Chapter 18
18
“ S ophie, you look absolutely stunning,” Stern drawled as he approached.
He was dressed in white, and his jet-black hair was bound at his nape, highlighting his sharp and angular features.
His gaze slithered over me agonizingly slowly, just like I’d known it would. I willed myself to stand still and take his perusal with a soft smile while I was screaming with revulsion on the inside. My fingers brushed the silk on my thigh, looking for the familiar outline of the dagger, and my heart sank when I remembered I didn’t have my weapon. I felt Henry move closer to me on my left, his proximity bringing unexpected comfort.
“Another ball so soon? What’s the occasion?” Stern asked Henry, shifting his attention to him.
“Do we need an occasion?” Isabelle purred as she neared. “You know better than anyone, Everett, we vampires, love lavish parties almost as much as blood and sex.”
I cringed at her words but instantly forced my facial expression to smooth out.
“You are right about that,” Stern murmured, clearly distracted.
He was looking behind me, his black eyes full of bald hunger. When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw Rory standing there, holding a tray of fruit and cheese for the vassals. My blood turned to ice as I jerked my head back to Stern. He looked like a predator that had sighted his prey. Molten rage bubbled up, melting the ice in my veins as my lip curled in a snarl.
“Dance with me,” Henry said low, his cool touch on my back snapping my attention to him. It wasn’t a request but a demand, so I knew better than to resist as he led me to the center of the room and away from Stern.
“Breathe,” the Lord murmured as we began swaying to the slow music.
I tried to do as he’d instructed but couldn’t get a full breath in, my chest tight with pressure.
I will kill him, I wanted to say but knew better than to voice my intent in a room full of vampires. So, I kept my mouth shut as I focused on Henry’s deep-blue gaze. He must have read the words in my eyes because his jaw hardened as he stared at me. He pulled me closer to him and brought his mouth to my right ear.
“Get ahold of yourself,” he whispered, his cool breath tickling my cheek.
I inhaled, holding my breath until I felt my racing heart slow.
Henry pulled away and looked at me. Suddenly, his features became stark, and I felt his muscles tense under my hand on his arm. I glanced around us, noticing the other dancing couples—vampires with their vassals. They weren’t just dancing. Many were also feeding, the coppery smell of blood filling the air.
Lifting on my tiptoes, I brought my mouth to Henry’s ear and whispered, “Get ahold of yourself.”
The Lord laughed, the sound nice and deep as it rumbled through him.
“Your dress choice tonight is making it quite difficult,” he murmured as I pulled away.
I couldn’t fight a small smile at his comment. One side of his mouth turned up as well.
We danced for a while in silence, and my smile slowly faded as anxiety flared and swelled. So much hinged on tonight. If Stern didn’t have the Tear, we would be back to square one. Something told me we were close to finding the amulet, though. It was as if I could feel it.
When the dance was over, Henry leaned in and murmured, “I’m leaving. Keep an eye on Stern.”
I nodded, taking a sweeping glance around the ballroom.
“Where is Stern?” I asked low, my brows knitting. “And where is Rory?”
Henry’s face fell, and he frantically looked around the room before his gaze returned to me. My heart dropped when I saw panic and fear flash in his eyes. I knew. I didn’t know how, but I knew.
I didn’t realize I was running until I burst out of the ballroom, heading in the direction of the kitchen.
No, please, no, I begged as my feet carried me to the white paneled door.
My mind flashed back to the night of my mother’s death as I pushed it open, feeling like I was opening the door to my mother’s study.
Everything stopped. My heart, my breath, the world. All the noises died as I stared at my mother’s lifeless body in the arms of a monster. Except, it wasn’t my mother before me. It was Rory in Stern’s arms, limp and motionless. Sweet, innocent Rory, who had hopes and dreams and knew how to find happiness in the little things. Her wide brown eyes were on me, but the stare was unseeing as her head lolled to the side.
Stern’s head jerked in my direction, and our gazes locked.
He was the one who’d killed my mother. There was no longer a doubt in my mind. It was as if the sheer veil that had been hiding my memories from that night had lifted, and I could see clearly now.
“You!” I wanted to scream, but just like on the night of my mother’s death, the sound got stuck in my throat, choking me.
I reached for my dagger but then remembered I didn’t have it. A ragged cry, full of fury and pain, tore from me as I lunged at Stern. He lifted his arm to block my attack, tossing me aside as if I were nothing more than a helpless pup. I hit a wall, my teeth rattling at the impact before I crumpled to the floor. Through my blurry vision, I saw Henry storm into the kitchen. When his blue eyes darted to me, I was already getting up, using the wall for support.
“I got a little carried away.” Stern smirked, his lips smeared with Rory’s blood.
When he released his grip on her body, I rushed to her, but Henry got there first, not letting her drop to the floor.
“Get out,” he growled, and Stern swept out of the room much like he’d done on the night of my mother’s death. Only this time, he didn’t take the body with him.
Swaying on my feet, I approached where Henry gently laid Rory on the floor.
“You’re bleeding,” he said, his nostrils flaring as I carefully lowered to my knees next to him.
My fingers came away bloody when I gently prodded the back of my head. I wasn’t feeling the pain, though. I was too concerned about Rory, who was still on the floor. Too still.
I pulled her head into my lap and looked at Henry.
“Give her your blood.”
“Sophie…” the Lord said, and the deep sorrow I saw in his eyes shattered my heart.
“Please,” I begged as my eyes filled with tears.
“My blood won’t help her,” Henry said gently as if talking to a child.
“Your blood heals, she’s injured,” I said low. I couldn’t believe I had to explain the obvious.
“She’s…” He swallowed thickly. “She’s dying, Sophie. My blood won’t help her.”
“Isn’t there anything you can do?” I asked, my voice breaking.
“I would have to turn her to save her, and I?—”
“Do it!” I shouted, grasping at the tiny glimmer of hope that sparked in my chest. “Please,” I added barely above a whisper.
Henry’s jaw ticked as he stared at me. Several seconds passed. Precious seconds that took Rory further into the void.
“I will not do it,” the Lord finally said, and a strangled cry left me.
“Yes, you will!” I seethed, fisting my hands in his shirt and getting in his face. “You will save her!”
“Sophie,” Henry said calmly and quietly as he brought his hands to my wrists. “It is forbidden.”
Forbidden? Someone had been making Ravagers, and he was worried about breaking the rules and turning Rory?
My face contorted in rage, and I was about to spit the words out, when Henry added, “Even if it wasn’t…Do you really think Rory would want that?”
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. He was right. Rory wouldn’t want to be turned; to spend the rest of her everlasting nights craving human blood.
The fight went out of me as my arms went limp. I let go of Henry’s shirt, and he held my wrists gently for a moment before lowering them to rest on either side of Rory. I looked down at her pale face as my tears spilled, landing on her sunken cheeks and her delicate neck, where some blood still oozed out of the two puncture wounds.
I jerked when Henry put his hand on my back, but then I curled into him, welcoming the coolness of his body. After all, it was nothing compared to the icy chill in my heart. He held me while I cried as Rory took her last breath.
In light of the attack, our plan to search the Stern Estate was put on hold, and we buried Rory three days later in the local cemetery. Ezra didn’t shed any tears, but his anguish was palpable, as if he projected it onto the world around him. He stayed by Rory’s grave long after the last servant had paid their respects and left. I wasn’t ready to leave yet, either, but I felt like I didn’t have the right to stay by Ezra’s side. He’d lost his sister and the only family he’d had. I’d barely known Rory, although the pain of her loss cut deep. From the moment I’d met her, I’d felt protective of her, but I’d failed to keep her safe. Another innocent life had been snuffed out at the hands of a vampire. The same vampire who had killed my mother. I couldn’t help but feel like it had been my fault. Perhaps if I’d recognized Stern when I’d first met him, Rory’s death could have been avoided.
I wasn’t ready to return to the mansion after the funeral, but I also wanted to give Ezra space to grieve, so I walked a considerable distance away and perched on a small hill overlooking the cemetery. I could see Rory’s grave from here and Ezra’s hunched figure by it. As I sat on the cool ground, my black skirts pooling around me, I didn’t feel the cold, only the death. Rory’s death, my mother’s death, and the deaths of all those we hadn’t been able to save from Ravagers. The deaths of the vassals who hadn’t returned after serving Moreau for a year, and the deaths of all those I didn’t even know about. Death surrounded me, clinging to my skin and suffocating me with its darkness.
“May I?” came Henry’s deep voice to my right, pulling me from my thoughts.
I briefly looked up at him and nodded.
He joined me on the ground, staring at the horizon.
“It’s almost sunrise. We have to go,” he said low.
He had spoken gently as if he didn’t want to upset me.
“Do you miss it? Sunrises? Daylight?” I glanced at the Lord as my heart squeezed. Rory wouldn’t see another sunrise or bathe her face in the sun.
“I do. I miss being human,” Henry admitted, his features cast in shadows.
“Do you even remember what it’s like?” I whispered. He was almost two hundred years old, which was a long time to hold on to one’s humanity.
“I do. And it is those memories I cling to most of all,” he whispered back, and I could feel his piercing gaze on me in the darkness.
I wondered what those memories were. They must be very special to help him keep his inner monster at bay most of the time and set him apart from the rest of the vampires. I didn’t ask him, though—it felt too personal.
“What are we going to do about Stern?” I asked instead, trying to keep my voice even.
I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to stake him to the ground next to Rory’s grave and watch him burn in the first rays of the rising sun. But I knew we couldn’t kill him. Not yet. He might be the only one who knew where Josephine’s Tear was.
“We still need to search his estate. Now that you are sure he was the one who killed your mother, I am even more certain that he might have the amulet or know where it is.”
I nodded in agreement.
“I will go with you,” I stated.
“Not a good idea.” He gave a small shake of his head.
A few dark locks fell forward on his forehead. His hair had been swept away from his face at the beginning of the funeral but now looked disheveled as if he’d run his hands through it too many times. I wondered how much Rory’s death really affected him. He’d seemed composed through it all, except for the occasional deep shadows crawling in his eyes.
“I have to go,” I said low. “I have to do…something.”
My voice broke as tears threatened.
Henry was silent for a few seconds until I heard his rough exhale.
“Alright. We will leave tomorrow night.”