“As certain as we can be,” Dageus finally said. “We’re not new to this. We’ve been the queen’s Druids since before the Compact was negotiated. We sat with them in the Old Days, when the great hill of Tara had yet to be built, and learned their ways. Plus we’ve a few other … bits of arcane lore at our disposal.”

“And we all know how well that turned out for you last time,” Barrons said silkily.

“Mayhap you weren’t helping but hindering, Old One,” Dageus growled. “We ken you’ve your own agenda. What is it?”

“Stop it, all of you!” Rowena snapped.

The tension swelled.

“Barrons and his men will place three of the stones.” I tried to get things back on track.

“He will give them to my sidhe-seers,” Rowena said sternly. “We will place the stones.”

Barrons gave her an incredulous look with the subtle arch of a brow. “In whose fucking reality do you think that’s going to happen?”

“You have no business being involved.”

“Old woman, I don’t like you,” Barrons said coldly. “Be careful around me. Be very, very careful.”

Rowena closed her mouth, perched her glasses on her nose, and pursed her lips.

I looked at V’lane. “Did you bring the fourth stone?”

He looked at Barrons. “Did he bring his three?”

Barrons bared his teeth at V’lane.

V’lane hissed.

The Keltar growled.

And so it went.

Forty-five minutes later, when we all stalked from the room, two of the walls were shattered and the floor was cracked.

But we’d nailed down the nuances of our plan.

I would fly a Hunter over the city and locate the Sinsar Dubh, radioing back the location.

Barrons, Lor, Ryodan, and V’lane would close in with the four stones, while the Keltar began the binding spell to seal its covers so it could be moved.

Drustan would pick it up.

Barrons, Rowena, Drustan, V’lane, and I would ride together in Barrons’ Hummer to the abbey (because no one trusted V’lane or any other Fae to sift him with the Book there and wait for everyone else to arrive).

Rowena would drop the wards, and all of us who were in the room today would enter the underground tomb that had been created eons ago to contain the Sinsar Dubh.

Dageus would complete the binding spell that would seal its pages closed and—according to their lore—turn the keys in the locks, which would silence it in a vacuum of eternal awareness, alone forever. A hellish thing, to be sure, he’d said grimly.

And something he’d seemed to know a thing or two about.

There’s no reason for her to be there, Rowena had continued to protest, giving me the gimlet eye, even as they were blindfolding her and the sidhe-seers. Ryodan didn’t want them seeing his club or knowing the back way in.

There’s no reason for you to be there, either, old woman, Barrons had said. Once you drop the wards, we don’t need you.

You’re not necessary, either.

You think only Dageus should go in, with Drustan and the Book? I’d said acerbically.

She’d fumed the entire way out.

As I stepped into the overcast afternoon, I shivered. All trace of spring had vanished. The day was dark as dusk again, heavy with rain. Tomorrow night we would meet at O’Connell and Beacon.

And, with luck, by dawn the next day the world would be a safer place.

In the meantime, I was desperate for some downtime away from all the men in my life. I needed a girl’s night and the comforts of normalcy.

I turned to V’lane and touched his arm. “Can you find Dani for me and ask her to come to the bookstore tonight at eight?”

“Your wish, my command, MacKayla.” He smiled. “Shall we spend tomorrow at the beach together?”

Barrons moved beside me. “She’s busy tomorrow.”

“Are you busy tomorrow, MacKayla?”

“She’s working on old texts with me.”

V’lane gave me a pitying look. “Ah. Old texts. A banner day at the bookstore.”

“We’re translating the Kama Sutra,” Barrons said, “with interactive aids.”

I almost choked. “You’re never around during the day.”

“Why is that?” V’lane was the picture of innocence.

“I’ll be around tomorrow,” Barrons said.

“All day?” I asked.

“The entire day.”

“She will be naked on a beach with me.”

“She’s never been naked in a bed with you. When she comes, she roars.”

“I know what she sounds like when she comes. I have given her multiple orgasms merely by kissing her.”

“I’ve given her multiple orgasms by fucking her. For months, fairy.”

“Are you still fucking her?” V’lane purred. “Because she does not smell like you. If you are, you are not marking her enough. She is beginning to smell like me. Like Fae.”

“Unbelievable,” I heard Christian mutter behind me.

“She toops them both?” I heard Drustan ask.

“And they permit it?” Dageus sounded baffled.

I looked between V’lane and Barrons. “This isn’t even about me.”

“You’re wrong about that.” Barrons reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. “You know how to find me if you want me.” He was walking away.

“More nifty acronyms?”

He was gone.

“And you know how to find me, as well, Princess.” V’lane turned me toward him and closed his mouth over mine.

“Mac, what the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?” Christian demanded.

I staggered a little when V’lane released me. His name was once again coiled in my tongue.

“You know what?” I said irritably. “You can all just butt out of my business. I don’t have to answer to any of you.”

There was definitely too much testosterone in my life.

A girl’s night in was just what I needed.

I AM NOT EVIL.

Then why do you destroy?

CLARIFY.

You do heinous things.

EXPOUND.

You kill.

THOSE THAT ARE KILLED BECOME ANOTHER THING.

Yes, dead! Destroyed.

DEFINE DESTROY.

To demolish, damage, ruin, kill.

DEFINE CREATE.

To give rise to, fashion something from nothing, take raw material and invent something new.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS NOTHING. ALL IS SOMETHING. WHERE DOES YOUR “RAW MATERIAL” COME FROM? WAS IT NOT SOMETHING BEFORE YOU FORCED IT TO BECOME SOMETHING ELSE?

Clay is just a lump of clay before an artist molds it into a beautiful vase.

LUMP. BEAUTIFUL. OPINION. SUBJECTIVE. THE CLAY WAS SOMETHING. PERHAPS YOU WERE AS UNIMPRESSED WITH IT AS I AM BY HUMANS, YET YOU CANNOT DENY IT WAS ITS ESSENTIAL SELF. YOU SMASHED IT, STRETCHED IT, PULLED IT, SMELTED IT, DYED IT, AND FORCED IT TO BECOME SOMETHING ELSE. YOU IMPOSED YOUR WILL UPON IT. AND YOU CALL THIS CREATION?

I TAKE A BEING AND MAKE ITS MOLECULES REST. HOW IS THAT NOT CREATION? IT WAS ONE THING AND IS ANOTHER. ONCE IT ATE, NOW IT IS EATEN. DID I NOT CREATE SUSTENANCE FOR ANOTHER WITH ITS NEW STATE? CAN THERE BE ANY ACT OF CREATION THAT DOES NOT FIRST DESTROY? VILLAGES FALL. CITIES RISE. HUMANS DIE. LIFE SPRINGS FROM THE SOIL WHEREIN THEY LIE. IS NOT ANY ACT OF DESTRUCTION, SHOULD TIME ENOUGH PASS, AN ACT OF CREATION?

—CONVERSATIONS WITH THE SINSAR DUBH

“Happy birthday!” I cried, as I opened the front door of BB&B. When Dani stepped inside, I stuck a pointy party hat on her head, snapped the elastic string beneath her chin, and handed her a party horn.

“Gotta be kidding me, Mac. It was months ago.” She looked embarrassed, but I saw the sparkle in her eyes. “V’lane said you wanted me. Gotta love that, dude—a Fae prince comes looking for the Mega! What’s up? Ain’t seen you for a while.”