“This Nick has to realize that Jabari is going to kill you the second he even gets the slightest indication that you can control him,” Danaus calmly said. “Jabari wouldn’t risk it.”

“Let alone you.”

A half smile tweaked his beautiful mouth. “What’s the saying? Turnabout is fair play. I can’t say that I won’t fight you every step of the way, but it would only be fair considering how many times I’ve utilized your powers.”

“Thanks. It’s just until we find an edge over Nick, though I can’t begin to guess as to how we’re going to do that.” Relief rippled through me as Danaus seemed to be taking all this information a lot better than I had initially expected. Of course, I knew that he didn’t truly believe any of this. I had no doubt that he believed some other creature was playing a trick on me, trying to bend me to its will. For the time being it didn’t matter what Danaus believed. I’d told him the truth, and I had a feeling he would come face-to-face with it soon enough.

“Why Nick?” Danaus inquired.

“What do you mean?”

“Why would he call himself such a common name as Nick?”

A knot twisted in my stomach. “Don’t worry about it, Danaus. It’s not important.”

I knew the moment the name clicked in his brain. It was an old colloquialism that Nick was playing off of from Christian mythology, but Danaus was smart enough to know it. The hunter surged off the bed and crossed to the other side of the plane, putting as much space between us as possible.

“Old Nick! That’s it, isn’t it? He calls himself Old Nick!” Danaus barked at me.

“Yes, that’s it,” I said calmly.

“Your father is the devil. He’s Satan. Old Nick.”

“Another god of chaos, yes. This time he’s just playing off Christian mythology. Look, it doesn’t matter what he calls himself, the point is—”

“If he’s the devil, that makes you the Antichrist!”

“Damn it, Danaus! Listen to me. I’m not some fucking Antichrist! You know me! I’m not evil, regardless of who claims to be my parents.” I wanted to scream. I had just gotten around to convincing him that all nightwalkers weren’t evil, and now it turned out that I was the love child of the god of chaos. It wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement for me and the rest of my kind. “Please, I need you. Don’t abandon me now.”

Danaus slowly walked back over to me and sat on the edge of the bed. He reached out and cupped the back of my head, pulling me forward so my forehead was pressed against his. “I trust you,” he whispered in a shaking voice.

I understood what such a thing cost him. This was a man who had devoted his entire existence to fighting evil in an attempt to reclaim his soul. Now he was potentially siding with a creature that had been spawned by the greatest evil of all. He was siding with me based on the decisions I had made, the lives I had saved while we were together. I had earned his trust, and there was no greater honor in this world.

Placing a trembling hand against his cheek, I let my thumb run along his hard cheekbone. “Thank you.” A spark of undiluted desire surged through me as my gaze settled on his parted lips. I wanted to lean in and taste him, drink him in for the first time after so many all-too-brief encounters. I could sense the same longing ignite in the hunter as the sound of his heartbeat increased in its pace. The tip of my tongue darted out of my mouth, wetting my lips. His scent swirled around me, dragging up memories of a distant sea bathed in sunlight. Danaus was so close. Another couple inches and I could feel him, taste him.

With a shuddering breath, Danaus pulled away from me first. He stood and paced the tiny room a couple times, shoving one hand through his thick mane of black hair while I settled back against the pillows. The hunter’s willpower and self-control remained intact simply due to the fact that he feared the true nature of the creature that called itself my father. He returned to his spot on the edge of the bed when his breathing and heart rate evened out again, while I settled back against the pillows and closed my eyes, feeling more than a little frustrated.

“We still have a problem,” Danaus announced. My eyes popped back open and my body stiffened. I thought we finally had everything worked out. “The coven. What are you planning with the coven?”

Curling up tighter in the covers, my gaze drifted away from him to dance around the small plane, anything so I didn’t have to face his piercing gaze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Danaus put his hand under my chin and forced me to tilt my head back so I had to look up at him. “Consort?”

Sliding my chin out from his touch, I released my hold on the blanket and pushed myself into a sitting position. I winced as pain stabbed through my body from too many bruised organs and fractured bones. I was almost completely healed from my encounter with Nick, but there hadn’t been time to feed. My focus had been entirely on saving Tristan’s life.

“When I took the vacant coven seat while we were on Crete, I kind of skipped some of the more important formalities. It’s time to take care of those things.” I ran my fingers over the blanket, smoothing it out, anything so I didn’t have to look up at him.

“What formalities?”

“Any nightwalker has a right to challenge my claim to the open seat.”

“Does that include members of the coven?”

“Yes.”

“And your liege lord?”

“Yes,” I murmured, my head dipping a little lower.

“Will Jabari help you?”

My hands stilled on the blanket and the world slipped away from me as I thought of the coven and its members. Jabari had been one of my three creators and my mentor. He could also control me that same way Danaus could. It expanded his power on the coven from a single seat to two, giving him an edge over his rival Macaire.

“If Macaire were stupid enough to challenge me directly, yes, I think he would. If Our Liege took issue with my presence, I don’t think so. Jabari knows how to pick his fights, and I’m not worth getting killed over.”

“And what about this consort business?” His voice hardened and I found myself inwardly cringing. I didn’t expect him to honestly go along with this, but I had been backed into a corner. I didn’t want to go into Venice alone. Sure, I was a member of the coven. I was also the illustrious Fire Starter. But I wanted someone at my back. I wanted someone among this horde that I knew I could trust. Valerio would only help me so long as it was in his best interest. Same with Jabari. I had no others that would be in Venice that I could call comrade.

“I need you with me,” I said, trying to sound strong and confident. “I need you there with me, someone I can trust to watch my back. I won’t lie and say there’s no risk to you. If I’m killed by Our Liege, then you’ll be next, and it won’t be a quick death. But if I survive the challenges, then I want you there with me when the business of the naturi comes up.”

“As your consort?” Danaus’s voice had become surprisingly soft, like a gentle caress.

I let out a groan and buried my hands in my face. I wish he hadn’t been there for that part. “It’s not like it sounds,” I muttered. “I need you there, in the Main Hall, at my side. But to do that, you need a title, a standing within my world, and there are only three grades when it comes to associating with the Elders. You’re a pet—”

“Which is nothing more than a plaything.”

“Yes. Or you’re a companion, which is just a glorified servant.”

“Or you’re a consort,” Danaus finished.

I paused, licking my lips as I dropped my hands back into my lap. “It’s the closest I can come to putting you on equal footing with me. It means you are my . . . my . . .”

“Lover?” he supplied, and I cringed.

“Typically, but obviously not in this case,” I admitted. “It means you’re under my protection, you are held in very high regard to me, and anyone risks my wrath if you are harmed in any way. However, you have no power on the coven or within my world. It’s just what little extra protection that I can offer you. No mortal has even held that position, and I honestly don’t expect it to go over too well, but it’s the best I can do.”