Not far from her stood Wesley Drozdov, and he, unlike everyone else there, didn’t look shocked. He looked gleeful—maliciously so.

Uneasily, I remembered what I’d told Sydney on the plane, about how it was smooth sailing from here on out. Life at Court’s going to be a breeze, I’d said. With a pang, I wondered if I might have inadvertently lied, and I was glad when she, my mother, and I hurried past the gawkers.

Rose and Dimitri escorted the three of us to guest housing and had enough tact not to badger us with questions—though I could tell they were eating Rose up. She maintained her self-control admirably until Sydney sat down in the guest-housing lobby as I checked us in. The toe of one of the blue shoes peeped out from under her gown, and Rose couldn’t help herself.

“Those are badass shoes,” she declared. “Is there a story there?”

Sydney smiled at her. “There are lots of stories.”

“Tomorrow, Rose,” I said. “Give us the rest of the night off, and we’ll give you the whole scoop tomorrow. Plus it’ll give you a chance to get us a wedding present. We’re not registered anywhere, but we could seriously use some china and a blender.”

“Lord Ivashkov?” asked the desk attendant, looking embarrassed at having to interrupt us. “I’m actually afraid we’re short on rooms, between renovations and a tourist group from Bulgaria. We don’t have two single rooms, but we do have a larger family suite that would hold your whole group.”

I glanced between Sydney and my mom, both of whom seemed to be keeping their faces extremely neutral. I shrugged. “Well, we are family now.”

Rose and Dimitri bid us farewell once everything was settled, and the three of us made our way up to the suite we’d been given. I unlocked the door and, on impulse, swept Sydney into my arms and carried her inside.

“I know it’s not technically our real home yet,” I said. “But with as many irregularities as we’ve had with this wedding day, I feel like we need to keep some traditions.”

“By all means,” Sydney laughed.

I carefully set her down, and my mother smiled politely. She might have stood up for me and thrown her lot in with us, but I knew her well enough to understand it would take her a while to warm to a human daughter-in-law. “Thank you, Mom,” I said, sweeping her into a hug.

“I thought I’d learned my lessons in prison,” she said. “But it wasn’t until after you left that it all really and truly sunk in. I can’t say this is my ideal situation, but I’d rather make this kind of life with you than not have you at all—or my self-respect.”

I released her from the hug. “I’m proud of you. We’ll make it work. You’ll see. This’ll be great. We’ll be one big happy family.”

The two women in my life seemed a little unsure of that, but both seemed certain of their love for me, and for now, that had to be good enough. My mother soon found she could hide her discomfort by finding things to criticize about our accommodations, which were every bit as luxurious as my last ones, only bigger. I left her to it and was more than relieved to finally get Sydney away for some privacy.

She sat on our bed and kicked off the blue shoes. “I don’t know which part of this day seems the most unreal.”

I sat beside her. “That’s the thing. It’s all real, especially the most important part: you and me, together forever, our marriage recognized in the eyes of human and Moroi alike.”

“But not happily.” Her smile faded. “Half my family never wants to see me again. And the half that does want to see me . . . well, I may not be able to see them again.”

“You will,” I said. “I’ll make sure of it.” I was acting more confident than I felt, and I knew she could tell. She’d just cut herself off from her family—from her race—for me, and although I couldn’t entirely relate to what she was going through, I silently vowed to help her through it as much as possible.

“You were right.” She pulled me closer to her. “About us getting protection. Even with all the complications, you made everything work.”

“We made it work, and those complications won’t last. For now, we can sit back and enjoy the rewards.” I spoke gallantly, not giving voice to some of the fears I’d picked up. After seeing the reactions of her father, my father, and even Wesley, I had an uneasy feeling that we wouldn’t be getting the peace she so longed for anytime soon. I refused to show that, though. At least not tonight. “And I have all sorts of rewards in mind. Unless you want to get some sleep.”

She wrapped her arms around my neck and brushed her lips against mine. “Depends. Did you stop at the drugstore, along with your trip to the wine store?”

“Stop there? Hell, I bought that place out, Sydney. I’m having no repeats of last time.”

She laughed and let me lay her back on the bed, where I began the exciting, albeit slightly frustrating, process of trying to figure out how to get that elaborate dress off. It turned out to be worth the effort, though, and when we fell asleep in each other’s arms much later, na**d except for our wedding rings, I knew it had been worth all the effort. All the trials and ordeals we’d experienced had led to this moment, this perfect moment. We were exactly where we were meant to be.

I was awakened hours later by a knock at the door and my mother’s gentle voice: “Adrian? You have visitors.”

Sydney stirred in my arms, looking beautiful and content as the light of late afternoon spilled in through the blinds, illuminating her features. She was so gorgeous and sexy that I was debating pretending I hadn’t heard my mom, when a second and more forceful knock sounded. “Adrian? Sydney? It’s Rose. We have to talk.”

That brought Sydney around and eliminated whatever romantic morning encounter I might have pulled off. We got dressed and eventually made our way out to the suite’s living room. There, my mother sat with both Rose and Dimitri. I nearly chided Rose for not having been able to wait to hear the stories of all our exciting adventures . . . but then I noticed her face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

She and Dimitri exchanged looks. “Jill’s missing.”

“What do you mean Jill’s missing?” I demanded. “She’s still at school. I had a text from her yesterday. She set up our trip.”