Page 3 of Sophie’s Ruin (Crimson and Shadows #2)

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I let go of the sheet, and the satin glided down my body with a faint swish before pooling by my feet.

The air caressed my exposed skin as I reached up and unclasped the thin chain holding the Tear and then the one holding the locket with the portrait of my mother.

I placed both on the vanity and walked to the bathing chamber, stopping by the bedside table on the way there to flip on the lamplight.

After showering, I quickly got dressed, selecting a simple cream tunic and brown pants.

I chose comfortable, practical clothing on purpose.

Since I truly didn’t know what to expect from the meeting tonight, I wanted to be prepared for anything.

The pressure on my chest intensified as I stepped into a pair of brown leather boots and returned to the vanity to finish getting ready.

Henry rapped his knuckles on my bedroom door a moment later.

I glanced at him when he walked in, quickly drinking in his chiseled form.

Dark breeches encased his long legs, and he wore a white shirt that molded to his powerful torso.

His blue-black hair was swept back from his face, revealing his strongly defined features that appeared as drawn as mine.

The longing I’d seen earlier was still there when our gazes locked, and I knew he could see it reflected in my face before I turned back to the mirror.

I pulled the top half of my golden-brown hair up, letting the bottom half flow in soft waves down my back.

“Allow me,” Henry said, when I reached for the locket on top of the vanity.

Lowering my hand back down, I gave a small nod, waiting for him to approach me.

He did so in two long strides, stopping behind me.

When he reached around me to pick up the locket, my breath caught, and I found myself wondering if I ever would not have such a visceral reaction to his proximity.

A pleasant tingling sensation erupted over my skin as Henry reached up and brushed my hair to the side, draping it over my right shoulder.

His brows pinched in concentration as he laid the locket against my chest and fastened the delicate chain behind my neck.

I took a steadying breath, the comforting weight of the necklace grounding me like it always did.

In the mirror, Henry’s deep-blue gaze lingered on the locket for a few seconds before lifting to my face.

“Eloise would be so proud of you and what you have accomplished. You defeated the Dark Witches,” he said, his eyes shining with admiration.

“My grandmother had begun creating the amulet, and my mother finished it. It is their accomplishment, not mine,” I said, turning around to face him. “Besides, you helped me find it. You saved me in the Black Forest and then again when the Dark Witches took me.”

“True, but you saved everyone else,” Henry pointed out, his strong arms encircling my waist. “You saved me,” he added low, resting his forehead against mine.

“I did?” I whispered, breathing him in. Somehow, I knew he wasn’t just talking about the Dark Witches.

“Of course you did,” he said quietly. “Sophie?”

“Yes?”

“Will you keep saving me?”

Forever? I thought I heard him say even though he didn’t utter another word.

“We’ll keep saving each other,” I told him, brushing my lips over his.

We would keep saving each other from the darkness that came with being a vampire.

At times, the sinister hunger was hard to ignore, even for Henry.

The never-ending thirst was always there, gnawing at our insides.

It followed us everywhere, waiting in the shadows like a predator ready to pounce and pull us under, drowning us in bloodlust.

Henry kissed me back deeply but also tenderly—a kiss to seal the promise we’d just made to each other.

“Ready?” he asked when he pulled away.

I wasn’t but I nodded anyway. When I did, Henry unwrapped his arms from my waist and took my hand in his, threading his fingers through mine.

“Wait,” I stopped him when he went to pull me toward the door.

When Henry gave me a questioning look, I explained, “I want to bring the Tear. I know we no longer need it, but I can’t bear the thought of parting with it.” The magic of my bloodline was stored in the amulet. Even now, I could feel the Tear’s power with each pulse of the pale-blue light.

Henry looked uncertain.

“The clans don’t know the amulet can also destroy vampires, and we need to keep it that way. I don’t want you to become a target,” he cautioned.

With a nod of understanding, I grabbed the Tear off the vanity and shoved it in my pant pocket.

Hand in hand, we walked out of my room and headed down the long hallway illuminated by wall sconces. The mansion was eerily quiet since all the human servants were still up north, where we’d sent them in preparation for war.

“I miss her,” I said as if to myself while we walked.

“I do, too,” Henry replied, lost in thought.

I didn’t need to tell him I meant Rory. “I wish she were still alive so she could experience it—this new world where the humans no longer have to serve the clans.” A soft smile pulled at his lips, making me wonder if he were imagining her in this new world, free, unburdened, and happy.

There was no doubt in my mind that she would know how to live this new life to the fullest, with undiluted curiosity and joy.

“I saw her when we were at the border,” I confessed.

My words snapped Henry out of his reverie, and his head swung to me.

“You saw her? Like a vision?” he asked, his face taking on a contemplative expression.

“Yes. She appeared in my mind.” I tried to explain the best I could what I’d experienced that night. “One moment I was at the border, trying to figure out how to use the Tear. Then, the next thing I knew, I was at the Mayfair Park with Rory. It was broad daylight—”

“It was daylight?” Henry interjected, seemingly more amazed by that little tidbit of information than by the fact that I’d seen Rory.

“Yes,” I replied, feeling a pang in my chest. I didn’t miss the daylight as much as I’d thought I would, but I knew Henry was starved for it.

Perhaps I would be, too, after two hundred years.

“That was how I knew what I was seeing wasn’t real.

That, and seeing Rory, of course, because she was alive and not…

dead.” The night of her death flashed through my mind, provoking an involuntary shudder.

Henry squeezed my hand in quiet support.

“So, you got to experience daylight again,” he said, as another soft smile graced his lips. “And you saw Rory…how was she?”

“She was…happy and hopeful. I latched on to her hope, using it to channel the magic of the Tear.”

Henry seemed to think it over for a few moments as we reached the foyer, stopping before the double front doors.

“If she was happy in your vision, then perhaps she already knows true freedom,” he finally said, his smile growing.

“I think she knew that freedom even before she was truly free. She knew how to find joy in life despite her circumstances,” I said quietly, my own lips curving up.

“We can all learn from her.” Henry squeezed my hand again.

“Is that what we’re going to tell the clans?” I asked him, my smile fading. “That they can still find happiness despite living in the shadows?”

“Whatever you decide to say, you’d better make it convincing,” Isabelle chimed in, arriving in the foyer with a stir of air.

Her black, thickly curled hair swooshed around her heart-shaped face as she stopped before Henry and me.

She, too, had opted for a tunic and pants instead of one of her usual revealing gowns.

My brows knitted as I took in her outfit.

I wondered if she’d also chosen to dress comfortably in case the meeting didn’t go as planned and we had to fight.

Or flee, a whisper of thought in my mind.

No, I will not flee. I squared my shoulders and lifted my chin. I’d come too far to cower before the clan leaders. They were greater in number, but we were greater in spirit. They would not prevail. They couldn’t; I would not allow it.

A knock on the front door snapped me from my thoughts—the clan leaders were here. Henry’s hand tightened around mine, and I glanced at him while Isabelle strode to the entrance. His deep-blue eyes were fastened on me.

Together, I read in them as he gave a small nod.