'No, of course not, ma petite. The plane is at your disposal. It only remains to choose the guards to accompany you.'

'How many is minimum?' I asked.

'Six.'

'Two apiece,' I said.

'Oui.'

'Can you arrange for the plane while I do the guards?' I asked.

'Of course, and I would suggest that most of the guards be your lovers. You will need to feed the ardeur, and Micah's grief may make his interest in such things less.'

I nodded, knew he couldn't see it, and said, 'Agreed.'

'I have regretted in the past not being able to take you home to visit my family, because they are long dead, but moments like this remind me that there are worse things than having lost them long ago.'

'Yeah, losing them here and now sucks a lot.'

He gave a small laugh. 'Ah, ma petite, you do have a way with words.'

'I am frowning at you right now, just so you know.'

'But you do not mean it,' he said.

I smiled. 'No, I don't.'

'Je t'aime, ma petite.'

'I love you, too, master.'

'You always say that with such derision and usually an eye roll. You will never, ever, mean it.'

'Do you really want me to mean it?'

'No,' he said, 'I want true partners, not slaves, or servants. I have learned that is why I chose you and Richard. I knew you would fight to remain free, to remain yourselves.'

'Did you know just how hard we'd fight?' I asked.

He laughed then, and it shivered over my body, making me shut my eyes and shudder at my desk. 'Stop that,' I breathed.

'Do you truly wish me to never do that again?'

My breath came out in a shaking sigh. 'No,' I said, at last. 'I'll call Fredo and see whom he can spare from the guards I want, and if he agrees with the mix of skills.'

'I trust you and our senior wererat to work out such details.'

'Thank you. There would have been a time when you would have insisted on picking them yourself.'

'There was a time when you were attracted to weaker men, but that has ceased to be true.'

'Remember, I was attracted to you in my weaker-men days,' I said.

'You have made me a better man, Anita Blake, as you have all the men, and women, in your life now.'

'I don't know what to say to that. I feel like I should apologize or something.'

'It is in the nature of some leaders to bring out the best in those around them.'

'Hey, I'm not in charge of this little metaphysical bus; you are, remember?'

'I am the political leader, but in an emergency most of our people will take your orders over mine.'

'That's not true,' I said.

'In a fight, they will.'

'Okay, if it's violence, then yeah, it's what I'm good at. You're much better at the politics and dinner party stuff.'

'You have your moments in the political arena.'

'And only a few of the Harlequin are better than you with a rapier.' In fact, I'd been a little amazed at how good he was with his chosen weapon. He'd turned out to have been a famous duelist in his day, as a human and young vampire. He'd explained that his blade work had been what allowed him to survive; the masters of the day had challenged him, and he'd chosen his weapon and he'd killed them. I'd never known until he started practicing in the new gym where the other guards and I could see.

'Are you salving my ego, ma petite?'

'I think so.'

He laughed, and this time it was just humor. 'I do not need it. I am king and you are both my queen and my general. One who leads the charge from the front and always will. You know our guards' strengths and weaknesses better than I, because you practice and work out with them. You have quite shamed me and some of the older vampires into exercising more.'

'Most vampires can't gain muscle; the body at death is what it is, unchanging.'

'But I can, and my vampires can.'

'One of the rebel vampires said it's because you take power from them.'

'That helps me be powerful, oui, but I believe it is more that my ties to our wereanimals are more intimate. I accept their warm power more as an equal instead of the master/slave relationship that most older masters had.'

'Yeah, none of this treating the wereanimals like pets and property on our watch.'

'It is one of the bones of contention with some of the older vampires.'

'Yeah, they can just suck it up; the wereanimals are flocking to us because of the more equal rights stance.'

'It is impossible to make everyone happy, so in the end we make ourselves happy and do what we can for others. I want no slaves in my kingdom.'

'Agreed,' I said.

'I must hang up to make the plane ready for you,' he said.