She tried to keep her response as quiet and noncommittal as possible. “You sound pretty fed up.”

He bit out, “I’m sick to death of the lot of them. Every year the council goes through the same damn arguments. Even Dominic is interested only in doing what is best for him.”

Unsettled, she chewed her lip. After a moment, she said gently, “Since it makes you so unhappy, would you ever consider stepping down?”

“What makes you think I can?” The sharp bitterness in his look lanced through her. “My sire set me on this task, remember?”

Melly sucked in a breath. Carling, his sire, had once been Queen of the Nightkind demesne, but a long time ago, she had set Julian to be Nightkind King while she became a member of the Elder tribunal.

So very much had happened since that long-ago political maneuver. Melly was sure she had only heard a fraction of the entire story. When she and Julian had been together, he hadn’t discussed it much, but even then she could tell there was tension between him and Carling.

Then last year, a series of fast-paced events had jolted through the demesnes of the Elder Races. Some of it had involved the Nightkind. Melly had heard the news from a distance.

All she really knew for certain was that Carling and Julian had had some kind of falling out, and he had banished Carling from the demesne. Carling had also lost her seat on the Elder tribunal, and she had even been incarcerated for several months, while Rune, one of the most Powerful sentinels from the Wyr demesne, had left his service and mated with her.

Since Carling was Julian’s sire, the only way his banishment of her could be effective is if he never saw her again, because with one meeting and a single order, Carling could take control of him again.

That also meant that he would continue to carry out whatever orders Carling had already given him. He would never have any choice. He would never be able to walk away. He would work and work at those orders, until either somebody killed him, or Carling herself released him.

Horrified pity shook through Melly. She whispered, “Would you want to step down, if you could?”

His expression went blank, and for a moment, he looked utterly empty.

“I have no idea what I would want to do, if I could.” His brows drew together. “But I think I would like to take a vacation and find out.”

She tightened her hand on his. “What happened last year between you and Carling?”

“That’s a long story, and neither one of us came out of it looking good.”

“Whatever happened, it was a strong enough disagreement for you to banish her.”

“I had to.” His reply was as harsh as his expression. “Her behavior had gotten too erratic. Sometimes it happens with very old Vampyres, and she’s one of the oldest. She kept giving me contradictory orders, and they were literally tearing me apart. At least by banishing her from the Nightkind demesne, I can keep her from telling me to do anything else.”

She said, “Julian, I’m so sorry.”

He shook his head. “Don’t feel too sorry for me. When Carling’s attendant Rhoswen came to me with stories of how dangerous she had become, I didn’t question her very closely. Instead I went to the Elder tribunal, even though I knew they would probably issue a kill order. I was right, and they did.”

Her hand tightened on his as she worked to absorb that. “Wait a minute. The tribunal doesn’t issue kill orders for no reason.”

“No, they don’t,” he said. “There was ample reason. There was also more going on underneath the surface. Long story short, Carling’s attendant was acting out of spite and ended up getting herself killed, while Carling managed to convince the tribunal to put her in quarantine instead of enacting the kill order. Apparently she found some way to stabilize her condition. I don’t know for certain. She and I don’t talk. I don’t dare risk it.”

“Good gods,” she whispered.

“Enough about that.” His hard mouth twisted. “We’re getting close to your cavern. Can you smell it?”

She could.

Before, when she had been exploring without any idea of what lay ahead, she had thought the stink might have come from a sewer line.

Now she had a different idea of what caused it, and her stomach rebelled. She had to breathe through her mouth to get past a wave of nausea.

“It’s not my cavern,” she said tightly. “And yeah, I can smell it. I would appreciate it if we could get through the next bit as fast as we can.”

He gave her a sharp look. “Of course.”

They finally came to the archway she remembered so well. This time there weren’t any lit torches in the wall sconces, nor was there any other kind of illumination. The cavern looked black as a pit.

As she braced herself, Julian directed the beam from his flashlight into the open space.

There were corpses everywhere. In grim silence, Julian sent the light over the massive open space. Skeletal remains had been pushed to the edges of the cavern, against the walls, while fresher bodies littered the open expanse of the rocky floor.

She had never seen anything like it. Not in person, not right in front of her. For a brief, stricken moment, her gaze strained to find the body of a woman in a black pencil skirt, who was missing a shoe.

Then a low, shaking moan broke out of her. Pulling her hand from Julian’s grasp, she let the things she had been carrying slide to the floor, and bent at the waist and wrapped her arms around her middle.

Julian’s broad hand came to rest on her back. He didn’t try to say anything or attempt to make things better, and she was glad for that. Sometimes things couldn’t be made better.

Instead, he gave her what she needed, which was time. Rubbing her back, he waited until she was finally able to straighten up again. With the back of one hand she wiped at her wet eyes.

“Are you okay?” he murmured.

She would not let the gentleness in his voice break her down again. Gritting her teeth, she nodded. Her voice was hoarse as she said, “I’m fine.”

“I count four other tunnel entrances that open into the cavern,” he said. “And we know one thing for sure – the way out isn’t going to be back the way we came.”

She glanced at him. The slanted beam from the flashlight distorted how everything looked, including his face. The crags and the hollows of his face were accentuated, and he looked tired and angry.