“They had to see.”

“You’ve said that,” Lucien bit out.

“The magic, Lucien, the magic that makes us, the magic that binds us, the magic that gives us immortality, links our races, flows through all of our veins only exists because of hope. Hope and love. Etienne and his minions represented the death of that. The Three was its salvation.”

“If you knew what they had planned, why didn’t you help us?” Lucien asked.

“We did,” Avery told him.

“And how’s that?” It was a scoff.

“For the last several decades, we gave you Gregor.”

Lucien’s jaw went hard.

He changed subjects. “After he attacked Leah, I could have dealt with my father. You wouldn’t allow it. I could have done something before he violated concubines, slaughtered villages—”

“Yes, but if you had, they would not have seen.”

Lucien blew out an infuriated breath. “I don’t understand your logic. In love and hope, you accept innocent collateral damage?”

“If you don’t understand, then I’ll tell you this,” Avery returned. “If I’d told Gregor he would lose his life to this fight, he would not have changed one thing he did, including going to aid his son, his daughter, you. That’s love, Lucien. That’s hope. That’s beauty.” He leaned forward. “That’s magic.”

Fuck, but Lucien couldn’t argue that.

“They saw,” Avery continued. “All around the globe, they saw you fight. They saw you bleed. They saw you sacrifice. They saw you face an undefeatable foe. And they saw you beat it. They saw the power of hope. They saw the might of love. And now, what do we have?”

Lucien didn’t answer.

“Harmony,” Avery whispered. “Immortals and mortals, after millennia, living together in harmony.”

He wasn’t wrong.

In the five days since the battle, there had been incidents.

But immortals were outing themselves around the world and none of the incidents had been violent. None of them alarming.

What Avery said was true.

The acceptance was astonishing.

Lucien let that go and asked, “Did you know we would lose Gregor?”

Avery shook his head. “I am millennia old, I have skills and strengths, but I’m no seer. Neither are the others. We knew what the enemy had planned because we had the skills to find out. But we had no idea of the outcome. Only hope.”

Lucien held his gaze and said, “Lilah’s light.”

“She’s the best of you.”

It was then that Lucien stared. “Pardon?”

“She was the key all along, Lucien. Her light. Lilah’s light made her the most powerful of all of The Three.”

“Love,” Lucien guessed, and Avery nodded. “But we all had that,” he pointed out.

“Acceptance is a word not in Delilah Johnson’s vocabulary,” Avery announced. “I’m sure you’ve noted why.”