she replied, cupping his hand and turning her lips into the palm of it. “Then we fight back to back. The way we’ve always done.”

The doubt slowly faded from his eyes. “I want this,” he admitted, and she knew he was thinking of Mary Reed, forced into prostitution by rising taxes and the Echelon’s greed. Of all those women and children he hadn’t been able to save over the years.

Perry’s lips curled up in a rusty smile. “We survived against the Moncrieff and Hague… We can survive anything, Garrett. With you by my side, I know there’s nothing to fear.”

“Your father is going to have my head. I promised him I’d keep you safe.”

That surprised her. “When did you—?”

“We had a certain type of discussion this morning, while you were sleeping,” he replied.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

A knowing light came into his eyes. “It’s the type of discussion a father has with the man who’s bedding his daughter. Consider it between him and me.” The humor in his eyes faded and he turned back to the room in general. “I don’t entirely like this. I think we need to consider the effects of what we speak of before we commit to such a course.” Garrett met all of their eyes in turn. “But for what it’s worth, it’s done. You have the Nighthawks.”

Both Lynch and Barrons let out a breath of relief.

Garrett, however, wasn’t finished. “But first, there is something else to plan. Perry is going to do me the honor of becoming my consort.”

“I am?” she asked, arching a brow at him.

“You wouldn’t want me to break two promises to your father, would you?” he asked, that devilish little smile she loved so much tickling at his lips.