Page 40 of Vampire's Breath

“Lady Isobel was a baroness in her own right,” Cormac explained. “That meant she wasn’t tried at the Old Bailey but in the House of Lords. A jury of her peers decided her fate. Had she been married into nobility, it would have been different, but as the Baroness of Blackcairn, not just Lady Harrowmont, she was held in the Tower of London and tried in the House of Lords.”

“So that is why my mother found nothing? She was looking at the wrong records?”

Lorcan nodded. His eyes were soft as he looked at me. “Yes. She would have had to gain access to the Parliamentary Archives and look for the trial of the Baroness of Blackcairn—”

Cormac chuckled. “But even then, the archives contain little detail, according to Gabe. He pulled this information from the O’Cillian archives.”

Was that a look of concern I saw on Lorcan’s face? I turned my attention to the documents in my hand. My heart twisted with a bittersweet ache. I now held everything Mum had looked for in my hands, everything she wanted to learn and pass down to me. It felt like a triumph, but it also meant I had no more reason to be here—to be with Lorcan. “This is amazing, Cormac. Thank you.” I flipped through the pages, dumbfounded that all this information existed. “I’ll have to thank Rory, too.”

I could feel Cormac’s eyes on the top of my head, but I didn’t look up as the records pulled me in. “I’ll let you two go through them,” he said as he walked past us and down the stairs.

Lorcan’s fingers brushed my elbow. “Would you like to take those upstairs? You’re welcome to bring them to my sitting room…”

I looked into his blue eyes, his emotions unreadable again. My voice caught in my throat. “I would like that.”

He waved his key card in front of the lock and held the door open for me. I climbed the stairs, the supple leather of the portfolio soft in my hand. When we reached the top, Lorcan gestured for me to take the lead to his room. He opened the door for me and stepped back, his eyes glued to the floor.

I stepped past him into a cozy sitting room. The ceiling, with its decorative rose and antique brass chandelier, towered ten feet above us. The intricate molding along the ceiling’s edge was as ornate as the rest of the house. A large, dark wooden mantel provided a focal point along the right wall. The tall windows allowed ample light into the room, and the stormy-blue shutters, which matched the rest of the walls, were open. Window seats invited a reader to pull a book from the floor-to-ceiling shelf next to the mantel and curl up to read, while the brown-and-blue seating area provided a location for comfortable conversation. Papers covered the wooden coffee table, and a singular glass with an unfinished amber drink sat next to a crystal decanter.

“Let me move those,” said Lorcan quickly, his eyes following mine to the glass. He placed them on a shelf beside the fireplace, opposite the bookshelf. He gathered the same papers he’d had at breakfast and slid them into a portfolio. The crest caught my eye again. I glanced at the portfolio in my hand and noticed the same symbol. I held it out to Lorcan. “What is this?”

“The crest of the Clan O’Cillian,” he answered before pressing his lips together. Another question I was going to get only theminimum answer to. I sighed and sat on the sofa, placing the portfolio in front of me.

He glanced around uneasily. “May I offer you a drink?”

I shrugged. “A glass of wine would be lovely. A Chardonnay, maybe?”

He nodded and walked to an intercom next to the door, pressing a button.

“Dani?”

“Yes, Lorcan?” The woman’s voice came through the speaker.

“Can you please bring a bottle of Chardonnay to my room?”

“Absolutely. How many glasses?”

“Just one, please.”

Lorcan turned back toward me. “I’ll just…” He pointed at the decanter, which he had just moved. He turned over a fresh glass from those on the shelf behind it and poured himself a drink just as there was a knock on the door.

“That was quick,” I said.

“Could you get it?” he asked while capping the decanter.

“Yeah.” I rose from the sofa and opened the door to Dani, balancing a tray.

“Lorcan?” she asked as she walked into the room.

“On the table is fine.”

She smiled at me before she set the tray down on the table. A bottle of wine with a napkin wrapped around the neck sat nestled into the ice in the silver wine bucket. She poured a glass of wine and left it on the table. Picking up a flask from the tray with the same O’Cillian crest on the front, she walked toward Lorcan and held it out to him.

His brow crinkled. “What is this for?”

“Cormac sent it. He said you might need it. Or, he said, he is happy to accompany you out for a drink after dinner tonight if you prefer, your choice.”

“Without Rory?”

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