Page 11 of Until the Heart Stops
But he turned away before I could read anything else on his face, slipping into the crowd with a murmur to Henry, who turned to me with a bright smile.
“Mademoiselle Searah! You must do me the honor of allowing me your first dance.”
Before I could answer, he swept me up into the crowd while Eamon gestured to the quartet to begin their music again. Henry’s hand slid to my waist and he pulled me closer. He waggled his eyebrows. “Any answer for our mutual friend?”
I had not given any response to the note he’d brought last night, but the words still rattled through my skull with each breath.Tell me, my darling, what do you need?When he’d seen the note, Henry had the good sense to ask permissionto read it, unlike Gabrielle, who had merely snatched it from me. But Henry had laughed for a solid minute before he’d wiped his eyes and begged me to write out a reply.
I’d had none. Even now I didn’t know what to say. So I shook my head as he guided me into the beginning of the dance, aware of eyes that lingered on us.
“Why are they staring at you?” I asked instead.
His grin grew impossibly wider. “How do you know they’re not staring at you?”
I huffed a laugh. “Because it’s not me who made an entire party stop with my mere entrance.”
Henry hummed, expertly turning me out beneath his arm and drawing me back. Adrienne was out on the floor near us with Eamon, closer than was customary, her cheeks flushed pink with wine. I thought I’d caught a flash of white-blond hair in the crowd, but it was gone in the next moment. “Our maker is Mael Auguste.”
I blanched, stumbling over the next step, but he caught me easily, smoothing over the mistake with a smile at a passing couple.
Mael Auguste was one of the seven leaders of the Covenant—older even than Eamon. No one knew the exact age of the leader, only that his life could be traced back since before the written word. I had never seen the male, but it was said he was terrifying to behold: a true monster who paraded as a king.
“When you sayour…” I hedged.
His smile faded slightly. “I mean myself, Callum, and Gabrielle. We were made about eight hundred years ago within decades of one another. Callum, then me, and finally Gabrielle. We have an elder brother who is near to us in age, Mateo who you might be acquainted with, but he was indisposed tonight.”
I frowned as he turned me out once more, dipping beneath his arm. “I don’t know what to say.”
His laugh was a surprise. “Most do not. Why do you think I didn’t lead with it?”
If this vampire was the fledgling of Mael Auguste, it meant he literally lived within the motherhouse of the Covenant and each morning they took their rest within its womb. And I lived each day in defiance of their decrees, spitting in the face of the reformation they’d created within our city.
For the very first time, Henry’s playful edge evaporated. “You have nothing to fear from us, I swear it.”
My throat clicked with a swallow, but I nodded, even if I could not completely trust his words. I thought again of the gifts, the letter, the necklace. “Henry… Who is the male sending me gifts?”
His gaze did not move even for a second and he did not speak either.
“Is it—tell me truly, am I in danger?”
The question appeared to unsettle Henry, who drew me closer until his lips brushed the shell of my ear. “The only thing you are in danger of tonight is making half of this room fall in love with you, Mademoiselle Searah.”
Over his shoulder, Callum’s gaze pierced the back of Henry’s head, a muscle working in his jaw. I wondered if perhaps he only accompanied Henry on these adventures out of a familial duty—perhaps he objected to this fraternization as much as their maker did.
The music ended and Henry withdrew with a bow, brushing his lips across my knuckles while I curtsied. Immediately another male took his place, a Vyenur I recognized who fought alongside Noah but whom I had not often spoken to. His smile was wide, white teeth bright against his dark brown skin.
“May I have this next dance, Mademoiselle?” he offered with a bow, his braided hair spilling across one shoulder.
I accepted, attempting not to notice the furrow in Callum’s brow or the words he spoke to Henry when they reunited. The Vyenur did not seem to notice, however, as he guided me through a much faster dance. He was not as graceful as Henry, but he laughed easily, shaking his head each time we fumbled. “I admit I am not the best at dancing.”
With a squeeze of his arm, I offered him a smile. “We cannot all be as graceful as our nighttime kindred.”
A dimple popped on one cheek. “Noah speaks quite highly of you.”
“I think quite the same of him.”
The Vyenur clumsily turned me beneath his arm. “You two are…?”
It was my turn to chuckle. “Friends, siblings even, if you like.”
