Page 66 of The Shadow Bride

“Which is?” I ask swiftly.

He merely smiles in answer. Sleek and knife sharp.

Lou shakes her head as if thoroughly exasperated by both of us—or perhaps the entire species. Then she sighs and spreads her fingertips against Michal’s chest to inspect something we cannot see. “Tonight was indeed a clusterfuck, but it looks like you figured out how to heal Michal on your own.”

“His body didn’t desiccate”—I ignore his probing look—“and flowers bloomed around his body in the spirit realm. Heather, I think.”

Lou purses her lips. “Dames Rouges often use sprigs of heather in protective enchantments. They allegedly bring luck.” She removes her hand with a nod of approval. Then she flicks his torn shirt, which mends itself instantly in a small burst of magic. The blood vanishes from our clothing, but a fresh trickle appears down her nose instead. She wipes it away hastily. Fresh guilt seeps into my stomach at the sight.She cannot be near the maelstrom.“I’m not a healer by any means, but everything feels right to me. Does it feel right to you?” she asks him.

Michal nods.

“Excellent.” Lou claps her hands in grim satisfaction. “Then I’ll be going. I sent Talon along first to explain everything to Reid, and Odessa has arranged passage for Satine and me to return to Cesarine at daybreak—less chance of meeting any unsavory characters that way.” She grimaces at Michal, who once more looks theperfect aristocrat after buttoning his coat. “Vampiresdoprefer to sleep during the day, right?”

When he nods, I stare at her, inexplicably stricken, but—but of course she must leave. The more distance she puts between herself and the grotto—between herself and this door, this unnatural entrance to whatever liesbeyondthe spirit realm—the better.

With a bleak smile, Lou squeezes my hands, and Michal tactfully turns away to give us the illusion of privacy. “I spoke to Father Achille before I left,” she says quietly. “After we deal with the revenants, he might be open to a reconciliation with Requiem, but until then, Reid will keep Jean Luc from doing anything stupid. Coco has already summoned a council of trusted Dames Blanches and Dames Rouges to Chateau le Blanc. If all goes to plan, they’ll ally with the Chasseurs to oversee graveyards throughout the kingdom, and together—hopefully—we’ll be able to contain any new revenants. Beau is also establishing a curfew to keep the streets as empty as possible for patrols.”

I glance at Michal, who still pretends to ignore us. “We’ll investigate the revenants as well.Someoneon this isle must know more about them—specifically, how to lay them to rest.”

Lou nods swiftly. “We’ll scour the libraries at Chateau le Blanc as well, but, Célie—” She wrings my hands, her expression solemn. “None of this will matter if we don’t close the veil, andyouare the only one who can do it. You know that, right?”

Swallowing hard, I squeeze her hands harder still. “Yes.”

“Of course you do. Good.” She nods again, and again, inhaling deeply, her fingers still refusing to relax around mine. “Good. That leaves just one more itty-bitty, teensy tiny problem beforewe go.” If possible, my heart sinks lower at the apprehension in her voice. Anything that makesLoufeel apprehensive must be very unpleasant. “It’s, er—your mother,” she says, and my worst fears are confirmed. “She refuses to leave without you, and nothing I’ve said has changed her mind.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Farewell

Color rises high on my mother’s prominent cheeks as she glares between us, her lips pursing in a severe line. “Absolutely not,” she snaps. “I will not leave without her.”

Michal, Pasha, Ivan, Lou, and I all gaze helplessly back at her. Or rather, Lou and I do. Michal stands behind us with a mask of calm, while Pasha and Ivan have adopted slightly more menacing expressions—not that my mother cares. She refuses to acknowledge either of them, instead standing tall and proud andfuriousat the foot of the grand staircase in my room. They hover behind her like two enormous shadows.

As it turns out, Odessa bade them to remain with my mother through thefestivitiestonight, and she was none too pleased when they rushed to her aid instead. They returned—tails between their legs—shortly before Lou came to find us. She recounted the whole story as we trekked through tunnels to the east wing. “I think they’re half in love with Odessa—a fact your mother hasn’t missed,” she added with a sly grin. “You should’ve heard her before I coaxed her into the sleeping draught.” She imitated Satine Tremblay’s sharp, no-nonsense voice then: “Monsieur Sokolov, you understand she willneverregard you as a suitable match with hair longer than hers? And stopscowlingat me, Monsieur Volkov, or I shall be forced to reveal your unseemly temperament to the young lady—”

My mother is the one with the unseemly temperament now, however. She refused to allow Michal, Lou, and me to even clear the stairs before charging toward us, hell-bent on making her opinion known. “I will not stand for it,” she says again. “Requiem is no place for anyone of gentle repute, and—though I can only command my daughter—I highly encourageallof you to join us on that ship and leave this wretched isle.”

I resist the urge to groan. “Itoldyou, Maman. I cannot leave until we’ve dealt with the revenants.”And the veil, I add silently.And Filippa.And potentially Death himself.

She thrusts her hands upon her hips, somehow managing to look down her nose at me while standing three steps below. “Then neither can I.”

“But it isn’tsafefor you here—”

“I fail to see how you are any safer. You are my daughter, and I will not abandon you to this place.”

Cursing inwardly at her newfound maternal instinct, I descend another step and nearly trip on Toulouse, who has managed to climb the steps at last. I bend to snatch up the tabby kitten, petting his head furiously for something to do with my hands. Under different circumstances, I might’ve been, well,touchedby my mother’s reluctance to leave. Perhaps I still am, just a little. “Clearly, you don’t understand what happened here tonight—”

“Oh, I understand perfectly. This one”—she points an accusing finger at Michal—“feigned his death to cede all responsibility to his cousin, leaving the two of you free to frolic across the island and doGodknows what while the rest of us pretend you’re being held under lock and key. I will admit,” she says loudly when I open my mouth to argue, “I do not understand the purpose of the latter.As I highly doubt you are going torevealsaid purpose, I must assume the vampires still require you for some reason, but I must emphasize—most emphatically—this is not a reason to stay. You owe these foul creatures nothing, Célie.”

These foul creatures.My chest tightens at that. She still speaks like I am not one of them, but what does sheexpectif I come back to Cesarine? That I’ll simply return to the nursery until a nice young man—rich and titled, of course—takes pity on me? That we’ll court for a month or two before he proposes, that we’ll marry in the spring, that we’ll raise our lovely, dark-haired babies right down the street from the town house? The idea is absurd, laughable, and if my incident with Jean Luc is any indication, I’ll end up eating all of them—my faceless husband, my children,andmy parents.

So I draw myself up to my full height, just like she taught me, and I tell the truth. “I have no reason to go back.”

Her eyes narrow.

“Then allow me to repeat myself—neither do I.” Voice crisp, she emphasizes each word before turning her resolute gaze to Lou. “If you wish for me to return to Cesarine without my daughter, I hope you brought an entire stock of that ghastly sleeping draught. Even with it, you shall need to knock me unconscious and pour it down my throat to keep my person upon that ship. I shall simply leap into the sea and swim back to this hateful rock if you do not—”

“There are always ropes,” Pasha suggests with relish.

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