I hesitated, debating if I should join him. He hadn’t called me over, was just watching me, but the invitation was there.
The invitation was always there, if I let myself acknowledge it.
I looked past him to the ocean, the deep navy reflecting slivers of the moons. It was a long way down if I slipped.
The salty breeze carried over, prickling along my tongue. The ocean I hadn’t let myself near. Now, I could sit and stare at it if I dared.
It was dangerous and enticing in equal measure.
My feet moved before I let myself hesitate any longer. Even if I was clumsy and fell . . . it wouldn’t kill me. I’d heal. I’d survive it.
The spot next to Raphael was suspiciously empty of any stray pebbles, as if it had been cleared. I hid a smile as I sat down next to the vampire king and pulled the branch back onto my lap. From my thigh, I pulled the small dagger and tested it against the wood.
“Making a practice sword so we can spar after all?”
“Not on a bet. This is too thin for that anyway. I wanted to try and carve another woodwind instrument.” I began to scrape the bark away. The wood was softer than oak or hickory. Not ideal, but I’d liked how the branch smelled enough to overlook that.
He looked out at the sea. “Is the one you have not to your liking?”
“I love the flute.” I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful.
“Better than a carrot?” he pressed.
I laughed. “You remember that? Yes. Much better than a carrot. I just had some thoughts after the lesson, about what an instrument made just for a vampire might be like.”
“For a vampire?” He sounded intrigued.
I turned the branch over in my hands. I’d stripped away the bark easily enough; now I had to think more carefully. “Well, breath control plays a significant role in performing. But vampires don’t need to breathe, not the same way. So you could theoretically play more tightly controlled notes, with the fingers also able to move between keys more quickly . . . sorry,” I said, trailing off. “I’m rambling. We can talk about something else.”
“I like to listen to you ramble,” Raphael said. As if this admission was nothing but a simple fact, not something that made me feel warm all over.
“I like your voice too.”
“My voice?” he teased.
It was easier to say it, side by side like this, with no one else around, when I could focus on carving and not looking at him, not seeing the glint in his eye. “Even when I didn’t like you, I liked your voice. I thought it sounded like the night.” It seemed silly now. “Not a scary night. But like this one.” I pointed the stick out in front of us. “Vast. Peaceful.”
“Mmm.” The sound resonated low in his throat. “What would you like me to use my voice to say?”
“You could tell me about you,” I said impulsively.
“What do you want to know?”
“You could tell me how you became friends with Thea and Demos.”
“Amalthea,” he murmured. “That wasn’t a happy story, as you know. She and her father fled the Witch Kingdom after her magic was discovered. She sought refuge here.”
“Not how you met her,” I corrected. “How you became friends.”
“Ah. How do you think it happened?”
I considered. “Somehow, I doubt she gave you a choice.”
“You’d be right.” I could hear the smile in his voice, could picture his expression so clearly even while I refused to look.“She was young, but she had the mettle of vampires a hundred times her age. As you’d expect, she and her father were given housing on the first level of Damerel. She didn’t stay there. Instead, she would sneak into the palace, evading guards, and appear before me. A single human, beating heart, evading trained guards.”
I understood what he meant. When you could hear a heartbeat, it was hard to hide in the shadows and pretend not to be there. “Where would she appear?”
“Anywhere I was, as best I could tell. I didn’t take to the intrusions kindly. But she kept showing up, and demonstrated her value with her visions. Having an oracle was a boon, of course, but she proved her loyalty many times over beyond that. At some point, she claimed chambers for herself and abandoned her old home. She would challenge me, unafraid and self-assured that she was right. Sometimes she even was.”
