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I stared at Raphael. His eyes were wild.

He was dressed in court fashion, like he’d just run out of a meeting to get here.

“I felt nothing in the bond.” His anger was on a tenuous leash.

I slumped in the chair. “Then it seems all my training has paid off. You were just wrong about me being safe here.”

Raphael jerked back like I’d slapped him. I regretted the words, but they were true, weren’t they?

“What happened?” he demanded.

It was Thea who answered, repeating everything I’d told her. Only when I had told her, I’d omitted the questions.

“Why did translating the grimoire make him want to kill me?” I asked.

Did you think I wouldn’t know who you really serve? That I wouldn’t recognize you for what you really are?Thequestion… in the panic… I hadn’t known what he meant. It made no sense given the context.

The two exchanged a look. Pieces fit in.

“He thought I serve the creature Raphael was sent to hunt, didn’t he?” I pressed.The necromancer.

“He must have thought you served Anagenni,” he explained with reluctance.

I frowned. “You said the vampires worship Anagenni.”

“Vampires do revere Anagenni,” Amalthea explained. “But it’s not precisely true to say she is a beloved goddess. They fear her.”

“But why?” Why wouldn’t the undead love the goddess of death? What did they have to fear? Raphael clearly knew her well enough, but the librarian had rejected the idea his king would have anything to do with her grimoire.

Raphael came closer. “Don’t think on this anymore, Samara. Vampires… they can go mad with age, making it impossible to puzzle out their motives.”

My head slumped between my palms. “So I should just live in fear of the next vampire who goes crazy and attacks me?” Gods, what a hopeless thing.

“You’re not going to live in fear.” Raphael pulled my hands away, making me look up at him. “You’re brave, Samara. You saved yourself. If any good can come of this, let it be that. You’re not the same girl you were.”

I gave a small snort and looked away. “I was terrified. I got lucky.” Lucky I’d had the wasp card, lucky I’d yelled loud enough to startle the vampire, lucky I’d drawn thedagger in time and that it had landed true. “I’m not like you.”

“Of courseyou were afraid. Samara, there’s no bravery without fear. No courage is born untested. But you triumphed over a deadly, powerful foe. Not a fearful dove—but apparently a little viper,” he said with what I might have dared consider admiration. “Take pride in that.”

Brave. Courageous. Could those words really apply to me? Reconciling Raphael’s view of my actions with my own was difficult. I studied the flames, thinking of how I’d felt when the vampire had turned to dust. For the first time, I’d felt like I was in control.

“You won, Samara. And if need be, you will again. Trust in that.”

Chapter Forty

I didn’t waste timeafter the attack returning to translating. I’d worked slowly for two reasons—one, it had taken a while to get used to reading at all again, let alone in Old Runyk; the skills had atrophied. And two, which was shameful to admit, I’d lulled myself into a belief that I could take my time. A thousand gold pieces was worth working slowly for, and I had Amalthea for tea, and Demos for training, and Raphael… Raphael for everything else.

Finally, I’d finished the first passage in its entirety. I’d worked late nights… and early mornings. But the retrieved book let me piece together the word I couldn’t get.

It wasn’t a word that was common in Old Runyk. “Those who are without death,” or simplified, “the undead.”Vampires.

The implication was… terrifying. I’d asked Demos to forgo training so I could deliver the translation to Raphael. With this done, I could continue to work on the rest of the book… or let Raphael destroy it.

Demos didn’t heckle me for skipping training like he would Amalthea. He’d been a bit off since the night I’d caught him in Raphael’s chambers. Sometimes I caught him watching me. Not clinically studying my form, not like a vampire who was hungry. Just… watching. For what?

I considered us friendly, but not close enough to ask why he seemed to think I was due to sprout a second head.

“You’ve been doing well with your training,” he offered while we walked down the halls. Guards stationed periodically nodded to both of us, after straightening their posture when their boss came into view.