Page 52

That the bite had never happened.

That I’d never offered to let a vampire feed on me.

We hit what seemed to be a dead end just a few minutes later, but with a couple more touches, the barrier disappeared. Moonlight splintered past Raphael. I’d been about to ask why we didn’t just enter through whatever passage when I tilted my head and realized exactly where the opening led.

Into nothing.

More accurately, we were at least twenty feet in the air. Before I could ask Raphael just how we were supposed to get down, he jumped.

I shrieked and clapped a hand over my mouth, edging tentatively closer so I could peer out.

And there was Raphael. Not splattered against the ground, but standing tall, waving to me while the silverlight of the moons danced through his hair and bounced off his skin.

“Jump down,” he called.

I shook my head, trembling slightly while I gripped the book for stability. Its gentle thrum of magic did little to steady me.Blame it on the blood loss. “I can’t! I’ll break my neck.”

“I’ll catch you,” he assured me. “Trust me.”

Trust a vampire to save my life.

A third time.

I jumped.

Air whooshed past me, blowing my hair away. I tucked my legs in and shut my eyes, bracing for death or at least several broken bones.

Contact.

But not with the ground. Strong, steady arms held me, one under my knees, the other supporting my back. I slowly unclenched my face, forcing my eyelids to open.

Raphael grinned down at me. “Told you.”

I blew out a breath, trying to calm my racing heart as I tried to process the fact we’d not only survived this crazy adventure, but we also had the lost Black Grimoire with us.

Raphael made no move to drop me as he surveyed our surroundings. I found myself relaxing in his arms, breathing in his cedar scent like I could wrap it around me and hold it close. The rise and fall of his chest was gentle, even if no heart beat inside it.

No heartbeat. Because he’s avampire. Who you let drink your blood.

“Put me down,” I demanded.

Raphael gently lowered me to the ground, and I turned away from him. Alphonse, to my immense relief, had not been eaten by an ogre in our absence. I slid the Black Grimoire into Alphonse’s saddlebag. It took my hands an extra moment to release the book, but I let it go with a caress against the edges. Maybe because I’d nearly died half a dozen times getting it.

Raphael didn’t miss the movement. “Do you know Old Runyk?”

He must have seen me reading the walls in the temple. Though it begged the question: How did Raphael know it? “A little. I studied as a child, but it’s been many years since I’ve come across it. Do you?”

“Only enough to recognize it.” Raphael considered me, clearly weighing something more. “Do you think you could learn to read the grimoire?”

I scoffed by reflex, then looked back at the book. Could I? I hadn’t studied anything academic in ages. “It would be useless without a witch who can use the grimoire.”

Raphael nodded, reluctantly, letting the subject drop. Neither of us moved onto Alphonse.

Now what?

I’d gone with Raphael on this little retrieval quest—not realizing exactly how perilous the abandoned temple would be—because he’d taken care of me while I healed,and I was out of options. The Monastery would never take me back, and no matter how I wanted to survive, there was no way I could put myself through that again.

But without Raphael around… at best, I could hope to reach some farm out on the edges of the kingdom that could use a pair of hands only used to rat catching. Would I be safe there? They might not look for me specifically, but every once in a while, they tracked criminals via magical means. They would find me. Without the Monastery to stand in their way, I’d eventually be found and executed. I had no money, no skills, no refuge.