He sighed softly.‘Of course I’d rather this,’ he said.‘If Moira and I traded places, I’d be begging her to change me.Even if we wound back the clock to when I was human and I knew everything that was to come, I’d still go through it all again if it meant I didn’t have to die.The best of life makes the worst worth living.’His eyes met mine.‘I understand that now.’
I couldn’t think of an answer quickly enough.My chest began to burn.Raleigh huffed.‘Never mind.There’s no sign of infection.Don’t tell her I suggested it, all right?’
Moira started eating again on the third day.Not that there was much to share with her.Food consisted of salted meat, ship biscuits and whatever other scraps we could scrounge.I longed for the stews and roasts from the guesthouses we’d stopped at on theway to the palace, but our meagre supplies were still more than what I’d survived on in Orlfen.
Raleigh ate nothing at all.
There were postal stations along the route where we could stop briefly to replenish supplies.Most were happy to swap out the horses for a hefty fee – a bribe that grew heftier with each station as the quality of our horses decreased.But not every station was so obliging.By the end of the third day I started turning a blind eye to Raleigh bewitching the horses.Nothing would help us outrun a vampire, but every mile we managed to crawl closer to Castle Rostenburg was a mile closer to safety.
We reached the border of Rostenburg by the evening of the fourth day.Moira was well enough by then that she insisted on driving, though I kept close to her side in case she toppled sideways off the carriage.The roads became worse as we crossed the border and any postal stations we met had no horses to spare.They were poorly funded, struggling enough to maintain the horses they did have thanks to their useless bloody prince and his inability to lead.
If we continued on we risked killing the horses, and without horses we were as good as dead ourselves.We found an inn a half-day from Triz that had space enough in the stables, though they only had two rooms available.The innkeeper studied our party, clearly trying to decipher our relationships, before handing both keys to Raleigh and leaving us to decide among ourselves.
I wondered if she recognised him.She didn’t address him properly, or treat him any differently from the rest of us, but there was a wariness to her expression I recognised well.
‘All right,’ Raleigh said once we had regrouped.‘We have one room upstairs and one down here.Moira and Clara can take one, Enrique and I can take the other.’
This sounded reasonable, until Enrique surprised us all by saying, ‘Absolutely not.’
Raleigh dropped his shoulders and groaned.‘Enrique, please don’t be difficult.’
‘You’ve paired the humans together.If anyone catches up with us, you and I will hear them first.If we want to increase our chances of survival, we need to split up.The happy couple can sleep together.’He plucked one of the keys from Raleigh’s hand.‘And Moira and I can look after ourselves.’
Ordinarily I would have protested, but my lack of sleep had caught up with me.I’d sleep like the dead tonight, and without Raleigh to stand watch, I would probably join them.
‘Clara’s safer with Moira than she is with me,’ Raleigh said.His cheekbones were hollow, the shadows under his eyes darker than ever.Enrique might not have noticed, but I had.And from the way Moira caught my eye, she had too.
On our way to the court Raleigh had nearly lost himself after five days without blood.That was almost a week ago.Under normal circumstances he would be starving, but his body had pieced a broken leg back together in that time.He was balanced precariously on the edge of breaking point, only a gust away from falling.And this time he didn’t have Lukas to rely on.
I took a breath and steadied my resolve.I had to convince him to feed.One way or another.‘Enrique’s right,’ I said to Raleigh, taking his key from him.‘We’ll take one room, they can take the other.’
Moira opened her mouth to protest.I held her stare.She clenched her fist and said nothing.
The three of us who could eat ate downstairs in the tavern while Raleigh sulked upstairs, feigning illness.It was a dreary meal.We could barely string together two sentences through our fatigue, but we needed something more sustaining than salt beef.The otherguests kept stealing glances at us, me in my tattered finery, Moira’s dress crusted with blood.
I didn’t want to eat.Each mouthful reminded me that there was a vampire waiting upstairs who hadn’t fed for nearly a week.Every moment I lingered here was another moment he crept closer to madness.That knowledge was the only thing that forced me to keep pushing each mouthful of stew past my lips.I needed all my strength for tonight.
As we parted, Moira stopped me, letting Enrique carry on ahead.I knew before she opened her mouth what she was going to say.‘Raleigh is starving.’
‘I know,’ I said.
No matter what he said, Raleigh could feed without killing.Moira was proof enough of that.Sick as she was, Mother had survived Raleigh’s first visit.It wasn’t without risk, but if he could feed safely he wouldn’t be starving.He would feed on someone tonight; I would make sure of it.
Even if that person was me.
As if reading my thoughts, Moira touched the bandage on her neck.‘Don’t.’
‘There’s no other choice.’
‘Convince him to kill one of the guests.’
‘I can’t,’ I said, aghast at the suggestion.And I meant it, both morally and literally.Raleigh was so stubborn I didn’t think any of us would be able to convince him to break his moral code.Otherwise he wouldn’t have needed convincing; he would have fed on his own.
Moira screwed her face up, trying not to cause a scene, as she fell apart in front of me.I shouldn’t have spoken to her about this.Not after she nearly died this same way.I’d seen the toll a brief bite had taken, the toll it was still taking.I knew the risks, but I had to try.
‘Don’t let him take too much,’ she said at last.‘If he does …’ She sighed.‘Well, you’ve seen what happens.You have your silver.Don’t hesitate to use it.’
‘You’re not going to stop me?’I asked, surprised.
