"Aunt Eustacia does not move about Society all that much anymore," Victoria replied. "She has come here from Italy in only the last four years, and she does not know very many people. And Max… he chooses not to attend functions such as these. Just as you did… until recently."
"I cannot fault your cousin for that; although had I known I would have found you, I am certain I would have made an effort to fend off the matchmakers much sooner."
"A lovely thought, Phillip, but I cannot agree. You know that I have moved very little in Society for the last two years, since I have been in mourning for my grandfather and father. If you had indeed bestirred yourself to move about thus, I fear I would have lost you before I found you."
"Never. Victoria, there would have been no one but you for me." He sighed, smiled, and continued, "I fear it is time that I make another confession."
As she had the first time, she raised an eyebrow. "Another one?"
"Another one. My last, Victoria, so enjoy it." He tipped his head and looked down at her. "The reason I chose to put myself at the mercy of Society this year is because I knew you had finally ended your mourning and were to come out. I wanted to meet the young girl I'd known long ago and see if she had grown into the woman she promised to be. She had; and I fell in love with her."
When he looked at her like that, with his shining blue eyes so steady and sure, she felt as though nothing would ever be so certain as Phillip and his presence. As if the reality of vampires and Lilith and the Book of Antwartha didn't have to exist in a world that Phillip and she lived in.
But of course, it could not be. She already knew those evils existed. She had already fought them—and fought them successfully.
While she couldn't leave them behind, couldn't be hypnotized out of them as her mother had been, Victoria knew she could survive the split world as long as she had Phillip waiting for her on the other side.
"Max, I don't recall the last time I saw you so disturbed."
"Disturbed? That's much too polite a word to describe the way I'm feeling," he snapped at Eustacia. He'd been stewing about it since yesterday, when Rockley had blithely announced the news at Grantworth House.
"Victoria cannot marry—and a marquess, no less! What has addled her brain?"
"I don't disagree with your sentiment, Max, but the fact remains that there is no law against a Venator marrying anyone, marquess or no."
"No law but common sense. Of which she apparently possesses none."
Eustacia had not moved from her chair; but despite her calm, measured words, he saw the concern in her ageless face. She might not rail and stalk as he did, but as she said, she was no more pleased than he was.
"We have the Book of Antwartha," he continued. "And I will admit that she played a much larger role in its recovery than I had expected… but she likely believes that all threat is now abolished, since we have the book, and she does not have to play at being Venator any longer." He flicked his finger over the sleek black stake he'd just slipped from his favorite hidden pocket.
"It is no more than I suspected when she was first called—she would find it exciting and exhilarating for a time, and then become bored with it," he continued. "And then she would want to return to her simple world of poetry-spouting beaux and pink furbelows and dance cards. This is precisely why women should not be Venators. Present company excepted, of course, Eustacia, as you always are the exception that proves the rule." He gave a short bow, for he recognized the beginnings of fire in her onyx eyes.
"Victoria has given no indication that she believes the threat is over, Max; you must admit you are being unfair. She did save your life during the process of getting the Book of Antwartha; and although it would have been preferable for the two of you to stop trying to cut the other out and work in tandem, you did indeed work together and succeeded. Brilliantly."
"That is my point exactly, Eustacia. Just as she is beginning to show the skill of a truly gifted Venator—and yes, I'll freely admit that she has the potential to be as good as you or I—she is going to be entering into a marriage! Where she will need to account for her every moment to the marquess, and where she will have greater strictures and parameters placed on her life. Not to mention the distraction of being In Love. Have you seen how love-sopped people look at each other? And at no one else, and nothing around them? We cannot afford another near miss like we had two nights ago."
"You said as much to Victoria yesterday when she—or rather, the marquess—told us they were getting married," Eustacia reminded him with a calmness he did not understand. "But, Max"—she spoke louder, raising her voice for the first time and stepping over his arguments—"I cannot and will not order her not to marry. It is her decision and I have to let her make it. Although I do share the same concerns as you, I know that I must step aside and let her do as she will. We all have that freedom, as Venators, and she is not the first to love and want to marry. Some of us love, but do not marry," she added, giving a bare glance toward the door through which Kritanu was due to come at any moment.
"And the truth is, Max, perhaps she will succeed where we do not expect her to. Perhaps Victoria needs that balance of the light with the dark; the ordinary with the horrific unordinary. Perhaps that will make her stronger, more adept… just as your own grief and anger feed your strength."
"I can't agree with you, Eustacia. The life of a Venator is like that of a priest—we are called and we are solitary. And we must remain so in order to fulfill our destiny."
"And what of me, then, Max? Have I not fulfilled my destiny because I am not alone?" Eustacia asked gently, as if she suddenly understood what was at the core of his disheartenment.
Max recognized an unanswerable question when he heard one, and swiftly changed the subject. "Victoria recognized Sebastian Vioget. How does she know who he is?"
Eustacia lifted an eyebrow. "That is interesting. My assumption would be that wherever and however she learned about the book and its protection was where and how she learned who Sebastian Vioget is. And it concerns me that he was there at Redfield Manor."
"It concerns me that he would have allowed me to pick up the book," Max replied with sarcasm. "He was nearly salivating at the thought."
"It's too bad you cannot see to form an alliance with him. It might be to our benefit. Perhaps that is something Victoria should consider." Before Max could speak, Eustacia brought up another unpleasant topic. "How is your neck?"
He caught himself reaching to touch the old bite. It had indeed been paining him in the last day, throbbing with a constant dull tic. "I felt no need to mention it has been hurting; it would be no surprise to you, considering the events of the last few days."
"No, but I could give you more salve," Eustacia replied gently, as though speaking to a young child. "There is no need for you to endure the pain."
"It is nothing." Perhaps he would have said more, but at that moment Kritanu opened the door from the hall and Wayren glided in.
"Felicitations, Eustacia and Maximilian," the blond librarian beamed. Her long medieval sleeves would drag the floor when her arms hung at her sides; but now, as she had them raised in delight, the flowing cuffs served only to wrap themselves around Eustacia and then Max, in turn, as Wayren embraced each of them. "You have succeeded in retrieving the book! And so quickly!"
"Yes, it was quite fortuitous," replied Max as she stepped back.
"And your bite?" asked Wayren, giving him the same assessing look Eustacia had.
"It is tender," he admitted.
The door opened again, and Kritanu ushered in the second guest—Victoria, of course. Max looked over and said, "Ah, there she is. And… alone? You did not bring your better half, Victoria?"
"Oh, no, Phillip sends his regrets. He is much too busy trying to decide which way to tie his neckcloth for the wedding," she replied sweetly.
Max had to bite his lip to keep back his surprised delight at her smart rejoinder. She was quick. He couldn't fault her there.
As he sat down in his favorite chair next to the highboy where Kritanu kept the brandy, he looked blandly at Eustacia, who had given him a less than pleased look at his sarcastic comment.
"Your better half?" asked Wayren, settling next to Max but speaking to Victoria.
"Max is speaking of my betrothed husband, the Marquess of Rockley. He—Max—appears to be under the impression that when I take my vows I will forget those I have already made to the Gardella Legacy."
Victoria, whose hair was dressed in a way that Max had never seen, pressed a kiss to her aunt's cheek, and then one to Kritanu's, before selecting a chair directly opposite Max. Instead of being piled high on her head, with every black curl stuck in place and intertwined with gems and ribbons, her hair fell in a simple, long plait down the back of her dress. She had to move the braid out of the way or she would have sat on it.
Max noticed that she was carrying a leather bag, and as she settled in her chair, she drew it onto her lap.
"That is the book?" he asked, desirous of getting their discussion onto more important things than the impending wedding.
"It is." Victoria drew it out and held it for a moment before offering it to Eustacia. "What shall we do with it now that we have it? Is there anything in it that could help us?"
Wayren watched the battered leather tome with the same avidity Max's old dog watched the table for a bone or other scrap to fall—or be pushed—to the floor. She sounded almost breathless when she spoke. "I will have to study it to know for certain… but I would venture to say that there is little in there that would promote living in the light. It is the book of Kali's evil child, and as such has only recipes for promoting evil. Still, knowing what value it has for Lilith may help us to understand her next move."
"Indeed," Eustacia agreed. "Merely having it in our possession is the greatest of advantages. And in fact, I have been thinking long and hard about where we should hide the book until we have decided what to do with it."
