Page 8 of Veiled Yearning

“Why?”

“Because we can’t afford to keep sending Frederick into northern Maine. We don’t have time. And it’s putting him at risk.”

Chiara plucks a small stone from the mantle and rolls it between her fingers. “Then Alex. Or…” She pauses. “You can come get them. That would be… okay.”

“I don’t think you understand. Nicolas is escalating quickly.” Gritting my teeth, I force a calm to my voice. “We need your help nearby. With the Sentinels. So you can create the tools we need to beat the Custodians. And we’ve talked about it. Larkin thinks there’s a chance you could infuse some of those effects into other vampires as well. Allow them to wield flames, or heal themselves more—”

Her voice goes high and brittle. “I’m not leaving here. And I’m not trying that. I imbue items. That’s it. Not people. I won’t.”

“Chiara.” Irritation roughens my voice. “People are being abducted. Killed. And each time, Nicolas gets stronger. You can help us fight him.”

“No. I told you how I’d help. If it’s not enough…”

Frustration bubbles up, simmering, threatening to boil over.

She doesn’t understand. Even after what she saw. What she experienced. How does Chiara not see that what she’s offering isn’t enough?

In an impulsive move, I’m up from my chair and by her side in an instant.

“Look,” I bite out, clamping my hand around her arm.

Alarm flashes through her eyes, and she tugs to pull away. But it’s a fruitless effort. I’m more than twice her age, so much more powerful than she.

My grip isn’t painful, but unyielding.

“Gavril, no—”

Guilt flashes through me, but I shrug it away. She needs to know.

So I show her.

A recent vision of the future, still fresh in my mind. Brutal. Bloody. Two of our own Sentinels—Nylah and Sam—being tortured by a group of jeering vampires. Stabbed over and over, kept too weak to fight back. Nylah wrapped in chains from her head to her feet. Then a sneering Custodian advances on Sam, saying, “Nicolas wants the woman. But you? He said to just kill you right away.”

It horrifies me, and I’ve seen thousands of visions in the centuries I’ve been a vampire.

But Chiara? Surely this will convince her. Now she’ll understand how very serious this is. How we need her to help stop this vision from becoming reality.

I loosen my grip on her arm, and she snatches it away, clutching it against her chest. Her normally tan skin is pale, her eyes huge and dark. “Why—”

“I had to show you. So you’d understand why we need you.”

“No…” She stares at me, stricken, and her face crumples. “I can’t—”

Then she turns and darts away, heading straight for the door. Before I can stop her, she’s out of the house, streaking across the small yard and disappearing into the woods.

Shit.

Do I chase after her? But that could make things worse.

Did I make a mistake?

Sharing my visions is never a pleasant thing, but after many years of showing them to Frederick, we’ve found great value in it. He can search for the people I see, finding them anywhere in the world, and we can intervene before the vision comes true. Like I did when I saw Chiara being tortured, and Frederick was able to figure out who was with her, and where she was.

Frederick. Now that he has Cait, he’s more sensitive. Maybe he has some advice.

Settling back onto the couch, I pull out my phone to call him.

He answers on the first ring, amusement already tinging his voice. “That was quick. Did she kick you out already?”

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