‘Moira …’
‘You’re being ridiculous.’She jabbed her fork into the dry lump of pork she was struggling to saw through.‘You know full well that if you don’t eat soon you’re going to snap.And then what?You kill Clara and then I kill you?Or will you kill all of us?’
‘I won’t let it get to that point.’
‘You’re already at that point!’Half the room turned to stare.Moira lowered her voice to a whisper.‘Can’t you drink without killing?Glamour someone, drink a few mouthfuls, and move on to someone else.’
‘I can’t just “drink a few mouthfuls”.Do you have any idea how hard it is to stop once you’ve started?’
‘Let Yorik kill someone and drink his leftovers, then.But if you don’t feed by the end of the night’—she wrenched her fork back out—‘I will kill you.’
The words hung over the table.I didn’t know if she was serious but, knowing Moira, I suspected she probably was.
‘Fine.I’ll come up with something.Just …’ His eyes darted to me.‘Just know I don’t have a choice.’
I took a breath and set down my cutlery.‘You do have a choice,’ I said.‘I’ve seen what people do to avoid starving to death.’I placed a hand on his arm.‘And the best choice is always the one to live.’
Raleigh softened.
‘There’s also no shame in choosing not to snap and kill us,’ Moira cut in.
I kicked her under the table.And when Raleigh excused himself, I wanted to kick her again.
‘Don’t give me that look,’ she said.‘If his instincts take over he’ll go straight to the thing most desirable to him, and it doesn’t take a genius to know that’s you.’
I couldn’t refute her, not without risking Yorik or Lukas overhearing.She knew about the web of deals Raleigh and I had tangled ourselves in, but she hadn’t seen the way Raleigh had acted in his room the night the others arrived.My glare had to be enough to remind her I was a means to an end to him.Just as he thought he was to me.
Moira rolled her eyes.‘I’ll tell you a secret, Clara,’ she said.‘He’s never been that good of an actor.’
There came a knock at my door after midnight.
It was too dark to see much through the keyhole, but a glimpse of dusty coat was enough to tell me it was Lukas and Yorik’s entranceddriver.I still hadn’t learnt the poor soul’s name and he wasn’t much for conversation, preferring to stare into empty space while the rest of us pretended he wasn’t there.Enrique and I had tried to disenchant him one night with every remedy we could think of – going so far as to spike his drink with a careful measure of holy water from Moira’s kit – but Raleigh had been right when he said lasting entrancements were irreversible.The driver would remain this way until he died or his master removed it by choice, assuming he didn’t live long enough for it to wear off.Given that Raleigh’s had taken three hundred years, I suspected that was unlikely.
‘The master has requested you.’
I didn’t know which one was his master.‘Tell him I’m asleep.’
The boy blinked.‘You are not asleep.’
‘Then tell him I refused.’
‘He said this is a matter that concerns the Prince of Rostenburg.’
I exhaled.This was a trap so clumsily laid a baby rabbit could avoid it, but if something actually happened to Raleigh, I would never forgive myself for going back to bed.I placed my hand over the blade in my pocket.Enrique had prepared me for this; I wouldn’t be an easy victim.‘Where is he?’
It turned out the boy’s master was Lukas.He was waiting at the end of the lower corridor, smiling to himself as though he had seen something to amuse him earlier and forgotten to adjust his expression.The cheaper rooms were down here, where the servants of guests would board.He lit up darkly as I approached.
I stopped as soon as I made out his figure through the gloom, a tremor working through me at the memory of the last time we were alone together.He couldn’t glamour me this time, but I didn’t feel particularly reassured.‘I’m armed,’ I said.
‘Of course you are,’ he said.
‘What happened to Raleigh?’
Lukas raised his brows in a carefully choreographed echo of surprise.‘Oh, nothing.I only want to show you who you’re really marrying.’
And I knew then, before he opened the door, what I was about to find.
Raleigh was on the floor, eyes vacant and half-lidded, his fangs buried in the husk of a young woman draped in his arms.Any decorum was gone, replaced by something wild, something animal.Blood dripped down his chin, pooling at the tip and muddying the pure white of her nightgown.His fingers pressed into her skin so hard I could see the dimples.Most people would have bruised instantly under that kind of pressure, but there was no blood left to bruise.
