"You cannae be a Guardian of an Ace if you cannae make a decision. So yie need to decide, laddie. Do yie wish to take yur queen above and use some time tae rest and prepare, or do yie choose to begin yur quest now?"

Stark didn't hesitate. "I don't have time to rest, and I started preparing for this the day Zoey accepted my oath as her Warrior. My decision is to start my quest now."

Seoras nodded slightly. "Aye, then, it's to the Chamber of the Fi-anna Foil we will be going." The Warrior turned from the stairs and continued down the hallway. Close behind him, Stark and the others carried Zoey.

To Stark's complete irritation, Aphrodite quickened her step until she was almost even with him, and asked, "So, Seoras, what exactly did you mean when you called what Stark has to do a quest?"

Seoras didn't so much as glance over his shoulder at her when he said, "I didnae stutter, wumman. I named his task a quest, and that it is."

Aphrodite snorted.

"Shut up," Stark whispered to her.

As usual, Aphrodite ignored him. "Yeah, I got the word. I'm just not sure of the meaning."

Seoras came to a huge set of arched double doors. Stark thought they looked like they would take an army to open, but all the Warrior did was to say in a low, gentle voice, "Yur Guardian asks permission to enter, my Ace." With the sound of a lover's sigh, the doors opened by themselves, and Seoras led them into the most amazing room Stark had ever seen.

Sgiach sat on a white marble throne that was on a triple-tiered dais in the middle of the massive chamber. The throne was incredible, carved from top to bottom with intricate knots that seemed to tell a story, or portray a scene, but the stained-glass window behind Sgiach and her dais was already revealing dawn, and Stark staggered to a halt just outside its encroaching brightness, bringing the column to a standstill and drawing curious glances from all the warriors. He was squinting against the light and trying to make his brain work through the haze that the sunlight hours caused in him when Aphrodite stepped up, bowed quickly to Sgiach, and then told Seoras, "Stark's a red vam-pyre. He's different than you guys. He'll burn up in direct daylight."

"Cover the windows," Seoras ordered. Warriors immediately did his bidding, unfurling red velvet drapes Stark hadn't noticed before.

Stark's eyes instantly adapted to the darkness that blanketed the room, so even before more warriors lit wall torches and tree-sized candelabra, he clearly saw Seoras stride up the dais steps and take the place to the left of his queen's throne. He stood there with a confidence that was almost tangible. Stark knew, without any doubt, that nothing in this world, and perhaps not even the next, could get past Seoras to harm his queen, and for an instant Stark felt a terrible wave of envy. I want that! I want Zoey back so that I can be sure nothing ever hurts her again! Sgiach lifted her hand and caressed her Warrior's forearm briefly, but intimately. The queen didn't look up at Seoras, but Stark did. He was gazing down at her with an expression Stark understood completely. He's not just a Guardian, he's The Guardian.

And he loves her.

"Approach. Lay the young queen before me." As she spoke, Sgiach made a beckoning motion.

The column moved forward and gently laid Zoey's litter on the marble floor at the feet of the queen.

"You cannot bear sunlight. What else is different about you?" Sgiach said, as the last of the torches was lit, and the room took on the warm yellow glow of open flame.

The warriors faded into the chamber's shadowy corners. Stark faced the queen and her Guardian and answered her quickly, without any messing around or time-wasting preamble. "I usually sleep all during the day. I'm not one hundred percent as long as the sun is in the sky. I have more bloodlust than regular vampyres. I can't enter a private home without an invitation. There might be more differences, but I haven't been a red vampyre for very long, and that's all I've figured out so far."

"Is it true you died and were resurrected?" the queen asked.

"Yes." Stark said the word quickly, hoping she wouldn't question him more on that subject.

"Intriguing . . ." Sgiach murmured.

"Was it during daylight when your queen's soul shattered? Is that why yie failed tae protect her?" Seoras asked.

It felt like the Warrior had shot the questions through his heart, but Stark met his gaze steadily and spoke only the truth. "No. It wasn't daylight. I didn't fail her because of that. I failed her because I made a mistake."

"I'm sure the High Council, as well as the vampyres at your House of Night, have explained to you that a shattered soul is a death sentence for the High Priestess, and quite often for her Warrior as well. Why do you believe coming here will change that certainty?" Sgiach said.