where the gown had begun to gap open. “Victoria,” he said into her ear, barely audible, “I can’t let anything happen to you. I simply cannot. That’s what I meant by having no choice.”
She pulled back, looking into his eyes. “I’ve made the same choice, Max. Don’t you understand?”
He turned away, his face becoming rigid. “I almost wish you hadn’t.
Now he moved away, putting space between them, tilting her off his lap and into her own corner of the seat. “It’s you that doesn’t understand, Victoria.” He grabbed up her hand, closing his strong brown fingers around hers, covering her slender white hand with his broad, square one. “You called me a coward once.”
“Twice,” she reminded him.
The flicker of a smile ticked at the corner of his lips. “Yes, then, twice. And it’s true. I am a coward. I’ve fought this for so long-”
“How long, Max? Since you peeked at me changing in the carriage?” Victoria couldn’t resist.
Again, that involuntary twitch of lips. “Long enough. And I’ve already told you, I had no desire or reason to peek.” Then the sobering mood returned, this time laced with underlying anger. “Be quiet and let me say this.”
He glanced out the window. “The hardest thing I’ve ever done was when I… executed Eustacia. I loved her like a mother, a leader, a mentor and a friend… and she ordered me to kill her.”
“You had to, Max,” Victoria said earnestly, her fingers tightening inside his. “You had to in order to get close enough to the vampires to destroy the obelisk.”
In fact, Aunt Eustacia had ordered Max to sacrifice her in order to prove his loyalty to the vampires.
“Goddammit, I know that, Victoria. Of course I had to-it was the right thing to do. One life sacrificed in order to save countless others. I hated myself for doing it. I loathed the fact that I had to… but I did. I didn’t hesitate. I did what bloody well had to be done.”
He turned from the window then to look at her, bleakness in his eyes, austerity in his face. “But if it had been you? I couldn’t have done it. Do you understand?
He pulled his hand from hers. “That’s what I’m afraid of, Victoria. A choice like that.”
Ten
Sebastian knew the moment Victoria walked into the town house parlor that things had changed.
He’d been conversing with Wayren, sitting yet again in this little room that continued to tug at him whenever he came to Eustacia’s home. During the short time he’d been here, waiting for Victoria’s return, his attention had been drawn over and over to the cabinet that held the Gardella Bible.
More than once, he’d thought to ask Wayren if he could look through it-after all, he was a Gardella, somewhere centuries back in his mother ’s family tree.
But then Victoria breezed in, dressed in a simple gown of pale blue that didn’t begin to do her justice. For pity’s sake, he’d seen maids better dressed. She was gloveless, and her rich, inky hair sagged low at the base of her skull, curls flying in little springs from her temple. And she was followed by Max Pesaro.
“Sebastian,” she greeted him. “Have you been here long?” She took a seat at one side of the empty sofa, and Pesaro sat there as well, but at the other end, well away from her, as though afraid of catching something. Though from the look on his face, he’d already been close enough to do so.
Devil take it. How was he going to travel to Prague with the two of them?
He realized with a start that Victoria had asked him a polite question that required a suitable response. “I haven’t even been here long enough for Charley to have brought tea,” he replied. “Although I’m not entirely certain that the request was made, so perhaps that isn’t a good measure.” Taking care to keep his voice light and casual, he added, looking directly at Max, “I understand you went for a drive. How did you find the carriage’s accommodations?”
“Cramped,” he replied coolly, but with a measured look that confirmed everything Sebastian had suspected.
He transferred his attention to Victoria, whose cheeks had tinted a charming pink. Or it would be charming if it didn’t have to do with Max Pesaro. He gritted his teeth-for whom had he to blame for the topic but himself? But he’d had to know for certain, and now he did. Yet they both looked… well, certainly not as if the carriage ride had been as pleasant as it could have been.
Keeping his insouciant smile in place, he replied, “What a pity. I’ve never had a complaint about such-”
“I’ve received word from Brim and Michalas,” interrupted Wayren.
Sebastian allowed his smile to fade as all attention turned to her. He had information as well, but it would wait for a moment.
“They’ve arrived in Paris. Two more demons were dispatched, and all seems to be quiet for the moment. Yet we know it’s only a matter of time before more slip through the portal, and we haven’t any time to waste. They received my message about the Rings of Jubai-thanks to Sebastian for that bit of information-and have suggested that they go to retrieve the ring from the Consilium, then meet up with us in Prague.” Wayren looked at Victoria. “If you agree.”
“Yes, of course. They can be to Rome much sooner than we can, and it makes the most sense to split up. We have the pigeons to communicate.”
Sebastian noticed that she didn’t look at either Pesaro or himself to confirm her decision. How far she had come from the first time he’d met her, when she’d attempted in vain to hide her femininity by wearing men’s clothing to the Silver Chalice, then had nearly forgotten to offer a gentlemanly handshake.
Since then, she’d grown bold, beautiful, strong, and intelligent.
Worlds different from his gentle, serene Giulia, who nevertheless had had a fiery side when it came to her gardens.
He remembered the first time he’d met her, the sister of his acquaintance Max. The two boys had trampled two basil plants and a rosemary bush in an effort to peek through the window of a house sharing the same courtyard, where a beautiful young signora tended to stand whilst changing. Giulia had given them both the sharpest side of her tongue, a tartness he rarely remembered experiencing after that first time. Although, to be sure, it was those big, dark eyes that had captivated him-not the signora in her shift-so perhaps his memory was faulty.
Sebastian caught himself and looked back up to find Wayren gazing at him. He swallowed and fixed that charming smile on his lips, and realized with gratitude that no one else seemed to have noticed his lapse.
Max and Victoria had exchanged their own sharp words about whether horse or carriage would be the more efficient mode of transport, with both of them acknowledging that horseback would be the best choice. Which left Sebastian to wonder exactly what they’d disagreed about.
Then suddenly he was drawn back into the conversation by something Victoria said to Wayren. “A vampire? You’re in need of a vampire? What can an undead tell you that I cannot?” he added with an unabashed grin.
“It’s more what he can do,” Pesaro replied. “Unless you wish to oblige me by allowing me to drain your blood, then stake you.”
“It would certainly be interesting to participate in the
“He needs a vampire’s blood for the Trial,” Victoria said sharply. “Max is going to take up the
Devil it, so he was. Sebastian pursed his lips, considering the implications of such an eventuality. Max with a
And there was always the tantalizing possibility that Pesaro wouldn’t live through the Trial.
“There are no vampires in London right now,” he said. “I’ll be most happy to assist you to find one in Prague. Ah… perhaps… perhaps you could use Katerina.” He smiled with genuine humor for the first time that day.
“A paramour of your grandfather’s, I presume,” Pesaro responded drily.
“Of course. In fact, there’s quite a story about how she came to be sired by Beauregard, if you will permit me
