‘“Especially him.”
‘“I’ve no wish to cause alarm.” I nodded to de Coste’s empty goblet. “But from my vantage, you and your stepfather strike an awfully similar pose.”
‘“Careful, frailblood.” Aaron glanced at me, his voice dark with malice. “You’ve no idea what it was to grow up under that bastard’s roof.”
‘“Silk sheets. Servants hand and foot. I’m sure it was pure torture.”
‘“Know me so well, do you?”
‘“I know you exact, de Coste. You spit at these folk behind their backs, and yet you’re worst of the lot. The nobleborn bratling, above everyone and everything. The only folk you treat worse than the ones around you are the ones beneath you.”
‘“Would it shock you to learn, then, that my first love was a commoner like you?”
‘“Talk about fucking clichés,” I scoffed. “Just because you decided to slum it wi—”
‘“Watch your mouth,” Aaron slurred, slamming his fist down.
‘A few of the gentry turned to stare as the glassware on the table jumped. Aaron gave them a princely smile and raised his glass until they turned back to their own business.
‘“I loved Sacha,” he hissed. “As the ocean loves the sky.” His gaze returned to the Baron, glittering with rage. “And one night my noble stepfather caught us together when he was in his cups. And in his rage at finding me trysting with some lowborn trollop, he took up his tankard and beat me almost to death. But there was no almost for Sacha.”
‘I looked to the Baron, aghast. “… He killed her?”
‘“I might’ve died too, if not for the blood in my veins. That was the night Mama told me what I was. So don’t you dare compare me to that bastard, de León. Ever.”
‘I stared at Aaron; this jealous highborn prick I so despised. I thought we’d nothing in common save the paleblood curse. And yet it seemed, in one more way, that Aaron and I were of accord: we both hated the men who’d raised us.
‘Still, I could find little compassion for him. This prick had got Sister Aoife murdered for his jealousies. Instead of sympathy, I felt only fury at his hypocrisy.
‘“Be that as it may, de Coste, if Greyhand comes in here and sees you getting ratarsed, he’ll knock you out of your fucking shoes.”
‘“So concerned for my well-being?” Aaron reached for another goblet. “I’m touched.”
‘I snatched the wine away. “I give no fucks for your well-being, you stuck-up prick. But we’re at Hunt here. Your clumsiness could spell the death of me.”
‘“Oh no. Wouldn’t that be just terrible.”
‘“You’d like that, eh? If our prey saved you the trouble? I know your mind, bastard.”
‘Aaron rolled his eyes. “God, what are you bleating about now?”
‘I hissed, the accusation slipping loose before I could stop it. “I saw you.”
‘“Saw me what?”
‘Again, I knew it was foolish to unearth this trouble now. But I was furious. And if this cur had it in for me, I wanted to know it for certain. For him to know I knew.
‘“The night I was attacked in the stables by La Cour and those wretched,” I spat. “The night Aoife was murdered. I saw you sneaking out of the Armoury like a fucking thief. The same Armoury that La Cour escaped from moments later. Coincidence?”
‘I saw my words strike home, a sliver of perfect rage piercing Aaron’s eyes. For a moment, I honestly thought he might reach for the silversteel knife in his doublet. I could see it on his face then, sure as God was my witness.
‘This bastard wanted to murder me.
‘But then …
‘Then …
‘We felt her.’
IV
RAVEN CHILD
‘IT CREPT ON me like sleep at the end of a quiet day. A chill prickling the back of my neck. Aaron felt it too, looking towards that passel of demoiselles. And among them, a figure stood now where none had before, as if conjured from the shadows themselves.
‘She was silence. She was dead leaves fallen. She was a blood-red stain, spilling slow across the dancefloor and making my heart fall still. The drip of hot wax upon your naked skin. The first flicker of a lover’s tongue into your open, wanting mouth.
‘She wore crimson. A long and sweeping gown of lace and corsetry, like a bride all dipped in blood. Her skin wasn’t just painted pale like the women about her, but white and smooth as finest alabaster. Her hair was the red of burning flame, flowing over her bare shoulders and past her slender waist. And she looked about the dancers on the edge of the ballroom’s flickering light, and her eyes were black as the pits of hell.
‘“Almighty God …” I breathed.
‘I’d seen highbloods before, oui. But never the like of her. She drifted among the revellers, bewitching those she turned her attentions upon, passing through others like smoke. Nobody had announced her arrival, and I was struck with the notion that perhaps she’d always been there, waiting, watching. It was impossible to look away from her, but dread filled my belly even as I stared. This thing looked at the folk about her with the dispassion and cruelty that only the understanding of “forever” can bring.
‘When she saw us, she didn’t see people. She saw food.
‘“And I beheld a pale maiden,” came a murmur behind us. “Her eyes were black as midnight and her skin as cold as winter, and in her arms, she bore the nightmares of every sleeping babe, every shivering child, come ripe and fulsome unto the waking world.”
‘“And her name was Death,” Aaron whispered.
‘I glanced to Greyhand in the shadows behind us. His pale green eyes were fixed on the newcomer, flooded red by the pipe of sanctus he’d apparently already smoked. “The Book of Laments hardly does her justice, does it?”
‘“Nor the tales we’d heard on the road.” I glanced back to the vampire, my mouth dry as ash. “Great Redeemer, I’ve never seen the like.”
‘“Ancien.” Greyhand nodded. “No quarry under heaven more dangerous.”
‘Silently, we watched the monster seeping through the crowd, and all the world about her seemed colourless. A pretty fop dropped into a bow before her; a fly inviting a spider to dance. The vampire laughed, allowed the gent to sweep her out onto the floor, utterly oblivious to the peril he was in. Not just his flesh, but his very soul.
‘Aaron and I rose to our feet as Talon joined us. The seraph’s cheeks were flushed as he watched the vampire dance, his eyes also blood-red. “Almighty God, what a monster.”
‘“Forcing confrontation here …” Aaron gazed around the ballroom, looking first to his pretty cousin, then to his fair mama. “We put every person in this room in danger.”
‘“They are already in danger,” I replied, eyes still on our quarry.
‘“De Coste is right,” Talon said, breathing quick. “Now I lay eyes upon her … we can provoke no fray here. To dance with such a devil in a crowded hall invites massacre.”
‘“What plan then, Seraph?” Greyhand asked.