Page 71 of To Vanquish Darkness

Did she sense a hint of bitterness in his tone?

"So. Tell me, Amalie. What is in your heart tonight?"

Amalie frowned. An odd question. "Why do you care?"

His laugh drifted through the door again. "Because I've lived for years without anything beautiful or interesting to look at, and now I have both standing right behind that door."

Amalie shivered thinking of Marx in the stairwell and on the roof. Was this how covens worked? As soon as Theo was gone, others swooped in for the kill?

“I’ll start with an easier question. Where are you from?” he asked.

“Here. Normandy,” she lied, hoping Ren hadn’t paid much attention to her food choices earlier.

"Mmm. And what does your family think of you living so close to us monsters?"

Amalie scoffed. “They don’t know about the monsters. Or at least they pretend not to.”

“But you’re different than your parents?”

“My parents are dead.” Amalie snapped her mouth shut. Why had she said that?

Ren chuckled. “Ah. A perfect target. Does nobody miss you, then?”

Amalie sat on the bed. “I have a family. Seems you do, too. Your coven?” She needed to turn this around. She needed to be asking the questions.

“They are my family. And just like brothers and sisters, we don’t always see eye to eye.”

“You disagree with Theo?”

Ren sighed. “I don’t think he should have locked you up. You would’ve been safe with him, and then you could’ve seen more for your research.”

Safe.That was the last word she would’ve used to describe how she felt with Theo up until an hour ago. Confused? Agitated? Intrigued? Still all of the above. Heat flushed her cheeks.

Ren exhaled. "You know, you remind me of someone. A woman I knew years ago.”

Amalie’s thoughts snapped to attention. "Well, whoever she was, I'm sorry to disappoint you."

"Lucky for you, I find disappointment intoxicating. It’s boring to constantly get everything you want. Like Clémentine, I love games. Secrets are even more delicious.”

Amalie's heart hammered in her chest. His questions and comments no longer seemed random. He was leading her along, dangling a treat in front of her face. “I’m all out of those, I’m afraid.”

“I’m not. What would you like to know?”

She stood and crossed to her writing desk, holding onto the back of the chair. She shouldn’t engage with him. It was dangerous. But the idea of finding out more about Theo . . .

“When were you changed?” she asked.

“Before Theo. I remember the day he arrived.”

Amalie moved back to sit on the floor next to the door. “Arrived where?”

“Back then there weren’t divisions in the land like there are now. The Roman Empire stretched to our borders.”

Romans.That empire spanned too much time to narrow it down. “Were you conquered?” Amalie picked up one of her books, flipping through the pages.

“No. We lived on our own. We didn’t meddle in the world of humans.”

Amalie scoffed. “Except to kill them?”

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