Page 102 of You’re So Vein

“Dante and I know each other from Dusk Court,” I whisper. “We were… friends, once upon a time. He was a high priest, one of the elders who presided over my parents’ application to Kiss Isabelle. He voted against it, railed against my parents for their greed in wanting two children. He kept stalling the date of Isabelle’s Kiss, claiming the auspices weren’t favourable. Finally, my parents got so fed up with him that they went over his head and got permission.”

“Why did he care so much?”

“I don’t know.” I squeeze my eyes shut as she moves against me, and this new, fresh hurt of her rejection rubs against the old wounds of his. “He never told me. I can guess, though. He and my father were rivals in the priesthood. My father fought to keep Dusk Court magic tightly controlled so that it couldn’t be exploited, whereas Dante wanted the rules loosened. He thought we should teach our magic to all vampires.”

“Is that so terrible?” Komal asks. Her hands circle my wrists, and I know she’s remembering the vines that twisted from them and tore Kael away from her.

“Our magic and our secrecy are the only things that keep us safe,” I say, parroting lines I heard my father mutter thousands of times. “Without it, we would have been conquered by the other courts many centuries ago. In the wrong hands, our magic could remake the world. Think of what Kael Morrigan might do if he had that power. Or the Lady of Agony. Dante tried to claim that he wanted magic democratised; he didn’t think only the elite Dusk Court families should be able to use it. He makes a fair point, but I don’t think that’s what he believed. He wanted to sell his spells to the highest bidders.”

“You have proof of that?”

“Only what I suspect, based on his character. Dante lies.” The word hisses through my gritted teeth. My fangs ache.

“You have such a low opinion of him and I don’t understand why.”

I cannot lie to her. “I cared for him, as more than a friend.”

The pain of it is a raw wound in my heart. Even after all these years, it hasn’t healed over.

“You were in love with him.” Komal leans back, studying me with her warm eyes. Her scent changes, deepens, and her pulse quickens. “Augustin Durant, I never would have imagined.”

“Imagined what? That I’m capable of feeling? That I’m more than a robot?”

“I didn’t mean—”

“I was in love with him, and I thought him in love with me.” The bitter bite of it pinches my heart once more. “During my late teens, he was a frequent visitor to my parents’ London society. He would lend me books and sit with me for hours, discussing philosophy, poetry and the world. He’d walk with me through London’s great parks and gardens at night, listening as I prattled on about plants and flowers. Before Dante, I’d always viewed love as an academic curiosity – some wild, unknowable magic that touched others but not me. Until the first time his hand brushed mine. He wouldn’t do anything while I was human, but waiting made it all the sweeter when I finally became Upyr.

“My parents taught me about being a vampire, about court politics, about our rituals and traditions. Dante taught me how to sneak into the castle kitchens for early morning snacks. He taught me how to use my power, even though I wasn’t supposed to know until I’d risen higher in the Dusk priesthood. He shared things with me, a boy who’d known so little love and kindness in his life.”

Shoots poke from my cuffs, encircling both our bodies. Komal’s arms circle my waist. She pulls herself against me, resting her chin on my shoulder, her body fitting perfectly against mine, as I whisper my heart’s secrets to her in this place of prayer. She says nothing, but her warmth is more comfort than I deserve, and the blood pulsing through the vein behind her ear is torturous.

I continue my story, because the wounds are open now, raw and weeping. She might as well know all of it. “When Isabelle came into our lives, Dante loved her as a sister, as I did. The three of us were inseparable, and in those days, I was happier than I’ve ever been in my life. We would spend our nights in the castle gardens, inventing games and practising our magic, and our early mornings reading aloud to each other in Dante’s coffin.”

Vines twist around us, curling in her hair, tightening around my shoulders.

“And then came Isabelle’s change. She stopped joining me in the gardens. She started sleeping at night, so I never saw her, and when I did, she was distant and strange. Dante pulled away, too. I was losing both of them, and I didn’t understand why. I begged Dante to tell me what was going on, but he made excuses – that he was busy, that he had responsibilities with the priesthood. And then he started his campaign against my father, and Isabelle’s Kiss, and he refused to see me, and he ignored the letters I shoved under his door. When I found my parents and Isabelle that night, when I lifted Hannah into my arms, I thought about going to him. I thought that he might know what to do. But I couldn’t trust him, and that was too much to bear for my already broken heart. So I left, and I haven’t seen him since the day he showed up in Argleton. And now I learn that he might have been responsible…”

“What?” Komal’s arms tighten around my waist.

“Lilac told me that on the night Hannah was born, she saw Dante in their chambers.” I lower my voice even further. “She wasn’t supposed to be there, but neither was he. My parents hadn’t even allowed me there, so worried were they about Isabelle’s child. But Lilac snuck in, and she said that when Dante emerged, he was covered in blood. I don’t believe Lilac to be a liar, which means that Dante was in the room the night my parents and sister died.”

“So if Lilac’s telling the truth, he could know about Hannah, too,” Komal whispers.

“I believe so. Although, as you say, perhaps it’s Lilac that can’t be trusted. But something else troubles me. Something that your fervent arguments have stoked. For years, I’ve thought that the stories about Dhampir killing their mothers were true, but what if Hannah is innocent?”

Komal angles her face to mine, her features open, no sign of hostility. “Why would Dante risk everything to kill your parents and Isabelle?”

“I do not know. But the fact that he’s here makes me uneasy, especially when I see him with you.”

Komal’s eyes widen. “The Nevermore Coven will look into this. This is exactly the kind of thing we’re good at.”

I want to point out that they haven’t been good at catching the husker, but I also value my testicles, so I refrain.

“I will find out what he’s doing here. I won’t let him hurt anyone else. Please don’t go on any more dates with him. Or at least, bring a friend along. Bring Beth. Nothing could happen with that woman in the room.”

“It wasn’t a date.”

“It wasn’t?”