Charlotte looked down at the torn, bloodstained over-shirt from Valek and dirt encrusted jeans. “No. I guess I don’t. You know, Valek would never even have me be one of those awful things if it weren’t for your
“Sure,” Sarah said lightly as her eyes scanned Charlotte’s clothes.
Sarah led Charlotte back into her adopted bedroom. Charlotte gazed around at the fresh, white linens — no longer blood-splattered — and crisp curtains. The whole room smelled of jasmine and lilacs. Pretty green vines twisted in spirals in one of the corners by the ceiling, and what looked like real stars twinkled above the black-iron spiraling bedposts.
“How are they — are those real stars?” Charlotte watched in wonderment at the tiny, twinkling spheres while Sarah was busy rummaging through the large wardrobe against the wall.
Sarah glanced over her shoulder and wrinkled her nose. “No, you silly thing. Of course not. Those are just little bewitchments I place around the house sometimes to make it pretty.” She turned back to the open wardrobe. “I love nature. There isn’t enough of it in this city.” She pulled out several flouncy articles of clothing and folded them over her arm. “Here, you’ll like these. I can’t wear them anymore since I lost all that weight.”
Charlotte sighed and crossed her arms over her chest.
Sarah stopped in her tracks and frowned. “What? I can put these back and you can continue to dress like that if you want.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes and unfolded her arms. “Fine. Sorry.”
“That’s what I thought.” Sarah smiled. “Besides, I wasn’t calling you fat. Not a bit. I’m still going to have to take these in for you.” She threw the clothes on the bed and turned quickly, tearing off Charlotte's blouse.
“Hey!” Charlotte grasped for the top to cover herself.
“Oh please.” Sarah snorted, rolled her eyes, and pulled out something pink from the pile. “Put this on.” She threw it at Charlotte, who caught it in a flailing fist. “There is a bathroom right there since you’re so embarrassed.” She indicated a white door behind her.
Charlotte’s cheeks flushed as she breezed past her and shut the door.
“You know, because we don’t have the same parts or anything!” Sarah called after her.
Within a few moments, Charlotte reappeared wearing a clean, pink dress that fell just above her knee, with lacey details around the empire waist and hem. She looked down at it, fiddling with corners of the fabric that hung a little too far away from her waist.
“Well?” Sarah lifted an expectant eyebrow.
“I love it.” Charlotte smiled. “But it’s a little big around this part.” She stretched out the openings under her arms.
Sarah went back over to the wardrobe and yanked open one of the bottom drawers. She pulled out a tiny, silvery needle and turned back.
“Thread?” Charlotte asked, still with the sides of the dress stretched out. “For what?”
Sarah held out the needle, tip pointed at the dress and chanted, “
“Thank you.”
“No problem at all, my dear.” And in a Fairy Godmother sort of fashion, she waved the needle through the air toward the other dresses still left on the bed. Sounds of fabric pulling reacted from the second incantation. Sarah turned and placed the little bodkin back in its place, continuing her conversation. “I should leave now. You have a visitor.” The Witch cheerfully skipped out of the room with a swift wink at the tall shadow that loomed in the corner.
Charlotte turned to see him, and blushing, she greeted him with a faint smile. “Hi.”
He looked down at her, eyes bright from the silvery-blue moonlight streaking in through the frosty window. He slowly slinked past where she stood and opened the window, sending the cool harvest air through her curls.
She walked over and sat on the cushioned window seat beside him and, wrapping his arms around her middle, he breathed in the clean smell from her hair.
Charlotte thought back to her conversation with Sarah then, and taking his palm fast in her hand, turned it over. Just as Sarah had said earlier, there were no lines in his hand. Not even one that marked when he would find his soul mate. Disappointed, she released it.
“What are you looking for?” he asked, examining his palm himself.
“Nothing.” She pouted and crossed her arms.
“What? My mating line?” He chuckled. “I write with my left hand. That’s the one you have to look at.” He held up his other palm to show her the small, indented crease that ran through the left corner.
“Oh.” Charlotte traced it. “So, what does this mean?”
“I don’t know. Ask your new enchantress friend.” He got up from the window seat.
“Where are you going?” she whispered, shifting to sit on her knees. “You just got here.”
He glanced toward the window. “I should leave.” He sighed. “I just wanted to stop in and wish you a good morning. And anyway, we were just in the middle of forming some kind of plan when I snuck off. They’ll wonder where I’ve gone.”
“They are going to know as soon as you go back downstairs.” She smiled, tapping her forehead with her index finger.
“I know. But you really need to try and go to sleep now. You’ve had a very long night. So have I.”
“Stay.” A fusion of sadness and panic swirled inside her. She never wanted him to leave her side again after all she had been through that evening. She bit her lower lip and blinked up at him with the most doleful gaze she could conjure. “Stay with me.”
He chuckled. “Enough, Lottie. Maybe tomorrow evening. Go to sleep now.”
She pouted, but he was already on his way out. He opened the door, and before leaving, turned back to look at her. “I love you.”
“I love you,” she said quietly back. He smiled, closing the door behind him.
She padded back over to the bed, her head hitting the pillow, the joy crawling up through her skin and seeming to explode out of the tips of her fingers and the top of her head. If she had to suffer so much, at least she owned this — his love. Once and for all it was hers. She pulled the covers around her, continuing to beam as she thought about him. She might have chosen to think about all the awful scary things she had been through that night, but why should she, when she had finally gotten what she wanted for so long.
Eternity with him would never be enough.
Chapter Seventeen
The atmosphere in the basement was hot and thick. The group yelled over each other, each brain seeming to work individually now. Valek tried to listen in on each point, but decided it was impossible. It was like watching some complicated twelve-person tennis match.
“We’ve got to strike now!” Lusian roared.
“We have to bust down those walls!” Sasha yelled from the back of the group. Valek heard some of them agreeing with him, raising fists high.
None of them were silent, except for him. He sat very still in a chair, watching the fire dance. His eyes were distant as the flames melted their normal icy color. His mind swam with the various conflicts circulating through the room but every so often, the noise fused into the background and thoughts of Charlotte would spring up in his mind. Her glassy eyes, her lips, her cheeks. She was sleeping. He blinked away from Charlotte’s mind and tried to listen to the room again. To focus.
“Quiet!” Francis’ voice shattered the yelling as everyone turned to face him. He stepped away from the corner and pushed through the clump of rogues toward where Valek sat.
They all looked to Valek now. Francis bent until he was eye to eye with the other Vampire and stayed that
