Page 56 of Radiant Shadows

She snickered. “Sorry, was that not formal enough for you? How about endearing? Charming? Adorable?”

Sighing, I tore my gaze away and kept walking down the stone corridor toward the staircase.

“Julian, wait up,” Marguerite called, grabbing my arm a second later. “What I’m saying is that itnormalizesyou. That’s not a bad thing.”

Her grip gently dropped from my arm to my hand, and I felt her familiar fingers against my own. Long ago, before we’d become vampires, I’d found great pleasure in holding her hand. I’d looked forward to any chance at physical contact with her after working in the Frost orchards all day. But that was before she left. And that was before Alice had come into my life.

At the thought of Alice, I pulled my hand away and shoved it in my pocket. Marguerite’s shoulders slumped.

“Why?” she said, her sad eyes piercing into mine. “Why won’t you giveusanother chance?”

I shook my head. I was tired of this question. It was this question that had ended with me turning into a vampire. It was this question that had led to the death of Alice. It was this question that she’d thrown at me after saving me from hunters and bringing me into Hadrian’s fold.

At first, I’d let her down gently. When we were friends. Now, everything about her disgusted me, and despite my obvious disdain for her, she still persisted.

“I’ve spent my whole life forcing myself to become more than what I was,” she continued. “I’ve done it all in the name of increasing my status here at Heritage Prep. Our fellow vampires respect me. Hadrian respects me.” Blood tears beaded at the corners of her eyes, and she gritted her teeth. “And you know what? It wasn’t for them. It wasn’t even for me. I’ve spent the past one hundred and fifty years trying to become worthy of your love, Julian. That isallI’ve ever wanted. For a few years, long ago, I had it. And I want it back.”

I returned her gaze, although it pained me. I had cared for her before she’d left the boarding house. Back then, I’d seen a potential future with her. But after experiencing the soul-deep connection I’d had with Alice, I knew that what I’d felt for Marguerite was little more than childish infatuation. And that’s all it would ever be.

“We’re not the same people we were back then,” I said, softening my tone in hopes of making her understand. “I’m a broken man with a heart that belongs to another, and you’re Hadrian’s right hand.”

She shook her head as if my words simply bounced off her. “I’ve learned from our past, and I’m ready to do whatever it takes.”

“Marguerite,” I groaned, more out of exasperation than anger.

“No, hear me out.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Right now, I will leave with you, abandon Hadrian, forsake the life I’ve created. We can run away together—anywhere you want to. I know you desire solitude. I will join you in that solitude if it means we can be together.” She tapped my chest, then hers. “You and me, like the keys of a piano—the white and the black, making an eternity of harmonious music together.”

Her words were enchanting, and for a moment, I saw the sweet human girl I’d once adored. Her talk of music and her willingness to let everything go just to be with me. That she would turn her back on Hadrian for me and risk death at his hands. It seemed sincere, and it touched me somewhere in my cold heart.

But like I’d said, we weren’t the same people anymore. She may look like that sweet human girl, but she had become a monster. She would just as soon as drink a random human dry as she would blink an eye.

I sighed. In that moment, Marguerite seemed as delicate as a butterfly. I placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m truly flattered by your words, but your dream of exile with me would never be enough for you. Not while I’m unable to reciprocate your affection.”

She inched closer until our bodies touched. My instinct was to step backward, but I held my ground as I stared into her rich brown eyes, unwilling to buckle. We stood like that for several moments, studying each other, until Marguerite made a slight movement and pressed her lips against mine.

Again, my instinct was to step away and reprimand her for her actions. Instead, I let her lips linger while I remained still as stone and just as cold. I needed to show how little she affected me.

Her eyes were closed, and her lips trembled against mine until she pulled away.

At last, her eyes opened, tear-filled and pained as if I’d stabbed her through the heart with a copper dagger.

But she didn’t weep or groan. With a sniff, she softly said, “Hadrian’s waiting.”

As she stepped forward, her shoulder roughly knocked into mine. I stared after her for a few seconds before following.

Was she really that surprised? She couldn’t have thought that, after all this time, all my unfiltered enmity, I could possibly ever want her.

Marguerite’s shoes clicked on the stairs, echoing through the passageway leading down to the main floor of the school. Upon reaching the Great Hall, I was surprised to find the large room completely empty. Besides our footsteps, not a sound filled the air.

Something didn’t feel right. A dread crept over me, causing cool tingles to dance up my spine and my mouth to run dry. Marguerite’s quick pace didn’t slow, and she kept her eyes forward.

I had walked to Hadrian’s trophy room countless times, but this time there was a heaviness settling on me, and for a moment, I felt the urge to turn around. But I’d been summoned, and Hadrian wouldn’t just let me walk away this time.

Marguerite pulled the door open without knocking, which surprised me. It was an unwritten rule that Hadrian demanded the option of allowing visitors to enter or be sent away.

I followed as Marguerite slipped into the trophy room. Across the room, Hadrian sat at his desk, pouring over three tablets angled up, illuminating his face.

I stood at the entrance, waiting for the vampire leader to acknowledge me and invite me in. I glanced at Marguerite, who stood just a few feet away from me, leaning against the wall next to the doorway with her eyes downcast.

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