Reine sat in an uncomfortable wicker chair on the outdoor terrace of Maison Bleue overlooking Lake Geneva. Colorful geraniums overflowed from the window boxes on the exterior of the Alpine-style restaurant, and a warm breeze blew over the water's calm surface. The sky glowed in a reddish-orange as a precursor to the impending sunset, illuminating the smiling faces of her companions.

Noor's parents were just as she'd imagined them. Highly intellectual, but just as modest, the Hamads couldn't stop telling their favorite anecdotes about their only child's younger years. Sitting next to his fiancée, Mal laughed at the right moments and questioned all of the pertinent details.

He was playing the role of future son-in-law to a tee.

Reine pushed the remainder of her portobello risotto around the bottom of the ceramic bowl mentally cursing Noor for threatening elopement in order to force her to come along. She loved the girl like a sister, but being surrounded by the epitome of a perfect family was the last thing she needed right now. Entering the last trimester of her pregnancy with no more of a support network than when she fled the US for England, the happiness around her made Reine even more cognizant of her own lack of it.

She hadn't seen or heard from Max in weeks, not since he hastily cleaned himself up and drove away from her home after taking a warranted, but still unnecessary beating. Gabe had also laid low since, not even attempting to apologize for his aggressive actions. It was only through Mal she'd found out he was even more deeply entrenched within the Order of Westminster, attending high profile events at the side of none other than Lord Emery Wescott himself.

"May I bring the dessert menu?" asked the petite waitress as she stopped to clear the table.

With the conversation already interrupted, Reine took the opportunity to stand. "If you'll excuse me, I need to move around a bit. I'll see you all back at the hotel," she said.

"Are you sure, my dear? We can skip the sweets and accompany you, if you'd like." Nadya Hamad turned away from her daughter upon hearing her announcement. The woman with the huge brown eyes and skin like caramel had shown genuine affection toward Reine from the moment they met, and her concern now sounded just as sincere.

Reine smiled. "Thank you, but that's unnecessary. Please, stay and enjoy the rest of your evening." She turned before any other objections could be raised and headed off the restaurant's property.

Strolling along the lakefront didn't prove to be the distraction she was hoping for. Happy couples were everywhere - jogging, biking, or walking hand-in-hand - as if they were purposefully mocking her loneliness. Ready to admit defeat in trying to find some solitude, Reine was about to turn toward the hotel when a nearby dock caught her eye.

Blissfully empty and far enough from the bustling promenade, it seemed the perfect spot for her to clear her mind.

Walking along the wooden jetty, she stopped just inches from the end. Although the sides were secured with railings - and also decorated with the same red and pink flowers seemingly present in the entire city - the tip of the raised structure remained open to allow boats to dock. Several feet below, the clear water gently lapped the thick, pine beams with a monotonous - and strangely soothing - sound.

Closing her eyes, Reine let the last few seconds of the day's sunshine wash over her body. It warmed her skin, travelling down from the top of her head to her bare ankles as the sun dipped below the horizon. Lost in the moment, she slowly lifted her arms at her sides until they were perpendicular to the ground. The gentle breeze made her feel like she could fly, but the distinctive algae-tinged smell of the water, combined with the faint splashing sounds reminded her what was waiting at the bottom.

Reine opened her eyes and looked down. With her arms still outstretched, she stared at the increasingly dark water as night approached.

The vital liquid had ruled so much of her being. It had ended her mortal life, putting her on the path leading to this very moment. She'd often questioned her fate, but what if she'd never been in that precarious rowboat caught in a storm on the Venetian Lagoon? She would have lived her normal life, but for how much longer? Back in the Fifteenth Century, there was a strong chance she would have died in childbirth or from a simple disease easily cured in the modern era. And what if Max had passed first? He had only outlived her by a few years. Would he even have been away from home on that fateful trip?

Reine's head reeled from the possibilities, but one thing was certain. The past was the past, and there was no changing it. She quickly inhaled at a sudden thought. She couldn't change the past, but she could forget it. It was the only detriment to immortal reawakening, but in this case, it could be a welcome side effect.

It was a coward's solution, but not knowing the source of her unhappiness would take away so much pain. She stared across the water. Was it still even possible in her current condition?

"Do it."

Reine flinched at the interruption and lowering her arms, spun around to see Mal. "Do what?" she asked.

"Go ahead. Jump." Stopping a few feet away, he stuck his hands in his pocket. "That's what you were thinking of doing, right?"

"Why would you encourage something so stupid?" She frowned at both his unwanted appearance and sour attitude. "Shouldn't you be trying to stop me?"

He shrugged. "Maybe it's reverse psychology. Or maybe I'd pull you out anyway."

"Of course you would," she said. "God forbid Max found out that you let me get hurt. Or Gabe for that matter. It makes me wonder . . . where are your loyalties the strongest these days, Mal? With your boss or your friend? Then again, perhaps it's Noor you wouldn't want to disappoint."

"You've never liked me, have you?" He crossed his arms and diverted her question with one of his own. "Why is that?"

Reine sighed. "It would be too easy to say because you're a pompous ass, no?" When he smirked, she continued, "Very well. I have no reason to lie to you."

Crouching down, she sat at the edge of the dock and dangled her feet over the water. Patting the spot next to her, Reine invited Mal to join her. Looking straight ahead, she began speaking only when he had taken his place.

"Did you know Gabe told me about you on our first date? Or was that our second? I still don't know whether the coffeehouse counted . . .." She glanced over and noticed his scowl. "Oh, right. That's not the point. Well, anyway he took me to your old school for a little illicit sledding, which I believe was one of the things you guys used to do together."

Mal chuckled as he unbuttoned his suit jacket to get more comfortable, and she continued. "He didn't mention you by name yet, but he implied he missed the friendship you shared."

Reine paused, and he got impatient. "Get to the point, blondie."

"The point is, when I finally found out your whole history - about the car accident and your subsequent connection to Max - I couldn't help, but be jealous. You had this whole support network around you from day one. You didn't have to go through all of the uncertainty and confusion of your reawakening by yourself," she said with a sigh. "I had none of that, and I know it was petty of me, but I suppose I held that against you."

Reine expected the young man next to her to ridicule her childishness, but he remained silent for a long time. When he finally spoke, the subject was quite surprising.

"I was raised in a single-parent household. Dad was never too far away, but my mother did the heavy lifting. She was the kindest, most caring person you could have ever met." He paused to clear his throat. "She - more than anyone else - was the reason I got through those first few months. With her, the memory loss was bearable because she made relearning my past enjoyable. She was tireless in going through old photos and home movies, telling stories about family vacations, or reintroducing me to people who'd known me all of my life."

Reine smiled, but Mal remained stoic. "She'd been healthy for almost a decade, but her cancer came back almost a year after the accident. She was dead within six months."

His bluntness made her gasp with surprise. That's when he must have gone off the rails, dying often in quick succession, and leading to so many pieces of his immortal soul being ripped from his physical body. She'd seen the results at Scoby Castle, evidence of his lack of concern for his life. "Oh, Mal. I'm so sorry--"

He didn't let her continue with the apology, but kept talking. "Her devotion and focus on me caused my mother to ignore her own well-being. She died because of me."

Reine shook her head and gently touched his shoulder. "No, you can't think that. I'm sure there was no connection, nothing you could have done differently. But why didn't Gabe tell me any of this?"

"It wasn't his story to tell. And you could have just asked," he said.

Reine buried her face in her hands. "I had you all wrong. I guess that's even more of a reason for you to hate me."

"See? There you go again with your assumptions again." Mal put a hand on her knee. "I don't hate you."

She looked up. "You don't? Then why haven't you tried to make more of an effort? Apart from me being a bitch, of course." She smiled, and he returned the gesture. It made him even more handsome; he really should have done it more often.

"Why does it matter?" He shrugged. "Didn't you already have enough people doting around you?"

She laughed. "You can't be serious. I've socialized with less people in five centuries than you probably have in the last three months."

"It's not the quantity; it's the quality." Mal focused on the water. "Last December when Max heard you might still be alive, he dropped everything to get you back. And then my man Gabe falls for you - and I mean hard - after one coffee? Come on now. You've had them wrapped around your finger since day one, and you don't even realize it. I just don't like that kind of shit."

She smirked. "You don't like true love, then?"

"Is that what it was? True love?" He looked at her and raised his brows. "Both times?"

Reine sighed. "Now you're making me want to jump again." She thought for a moment before continuing. "So, that was it then? You were so cold toward me because your two besties both like me? Who's the jealous one now, Mal?"

"Well, you're a fucking know-it all," he said with exaggerated exasperation.

"What? No, I'm not!" Reine grimaced.

"Oh, you gotta learn some self-awareness, babe." He laughed. "You can't pass a painting or a rug or anything ever made by human hands in the last millennium without turning all Wikipedia."

"Fine, I'll admit to that, as long as you agree we're done with this conversation once and for all."

He extended his hand. "Agreed."

They shook on it, and Mal stood. "Ready to head back?"

"Give me a minute. I'll be right behind you," she said.

He grinned again and took a few, normal steps before disappearing in a blur toward the dark shoreline. Reine faced the water, smiling to herself at what just happened. Did she really just reconcile with Mal? Maybe this trip wasn't so bad after all.

She breathed in the cool night air. Across the distance, a small spot of light appeared. Reine watched as the flicker moved over the water until she could faintly hear the hum of the boat's engine. When several faint thuds sounded behind her, she twisted her body around.

"Did you forget . . .?" She expected to see her previous companion, but instead came face-to-face with Wescott's Russian henchman. Without saying a word, the short, muscular man with closely cropped blonde hair removed from his ear the cellphone he was holding and thrust it toward her.

She didn't even have to greet the person on the other end before he began talking. "Miss Baldovini. I trust you've been enjoying your little visit with the Hamads. Such lovely people, and what amazing breakthroughs they're making in their research."

The now familiar British accent sent a chill up her spine. "What can I do for you, Lord Wescott?" She forced her congeniality.

"I'm afraid I'm in a bit of a conundrum, my dear. You see, that errant husband of yours has disappeared." He paused, perhaps hoping her reaction would provide a clue to Max's whereabouts.

Reine, however, acted neither surprised nor knowledgeable about the situation. Max was most likely still recuperating somewhere in the middle of nowhere, but the head of the Order didn't need to know that.

"So?" she spat the word.

Wescott chuckled. "So, this means I can't be certain if he still intends to keep our deal. Which means you're going to go with my associates until we can get this straightened out."

Reine's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. Frantically turning around, she saw the speedboat she'd noticed a minute earlier quickly approaching the dock.

"Go where? For how long?" She fired the questions off into the phone.

"You'll be my guest for week or two. Now, be a dear and don't resist. It'll be easier for all of us."