Page 67 of Midnight Queen

Duke laughs at this. “Yes, you do. It’s kind of the hallmark of your personality, Silas.”

Refusing to acknowledge his remark, I remain silent and momentarily get lost in my disorganized thoughts. There are too many unanswered questions right now.

The mystery of the attacks, and the trepidation that comes with them, is taxing. At any given moment, I’m expecting my phone to ring and for them to tell me another attack has happened.

When I believed Gideon was still somehow playing a role in all of this, the motives behind the attacks made more sense to me. And there was a clear-cut answer on how to put a stop to all of this.

I don’t want to believe a word that comes out of Gideon Rolfe’s mouth, but with this, I’m inclined to believe he’s no longer involved. The fear of us taking Margret away from him was too strong for him to lie. And frankly, I don’t think his cracked mind is strong enough to keep up such a ruse.

Then there’s the question of what exactly the future holds for Gideon. I was content with my plan to let him rot in that glass box for his remaining days. As inhumane as it is, it felt like the perfect fate for him, given what he’d done.

I didn’t want to hear what she had to say and I wasn’t receptive to her outlook on it at the time, but the longer Quincey’s words circulate in my head, the more my stance shifts.

She was right when she said Ira wouldn’t wish that fate upon anyone. Even the man who killed him.

And then,not even an hour after admitting to her that she is the love of my life, she asks to become like me—a vampire. That is what’s been taking up the most space in my brain.

“Alright, out with it,” Duke sighs. “You have this weird, distant look in your eyes and it’s freaking me out.”

My fingers curl in and out of fists on my lap, and my teeth grind. “Quincey asked me to change her.” My voice is barely a dark whisper.

Duke’s mouth gapes and he stares at me for a solid minute before shaking his head. “Well,shit!” he groans like he’s truly disappointed. I relax some, believing he understands my unease, but his next comment has the relief evaporating. “I owe Della money now.”

“Pardon me?”

“Della said that Quincey would want you to change her within the first year of being together. I said there was no way, and that Quincey would want to enjoy being human a little longer. So, I bet it’d take two years. I owe Della fifty bucks.”

Disgusted they would place bets on something so significant, I scowl at him and stand from the chair. “I don’t see how the prospect of me ending Quincey's life is a matter you thought appropriate to wager on.”’

“Technically you wouldn’t be ending her life,” he dares to argue. “If it goes right, you’d be adding to her life. By alot.”

“And what if it goes wrong, Duke?” I snap angrily. “Then what?”

If it goes wrong, I would be killing her twice.

“I told you before, there is no guarantee that will be the outcome. You and I both have seen how most of them come back with their humanity. You created a whole law because of the slim few that have come back like Cecily and Margret.”

“Are you forgetting about Scarlett?” I know my question will cut deep, but it needs to be asked. “It’s not just the vampire lives I’m concerned about, it’s the humans. Your sister is dead because of theslim fewyou talk of.”

Coming home to find his sister in a pool of her own blood is an image I’m sure he won't soon forget.

The pain Duke still carries around to this day flashes in his eyes. “No. I haven’t forgotten what happened to Scarlett. I’ve thought about her every day for the past four years, but that doesn’t change the fact I still think your law is too extreme,” he reveals. “And I can say this because I’m the one hunting down the vampires that break your law. I have heard each of their pleas and their explanations, and you know what? More often than not, they’re not breaking your law to be malicious or to fuck you over. They’re breaking it because they’re just like you; in love with a human and they want all the time they can get with them.”

When I brought Duke on, he was a highly skilled soldier who was highly motivated by the death of his sister. When I offered him the job of hunting down vampires that broke my laws, he jumped at the chance. My trust in him grew over the years, and so did his skill as a hunter. While his job has evolved, he is still the one I trust to handle the problems caused by rogue vampires.

Even though I’m a vampire myself, it is useful to have a skilled vampire hunter on your payroll.

“So, what do you suppose I do? Just allow vampires to turn whoever they damn well please? How will I keep order over that?” Keeping the vampires in line has always been my priority.

“The same way you always have, but instead of putting all the responsibility on yourself to make sure rogue vampires are managed, put it on the vampires that turned them.” Duke answers the question like it’s something he’s spent a lot of time pondering. “If they take on the feat of siring another vampire, they have to be prepared to put down their creation if it comes back a true monster. And if they fail to do so, then the same rules as now apply. Their punishment is death.”

No longer able to stand still, I begin to pace the length of the room as I thoroughly think over Duke’s proposal. “I can’t change a law that’s been in place for a century simply because Quincey is here requesting to be changed. They will see it as an incredibly selfish act and there could be an uprising.”

Duke scoffs, unimpressed by my worry. “How many attempted uprisings have you had over the years? Each of them has been unsuccessful, it would be cute to see them try. But if you want to avoid blowback, show them you’re not changing it for yourself, but for all the vampires like you. Do it for the ones that missed out on the years they could have had with their loved ones if the law hadn’t prevented it.” His face darkens when he adds, “But make it very fucking clear to them that if they allow soulless monsters to roam free and they can’t do what needs to be done, I will fucking come for them.”

At least Duke and I remain in agreement on this.

Lorcan’s supposed to be with Quincey at the hospital while she spends a couple hours with Duke.

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