"Arthur's dead, Dana is dead. Five of the six vampires are dead," Anna said. "There's only one villain left."

"We don't have to worry about the vampire who escaped," Bran told her. "The local vampires found him and took care of it. They are apparently sending Angus proof."

"Good," said Tom.

"Good" was the wrong word, Anna thought. "Good" shouldn't apply to headless bodies and dead people. But she didn't have a better word.

Anna had to ask. "Bran? Could you have done anything to stop the fae from killing Charles? Should I have waited for you?" Did I just kill unnecessarily?

He must have heard her unspoken worry. "In human courts, the least of the charges facing Dana would have been conspiracy to commit murder. Charles confirms that she knew Arthur planned on killing Sunny. Jean Chastel. Charles. She was in the process of killing Charles. That's attempted murder." He shook his head. "Do not regret her death."

"She was the Lady of the Lake," Anna said in a small voice.

"And being famous should have made her immune to the consequences of her actions?"

He pulled her head toward him and kissed her forehead. "Ego te absolvo. There is some Latin for you, my dear. I absolve you of your guilt. You did well. The only way I could have stopped her was the same way you did. And I would have been too late."

"De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum," she murmured. "Her death was the lesser evil."

CHARLES sat in lone splendor on a huge couch in the middle of Angus's spacious living room-while the other ten or twelve people present made themselves at home on the other side of the room.

Anna surveyed the scene. "Okay," she said. "Who's been being a grouch."

He looked at her. For such a look, she thought, she'd have done a lot more than kill. He patted the couch beside him, but she crawled into his lap instead.

"I've had a really bad night," she said. "Any chance we can get some sleep?"

Charles kissed her, a long, involved kiss that took no prisoners. When he was finished, she licked her lips, and said, in a voice that was a little breathless, "Does that mean no?"

"I would slay dragons for you," he told her. "I suspect that finding an unoccupied bedroom will be easier."

She pulled away a little, just far enough that she could see his face. "Dragons, huh. Well, I killed the Lady of the Lake for you, sir."

He cupped her face in his hands, "I'm sorry, Anna."

Te absolve, indeed, she thought. Faced with Charles's warm and undeniably living flesh, she would have killed the fae over again. "I'm not," she said. "I love you."

Angus sighed. "Lovebirds," he said.