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It wasn’t until he was seated with Lars that he deigned to look at me.
And heavens, he was more gorgeous up close than I had anticipated.
Every vampire held a certain ancient charm. Domingo was no different, his angular Spanish features paled to the point of revealing his blue veins. Two pointy fangs curved over his bottom lip while his eyes swirled with a rich chocolate brown, the kind that I could find in Charlotte’s baking cabinet. Red shot through his irises for a split second before they calmed like a sea after a storm.
“Miss Pascal,” he said, the words floating from his lips like the symphony of a song. “You’re so much more ravishing in person.” He smiled deviously. “Why, anyone would be delighted to justeatyou up.”
Matéo growled.
Domingo looked at Matéo like he was just seeing the Black Wolf for the very first time. “By my ancestors, it’s the Black Wolf himself.”
“We’re here to talk business,” Matéo spat in a low voice. “So, let’s talk business.”
“No, we’re here to talkmotives,” Domingo corrected. Though he was now focused on me, I didn’t miss the way he shot his condescending tone at the man beside me. “Miss Pascal, I’m surprised.”
I sat up a little straighter. “Why’s that?”
“I hadn’t foreseen such a move coming from such a…”
His eyes trickled to my fingers. Every inch of me flared with fear. And I was sure he could sense it, too. Why else would he have done it?
He grinned and met my gaze. “Such atalentedartist.”
My lungs nearly collapsed as I managed to ask, “You’ve seen my work?”
“A few pages here and there.”
“Where would you have even found it?”
He shrugged. “I have eyes everywhere, Miss Pascal. Is that so surprising?”
I swallowed hard, trying to stay on task. His charm sucked me in so easily that it made it difficult to focus. How Sasha ever managed to speak to this man was a miracle to me.
Even more, a miracle was how Matéo wasn’t tearing the ancient man to pieces.
Domingo settled into his chair and folded his hands neatly on the table. Everything about him screamed grace and civility, but I knew a ravenous monster lurked beneath that regal facade. “Miss Leclair mentioned you wanted a temporary truce to discuss the…” He chuckled. “Thenatureof our disagreements.”
“Do you know anything about it?”
“I can recount many a battle in my lifetime, Miss Pascal. You’ll need to be more specific.”
I shook my head. “No, the beginning. What started this. Do you know?”
Uncertainty flashed in his eyes. It was the first sign he felt anything other than hunger. Seconds later, it disappeared, the viper returning. “I had an uncle on the coast—Izan.”
“Does he know anything?”
“Tio Izan passed so many years ago,” Domingo replied. “But he instilled in me the importance of good business.Excellentbusiness.”
“I don’t see what that—”
He held up his hand. “My Maker often translated the seemingly psychotic texts that Tio Izan scribbled in his later days. Notebooks brimming with all sorts of theories and speculations. What a joy it was to discover that the cure for silver exists—” He looked pointedly at Matéo. “In our enemy, no less.”
It wasn’t a perfect lead, but it wassomethingfor me to grasp. “Did he ever write about anything that would have told you more about why vampires and wolves started fighting?”
“He did no such thing, I’m afraid,” Domingo replied casually. “Though he did mention that there was potentially a release for the blood curse.”
The room shuddered. A few nearby vampires gasped audibly. Had their leader never shared this information?
