Page 72 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 1

GABRIEL

Iwoke up feeling unusually warm and with a mouthful of hair. Evangeline was sprawled across my chest, and I’d wrapped my arms around her in my sleep. Our legs were tangled together.

As I woke, Evangeline stirred, pressing her face against my neck, letting out a sleepy little noise. I stared down at her face, soft and relaxed, and knew immediately that I had to be somewhere—anywhere else. I couldn’t stay until she woke up. Seeing her blink the sleep from her eyes and look up at me would be too much. It would send me hurtling off the cliff I was approaching too rapidly.

I untangled myself from Evangeline and retreated to my own room for a long, blisteringly hot shower. Once I’d fortified myself with vigorous scrubbing and a change of clothes, I wandered down to the kitchen to heat up some blood and to see about providing breakfast for Evangeline.

Over the past few days, we’d accumulated a small supply of human-friendly food, and I set out a few things as I made coffee and waited for my morning blood to warm. Quiet footsteps padded down the hall, and I had to keep myself from perking up like a dog hearing its owner coming home when Evangeline stepped into the kitchen.

“Good morning,” I said, sliding a large mug of coffee over the island to her.

“Morning,” she said, clutching the mug with the desperation of the near-terminally un-caffeinated.

“I made…” I waved a hand at the selection of things I’d put out. “Breakfast?”

Evangeline looked at the gathered items blankly. “Why is there a bottle of mayonnaise?”

I shrugged, not doing a particularly good job of hiding my embarrassment. “I had to make some educated guesses.”

Evangeline took a yogurt, a container of berries, and a bag of granola from the assortment, leaving the mayonnaise, a large tomato, and a small bag of rice behind.

“So,” she said, stirring the granola into the yogurt. “I had a great time with you last night.”

“As did I,” I said, then floundered. Was that sufficient? Would it seem too vague? “I had a great time as well. With you, I mean, not with myself. At the ball. And after the ball.” No, too specific. I took a sip of blood just to keep my mouth from sabotaging me any further.

Evangeline smirked at me. “If you could blush, you’d be blushing right now, huh?”

“I would look like that,” I said, pointing at the tomato. It was one of the big heirloom ones with irregular ridges rising up around the stem like they were trying to hide it. Evangeline laughed, and I smiled to myself, feeling a little rush of the same victory I felt every time I made her laugh.

There was a delicate chiming from the front hall, playing a melody I, unfortunately, recognized. I grimaced.

“Excuse me,” I said, taking a last sip of blood to fortify myself. “I should get that.”

We kept our enchanted mail tray on a small, round table in the entryway, next to the brass candlestick telephone we’d gotten back when the trend first hit. The mail tray was carved wood, divided neatly into sections for each of the manor’s inhabitants, and there was an envelope in my slot. The crest stamped on it was all too familiar, and I tore the envelope open as I went back to the kitchen. I scanned the elaborately penned words, and my stomach sank.

Lord Roland Simon Dorian Aramastus Miridick Byron Sutherland De Montclair

and his Lady Wife Iskra Soren Zarah Vesper Adrijana Ljudmil De Montclair (Née Od Maritsa) request the company of their son and heir,

Gabriel Zintius Dzvezdan Jehan Cyran De Montclair

for dinner this evening at last light.

Attendance is expected.

Sighing, I tossed the letter down onto the island. Evangeline grabbed it and read, her eyes going wide and gleeful as they flicked over the lines.

“Hoooly shit,” she said with a low whistle. “Is that your full name? Gabriel Zintius Dz— Dj?—”

“Dzvezdan,” I said distractedly. “No, it’s just part of my name. We never put our full names in letters in case fae intercept them. Well, and because we’d run out of space, otherwise.”

“Amazing,” Evangeline said to herself. “Absolutely incredible. So, your parents want you to come to dinner?”

“Unfortunately,” I said. “Family dinners tend to get… contentious.” That was an understatement. I was already dreading this evening. “You will, of course, be welcome to use the library and my study while I’m away if there’s any research you’d like to do.”

“Or,” Evangeline said, tilting her head in consideration. “I could come with you. Be your backup.”

“Evangeline, my father is… fairly staunchly anti-witch,” I said carefully. “He wouldn’t let the obligations of hospitality hold him back from being horrible to you.”

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