you out. I had no idea you were only at the edge of the Paimpont.”
“Your lot doesn’t belong in that poor town,” she seethed. “Not after what you did to it. It wasn’t a mere vicissitude of nature, Garin. Your coven committed murder. Catastrophe.”
“I take full responsibility for all of it,” Garin said, his eyes shifting darkly in the remaining shadow. He spoke hurriedly. “I’m not asking you to save me. Just know, the day of the raid, I asked you to meet me at our grotto as soon as I learned of Laurent’s plans. It was so out of character for him, I was taken aback. I was a coward and didn’t know how to tell you the truth—all I knew was that you needed to be as far from the village and your farm as possible. Somewhere safe. When you were on your way to the meet me, I went to your parents’ house hoping to finally introduce myself and inform them, but your father instantly knew what I was. In trying to defend your sister and mother, he picked up a blade much too big for him, and he struggled with it. I tried to calm him and retrieve the weapon, but he fell back and slashed his hand on a hearthstone. Then we fought.”
Adelaide had her eyes shut. Whether she closed or opened them, all she could see was the bloody disarray before her. She was a terrified and furious young woman back in her mother’s kitchen once more. He’d lost control.
Garin shuddered. “I couldn’t help myself, Adelaide.” His eyes bore searchingly into hers. “I am well aware of the pain I’ve caused you. It doesn’t—shouldn’t mean anything to you. But I am sorry.”
By now, the sunlight was just moments from reaching his outstretched legs. She waited for him to yank them back, but instead, he seemed mesmerized by the light. “I can die peacefully now, though,” he murmured. He closed his eyes, his anguished features rearranging to something like peace.
Adelaide clenched her fists. No. He wasn’t getting off that easy.
“You fancy the princess,” she said, calm as her tensed throat would allow.
He frowned, jerked from his reverie. “That doesn’t—”
“Oh, I wasn’t asking. Simply stating fact.” Furiously sniffling the rest of her tears away, she coldly returned to the back of her cell. “You’ve been stuck between groveling for my forgiveness and chasing a moronic affection for the mortal monarch. Watching that struggle is far more entertaining than seeing you suffer for a mere five seconds in a ball of smoke and flame.”
At this, Garin peeked a single eye open. He folded his legs away from the sunlight, buying himself a few minutes more.
Suddenly, he glanced up. “Speaking of smoke… do you smell that?”
Adelaide took a deep breath. There was no time for his deluded ponderings. She’d make the right choice, or spend the remainder of her long life regretting the decision. Either way, now was the only time to act.
“Guards!” she suddenly shrieked, her soul-shattering shrill causing Garin and all the other drowsy inmates to startle. When there was no answer, she stuck a hand into the lace at her bosom and pulled out one last, tiny glass bottle, concealed where no man dared check.
Garin barely had time to turn his face and recoil toward the wall before she spit into the bottle and chucked it at Garin’s cell door. The deafening explosion rocked the entire dungeon, the familiar flash followed by brilliant violet smoke. A thick smattering of dust and rubble rained down from the ceilings, drawing an uproar from the prisoners. Finally, a loud shout and the clang of iron-wrought doors banging open sounded from the far end of the hallway.
“You’re mad!” Garin exclaimed through the clouds.
But as the stomping boots of castle guards mixed with their confused calls in the thick layers of smoke and upended dungeon dust, Adelaide shut her eyes tight and concentrated before uttering the words she never thought she’d hear herself say.
“I forgive you, Garin Austol Trevelyan.”
She didn’t need to see through the smoke to guess what would happen next.
Guttural screams echoed through the dungeon. Screams of a fire, and screams for their lives. Then, through the smoke, drops of liquid scarlet splattered across the toes of her black boots. Her wicked smile only grew wider.
His blood curse was one problem, but the sunlight was another. Cackling madly to herself, she pulled the ball of leaves from her pocket. Garin would owe her.
The vampire and the newly appointed