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“I will soon, yes. But let’s get you breakfast first.” He kisses the top of my head.

“Or we could stay here?” I suggest, my hand inching under the blankets.

His palm snaps around my wrist like a trap, and he gently brings it all the way up to his lips to kiss my rapidly increasing pulse. “Don’t tempt me.”

He throws off the covers and gets up to hunt for his pants. The crisp air pebbles my skin.

“Fine,” I say to the ceiling.

Downstairs, Tess is on morning shift. I order French toast and eggs, and we sit at a booth toward the back. He watches me eat, which is an experience unto itself. I’d be self-conscious if he didn’t look at me like he wanted to make me his next meal.

When we arrive at Marthe’s, Luca has a laptop disassembled at the kitchen table, pieces laid out neatly.

“That’s not staying there,” Marthe says, filling a mug with tea from a battered enamel teapot. It’s waiting for me by the time I pull out a chair.

“I’m nearly done.” Luca doesn’t look up, focused on removing a tiny screw from a circuit board.

“What happened?” Marthe asks. There are smudges under her eyes I’ve not seen before. “Are they letting Ellery…keep what she knows?”

“Provisional approval until the new year. They’ll review after the investigation’s completed.”

“I have to decide if I’m going to stay by then.” I swirl my tea. “And they’ll decide how to punish Nick.”

“You’re not out of the woods yet, but that could’ve gone a lot worse.” Marthe finally sits down.

“Thanks to Roslyn and Hazel. Constantin was gunning for more.”

“What about the intruder?” Luca asks.

“Anna’s investigating, but they don’t know much about him.” Nick’s hands curl around the back of a chair. “She’s going to keep up patrols in case there’s others.”

“You think there’s more?”

“I don’t know.”

“Anna said he wasn’t a bloodline vampire. Would someone make a vampire on purpose?” I ask.

“Clans outside of Ravenslight don’t put as much stock into bloodlines as we do. They turn whoever they want, whenever they want,” Nick says. “We’ve relied more on producing offspring than turning humans. Makes more sense to preserve the bloodlines with the benefits we get from the Pact.”

“So you think that someone from another clan made him?”

“That’s the most likely scenario. He came inside our boundary hunting for food. But that’s also exactly what Constantin said when I brought this to him weeks ago. Very convenient.”

“Nick,” Marthe warns. “I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve it, but you have to stop prodding him.”

“He’s a power-hungry maniac that needs to be put in his place.”

“I know exactly who Constantin Renard is, Nikolas. I don’t need to be told by you.”

She pushes her chair out and takes her cup to the sink. She doesn’t turn around. Luca picks up a screwdriver, decides against it, and puts it back down.

“He’s old,” she says eventually, facing the window. “He has connections and sway in this community and well outside it.” She dries her hands on a towel. “Your father used to talk about him exactly the way you do.”

The clock above the stove ticks too loudly.

“Be careful. That’s all I’m asking.”

“I will, Mom. I’m sorry.”