Page 131 of Let Sleeping Vampires Lie

“Yet,” I repeated.

He nodded. “Yet. You will grow stronger as you gather the fragments. So will I. The Pentacoris was never meant to belong to timid hands.”

“Rene is not timid,” Raven said.

“He is fading,” Valerian replied. “He will be gone before the last piece surfaces. You know it. You can feel it every time his breath stutters.”

Raven’s face went very still.

“Do not talk about him,” she said.

“Why?” Valerian asked. “Because you are afraid I am right?”

“Because you are not worthy to speak his name,” she replied.

He tilted his head, as if acknowledging a well-placed strike.

“Finish this,” Raven said. “Whatever this is. Tell us what you want and then leave.”

He looked at her for a long moment.

When he spoke again, his voice lost some of the playful edge. Something older crept in. Hungrier. More obsessive.

“You know what I want,” he said. “I want you.”

Raven’s shoulders tightened. “You cannot have me.”

“I must possess you,” he said. “It is the only constant in all of this. Empires fall. Clans rot. Formulas decay. Even the Pentacoris will eventually crumble. You and I are the only enduring thread.”

“I would rather die,” she said.

“You already did.”

She shook her head, slow and deliberate. “I am what I am in spite of you.”

His jaw tensed.

“I will reclaim you,” he said. “The bond between us will not be severed. You can pretend you belong to Rene now. You can pretend you have built something new. It does not matter. In the end, you will stand beside me again.”

“You sound very sure,” she said.

“I always sound sure,” he replied. “Usually because I am.”

She lifted her chin. “You are wrong.”

He smiled, all teeth. “We will see.”

The shard shivered in her hand.

Valerian’s gaze dropped to it again, hungry.

“Careful, Raven,” he said. “You are holding my future.”

Raven took a step toward him. “Stay out of my head. Stay out of this house. Stay away from my family.”

His expression shifted one last time. The amusement thinned. The arrogance intensified.

“I will see you soon,” he said.