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I finally manage to catch up to her. My hand darts out, stopping her movement. “Addy, stop,” I say, turning her around to face me. “Calm down.”
“Marina, please don’t tell me to calm down. I’ve had too much time to stew on what my father has done, and I have every right to be angry,” she seethes. “He’s put a black mark on our name. Even with Julian’s backing, the Council will turn on me when he’s convicted.”
“Ifhe’s convicted, Addy.”
Her eyes narrow in on me. “Why do you keep doing that?”
I step back. “What am I doing?” I ask, truly confused.
“After what he did, you should be the last person telling me how to feel about my father. You should agree with me. You shouldwanthim to suffer.”
“We’ve discussed this. I don’t like your father, but I also can recognize the position he was in.”
She throws her hands up in the air. “Which is?”
“His best friend and the man he deemed worthy to fill the shoes of Crown entrusted him with a secret,” I say. “He intended to keep it. He had no idea who I was, only that I was a human.”
“You believe that?” she asks incredulously.
“He didn’t hide his reasons. He made it clear he doesn’t care about human life.” I shrug, as if that isn’t a big deal. To me it’s a massive problem, but also understandable.
“I can tell that bothers you, Marina.”
“Of course it does. How can we prevent a war when both sides are determined to villainize the other? There’s no love between humans and vampires, Addy. He has more than enough reason to not care what happens to me.”
“And you have plenty of reasons not to care what happens to him.” Her voice pitches.
I offer her a small smile. “I have one.” She takes a deep breath, exhaling severely. “You.”
A tear leaks from her eye and she wipes it away. “You hardly know me,” she sniffles.
“I’d like to believe we’re becoming friends.”
“We are,” she agrees. “I like you for Julian.”
“And that is why I care about you. Because you’re important to him.”
She nods as she attempts to get her breathing under control. When I think she’s managed to calm herself down, I start to move.
“I think your best course of action is to not be too hard on him. If he thinks you’ve already determined he’s guilty, he might clam up.”
She doesn’t say anything, but I believe we’re on the same page. When we get to the cell, Count Dupré is curled up on the bench asleep.
He looks small and disheveled, entirely different from the vampire I encountered.
“Father?” Adèle’s voice breaks as she takes in her dad’s appearance.
He stirs, but isn’t quick to get up.
“Do you think they’ve fed him?” she asks, voice full of concern for the man she was ready to eviscerate moments earlier.
“Julian wouldn’t allow him not to be fed,” I say, trying to reassure her.
“He’s not here,” she says through her teeth as though I’m the enemy.
“I’ve been fed, Addy girl,” Dupré says.
He stands on wobbly legs, but they give out on him. Adèle falls to her knees in front of the cell. “Father,” she cries.
