Page 33 of The Assassin and the Libertine
“What does the second one say?”
“It’s an address. I don’t recognize it, do you?”
“I know the street. It’s at the other end of the city in the plague district.” Foreboding snaked through me.
“I thought that area was abandoned.” Daphne frowned.
“It was, back when the plague first arrived and people still feared it. Now that the poor have embraced it, they’ve repopulated the deserted buildings and shops. They call itle Quartier Sanglant.It’s the only neighborhood in the city that’s inhabited entirely by vampires.”
Daphne’s mouth dropped open in astonishment.
“I had no idea,” she breathed. “The people…the state of things. I wonder how many in Versailles know.”
I laughed bitterly. “Many of them, I’d wager. The king certainly does, as well as his closest advisors. They just don’t want to admit as much to the rest of the court because they fear a panic, or worse, an uprising.”
“An uprising that you already believe is coming,” she murmured.
I nodded. “It is inevitable.”
She scrubbed her face with her hand and checked her pocket watch.
“We have three and a half hours before sunrise. Do you think that’s enough time to make it across town?”
I looked at her warily. “I think I should go alone. If you walk in there, it would be like ringing the dinner bell and I cannot protect you from an entire district hungry for blood, literallyandfiguratively.”
“Then we shall have to be quick and careful,” she said. “Face it, Étienne, I’m not going to wait in the carriage while you walk into a dangerous situation. It would be easier on both of us if you just accepted that. I recognize the peril, though, so I promise to do exactly as you say.”
A hint of desire flickered at the idea of Daphne submitting to me in more ways than one. I dashed it away before it could distract me. I folded my arms across my chest.
“Impossible woman,” I sputtered. She was unmoved.
We made our way downstairs and found Josephine in the kitchen with Marie. I kissed them both and stuck a purse full of coins into Josephine’s pocket.
“I’m afraid we made a bit of a mess in Brigitte’s room,” I said. “This should make up for it. Be careful,ma sœur. If anyone comes asking after me, or Daphne, for that matter, you have not seen us. Understand?”
Josephine nodded, worry etched on her face. I tried to smile.
“Unless it is a very beautiful woman,” I said with a wink. “Then, please do send her my way.”
Daphne snorted a laugh. “Isn’t that how you got yourself into this mess?”
Josephine giggled and hugged her. Daphne left to give us some privacy and stepped out into the night.
“I like her,” Josephine whispered. “Don’t fuck it up,d’accord?”
I glared at her and followed Daphne to the carriage.
“Quartier Sanglant,”I told the driver. “Quickly, please. We’re in a bit of a hurry.”
Daphne watched me in the darkness of the carriage, her expression unreadable.
“How long have you been a vampire?” she asked.
Her question took me by surprise. I didn’t often speak to others about my turning. Despite appreciating my abilities and accepting my lonely fate, turning was one of my life’s low points. I looked on it as a moment of weakness and shame, brought on by the stupidity and impetuousness of unruly youth. It was one evening’s mistake that I would be paying back for a thousand lifetimes.
“Twenty years.”
“That is before the plague swept Paris,” she observed.
