He watched from across the street.
The hotel's conference center was visible through the glass walls. Kael couldn't see Lyra, but he knew she was in there. Standing in front of the most powerful vampires in North America, telling them a truth they didn't want to hear.
Aldric stood beside him. "She'll be fine."
"I know."
"You don't look like you know."
Kael didn't answer. His hands were cold, despite the warmth of the evening.
Inside the conference center, Cassius Silvanus was speaking. Kael couldn't hear the words, but he could imagine them. The old alliance. The binding of Aurelius. The centuries of silence. The truth that vampires and wolves had once been partners against a common enemy.
The presentation lasted an hour. When it ended, the vampires filed out. Their expressions were unreadable.
Lyra emerged last. She walked across the street to where Kael waited.
"How did it go?" he asked.
"They listened. I don't know if they believed."
"What happens now?"
"They deliberate. The Council will discuss what we presented. Decide whether it changes anything."
"And if it doesn't?"
She met his eyes. "Then we tried. And we keep trying."
He took her hand. In the middle of Vancouver, surrounded by vampires who would kill him if they knew what he was, Kael Shadowbane held the hand of the woman he loved.
"Okay," he said. "We keep trying."