Shane walked through the workspace of his studio, past the display space, and found himself standing outside the vault. It took but a moment to unlock it before he swung the door open.

Here was a treasure trove of unfinished pieces and unrealized visions, things circumstances had forced to come to naught. Precious and semi-precious stones, balls of silver and gold and the occasional bit of cold iron, anathema to any of Sidhe blood, were thrown into bins and across surfaces like discarded Tinker toys. Shane, like most with Sidhe blood, had to wear special gloves whenever he worked with iron or run the risk of serious damage. He walked past several of the unfinished statues before finding the one he sought, the one that had once more begun to dance behind his eyes after talking with Tristan. He pulled the sheet off the piece and sighed.

No. Akane was not going to like this one little bit. But he wasn’t leaving this vision out for her eyes.

Shane pulled the piece out and brought it to his workbench, intent on finishing as much as possible before it was too late.

Akane flew over the Dunne estate three times before coming in for a landing. Nothing seemed out of place. None of her senses tingled. The place seemed well defended. Leo had even shown her some of the tricks up his unique sleeves. His ability to use the land to amplify his Sidhe mind powers was amazing. No wonder he’d been able to sneak up on Kaitlynn and her guards. He’d been able to enter all of their minds, erasing his image and that of Duncan from their sight until he was past the security cameras and down in Kaitlynn’s dungeon.

Then, looking a little green around the gills, Leo had shown her the spot where he’d killed the vampire Jeremy West and saved his true bond. Akane was impressed, but understood on several levels why Robin had never tried to recruit the Sidhe into the Blades. With his powers Leo was phenomenally strong, but only on his own land.

Add in the fact that the man had no stomach for bloodshed, and his usefulness as a Blade would be severely limited. He didn’t seem to have any of the specialized skills that would keep him out of combat the way Red did, or the healing abilities of the nymphs. No, he was just a Sidhe with a little something extra, not enough for Robin to pull into the fold.

She found Robin watching over Leo, who was holding a sleeping Ruby. The human was curled up in the living room on a red velvet sofa in front of the fireplace. The way Leo’s face softened as he gazed at his sleeping bondmate, tender yet fierce, reminded Akane of the way Shane had looked at her. That same expression had adorned Shane’s face more than once when he watched Akane, but she hadn’t wanted to admit to herself that it was there, let alone what it could mean.

The truly scary part was the way Robin watched Ruby with that same look. Was the Hob in love with Leo’s mate?

Robin nodded in welcome, the tender expression smoothing out to his normal, cheerful look. “She’s as safe as we can make her.”

“What about Shane?” Leo’s voice was soft in deference to his sleeping bondmate.

Akane shrugged, but something deep inside her squirmed. She wasn’t entirely comfortable being away from Shane. “Sal and your father are standing guard.”

“Dad has to sleep sometimes. He’s running the farm and guarding Shane. He’s going to run out of juice soon.”

Akane sighed. “We can call for reinforcements if you like, but if we do that we’re less likely to draw the Malmaynes out of hiding.” She fingered the puzzle box in her coat pocket and wished she could bring it out to play with. She needed to remain vigilant, but the golden toy called to her, Solve me, Akane! Solve me!

She was going to kill Shane. He should have known better than to give a dragon a puzzle. Her fingers stroked over it again, feeling the lines and grooves of its carving. She’d never hand the puzzle box over to anyone else, even after she solved it.

“And your father has declared his desire to see this war ended.” Robin leaned his head back against his seat. If Akane didn’t know better she’d swear the Hob was weary, but Robin was like the fucking Energizer bunny. He kept going and going until whatever needed doing was done.

“I can’t help thinking that they’re not going to make a move until they’re good and ready.” Leo stroked his wife’s hair, careful not to wake her. “We have to keep her safe.”

“I gather, since Kaitlynn’s scheme didn’t work, that Ruby was unwilling to share?” A Sidhe lord could take a second spouse despite a bond, but only if his bondmate agreed. Otherwise the bond itself would protect the Sidhe, preventing anyone from touching him or her by gifting the offender with nasty shocks that increased in intensity until the offender gave up or passed out. Akane remembered one instance where the would-be spouse persisted to the point where the shocks had resulted in death.

“Even if she had agreed I wouldn’t have. They tortured her to get my compliance. Kaitlynn used her powers to make Ruby experience electrocution over and over again.” He shuddered. “No matter what else happens I’ll never give a child of mine to the Malmaynes.”

Robin froze. “What did you say?”

Leo frowned. “I’ll never give a child of mine to the Malmaynes.”

Robin and Akane exchanged looks. “Could it be that simple?”

“The child would be half human. They might think it would be easy to control.” Akane began to pace. “But I thought they wanted to use Leo’s seed to create their own child, one as close to Sidhe as possible.”

“When life hands you lemons, make lemonade?” Robin rubbed his eyes. “All of this could be ghost chasing. We know they want to control the prophecy, but do they even understand what it means?”

Akane bit her lip and hoped Shane wouldn’t have a hissy fit. “It could have something to do with the statues Shane created.” Leo was listening to every word they said, the frown still on his face as he stroked his sleeping mate. “The ones about you and Oberon?”

Robin shook his head even as Akane nodded. Robin stood fast as lightning, his pretty blue eyes burning bright green. “What do you know?”

“Just that the statues do have something to do with the prophecy, but Shane wasn’t sure how.”

Robin took a deep breath. “I need to speak to Shane.” A miniature tornado whirled around the Hob and he was gone, the only sign of his presence the cooling cup of tea he’d left behind.

“Do you think the prophecy has to do with Robin’s statue or Oberon’s?”

“Oberon’s.” She was almost positive. Shane had finished Robin’s, but hadn’t quite finished Oberon’s. The time for him to do so was coming.

She stood and began to pace, her fingers twitching. She had the urge to fly, to check on Shane, but Robin had given her a task and she had to complete it. She had to protect Leo and Ruby. Besides, Robin himself had gone to speak to Shane. If something were wrong, Robin would take care of it.

She danced her fingers along golden swirls. Robin would take care of Shane. She had to trust in that.

Shane could hear them moving around. Not even his father would be able to stop what was about to happen; the one who’d come for him had been too careful. Shane winced and ran his hand down the cold iron blade. He watched the blood well through haunted eyes. If he could avoid this, dear gods he would, but there was no other way.

Shane flung out his hand and allowed his blood to paint the story he wanted to tell.

“Shane.”

Shane turned. Behind him stood someone he’d thought he was familiar with, someone he could trust. The betrayal was shattering. He must have planned this from the start. When the first blow came he tried to block it, but there was no stopping what was coming, no way to save him. He fought enough that they wouldn’t think he’d given in, but not enough to cause himself permanent damage. He made sure both of them bled, adding their essence to the canvas he’d be leaving behind.