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Opening the door a few inches, he held Caoilinn’s gaze as he quietly said, “James.”

“Yes,
archigos
,” James promptly responded from the darkness beyond the door.

Gabriel saw Caoilinn’s shock register. She hadn’t expected James to be in Olivia’s room. Gabriel, however, knew his Gloresti much better than she did.

Clenching his jaw as his anger flared, he asked, “Did you hear a knock on my door any time in the past few minutes?” He never moved his gaze from Caoilinn’s face.

“No, sir. I heard no sound until you addressed commander Caoilinn.”

“Thank you, James,” Gabriel said softly, and closed the door.

Caoilinn’s face flooded with color, then completely drained of it.

“Your leader is on his way up,” Gabriel said, his whisper colder than a wintry night. “Let’s have a little chat, shall we?”

“I do not understand, Caoilinn,” Sebastian said.

He and Gabriel were standing with the Lekwuesti commander in an empty room not far from the bedrooms. From the sparse furnishings, it appeared to serve as some kind of waiting room. Gabriel had thrown on a tank top as soon as Sebastian arrived, leaving Amber sleeping and, fortunately, blissfully unaware. He knew she needed her sleep and they had stayed up late the night before.

“I am deeply sorry, to both of you,” Caoilinn said, looking directly into their eyes. Her voice rang with sincerity.

Sebastian seemed well and truly perplexed by his trusted commander’s behavior. “You deliberately used your Lekwuesti ability to enter a room without using the door, something that we only use when it has been requested by our guests to avoid disturbing them. I specifically told you to knock when entering any of these guests’ bedrooms.”

She closed her eyes briefly, then again caught Gabriel’s gaze. “I was, indeed, so instructed,
archigos
Gabriel. I do not know what came over me. I came to you at my leader’s request to inform you that other Lekwuesti will be up here soon to meet your avowed and her sisters and get their measurements for their gowns for tonight’s festivities. And I…” She trailed off. Her cheeks flushed with color. “I remembered how you kissed her.”

Gabriel blinked. His brain tried to reconcile her statement with her actions and simply couldn’t. He exchanged a look with Sebastian, who turned a puzzled frown on his commander.

If possible, the color in her cheeks intensified. “It was a foolish, feminine desire to see the two of you together, unguarded and obviously in love. I have never seen such a thing before.”

There was a long silence.

“Caoilinn, do you realize what you have risked by your actions?” Sebastian asked, his voice incredulous. “To just
see
them?”

“I cannot explain myself,” she said, wringing her hands together. “Sebastian, you know me. I have served as your commander for more than two centuries. I just could not help myself.”

Gabriel was torn between anger and sympathy. He actually believed that she might not have understood what prompted her to enter his room unannounced. But he remembered waking and seeing her standing so close to Amber, and that memory shoved his sympathy brutally to the side. One flash of a dagger before he had been aware enough to react and things would be very different that morning.

“You will be sanctioned for this grievous breech,” Sebastian said, his voice hard. “Consider yourself relieved of your duties until the elders have had time to meet and discuss your future.”

Gabriel expected outrage or tears, and was surprised when Caoilinn produced neither. She simply nodded.

“I accept the consequences of my actions,” she said resolutely. Then she lowered herself to her knees and crossed both of her arms over her chest. She bowed her head submissively. “I beg your forgiveness,
archigos
Gabriel. I meant no harm.”

“You have not earned the right to ask that of
archigos
Gabriel,” Sebastian responded, his voice now laced with irritation. “You have presented a threat to his wife and—” he stopped himself. “You understand protocol,” he finished, his tone more subdued. “You will come with me now and await deliverance of the decision by the elders.”

She rose, now clearly upset. Gabriel sensed it wasn’t because of her pending consequences, but because she wouldn’t receive forgiveness before facing those consequences. Still, she didn’t argue or look back when Sebastian led her from the room.

Gabriel stood in the room alone for several minutes after they left, considering what had just happened. Thus far, Amber and her sisters hadn’t had much interaction with Estilorian females. The only ones they had been around, as a matter of fact, were the few females who had attended the Becoming ceremony—one of whom had been the traitor, Kanika—and the female elders. Twice now, two trusted females had been prompted to act outside of their usual characters as a result of his relationship with Amber. He suspected it was because such intimacy and emotion were completely unheard of on the Estilorian plane. It was apparently something that Estilorian females innately desired, however.

He and the other elders had never predicted this. Certainly, they had identified the appalling lack of emotion among their kind and had taken steps to remedy it. Of course, the plan had been to send him over to the human plane in an attempt to learn and understand human emotion and then return in hopes he would be able to teach the concept to other Estilorians. His falling in love with Amber had most certainly not been a part of that plan.

Running his thumb along the ring on his left hand, he considered this. Knowing what he did now, he was absolutely certain that the plan would have failed if it hadn’t been for his relationship with Amber. She had been the anchor that had allowed him to carry his human awareness through to this plane. If it hadn’t been for her, he would have reverted completely back to his former Estilorian self. The plan would have never succeeded. And when the girls had transitioned to this plane, as they inevitably needed to in order to assume their inherit powers, there wouldn’t have been a single being able to understand them and their emotional needs.

He frowned. What if all of the Estilorian females grew jealous of Amber and her sisters? He had prepared the girls for the reaction of possible social ostracism by the Estilorians who judged them only on their differences. But what if it went even further than that?

And when he thought of Amber and the baby she carried and then thought of the tens of thousands of Estilorian females around them who couldn’t ever conceive, he felt positively ill.

Would they forever be at risk?

Amber eased awake, automatically reaching over for Gabriel. He wasn’t in the bed, though that wasn’t unusual lately. She tended to sleep much more than him these days.

Gabriel?

I’ll be there shortly.

Taking him at his word, she got up and showered, allowing the steamy water to clear away some of the haze still coating her brain. She generally wasn’t worth much in the morning for at least thirty minutes. After she toweled off, she put on the black tank and pants she had brought into the bathroom with her, brushed her hair and teeth, and went back into the bedroom.

Gabriel was sitting on the side of the bed. He held a glass filled with orange juice, her favorite beverage regardless of the time of day.

Smiling, she walked to him and took the glass. “Thanks,” she said. Then she noted his serious expression and her smile faded. “What’s up?”

He pulled her against him, his head resting on her chest. “We need to talk,” he said.

He told her everything. She sat cross-legged beside him, not interrupting, sipping her juice. When he finished, she nodded and reached to put her empty glass on the end table beside the bed.

“I get it.”

“You do?”

“Of course I do. Look, you know me. I’m about the furthest thing from a roses-and-candlelight romantic. But if I didn’t have you—have your love and everything that means—and saw someone else with it, I would envy it.”

He considered that. Putting it in such basic terms actually made him realize that he felt the same way.

“These Estilorian gals are just being introduced to the gentler emotions. I’m sure it must be more than a little overwhelming and even enticing. So, we curb the PDA and only kiss in public if absolutely necessary for healing right now,” she said with a shrug. “When everyone starts to learn emotions and can interact in more, well, human ways, then it won’t matter so much.”

“You’re assuming that they’ll learn emotions. The elders have learned them, certainly, but only because of their connection to me as a fellow elder. It won’t be so easy for everyone else.”

She gave him a pitying look. “Honey, what about James and Caleb?”

He paused.

“They’re not elders,” she pointed out, “but they’ve certainly learned emotions.”

For the first time since she saw him that morning, he seemed to brighten. “You’re absolutely right,” he said, catching her gaze. “I was so knotted up about everything, I didn’t even consider that.”

“See?” She smiled and patted his knee. “It’s just a matter of time. We’ll get these Estilorians interacting with each other so much that they won’t have time to worry about the three measly half-humans anymore. And they’ll learn that there doesn’t have to be a resulting baby to get enjoyment out of joining with each other.”

Now, he grinned wickedly. “Is that so?”

She flushed with color. “Well, at least that’s what I hear, anyway,” she said with an eye roll. When he issued a shout of laughter, she added, “We have to talk with the others about all of this. Everyone should be prepared.”

“You’re absolutely right,” he said soberly.

“But…we’re not going to talk to them right now, are we?” she asked, recognizing the look in his eyes.

He paused, obviously sending a thought out to James and Caleb. Then he flicked his hand and she heard the snick of the locks on both of the room’s doors.

“Nope,” he replied.

Chapter Twenty

“They have reached the Estilorian stronghold,” Kanika reported.

Grolkinei looked up from the map he had been perusing in his home’s study. His gaze narrowed with interest. “It has been weeks since we have received any word. You are certain about this?”

“Of course,” she scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest and tossing her dark hair over one shoulder.

Even after all these weeks, she still treated him with barely concealed contempt. For some reason, he found it incredibly alluring. It was quite unlike Layla’s doting and kowtowing. He didn’t know what that said about him, nor did he care.

“Of course,” he repeated, giving her one of his potent smiles. “Will you have a seat, my sweet? I would be happy to pour you some wine.”

She shrugged and walked over to one of the two leather chairs facing his desk. As she sat, he moved over to a table topped with glass decanters of varying heights and colors filled with an array of liquids. Pulling two crystal glasses out of a tall, narrow armoire made of dark wood, he placed them on the table and filled them both with deep red wine.

“They did quite an excellent job of masking the whereabouts of the sisters these many weeks,” he said as he walked over to hand her one of the glasses. He sat in the chair beside her rather than behind the desk, desiring to establish a level of comfort and intimacy with her.

She sniffed her wine and swirled it in her glass. “I believe that the elders have highly limited the information that leaves their direct knowledge. They are no fools. I served as a lesson to them that no one can be trusted.”

Watching her sip the wine, he considered her words. “We have been adding to our ranks quite steadily for years now. Why would your conversion cause them more alarm than any other?”

“Because I was a direct threat to the half-humans at the time of my conversion,” she responded.

“Are we not all a threat to them?”

“To them, you are distant…removed. As are your ranks. They know that you cannot find their stronghold. The enchantments are too strong. You will likewise never find the homes of the elders. If possible, those enchantments are even more powerful. I think it likely that they will keep Saraqael’s daughters within these enchanted locations at all times.”

He frowned. After sipping his wine contemplatively, he observed, “The oldest daughter will most certainly have to travel from one location to another. She will surely not remain at Gabriel’s home for all the rest of her days without seeing her sisters. And they will likely be kept at the stronghold.”

Kanika nodded after a moment. “You are probably correct.”

Satisfied with that, he leaned back. “There is bound to be a time when someone will let it slip that they are leaving one location or another, allowing you to intercept the thought. I may not know where they are departing from or heading toward, but I now have enough Mercesti to cover nearly every part of the plane if I so order it. It is only a matter of time before I find them.”

“Gabriel would be with her,” she warned.

He grinned malevolently. “I know.”

She eyed him over the rim of her glass as she sipped. Then she asked, “Why is it you so despise him?”

“Because he is righteous, upstanding, self-sacrificing and altruistic,” he answered simply. “I hated every moment of training under him after I became an Estilorian those many centuries ago, but it was a standard part of our introduction to this life and thus, unavoidable.”

“But all of the elders have those qualities,” she pointed out.

He sneered. “Yes, but it was only Gabriel who realized that I did not subscribe to those tenants. He tried to warn Volarius about me, but the Mercesti elder dismissed it. Much to his ultimate peril.”

“So, you hate Gabriel because he saw through your attempt to disguise who you really are?”

He raised a thoughtful eyebrow at her persistent probing. “Does one really need a good reason to hate another?” he countered evasively. “You hate Gabriel’s avowed for no reason other than she is his avowed, is that not correct?”

She clamped her mouth shut, but her red eyes flared in response.