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Blood bond...

The Marquis of Lunare jerked in his seat.

"What is it?" Mihail demanded, having recognized the look in his friend's eyes.

"The blood bond," Ilie said abruptly. "It might be the missing component in the heartkeeping process, and why your demon half is still able to assert itself."

Aurora frowned. "Maricha and I haven't read anything about blood bonds being a critical requirement, but it would make sense if it were."

"Ilie and Soleil share a blood bond, and—-" Fleur almost ended up throwing the Duke of Brimstone's name out loud but managed to catch herself in time just as five pairs of eyes swung to her in sharp warning.

Sorry,she mouthed wryly.

"Point still taken." Soleil, ever the protective oldest sister, quickly spoke up to smooth over the awkward silence that followed Fleur's near verbal mishap. She turned to her husband, asking, "Has anything similar happened to you in the past?"

Ilie shook his head. "We had a blood bond almost soon after I learned about you. Mihail, on the other hand, has had to live without it for years."

The baron had been studying the other marquis in thoughtful silence for a while now, and there was one thing which he could not help puzzle over. "Forgive me for asking this, milord, but why was it that you have not bonded with your heartkeeper by blood?"

"We had a misunderstanding two years ago," Mihail said edgily. "It made me realize that the least I could do for her was not to take for myself the privilege of reading her thoughts...if things did not work out."

The silence that followed Mihail's revelation was grim.

"Mihail." Ilie's voice was brooding. "Do you love her?"

Mihail's jaw clenched. "It is not something I have ever allowed myself to answer."

Aurora struggled to keep her shock from showing. Was the marquis even aware that was how Rhapsody thought of love as well? The girl couldn't even make herself say the word out loud, and it was the same for the marquis.

They were a perfect match without knowing it, and the more she thought of it, the more she saw of the subtle similarities between the two. Rhapsody's inability to smile and the marquis just not liking to smile, Rhapsody's trauma making her solemn round the clock and the marquis just naturally being grim as a reaper...

Aurora cleared her throat. "I cannot speak for Lady Norwood, but..." She racked her mind for a way to help the marquis without betraying her oath as his heartkeeper's doctor. "There is power in speaking the truth, milord. At least take the chance, and even if she never loved you then or now, such is the power of what's true that it can still reshape the future even in the very last minute."

RHAPSODY FOUND HERSELFmaking up an excuse for the first time as she skipped on joining Peyton for lunch. Instead, she headed over to the school's registrar and asked for Emily's address. It was then she found out that Emily hadn't just missed classes today. She had submitted a letter of withdrawal yesterday afternoon, and Rhapsody couldn't shake the feeling that it had something to do with the Marquis of Sangre.

Emily wouldn't be the only girl in school to harbor hopes of becoming the marquis' pet, but what if her feelings went deeper than that? Heartkeeping always offered every womanand demon two choices, so what if... what if Emily was theotherheartkeeper of the marquis?

After hiring another one of the school's carriages, Rhapsody set out for Sixpence, which was the only listed address that Emily had provided the school. Once there, she couldn't help but pull her cape closer, disconcerted by the shabby state of the shops lining the main street.

Bell chimes rang at the first dressmaker's shop she entered, and Rhapsody, after introducing herself, asked if they knew of a Ms. Emily Masters.

"Her mother is also a seamstress," Rhapsody added, "who has recently fallen ill."

"I wouldn't know anything about a daughter, but there's Miss Brown in the next block," the shop owner provided helpfully. "It's been weeks since I last saw her."

"Thank you so much." Rhapsody bought herself a bonnet before walking further down the street. The other seamstress had described Miss Brown's shop as one with doors that had been boarded shut and with its display window showing off a gown in purple ombré.

Her steps slowed to a halt as she came to stand before the gowned mannequin behind the display window.What exquisite beadwork, too,Rhapsody thought,and definitely not in line with what she had seen Emily capable of sewing.

"We keep meeting at random places, milady."

She spun around, and once again it was indeed Lord Erou striding towards her, dressed in an enforcer's uniform.

"This is not the place for a young lady to walk around on her own," Erou said reproachingly.

"I was—-"

"Breaking your word?"