“Leave me alone,” he said as four members of his nest appeared suddenly around his bed. He didn’t want them to remember him as he was now: weak and bedbound.
Lucina’s lower lip trembled. “How could you?”
Helena tried to drape an arm over Lucina’s shoulders, but Lucina shoved her away and leaped into the bed on all fours. “Don’t you remember how much it hurt when our maker left? I can’t believe you were going to do that to us.”
“That’s enough, Lucina,” Jonathan said. He was dressed in a nightshirt with his black hair loose around his shoulders, as if he’d been roused from slumber and hadn’t time to change. He held out a hand to Lucina. She accepted it, then ran to Helena and wrapped her arms around the taller woman’s waist and sobbed into her black-and-white-striped jacket.
Cordon buried his face in his pillow, feeling as if he were being mourned while he was still alive. The only person missing was Marcus. His brother’s absence was like a wound in his heart, even if he hadn’t wanted any of his siblings to see him in such a state.
When he looked again, most of the nest was gone. Only Seraphina remained, her eyes glowing bright blue in the darkness.
“You were to summon us if your condition worsened,” she said.
He winced. It had been easy to forget that Seraphina was older and stronger than him, second only to Marcus in the nest hierarchy. Her fury was justified, but he couldn’t summon the energy to care that he’d broken his word.
“Leave me to die in peace,” he said.
Her shoulders slumped. “Do not say that, brother. It is not yet too late.” She walked over and sat on the bed. “What about your newest human concubine?”
“I drank from her, Seraphina. Several times. It is not her.”
His sister sniffed. “You are quite certain?”
He looked at her between his fingers. “What do you mean?”
She stared at her nails. “I found another nest willing to speak to me. Every mated vampire I spoke to told a different story.Some insisted the only way to determine if a human is your fated mate is to turn them. Others claimed the mating bond formed at first bite, or even at first kiss. One even mated with awerewolf.” She shuddered. “The only thing they all agreed about was that the bond didn’t form until they’d stopped caring if it ever would. I suppose it is rather like waiting for a kettle to boil. The more attention you give it, the longer it seems to take. Why do you think Marguerite was so frustratingly vague? It must have been terrible for her, wanting so desperately for us to succeed where she’d failed while knowing that pressuring us would make it that much more difficult.”
The revelation, which should have been obvious, hit him with the force of a slap across the face. “Not just Marguerite. I’ve asked Dr. Rysel for help countless times, but he never told me anything useful. Now I know why.”
More importantly, this also meant there was still a chance that Kitty was his fated mate.
He both wanted it to be true and hoped it wasn’t. The former because it would mean his salvation was in reach, the latter because the only way to prevent his demise might be to turn Kitty. If so, she would become a night-dwelling creature, subsisting on the blood of others, unable to run a business that operated during the day, at least for several decades until she was strong enough. Unable to live a normal life.
He couldn’t do it.
Seraphina sighed. “I see you will not change your mind.” She sat on the bed. “Tell me what you wish me to do. I can, at least, fulfill your last request.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Kitty carefully foldedthe last of the wares that were no longer hers on a worktable that she’d never again use. It was difficult to let it all go, but her dream was over. She would find some other way to ease her mental itch to create. Perhaps she’d make dresses for Betty.
It didn’t matter. The paperwork was signed, her business was gone, and Alyssa was out of a job. She’d spent so long focusing only on her career, she’d ignored the problems of the present. It was time to rectify that lapse.
She held up the last of her dresses. The fabric was both light and sturdy, made of a lovely cotton printed in a swirling pattern.
“How lovely,” a voice said.
Kitty turned around to find a tall, black-veiled woman wearing a vibrant-purple day gown and an enormous emerald necklace that had to cost more than Kitty had made in her life.
“Did you make this dress?” she asked. “Do not lie to me. I will know if you are lying.”
Kitty blinked. “I did.” She wished she could see the woman’s face, but there was not enough light in the shop to penetrate the veil.
The woman tilted her head. “You will show me more.”
Her words had such an air of finality that Kitty rushed to obey. She pulled out the few garments she’d packed, displaying them for the unknown woman’s appraisal.
“You are closing this shop?” the woman asked at last.
