Page 114 of Stalk the Dark
“Tell her,” Hemlock said. “Tell her the rest.”
Ordell sighed. “There’s a woman who arrives every rising. A woman with dark hair and gray eyes who’s the key to healing him.”
“The portraits in the east wing…He painted her?”
“Yes. She’s the key, but we’ve lost her every time. One way or another.”
“Oh God…all the women in the chamber tonight had dark hair and…Does he know? Does he remember the women?”
“We believe that he’s figured out her part in this, and that tonight was his way of giving the universe two fingers.”
“But why? Doesn’t hewantto break his curse?”
“We think that he’s stopped caring,” Hemlock said. “We think his humanity is almost gone, and if he loses it completely, then we’re doomed.”
“Or…” Ordell said. “He thinks he has more time. But…this is our last year. Our last chance to reach him. To bring him back. If we fail…If we can’t fully restore his humanity, then Loviator will be free, and her sons will walk the earth once more, bringing death, disease, and devastation.”
If they’d told me any of this when I’d first come to Dracul territory, I might not have believed them, but after everything I’d seen and felt… “What do we do? How do we fix this? He probably just killed the woman who was the key to saving him.”
Hemlock leaned back against the counter and looked down his nose at me. “What happened the other night? Ezekiel mentioned it on the way down to the ball.”
A few hours ago, the memory would have elicited embarrassment and made my cheeks hot with theresidue of the desire I’d felt, but now…Now my stomach turned with disgust.
“He wanted to feed on me, and I said no.”
“And he accepted that?”
“Not at first, but when I held firm…yes.”
“Not at first?” Ordell asked, his eyes bright in the gloom. “What happened first?”
“He touched me, okay. Intimately.” I ducked my head. “I should have stopped him but…”
“You liked it,” Hemlock said tightly.
Ordell’s chest rumbled, and I squeezed my eyes shut. “I’m disgusted with myself. With how he made me feel.”
“Don’t be,” Ordell said. “Ezekiel has charisma. It’s the nature of his beast. He could have pushed you to give him your blood. He could have made you, but he didn’t.”
“He’s shown you the type of attention we’ve not seen before,” Hemlock continued.
“It was a lie. He told me he was manipulating me.”
Hemlock shook his head. “No…I don’t believe that. I believe that tonight was a defensive reflex on his part. You’re under his skin, and this is his way of pushing you away.”
“Humanity hurts,” Ordell said. “And somewhere, deep down, he knows this.”
“What are you saying?”
“We’re saying that we believe that you might be ouronly hope of helping him connect with his humanity again.”
Hemlock slipped into the seat beside me, caging me in with his body. “You have to help him to care. To show him?—”
I shook my head. “No. I can’t. I can’t be around him. I can’t bear to look at him and pretend that?—”
“You don’t have to pretend. You don’t have to forgive him. You just need to stay. Stay and help us.” Ordell took my hands in his from across the table.
“We can figure it out together,” Hemlock added.
