Page 4 of Sophie's Ruin
Henry looked uncertain.
“The clans don’t know the amulet can also destroy vampires, and we need to keep it that way. I don’t want you to become a target,” he cautioned.
With a nod of understanding, I grabbed the Tear off the vanity and shoved it in my pant pocket.
Hand in hand, we walked out of my room and headed down the long hallway illuminated by wall sconces. The mansion was eerily quiet since all the human servants were still up north, where we’d sent them in preparation for war.
“I miss her,” I said as if to myself while we walked.
“I do, too,” Henry replied, lost in thought. I didn’t need to tell him I meant Rory. “I wish she were still alive so she could experience it—this new world where the humans no longer have to serve the clans.” A soft smile pulled at his lips, making me wonder if he were imagining her in this new world, free, unburdened, and happy. There was no doubt in my mind that she would know how to live this new life to the fullest, with undiluted curiosity and joy.
“I saw her when we were at the border,” I confessed.
My words snapped Henry out of his reverie, and his head swung to me.
“You saw her? Like a vision?” he asked, his face taking on a contemplative expression.
“Yes. She appeared in my mind.” I tried to explain the best I could what I’d experienced that night. “One moment I was at the border, trying to figure out how to use the Tear. Then, the next thing I knew, I was at the Mayfair Park with Rory. It was broad daylight?—”
“It was daylight?” Henry interjected, seemingly more amazed by that little tidbit of information than by the fact that I’d seen Rory.
“Yes,” I replied, feeling a pang in my chest. I didn’t miss the daylight as much as I’d thought I would, but I knew Henry was starved for it. Perhaps I would be, too, after two hundred years. “That was how I knew what I was seeing wasn’t real. That, and seeing Rory, of course, because she was alive and not…dead.”The night of her death flashed through my mind, provoking an involuntary shudder. Henry squeezed my hand in quiet support.
“So, you got to experience daylight again,” he said, as another soft smile graced his lips. “And you saw Rory…how was she?”
“She was…happy and hopeful. I latched on to her hope, using it to channel the magic of the Tear.”
Henry seemed to think it over for a few moments as we reached the foyer, stopping before the double front doors.
“If she was happy in your vision, then perhaps she already knows true freedom,” he finally said, his smile growing.
“I think she knew that freedom even before she was truly free. She knew how to find joy in life despite her circumstances,” I said quietly, my own lips curving up.
“We can all learn from her.” Henry squeezed my hand again.
“Is that what we’re going to tell the clans?” I asked him, my smile fading. “That they can still find happiness despite living in the shadows?”
“Whatever you decide to say, you’d better make it convincing,” Isabelle chimed in, arriving in the foyer with a stir of air.
Her black, thickly curled hair swooshed around her heart-shaped face as she stopped before Henry and me. She, too, had opted for a tunic and pants instead of one of her usual revealing gowns. My brows knitted as I took in her outfit. I wondered if she’d also chosen to dress comfortably in case the meeting didn’t go as planned and we had to fight.
Or flee,a whisper of thought in my mind.
No, I will not flee.I squared my shoulders and lifted my chin. I’d come too far to cower before the clan leaders. They were greater in number, but we were greater in spirit. They would not prevail. They couldn’t; I would not allow it.
A knock on the front door snapped me from my thoughts—the clan leaders were here. Henry’s hand tightened around mine,and I glanced at him while Isabelle strode to the entrance. His deep-blue eyes were fastened on me.
Together,I read in them as he gave a small nod.
3
Camilla Devillier strolled inside the mansion first, her high heels clicking on the polished stone floor. She looked stunning in a pale-blue gown that hugged her lithe form and matched the color of her eyes, which were like two chips of ice when they landed on Henry and me. With hair so fair it was almost white, the Lady of the North was winter personified, and the temperature seemed to drop as if she’d brought some of the chill of her region with her. Moving with sinuous grace, she glided through the foyer as if she owned the place. Her perfume-infused presence instantly set me on edge, and all my muscles tensed as I became on high alert.
“Henry,” Camilla purred in her husky voice, stopping before us. Her red-painted lips curved into a smile, showing the hints of her fangs, as her gaze slid to me. “Sophie.” She inclined her head in greeting.
Her glacial eyes dropped to my chest, and she scowled, making me wonder if she was disappointed at not finding the Tear there. My brows pulled together as I watched her, unease growing and spreading. I glanced at Henry, but he seemed relaxed next to me as he greeted the Lady of the North. He trusted Camilla because she was an old friend, and I hoped histrust wasn’t misplaced. Chances were, Camilla was the least of our worries tonight, but I wasn’t ready to lower my guard around her yet.
My gaze snapped from Henry and darted behind Camilla when Benjamin Moreau walked in, his musky scent filling the foyer. I couldn’t stop a low, feral growl from escaping as my upper lip curled in a snarl. I loathed the male with everything that I was, and wished I’d killed him when I’d killed Stern. He had no respect for human life, and saw people as nothing more than livestock, which existed purely for his enjoyment. Perhaps now, with the Dark Witches no longer a threat, the other clan leaders wouldn’t care if I drove a stake through his heart, ending his vile existence.
