Page 46 of To Vanquish Darkness

Amalie pointed to a stone lifted up from the rest of the courtyard. She had to know. If this blade wouldn’t kill him, how could she be sure the relic he hunted would?

Theo’s eyes flickered, but he nodded, clasped his hands behind his back, and crossed the space toward it. The edges of his form blurred in the quickening twilight as he dropped to his knees.

Amalie took shallow breaths, hoping to clear her mind of his scent. She shook the memory of his smoky eyes peering out from under long lashes and hair falling over his forehead as she clenched the handle of the sword and strode forward. This would be quick. It wouldn’t cause him pain if she struck clean.

She lifted the sword higher as Theo bowed before her, laying his cheek on the stone. His collar gaped, baring the tanned skin of his neck. Blood rushed in Amalie’s ears.

He couldn’t survive this. Even if he could regenerate muscle and flesh, he couldn’t heal a severed head.

He was evil. Darkness.

She could feel nothing. She could earn her mark.

Amalie gritted her teeth and planted her feet, raising the weapon over her head with both hands. Years of grief and fear swelled like a symphony, and a ragged cry burst from her lips as she threw all her strength into her shoulders.

This was for not having her mother there to teach her how to plait her hair. For not having her there to teach her how to wash the stains from her clothes. For not having a mother to teach her how to raise her little sister, for the years she’d spent questioning her memory and yet still shivering under her blankets every time the sun dropped below the horizon.

Amalie’s strangled cry echoed through the courtyard as she swung the sword in a smooth arc toward the stone below.

19

1824 BLOIS, FRANCE

Rachel curled her legs closer to her chest, watching the dancing flames. Florent sat straight in the chair next to her. His eyes were on her, but she wasn’t ready to meet them. She was sitting in Place Deaumont.With a vampire.

“This isn’t possible,” she whispered against her knees. The words were empty husks. She felt numb. Like she was hovering just outside of herself.

“Have you never heard the stories?” Florent’s voice was gentle, and it only tightened the knot in her chest.

“Of course I’ve heard them.” Her parents had used myths from the Grimoire to keep them from sneaking out after dark. To remind them to light their incense and recite their prayers. She’d been steeped in tradition since she could walk and talk, and while she knew the stories were true, she never thought she’d encounter them.She’d been careful.

She’d done everything her parents had told her to, had never questioned. She may not have kept Oren’s rules perfectly, but close enough. And now there she was. Raising two girls alone without two francs to rub together.

She finally turned her head. Florent sat on the floor with his back against the wall, one leg stretched long and the other pulledin, his arm slung across his knee. “I know it’s a lot. It’s why I waited to tell you.”

“Why did you tell me?” Rachel’s heart began to pound. She couldn’t explain how Florent had swept her from her window and brought her here in mere minutes. She couldn’t explain how he appeared in shadow without making a sound or how he always knew where to find her. But this . . .

“Because I love you.”

Rachel’s heart beat faster, warmth spreading under her skin like she’d lowered herself into a bath. “You don’t love me. You barely know me.”

“I know enough.”

Rachel shook her head. This was impossible. “Vampires can’t love. If you are what you say you are, then?—”

“I’m a monster?”

Fear gripped her heart. What was she doing? She was sitting here, far from her two girls asleep in their beds, conversing with a man who had admitted to being a creature of the dark. Who fed on human blood. Who killed each time he satisfied his thirst. Was that why he’d brought her here? Did he always seduce his victims? Toy with them before taking their life?

“I told you the truth.”

Rachel nodded, unable to think of a response. Could it be possible? Florent spoke of vampires living in peace with humans. Of a time when they didn’t kill to survive. But how could that have turned into the world they lived in?

Rachel pushed herself up from the floor and stumbled back until her palms pressed against the wall. She could make it to the window, but Florent was between her and the door.

“I won’t stop you. If you wish to go.” Florent stood and moved closer to the hearth.

Rachel watched him warily. “Florent?—”

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