“I’m glad.”
A moment of silence hung in the air between us before Helena nodded to herself. “I’ll help you as best as I can in your task, Lucian, as I’m sure you’ll compensate me handsomely for my time, but are you sure this is what you want? Perhaps you would enjoy being human once more.”
I laughed. “Enjoy being a fragile bag of meat scared of my own shadow? Hardly. Really, Helena, it’s almost as if you don’t know me at all.”
“Yes,” Helena agreed coldly and I winced. Of course, I’d insulted her. But she should have known my feelings on the matter, given how many years she’d spent in my company. “We can’t have you being weak and vulnerable, my count. It doesn’t suit you.”
“Precisely.”
“Very well. I have secured your place in the marriage games as a suitor for the future duke. Expect stiff competition and, as a stranger here, it might take more time to earn the esteem of the family than your peers who have lived in this neighborhood their entire lives.”
Peers.It was almost unfathomable to consider humans as peers, but I would heed her advice. After all, she knew more of this world than I.
I shifted in my seat. “Helena … what can you tell me about this duke?”
Helena lifted her teacup to her mouth and blew at the steam before sipping. She held her cup there for a moment after, as if gathering her thoughts. “Duke Harclay is very sick. He likely won’t last the season. His eldest son Ambrose will inherit his title and everything worth having. They are a bit isolationist when it comes to their politics, or I would say more. I have a feeling it stems from their relationship with the queen. They’re likely privy to information of the most sensitive nature.”
I nodded slowly. “So, Ambrose decided to find a partner before his father died.”
“I believe Flora—that’s the duchess—wanted Duke Harclay to be able to see his son wed. I’m not sure that will happen, even if Ambrose does find a worthy match, but at least the duke can rest assured that his legacy will be in good hands.”
“And I suppose every gold digger within a hundred-mile radius is participating in these games.”
“If not more. It leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth. But then again, you have your own ulterior motives for pursuing the future duke. Is that really any better?”
I slapped my chest. “You wound me, Helena. What if I told you that I was doing this not for myself, but for the good of theworld? Can my intentions not be noble?”
Helena smiled sweetly. “Well, I suppose there’s a first time for everything.”
CHAPTER TWO
The sound of curtains being thrown aside woke me with a start. The sun cut into the gloom of the room with the force of a tsunami, drenching my flesh in golden rays.
I let out a strangled cry as I flung myself from my bed, rolling onto the floor to the shadows gathered there, safe from the oppressive touch of daylight. I yanked the sheets over my head and buried myself in the dark, squeezing my eyes shut.
“I—I apologize for startling you, my lord,” a voice said into the stunned silence of the room.
I blinked. My skin wasn’t burning. I wasn’t even in my coffin. This was … It all came flooding back to me. I sat up, flinging the bed linens aside with a sigh. I regarded the middle-aged servant frowning down at me.
“Knock loud enough to wake me next time,” I chided him, standing with as much dignity as I could muster. “I … have terrible nightmares.”
“A thousand pardons,” the man said, bowing, as if he was used to guests behaving in such a fashion. I had to admit that he took it in stride. “I was sent to dress you for breakfast.”
I hardly heard him, however, as I stepped over to the windows, distracted by the light pouring through them in torrents, highlighting the dust motes swirling in the air overhead. I smiled as I pushed a pane open, the sun meeting my skin with the slightest tingle of warmth. This was the force I’d been so afraid of as a vampire. This … pleasant glow of heat. I laughed, opening my arms and closing my eyes as I let the sun’s rays soak my skin.
“It is a … beautiful morning,” the man said at my back, and I sighed, remembering myself.
I took a long look at the garden outside my window, bright with morning light, before shading my eyes as I tried to glimpse the sun. The sky was a stunning blue. Bluer than I remembered. Usually, shadows clung to everything I laid eyes upon, lamps and fires never able to fully tame the darkness. The fact that the grass was so green and lively, the butterflies so vibrant, made everything feel dreamlike. It seemed unnatural and yet … familiar, like a memory nagging the back of my mind.
With regret, I turned to the man. He must have been nearly forty. He was dressed in black, with red hair and a stout figure, and he held himself with an air of dignity. His green eyes gave me a moment’s pause, but they were the only remarkable thing about him. “And you are?”
“I’ll be your valet during your stay at Hemlock Manor. I have other duties, so I’ll be dressing you and caring for your clothes, but that’s rather the extent.” He dipped his head respectfully. “Lady Grafton informed me of your lost luggage, so I took the liberty of bringing appropriate clothing for you. I’m sorry to say that you’ll need to visit the tailor to have proper suits made, but we’ll make due in the meantime.”
Lady Grafton. He must have meant Helena. She’d thought of everything, it seemed. The valet gestured to a wash basin on a side table, and I walked toward it to freshen up. I stopped cold when I saw a stunning naked man staring back at me. My eyes widened as I rushed to the mirror, drinking myself in with ravenous delight. My brown hair curled lazily atop my head, thick and wild, while a shadow of stubble ran along my jawline. My eyes were cutting, so dark a brown they may as well have been black. My body was all corded muscle, a splash of hair over my chest, the only color on my otherwise pale countenance.
I laughed as I drank in my reflection. It was so unexpectedly wonderful to see myself again, after all these years. I hadn’t looked quite like this when I’d been changed into a vampire, if memory served. I still appeared just shy of eighteen, but my eyes now held a predatory glint, an easy sensuality framing my mouth and a cunning in my brow. I had seen much in my time, and while the centuries hadn’t aged me, the experience shown through in subtle ways.
I caught the eyes of the valet in the mirror and grinned wickedly at him. “Have you ever beheld such a fine figure? You’d think the devil himself stood here.”
