Page 124 of You’re So Vein

His presence slices through me like a knife, but the rage and anguish in his voice opens wounds. Hannah’s all that matters now.

“Augustin.” I place my hand on his shoulder. “Put him down. I think we need to hear what he came to say.”

Augustin huffs. Slowly, he lowers Dante to the ground. The vines loosen enough that Dante can move his limbs, but they loom in the air like coiled snakes ready to pounce. Dante clutches his throat and gasps. He sits, leaning heavily against the wall behind him, the bruises from Augustin’s fingers already fading.

“You killed my parents and Isabelle,” Augustin growls. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t destroy you right now.”

“Is that what you think?” Dante blinks in surprise. “Oh, sweet Augustin. This makes more sense now. I could never hurt Isabelle. I loved her.”

“That’s not true,” Augustin yells. I cover his mouth with my hand, not wanting my parents to hear him and come running. A fang scrapes over my finger, and a pleasant shiver runs down my body.

He betrayed you. He’s not yours any longer.

“I know you don’t want to hear this, but Isabelle and I were in love.” Dante sighs. “We didn’t tell you because we feared hurting you. I spent so long trying to push her away, because I didn’t want her to choose this life, but she finally convinced me that we couldn’t ignore how we felt. She agreed to your parents’ offer of the Kiss so that we could wed. But shortly after it was approved, she grew distant. She refused to speak to me, and she wouldn’t leave her chambers. I thought your parents were keeping her from me deliberately, that maybe they found out about us and disapproved because of my disagreements with your father.

“I wanted to be there when she woke from her Kiss, so I used a sleeping spell on the guards. I knew as I crept through the halls of your family wing that it had already been done, for why else was the house so silent? I slipped into her chamber and…” Dante swallows. “She was already dead, her throat torn out, blood splattered in arcs over the bed. And your parents were even worse. I’ve seen some awful things in my life, but who or what butchered John and Dulcina made certain they could never be brought back by any kind of Dusk magic. It sent me reeling, back to the horrible night when my human family was slaughtered. If only I’d been a few minutes earlier…”

Dante turns away, covering his face with his hands. I hear the anguish in his voice. I know what it feels like to lose a love like that. Beth puts a comforting arm around my shoulders.

“I felt a breeze across my face, and saw through tears that the window was open. I ran to it and saw a figure running to the edge of the island and striding into the ocean, the water churning crimson as the blood sloughed from his body. A bloodied sword was strapped to his back. The figure turned back to the castle, and I recognised him.”

“Who?” Augustin shakes him. “Who did you see?”

Dante hisses, “Kael Morrigan.”

47Augustin

Argleton Weather Watch: Bad news. Our storm front kissed another storm front, and that’s how babies are made. If by babies, you mean full-fledged hurricanes. The newly named Hurricane Mindy is moving faster than anticipated and will be on us in a matter of hours. Residents of Argleton are advised to get to higher ground, as the low-lying village is in danger of flooding. Hold on to your hats.

KAEL MORRIGAN KILLED MY PARENTS, my Isabelle.

The words land inside me like an unbalanced council budget, wrong and terrible and hopeless. This evening has been a living nightmare stitched together from all my worst nightmares come true, all at once.

Komal’s face as I betrayed her rises unbidden in my memory. Her eyes, normally full of the brightness that I love, dimming. That look nearly broke me. I felt as though I were ripping out my fangs with my bare hands and then apologising for the blood on the carpet. But I’d do it again. I’d betray her a hundred times over if she could stay angry and distant and safe.

I fled to Black Crag at vampire speed after delivering my speech, a zombie roaming the halls in search of the only thing I live for now – Hannah.

But she was gone.

A perfect circle of blood on the floor in the castle kitchen where my beautiful daughter should be. Dora’s vision come to pass.

And so, my heart broke a second time.

I took two swords from Alaric’s castle and spent hours raging across the landscape, sending out my tendrils, calling up every plant and tree and flower to help in the search. But I can’t find her, and now Komal’s security system alerted me to Dante’s presence, and the fact that he’d come after her here, now, is the excuse I have been waiting for.

I will end him.

I will eat his spine.

I will transform his skull into a flowerpot.

I am hanging on to my humanity by a thread. The monster inside me wants only to kill, as if tearing him apart will bring Hannah back and protect Komal. I’m helpless, and it only makes the rage burn hotter.

“You’re lying.” The words spit from my throat like sparks from a fire. Dante’s trying to trick me into sparing his life. He intends to quench my rage with grief. But he doesn’t know the raw conflagration of love. “How would Kael even have got into Dusk Court, let alone my parents’ chambers? He would have to be invited.”

“It would be the height of hubris to believe that simply because the Dusk Court commands magic that other vampires cannot also learn to wield it. Kael is an ancient vampire, and his people are steeped in magic. I have heard rumours that he belongs to the Ordo Exsecrati.”

“What’s that?” Komal asks.