the yellows and golds in lucien's eyes stirred, swirling and twisting around his pupils. compassion stilled his features and he placed his hand on eron's chest. "this path has become harder than any of us would have imagined, but we must continue on course."

"i only want to see my girls. i will not interfere with our plans."

"you know it is not that simple. you're still weak from your last trip-from ridding nika of the sgath poison. you won't be able to shield your passage, and father will feel you cross over."

"i'm strong enough."

"no. you are not. not yet. father will kill you, and then what will happen to your daughters?"

eron bowed his head over lucien's hand. he was right. they had so little time on earth that none of the others could spare much to take care of his children.

they had their own to care for.

"i can't do this anymore," said eron. "the cost is too great."

"as it is to all of us, but reports show our predictions were right. the synestryn are growing more powerful, and there are not enough sentinels left to hold the gate. we must persevere."

"so, you're going back." it wasn't a question. eron knew lucien was more dedicated than all of them, no matter the personal cost. but then, he had more to lose here than any of them, should their plans fail.

"i am. alone."

eron shook his head. "how can you continue to go back after knowing what my daughters have suffered?"

lucien looked out at the moons, then down into the countryside, dotted with lights from the homes sprawled across it. "i go because it is the only way to save what we have here. the only way to protect my home. my family." he looked back to eron and his eyes were swirling with the golden fire of determination. "we must not fail."

eron sighed in resignation. their path had seemed so glorious at first. so righteous.

but now . . . eron pulled his most prized possession from the pouch hanging over his heart. the photograph of his woman and their three daughters was worn and faded, but he hardly needed it to remember the lines of his beloved celine's face or the sweet curve of his babies' cheeks. the image was burned into his memory, where their happy faces and the knowledge that he'd failed them would live for eternity.

with a trembling hand, he handed the page to lucien. "will you seek them out for me? find out if my baby girl escaped capture?"

lucien looked at the image and gave a solemn nod. "i will try."

"how many hours will you have there?"

"nine. no more."

eron prayed it would be enough. "the summer always robs us of our time with them."

lucien shrugged. "it is how it must be."

"i know. and i suppose i shouldn't resent it so much anymore. celine is gone and my time with her is over."

"maybe the humans are right, and their heaven does exist."

"it is a beautiful notion-to be reunited with those we love to live in peace forever. celine believed in it." if anyone was deserving of such a fate, it was eron's beloved.

the sharp click of heels rushed down the hallway and aurora slid around the corner. her long, pale hair was mussed from her run, and a bright pink flush stained her cheeks. her sunset-colored eyes were wide with fear, her soft lips parted to ease her labored breathing. of all the women in their world, she was the most beautiful, and even eron, whose heart belonged to another, had to pause for a moment whenever she entered the room. she was a servant, but as the most treasured possession of the solarc, she knew more freedom than most.

she was also their most powerful ally.

"the solarc comes," she whispered.

lucien stowed the photograph away in his jacket. "i must leave now. the gate will be aligned to open in a few more moments."

"go, then. i will stay here and distract father. if you find my girls, give them my love."

"i swear it." lucien's eyes flared in the darkness, their swirling colors rioting in response to his vow. he cupped aurora's cheek and spoke in hushed, urgent tones. "the solarc cannot know where i've gone, or our lives as well as those of our children on earth would be forfeit. i won't allow that to happen."

she bowed her head. "yes, highness. i understand."

lucien left through a hidden doorway, and eron turned to aurora and held out his hand. "come to me. we'll distract father and cover the signs of your sprint here all at once."

aurora went into his arms without hesitation. when eron kissed her, she pretended to enjoy it as a good servant would, letting out a soft moan. eron felt nothing. as beautiful as she was, she was not celine. she didn't smell like his celine or taste like her. but he faked his response to their embrace all the same, knowing it would distract his father as nothing else could.

the lives of eron's children, if they still lived, depended upon it. if the solarc knew his sons had broken his law, he would slaughter them all without regard to the fact that those children were his grandchildren as well.

eron knew. he'd seen it happen before.

paul was so sweet he made andra cry, damn it. she wiped the tears away and pulled her rumpled jeans back up over her hips. she didn't have time to cry. she had a sister to save.

power pulsed inside her, making her skin feel as though it were glowing. the intimacy she'd shared with paul had worked the way he said, and now she wanted to see whether she had the ability to help nika. or if maybe she needed another go-around in the grass with paul.

they were both appealing options.

her body sang, satisfied and replete. normally, she would have felt like sleeping for half a day, but this was not normal. not even close. for a moment there at the end, she thought she might have actually been able to see through his eyes, feel through his skin.

surely that was just an illusion-a side effect of magical sex or something.

"do you think our connection is strong enough now?" she asked him.

paul lounged naked in the grass, watching her dress with drowsy eyes. "it's possible, but if not, you can't rush this kind of thing. it's not safe for her."

"if i can get her to eat, that will be enough. i just have to keep her alive long enough to get stronger." long enough for andra to get stronger, too. the process was definitely going to be a fun one.

"what then?" asked paul. there was an odd note in his voice-a hint of challenge, maybe? she wasn't sure.

"what do you mean?"

"assuming you can heal nika, what then?"

andra pulled her shirt down over her bra. "i haven't thought that far ahead. i guess she'll come live with me. finish school. that kind of thing. she has a lot of living to catch up on."

"i mean, what happens to us? once you don't need me anymore?"

she smoothed her short hair back in place to give herself a moment to think. everything was coming at her too fast. she couldn't keep up. "i don't know, paul. i just met you last night. that's not much of an 'us' to think about. i like you, but nika has to come first."

he looked away, but his jaw was tight with anger or frustration. she didn't know him well enough to tell the difference, which only served to prove her point.

and yet she'd slept with him and enjoyed every moment of it. enjoyed it so much she was already wondering if she'd get a chance to do it again.

"you're using me," he said.

she couldn't deny it. after what he'd done for her, she owed him her honesty. "i am."

"at least i know where i stand. that's more than i had last time." he stood and stalked off, still naked, pausing only long enough to grab his sword.

last time. with kate.

a pulse of anger filtered through their connection before she felt it close off.

andra scrubbed her hands over her face. he was such a good man. he didn't deserve to be used like this, but she had no choice. she'd been honest with him from the beginning. nika came first. it was the only way andra could live with herself.

paul resisted the urge to slam the back door of the gerai house as he entered the kitchen.

he shouldn't have been so hurt that andra was using him. hell, he was using her, too, in a way. it was a symbiotic relationship. she needed him to help nika, and he needed her to survive. it was a fair trade-one he was actually benefiting from more than she was.

but if that was the case, then why did it piss him off so much?

madoc was in the kitchen, with a stack of sandwiches in front of him. he didn't bother swallowing before saying, "what the fuck crawled up your ass?"

paul really wished he'd remembered to grab his clothes before coming back inside. there was nothing quite as uncomfortable as talking about his ass with another man while standing in the nude. so he ignored the question. "how's nika?"

"sleeping."

"good. mind keeping an eye on andra for me while i get dressed? i'm sure she'll be in in a sec."

"whatever."

that was as close to a yes as paul figured he'd get out of madoc. "thanks."

"the only spare clothes are in nika's room, but if you wake her up, i'll cut off your balls."

"yeah. thanks for the warning, man," said paul.

madoc grunted in response and went back to his sandwich.

when paul eased the door of the bedroom open, nika didn't even shift. in fact, she was so still, he stared to detect the faint shift of the covers over her chest as she breathed. when the blanket moved, he let out a relieved breath. thank god she was still hanging on. if she'd died while andra and he were outside making love, she never would have forgiven herself, even if there had been nothing she could have done to prevent it.

paul slipped silently into the walk-in closet and searched through the neatly labeled clothes for his size. everything was new and stiff, but the outfit was clean, it fit, and it covered him up.

"you know, you could have come back out and gotten your clothes," said andra from the closet doorway. he hadn't heard her come into the bedroom, which made him question where his head was. maybe she was just really quiet.

her cheeks were flushed with color and her hair still had bits of grass in it. her lips were red and puffy from where he'd kissed her a little too hard, and the luceria around her throat had deepened to a swirl of rich, sapphire blues. the sapphire lady. he liked it.

hell, he loved it. just thinking about keeping her made his dick swell in anticipation. no way could they be together long without a repeat performance of what happened outside.

"i don't normally storm off naked," he assured her.

she shrugged. "i didn't mind. i enjoyed watching the show. you have a great ass."

a grin tickled his mouth and he gave in to it. he loved how she could do that to him-how she could make him smile when there didn't seem to be any reason to do so. "yours is pretty nice, too."

"so, this mad thing you've got going here. wanna talk about it?"