He was remembering.
It was a long time ago, Thorne.
I know, but I have a feeling it still feels like yesterday for you.
Grace realized she’d never given her brother enough credit. Yes. Sometimes, like tonight, it does.
Leto turned toward Grace. “I have to get out there. My place is at the colony, but I think you should stay here, stay with your brother. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Do you think it’s wise,” she asked, “if you and I are separated right now?”
He took her hand. “I’m not sure, but I have to be part of securing the colony.” He glanced at Thorne. “I think we’ll need Endelle to work on restoring the mist. Diallo won’t be fit for duty for a few more hours yet, though I made sure Horace was with him.”
“Good,” Thorne said. Horace was the strongest healer on Second Earth. He glanced at Grace then back to Leto. “I’ll take Grace to the palace with me. Endelle will want to know everything, and I’ll get her started on the mist. Just report in as soon as the colony is secured.”
Casimir stood at the observation window over the portal to Third. It felt so strange being with Grace and Leto just now. He knew they had completed the breh-hedden. He could feel their bond as though it had strings he could touch.
Though she had parted from him, still he loved her. How strange to know she was with another vampire and that his duty was to keep that vampire alive.
After having been with Patience earlier, he wondered if he would scent Grace again, but he had smelled nothing from her.
He glanced around the deck. He sniffed; the wildflower scent that belonged to Patience was still very much present in the space.
He focused on his voyeur window, holding Leto’s image in his mind. He saw the warrior running through the Seattle Colony. Casimir used his window as a tracking device, and since he knew there were death vampires at the colony, he simply folded with a thought to Leto’s position but kept himself invisible.
He watched Leto drop to his knees as he tended to a wounded colonist who was still breathing. He lifted up and called for a healer.
Casimir had enjoyed both men and women in his long life, and Leto was one of the finest-looking warriors he had ever seen. His eyes were an exquisite shade of blue and very intense, a heady combination. He was built, too. He would make a wonderful lover for Grace, for anyone really.
He kept out of the way and just watched him work. His view of life was so different now that what he began to feel for Leto wasn’t so much lust as it was respect. Leto deserved a woman like Grace, whose heart was pure and compassionate, who saw the best in everyone she met.
With a piercing sense of self-awareness, he knew Grace was with the man who deserved her.
He had made a promise to his boys that he would bring Grace back to them, but there had been a part of him still hoping that she would return as his breh. That was now over, especially because Patience had suddenly arrived in his life. Yet deep in his heart, he knew Grace would fulfill her promise to be a part of his sons’ lives. Just knowing that eased his heart.
The healer arrived and began taking care of the colonist. Leto moved on. Remaining invisible, Casimir trailed after him as he worked with three squads of Militia Warriors, hunting deep into the forest for death vampires.
Endelle stood before the mirror in her bedroom and unhooked the scorpion belt. She let it fall to the floor. She had just gotten word that the Seattle Colony had been attacked and that Seriffe and Thorne were sending her Militia Warriors after Greaves’s death vampires.
She opened her closet door and pulled out a black flight suit, nothing special. She waved a hand and with nine thousand years of experience switched outfits within the blink of an eye. She drew a leather piece from her closet, something she had never worn before, and for the first time in centuries there was absolutely nothing silly or absurd about this garment. She’d had it made about fifteen years ago when Greaves had started turning up the heat. She slid it on the old-fashioned way then buckled the belt in front and adjusted the side fittings. She felt for the dagger at her waist with a left-hand draw. She’d need her right hand for her sword if it came to that.
“You look perfect, Endelle. You were made to wear a weapons harness.”
She turned slowly. Braulio was there, that handsome bastard, standing near her bed. But she’d give him this, he wasn’t sporting his usual teasing come-fuck-me smile.
“I think this might be it,” she said.
Braulio nodded. He looked very serious, more than he ever had.
“So, you gonna tell me what you did to me?” She reached up and rubbed the ripple of scars over her neck.
“Not yet. But soon.”