Leo and Kyra walked off the mountain with their friends, one warrior lost but a sister found. Prija walked behind them, draped in Intira’s blanket and clutching Niran’s hand. Her other brother was at her side, carefully holding the instrument she’d used to sing against the angel. Rith and Alyah walked behind them, bloody and black with smoke. Everyone was exhausted, and tears ran down their faces from the heat and the sting of the fire.

They found Sura pulled over on the side of the road that ran along the east side of the temple hill. Seven human women were with him, and seven children. Four were girls. Three were boys with wide eyes who hadn’t yet reached puberty. Their cheeks were soft, and they sat next to the van, listening to Sura.

Kyra held Leo’s hand out of desire, not necessity. The minute Arindam died, the painful noise that covered the plain ceased. The land was silent now, except for the soul voices of the humans who lived and the Grigori who’d fled.

“We’ll have to coordinate with the scribe houses in Dhaka and Dimapur,” Rith said. “There hasn’t been a scribe house in Myanmar since the Rending.”

“We can help,” Niran said, nodding to the Grigori boys. “I’m sure Sura will want to keep the boys with us. They will have challenges we are more suited to dealing with. Since we know their father is dead, we don’t have to worry about mental manipulation or their free will being compromised.”

“Will it be the same with the girls?” Rith asked. “What should we do with them?”

Kyra’s stomach sank. Despite the pretty words of the Irin council, she should have expected this. Kareshta were never wanted. The discarded mothers were never wanted. She could see the defeat in the women’s eyes. The ones who had stayed with Sura likely had no other place to go. They were pregnant or had children from the angel. They were dirty and abused. Cast off from the powerful and unwanted by the world.

She tasted the bitterness on her tongue.

“What are we going to do with them?” Alyah asked Rith. “Find homes for them, of course. Where do you think they’re going to go?”

“We’ve already taken responsibility for the others,” Rith said. “The Bangkok scribe house—”

“I should have known,” Kyra said bitterly. “I should have known.”

Leo squeezed her hand. “Reshon, we will not abandon them.”

“I know you won’t, but this one?” She nodded at Rith. “I don’t know you, and I don’t trust you. Why would these women trust you? They mean nothing to you. Kareshta are not your problem. We never were.”

Anger flared in Rith’s eyes, but Kyra turned away from him. She thought about the temple in Chiang Mai. Could they take four more girls? What about the women who were pregnant? Would they agree to go to Thailand? At least four of them were carrying boys and would suffer through their pregnancies. There were ways to combat that, but only with Irina magic.

“Stop.” Sura walked over and spoke quietly. “This is not the place to discuss these things. We need to get all of them to a safe place. Can your people help with that?” he asked Rith.

Rith gave a sharp nod and pulled out his phone. Kyra leaned on Leo’s shoulder. She wanted a bath. She wanted a bed. She wanted the silence and peace of Leo’s touch.

The angry scribe walked back a few moments later. “Dara has secured a house thirty kilometers from here. If we all get in the van, we can make it before the roads are busy. She wants us to wait for instructions from there.”

Leo glanced at Niran and saw the man nod.

“Fine,” Niran said. “Let’s get everyone away from here and cleaned up. We’ll all feel better once we’re out of the open.”

Kyra and Leo squeezed into the van. A twelve-person van carrying twenty-two people was hardly comfortable, but they managed. A short ride later, they rolled into a walled compound with mango trees covering a courtyard, and a large house in the center. With practiced efficiency, Sura and Alyah sorted everyone into groups and arranged baths for the little ones.

Leo picked her up and carried her to the room at the top of the house. It was stuffy, but opening the windows helped, and the room had an attached bath. There was no hot water, but Kyra and Leo didn’t need it. They bathed each other, then fell into bed exhausted.

* * *

Kyra woke to Leo combing out her long hair with his fingers.

“Good morning,” he whispered.

She stretched and nuzzled her face into his neck. “Is it morning?”

Leo pointed her head at the window. Grey light was giving way to a gold bloom in the east. She buried her face back in his chest. She wasn’t sure she was ready to face the day.

“We slept all day and all night?” she murmured.

“You did. Prija did too. Whatever magic you two were working, it took the energy right out of you. I woke up a little last night.” He smiled. “I was hungry.”

“You’re always hungry.”

He bent over and kissed her lips. “And you always feed me. What a lucky scribe I am.”

Heat marked her face. “I wonder if I will ever get used to your attention.”

“I hope not. I love the color of your cheeks when I scandalize you.”

“Leo,” she whispered.

“Kyra.”

She smiled against his skin. Are you really mine?

I am. I am forever yours.

She smiled harder. “It’s easier now.”

“You heard me?”

She nodded.

“When can we go away?” he asked. “I want to make you mine. I want the mating ceremony with you. I want to mark your skin. Make my vow.” He kissed the top of her head. “Say yes, Kyra.”

Kyra wanted it so badly, but there was still a hesitation in the back of her mind. “What if I never learn to sing? It will be an uneven mating. You told me yourself. Only my song can complete the ritual, and there is no guarantee I will ever sing. Not like a real Irina.”

“Kyra—”

“I know… I know you think I’ll find my voice,” she said. “But that’s wishful thinking, Leo. I do believe I’ll find a voice, but it might not be what you’re imagining.”

“Then I will be content with your song, whatever it might be. But ana sepora, Ava will teach you. I know she will.”

“Are you sure of that?”

“Should I call her right now?”

“I don’t know…” Kyra gathered her courage and spoke her secret fear. “What if it’s not good for me to learn, Leo? My blood is of the Fallen. What if learning Irina magic unlocks something dark in me?”

Leo pulled her away from his chest and tilted her chin up. He was frowning. “Do you really believe that?”

“I don’t know.” I fear it.

I see no darkness in you.

“There is darkness,” she whispered. “Leo, there is anger. There is… rage. And bitterness. And everything—”

“Everything that makes us real,” he said. “Everything that gives us humanity. We are not angels, and I thank the heavens for it. We love. And we suffer when we lose. We are jealous and generous. We are—none of us—wholly light or wholly dark. I have darkness too, Kyra.”

She shook her head. “You are too good.”

“I am not perfect. Far from it.” He smiled. “Though I’ll take your admiration for as long as I have it. No doubt, our years together will lend reality to your dreams.”

“They’re not dreams,” she said. “I have seen evil. And I have seen good.” She kissed him gently. “You are so good.”

“I’m glad,” he said. “Because that means I am deserving of you.”

“Leo—”

“Say yes.”

She closed her eyes and gave in to her heart. Yes.

“Say it aloud,” he whispered. “Please.”

“Yes.”

He captured her mouth in a fervent kiss. A worshipful kiss. They made love in the gold light of morning, and he whispered to her how much he loved her. Kyra soaked in the sunlight and let Leo’s love chase the last of her shadows away.

There was no darkness there. No shadows between them.

“We’ll go to a house by the ocean,” he whispered when their bodies were joined. “We’ll run away and hide by the sea.”

“I love you, Leo.”

I love you, reshon.

* * *

But happiness was the last thing on Kyra’s mind later that day when they met with the scribes from Bangkok. Dara joined them by video conference in the dining room of the house. Sura and Niran sat on one side of the table with Leo and Kyra. Rith and Alyah sat on the other.

“The women and children you evacuated last week,” Dara said. “They are settled in homes. The girl is being fostered by an Irin family who speaks her language. The woman with the boy is staying in the scribe house for now. She won’t leave the baby.”

“Would you leave your baby?” Kyra asked.

“I have no children,” Dara said. “But I hardly think a woman who’d been raped by an angel—”

“It’s not your decision to make.” Niran cut her off. “If she wants the baby, send her back to Chiang Mai. The child is male. We’ll know how to help him.”

“And the woman?” Rith asked.

“There are ways for human women to get well. To stay with their children,” Kyra said. “Leo and I have both seen it.”

Leo nodded. “But she needs Irina magic. And knowledge. You have to tell her the truth.”

Dara scoffed. “She’s human.”

“She’s been brought into the angelic world whether you like it or not,” Kyra said. “She deserves to know the truth.”

It was clear Dara didn’t agree, but Kyra decided to ask about the others. “The ones we rescued from Bagan. What will happen to them?”

“We’ll take the four girls of course,” Dara said. “We have foster homes for them too. The boys must be trained by your Grigori brothers. We don’t know what to do with them.”

Dara’s dismissive tone raised Kyra’s hackles, but Sura put a hand on her knee and shook his head.

“We will care for the boys,” Sura said. “We are better equipped for their challenges. But I worry about our young sisters. When you say they will be fostered, what does that mean?”

“It means they’ll be raised by Irin families,” Rith said. “As my sister said.”

“And will they be trained as Irina?” Sura asked. “Will you teach them the magic they need to become full members of your world?”

Both Rith and Dara were silent. Alyah’s face was painfully blank.

Kyra nearly choked on her anger. Only Leo’s touch kept her steady.

“You have to decide,” she said quietly. “Decide and commit. We cannot be your second-class citizens. We have lived in the shadows too long. Scribes want kareshta wives—some of these women are bearing Irin children—but the Irina won’t teach them anything more than the most basic magic. We know kareshta can sing if they are taught.”

“My own watcher’s mate has Fallen blood,” Leo said. “And Ava has been trained by ancients. Her song is powerful. She is an asset to our world.”

“You want our blood and our wombs, but you don’t want our voices,” Kyra said bitterly. “I refuse to let these girls grow up feeling as if they are less.”

“You ask us to give magic to those whose blood killed our mothers and our sisters and our children,” Dara said. “You weren’t there—”

“And neither were they!” Kyra shouted. “Neither were they. You are the children of the Forgiven.” She gestured across the table. “Congratulations on winning the blood lottery. Because that is the only difference between us.” Kyra glared. “Anything else you believe is self-delusion. I’m not asking you to train grown men or women in magic. I’m asking you to treat children as if they’re not marked by evil. That’s all I’m asking. If you’re going to take those girls, don’t foster them. Adopt them. Your people want for children, and we are offering you our own. Is that not what your precious council mandated?”

“It is,” Alyah said. “I agree with Kyra. The girls should be given the full education of an Irina. If you do not agree, Dara, I ask for an audience with my watcher.”

“As would I,” Leo said. “I was assigned by the council to facilitate relations between the free Grigori here and the scribe house. I believe part of my assignment is to see to the well-being of innocent children caught in the conflict. If you do not agree that the kareshta rescued from Arindam’s control deserve the full care, compassion, and education of Irina children, then I will need to speak to the watcher of the house.”

Dara eyes didn’t change, but a grimace around her mouth told Kyra she didn’t like being reminded that she wasn’t the true watcher. Perhaps it was an injustice, but it was the reality.

“Fine,” Dara said. “We will leave the education of the children to the families who have volunteered to take them. Just as we do with Irin children. They will be treated no differently, Leo of Istanbul. Your assignment to my house is complete. Farewell.” With that, the screen of the computer went blank. Rith rose, closed the laptop, and left the room without a backward look.

Alyah was the only one who stayed.

“They are rigid,” she said. “But they are not bad people.”

Sura said, “No one is saying they are. It is a difficult situation. We know.”

“But those girls deserve to live a full life,” Niran said. “A life where they are accepted and loved.”

“I’ve already spoken to the Irin families who volunteered to take the girls,” Alyah said with a smile. “All four are very, very eager for children. Any children. They are more than excited about welcoming them.”

Kyra asked, “Are you sure?”

“Very sure. As long as Dara leaves their education up to their adoptive mothers and fathers, there will be no problems. I’ll make sure of it. I promise you. I’ll be sure to check in with all of them.”

Sura said, “Alyah, you have become a true friend to us. If there is any help we can offer, please do not hesitate to ask.”

“I may take you up on that.” She looked at Niran. “The pregnant women here. Take them back to Chiang Mai. Do you need money?”

Niran and Sura exchanged glances. “Our father was… quite wealthy,” Niran said. “Money is not an issue.”

“Then take the women back. Care for them with your brothers. I trust your compassion, and I know Ginny will be happy to work with you to keep the mothers as healthy as possible.”

Kyra said, “That’s an excellent idea. I can share with her what I know and put her in touch with others who have more experience.”

“We don’t need to involve any scribe houses,” Alyah said. “It’s probably better that we don’t.”

Leo asked, “And Kyra?”

She frowned. “What about me?”

“You have fulfilled your own mission,” Leo said. “Weren’t you promised something in return?”

Sura smiled. “The Sak Yant. Your brothers are welcome to our hospitality and teaching, should they desire it, Kyra. I will make sure to inform your brother.”

Kyra let out a long breath and turned to Leo. “It looks like both our jobs are finished. You know what that means, don’t you?”

“A long-overdue holiday?”

“Not yet.” She took her phone from her pocket. “First we have a long-overdue conversation with my brothers.”