Adrien backed down. “No. You always speak the truth.”

Lily met Adrien’s gaze. “But this can’t be true. I couldn’t possibly be experiencing these kinds of things on my own.” She whirled back to Sebastien. “You must be mistaken.”

“Sorry, the chains don’t lie or mislead.” He rose from his chair. “And now, I have a good friend to bury. I suggest you head north before Silas finds out about the vault.”

For a long moment, Adrien couldn’t move. His gaze was glued to Lily as he tried to process what Sebastien had just told him. What did his profound drive toward the human mean, then?

In the end, he made a choice to ignore Sebastien’s revelations, at least for the present. Besides, soon enough he’d come to the end of this line, then he and Lily could go their separate ways.

“You’re right, we should get going. And Sebastien, I’m sorry we can’t stay to help out with this.”

“My people are coming. I’m not alone. Try to gather the support you need and think about what I told you. You have an extraordinary lineage. If I had half your power and even a quarter of your natural ability, Adrien—my God, what I could have accomplished on behalf of our world.”

Adrien met and held his gaze, willing him to understand his thoughts. That the latent power he kept in check, those so-called natural abilities he possessed, belonged in hell and nowhere else.

He held his arm out to Lily. Accustomed to the drill, she stepped into him and slid an arm around his neck. This kind of proximity because of the way they had to travel wasn’t helping his profound desire for her, but it was still the best way of traveling with altered flight.

The moment she planted her foot on top of his, he inclined his head to Sebastien and put them both in motion, gliding upward and passing easily through the house and into the night air.

He’d half expected Lily to speak to him while traveling, to contact him telepathically and discuss what Sebastien had said. Instead she remained silent.

If what Sebastien had shared was accurate, then Adrien had to face a hard fact about his desire for Lily: He’d never experienced such a powerful reaction to a woman, any woman, in the entire course of his four centuries.

But what did it mean? He’d known dozens of women over the decades, and had loved two or three of them, but he’d never felt a desire for a deeper commitment. He held back of course, just as his brothers did, since they each feared and mistrusted their parentage. Yet when he reviewed his loves, they seemed mild in comparison with his reactions to Lily. Even before she’d come into the cave, he’d thought, She’s here. She’s mine. And that was well before he’d worn the blood-chain.

Are we in any danger, being airborne like this?

Finally, she spoke to his mind, addressing a subject he could respond to, but she wouldn’t like the answer. Because we’re traveling like slugs, yeah, we’re in danger. Hopefully, though, anyone watching for us would be checking the southern routes out of Paris.

In the direction of Lake Como and The Erotic Passage?

Yep. Rumy’s business is known to be a hotbed of information, any kind you could possibly want. Most of the club’s workers would have heard something about the weapon over the years.

Do you think anything in the vault will be of value?

Only one way to find out, but I need to prepare you for something else, Lily. No human has been allowed to visit the Trevayne system in a long time. I don’t know if Kiernan told you this, but a large number of our cavern systems don’t allow humans inside. Most interactions with your kind have ended badly for the vampire world.

You’re saying I won’t be welcomed.

Only an Ancestral like Sebastien could have given us access like this, so I’m asking that you be respectful despite how you feel about my kind.

Of course I will. I’m not a barbarian.

No, that you’re not. I apologize if I offended you.

Apology accepted.

Lily didn’t blame Adrien for not trusting her. If she’d been in his shoes she would have done and said the same kinds of things. After at least an hour of travel, and as he dropped down to earth, she glanced around and saw a barren rise of hills amid a fertile area, except that the air looked as it had on top of Sebastien’s roof, like it moved in waves.

Another disguise.

A stream flowed nearby and a chill filled the air. She wondered where the caves were and why vampires would still choose to live in caves when many, like Adrien, had apartments and homes.

She watched the stream, the trees on the opposite side. The wind flowed along the waterway.

Adrien had grown very still but he finally said, “We have permission to go inside.”

She had no idea what he meant, but when she shifted toward the barren land, a sight like nothing she could possibly have expected met her eyes. A several-stories-tall entrance, made of stone blocks, framed a massive cave entrance on an even taller grass-covered hill. What had appeared barren to her human eye was actually the entrance to the Trevayne system.

The beauty of the entrance stunned her, and for a long moment she couldn’t make her feet move. The stone had dozens of magnificent carvings, something that probably spoke of the history of the system as well as the vampires who’d lived here throughout the ages. But across the top of massive columns lay an enormous curved stone, settled deep into the hill and also carved.

She felt her jaw had dropped, and there it stayed. The cavern in the Himalayas had been an uncivilized hellhole, a perfect representation, from Lily’s limited point of view, of vampire society, violent and unclean.

But here, rising to such an incredible height, carved with great beauty, was something else altogether. The stones, massed together and decorated, meant civilization.

“Not what you expected?” Adrien’s words held a sharp, sarcastic edge.

“Sorry. Not even a little.”

He led her up a series of steps, but each forward movement bit at her conscience. Humans weren’t allowed in this place and for good reason: Her kind usually meant death and destruction, and here she was looking for the one thing that would destroy the few hundred vampires undoubtedly living here.

But as she moved deeper into the entrance, her eyes widened. She thought a five-star hotel couldn’t have been any grander. The several-story theme continued, the sculpted walls rising to a massive domed ceiling with more intricate carvings. A granite mosaic of a huge oak tree decorated the entire eight-foot wall to her left. Dozens of white linen-covered round tables and tall-upholstered chairs took up the main body of the room.

Straight ahead, a vampire stood at attention, meeting neither of their gazes.

To the right, a long hotel-like desk, though unmanned, flanked the wall. From the same direction, a tall, lean vampire with large eyes and his dark hair cut businessman-short moved in her direction, his lips pinched tightly together.

“Well met, Adrien.”

“And you, Alfonse. May I present Lily Haven.”

Alfonse turned his piercing gaze on Lily. He didn’t smile and she didn’t offer her hand. “We don’t usually receive humans here, madame. But you probably already know that.”

“I do.”

He then shifted his attention to Adrien. “Sebastien gave specific instructions that I’m to take you directly to the vault. Our people have retired, at my request. I’m not happy about this, on any level, but Sebastien indicated that a difficult situation has arisen and he trusts you. I do as well, but if you could see to your business then leave, I’d offer any favor in return that I could.”

Bribing Adrien to get rid of them?

“You know about the imprisonment of me and my brothers.”