Page 47 of Fangs, Frost, and Folios
The words were written in soft brown from ink that had spent years fading and changing. The paper was stained and torn in places. The handwriting was sharply slanted to the left, and the lower letters looped gracefully below the hand-drawn lines. There were words crossed out and a few notes in the margins.
And in the corner of a thick bundle of handwritten pages was a clear and distinct phrase.
Loves labours wonne.
The bundle of priceless handwritten pages had been carefully packed into an acid-free box that Giovanni had brought from London, and the library was put back in order by midnight the following evening.
“So Lord Mortimer will keep his gold, I think,” René mused as their feet crunched over the blanket of snow covering the gravel walkway, “and spend it to start his music school.”
“A good use of treasure.” Beatrice walked René to the edge of the Audley property where the Frenchman had called his own car service. “And maybe a distraction from heartbreak.”
“More than once Emilie—Elise—has been the cause of that.”
She watched him, his shallow breaths visible in the cold night. His collar was turned up and his hair was slightly mussed, but he still looked like a high fashion model. The man had ridiculous genes.
Did he harbor feelings for his former protégée? If he did, Beatrice suspected he would never admit it.
“So where will you go to avoid your brother-in-law?”
“I have my own ways of returning home. The cretin doesn’t control the entire island.” René held a box with Arosh’s journal packed carefully inside. “So this is what you do? Find lost manuscripts and books?”
She shrugged. “Scrolls. Newspapers. Mostly things for immortals who have lost or misplaced them over the years. We found a photo album once. It was in the archives of a university in Cologne.”
“Showing pictures of a vampire who hadn’t changed in centuries?”
“I think it was more sentimental than anything else.” She smiled. “No one was going to notice the resemblance with the photographs packed away like that.”
“Hmm.” The Frenchman looked thoughtful. “It’s not a bad line of work.”
“Usually not very violent, though occasionally we run into a challenge or two.”
“Like unscrupulous humans and their vampire allies?”
Beatrice kicked at the blanket of snow covering the ground. “Well, that could be describing half our family, couldn’t it?”
“Indeed.” A car pulled to the side of the lane and flashed its lights. “And that is my driver, of course. Do say hello to Benjamin and Tenzin for me.” He frowned a little. “Will Terrance kill her?”
“Elise?” Beatrice took a long breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t know.”
“I’m the one who brought her into our world, but I’m not the one who introduced her to the life.”
“The life of crime?”
“She was born into it.” He smirked. “And she’s the best actress I’ve ever met.”
“Also a survivor, I’m guessing.”
“She is that.” He nodded. “Yes.”
“Then I doubt we’ve seen her end, René du Pont. Clear your conscience.” She took a step back toward the house. “At least in this case.”
Snow started to fall, sparkling in the headlights of the car in the lane. It touched René’s blond hair and dusted his shoulders.
“Au revoir, Madame De Novo.” René gave her a deep nod. “It was a pleasure to work with you instead of against you. When you decide the fate of the play, I trust you will make it right.”
“When we know if it’s genuine, I’ll be in touch. And if we decide to keep it for ourselves, we’ll send you a fair percentage of the appraised value.”
He smiled. “You won’t keep it for yourself. At least not forever.”
