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“My thanks,” Kenton said with a nod. He wasted no time in leading Alessandra away. Anticipating her questions, he said, “I had no intention of killing him, love. A vampire’s bite renders its victim helpless for a time. They feel no pain, only . . . as if they’d been drugged. The whole night will be foggy to him now. Likely he won’t even remember seeing you.”

As they walked back toward the square, Kenton rolled up the sleeves of his tattered shirt.

“How is that possible?”

He didn’t dare look at her. The implications of what had just happened had begun to seep their way into his addled brain. She is a Cheld. Alessandra might have killed him, or at least had a better opportunity than anyone before her.

“Part of the counter-curse, the Balance, I imagine. It allows us to travel the world undetected.”

“The counter-curse? Balance?”

Shit. He might as well tell her that he’d spent his long life hunting Cheld, like her, ensuring that very Balance did not end the life of those he loved. Not only had he revealed himself, he had actually encouraged her to use her strength, to tap into her dormant power.

“Another long tale,” he said as they followed the uneven pathway toward her house.

And in a week, Lawrence, or his sister, would happily share it with her. Once she knew what he’d done, to her relatives, she would turn on him. The time they spent together now only ensured she’d feel furious and betrayed.

He was a fucking fool.

“Let’s get you home,” he said, forcing a neutral tone. The incident with the guard had left him shaken. He’d had no intention of revealing the particulars of a vampire’s bite to Alessandra. Though he did not know what made a Cheld turn against vampires—whether it was the way they were taught, as Lawrence claimed, or instinct, as he and his brothers had always believed— surely it was dangerous to bring her too deeply into their world.

Earlier tonight, she’d spoken to him of how her life had forever changed with knowledge of vampires. Each step she took into his world ensured she would not go back.

His stomach roiled at the thought of what he had to do tomorrow, but there was no help for it.

Kenton was well and truly screwed.