The absence of Rik’s heat against me woke me more than the low voices. I sat up and immediately, both Rik and Xin turned away from the French doors leading out to the plaza and came to me.

Rik sat beside me and wrapped his arm around my back, his hand sliding down beneath my opposite thigh, offering his shoulder up as a back rest. “Sorry, my queen. We didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Did you find something?”

Xin crouched down beside the bed. “Indeed, I did. She’s hiding another Blood, my queen. An extremely powerful, old Blood, like Leviathan.”

“She has a king?”

Xin shrugged. “Maybe he’s a king. Maybe he’s something else. I smell her blood in him and he’s ancient. At least as old as your king. He couldn’t see me, but he knew something was near. I didn’t dare push deeper to see what he was guarding.”

“When her brothers pressured her about why she hadn’t warned me, she said she was protecting ‘us’, but she hesitated, like there was something else. Someone else. Maybe that’s who this old Blood is guarding.”

“It’s concerning that she never mentioned him,” Rik added. “All she had to do was say she had another Blood she’d assigned elsewhere and none of us would have taken that amiss. A queen may send her Blood to any task. Why hide that she has a fifth Blood, unless she specifically doesn’t want you to know?”

I tried to think through scenarios. She wanted to become my sib. She’d offered before we retired for the night. She’d invited me to her nest, without warning me of the geas that made such a visit extremely dangerous. Each secret alone was enough to make me not trust her. But added together…

“Could this Blood be a member of Skye’s court? And that’s why she hid him—so you and Daire don’t recognize him?”

Rik focused on Xin. “Picture him in your mind. I’m going to try and see him through our bond.”

Xin nodded and sat back on his heels, his hands loose on his thighs. “I’m ready, alpha.”

I closed my eyes so I could see our bonds more clearly. Rik’s bond was always like a volcano with streaks of red, molten rock sliding down his sides, even if his bond was quiet. Xin’s bond was more like his wolf. Still, quiet, nearly invisible, a blanket of soft, damp fog. I watched as Rik sent a stream of lava rolling toward Xin’s fog. I tensed, afraid it might hurt him, or burn his fog away, and I’m sure Rik could have done either if he’d wanted. I’d felt him send an alpha surge in the bonds before that had affected even Mehen’s dragon. Xin’s bond vibrated in response, but rather than dissipating, his fog thickened around Rik’s bond, drawing him in. I reached for him too and immediately stood with his wolf in a dark hallway. The air felt heavy and smelled slightly of damp, like a basement. I felt the impression of weight and distance above us. Interlocking stones covered the floors, walls, and ceiling. So maybe a man-made tunnel rather than a hallway.

Light flickered at the end of the tunnel and a man stood in front of a thick wooden door. Arms crossed over his chest, feet planted wide, the man definitely screamed protector, his glare sending a clear message. Leave this place.

Rik moved past me, ducking a little to pass beneath one of the lower sections of the ceiling, until he stood in front of the man. It was so strange, because it wasn’t real. We weren’t really there, even though I could smell the dank, thick odor of dirt and something else. Something feral.

It wasn’t this man. It was something behind that door.

Something precious. Something that he would willingly die for.

Then it dawned on me. The man was as big as Rik. Maybe… even slightly bigger.

Rik gave me a look over his shoulder, brow arched. “He’s not bigger than my rock troll though.”

“Unless he can shift into something bigger than he already is.”

Rik snorted with disgust. “Mehen’s dragon is bigger than me, but we all remember how that went down.”

“It doesn’t matter how big he is. I don’t feel drawn to him.”

Despite his confident words, a crease eased in his forehead. My big, bad alpha liked being my biggest and baddest. :That will never change.:

“I don’t recognize him and he doesn’t smell like Skye. A man this big, this powerful, would have made an impression on her. She would have been damned near giddy to have the opportunity to break him.”

“Is he alpha?”

“Yes and no. He’s like Mehen, or Guillaume. Old and powerful, yes. He could be alpha if he chose. But he’s not. Maybe Zaniyah already had an alpha when she called him.”

I opened my eyes and swayed slightly, disoriented. It took a second for my brain to make the adjustment to the guest quarters, rather than the dark tunnel. “At least he’s not a plant by Skye. Other than that, we don’t really know what he’s protecting or why she lied about him.”

“Should I go back and try to learn more, my queen?” Xin asked.

I cupped his cheek and he turned his face into my caress, rubbing deeper against my palm. “No, thank you, Xin. I don’t want to risk you being discovered. I’ll find out what she’s hiding.”

“How?”

I yawned, which Rik immediately took to mean I should be picked up, shifted deeper into the bed, and tucked in against his big body. Not that I was complaining. “What time is it?”

“Four in the morning,” he replied against my shoulder, his lips a soft caress.

I listened to my bonds a moment, taking a quick inventory. Mehen had switched with Nevarre on the balcony. Daire had taken over for Guillaume at the door, though Ezra was still up and gave no sign of leaving his post now that Daire had joined him. Gina was sleeping. “Xin, could you write a quick note for Gina and ask her to set up a meeting with Mayte first thing this morning? Like eight. Slide it under her door. I’m sure she’ll be up long before I will.”

Xin nodded and immediately stood to go in search of paper and pen.

Rik rubbed his nose behind my ear, breathing in my scent. “Are you sure you want to be up so early, my queen?”

“Regretfully, yes,” I sighed, closing my eyes. “I have a feeling it’s going to be a very long day.”