Page 44

Complice

CORA

As the night went on, Adrien told me more about Maris and Rosa, and I told him more about being a Dark Witch. The little vampire leaned in close and cupped his hand, as if he wanted to tell me a secret. I indulged him, leaning in as well.

“Are there any ghosts out here?” he whispered.

I glanced around for his benefit. “None that I can see.”

“Don’t ghosts show up around their gravestones? I read that they do.”

“Sometimes,” I offered. “But this place is the furthest thing from a cemetery.”

He pointed past the rose bushes to the marble statue hiding behind them. “That’s where Mama is buried. And the other versions of her.”

My stomach dropped straight to the ground. This wasn’t a garden at all. It was a reliquary. “The other versions?” I asked.

Adrien nodded. “When a vampire’s mate dies, their body stays dead, but their soul is eventually born into someone new. They have a different body, a different face, and a different name. But the gods lead them back to each other. Papa says the first time they met, she was working in a tavern, serving whiskey at a port in Mistfall. He says he had to let someone else captain his ship back to Valemer while he took her back to the capital that night.” The smile that had been building on his lips fell. “But she still won’t visit me.”

I wanted to tell him his mother’s ghost had been hovering over his shoulder the entire time. Smiling and laughing along with us. But the truth was that there was no one haunting this garden. Not even my mother.

I could lie to him, but I didn’t know if it would make things better or worse, especially since his father was off searching for members of The Devouring as we spoke. So I just shook my head.

Adrien let out a disappointed breath, then scooted further away from me. I watched him for a moment, wishing I could take his pain away, but knowing that wasn’t possible. Otherwise, I would’ve sucked it out of my own heart.

I shifted my attention to the pond, just for something to stare at while Adrien processed his disappointment. After a few minutes, the water rippled, and a few bubbles burst on the surface.

“I think a fish is trying to say hello,” I said cheerfully.

“There’s no fish,” he deadpanned.

“A turtle then,” I offered.

“There’s no turtle either.”

The bubbles continued. I stared into the water, waiting to see whatever creature was making them, hopeful for any distraction away from ghosts of the past, but nothing surfaced.

“I give up. What’s making the bubbles if not a fish or a turtle?”

He shrugged, then looked away.

I watched him with a heavy heart. But goosebumps rose on my arms, and my attention drifted back to the water. Adrien was right. There was nothing there. Nothing, except the faintest hint of light shining up from the bottom. I leaned closer to get a better look, but a bubble broke the surface. When the water settled, there was no light, just my own reflection.

A frog croaked, and I let out a yawn.

“Shouldn’t you be getting to bed?” I asked Adrien.

“Vampires don’t sleep at night. Or rarely ever.”

“Oh,” I said, a bit surprised.

I didn’t know why I hadn’t realized that. He wasn’t human, no matter how much he appeared to be. This sad, curious, intelligent little boy had a heart that would never beat. He had skin that would never be warm. And he would live for eternity, awake the entire time.

I wondered how that affected a child. The blood magick that made the vampires had been used on men, not boys.

“Someone’s coming,” Adrien said.

“Is it your father?” I asked, hopeful to see him again.