time.
As usual, I didn’t get an answer.
I did get some water, though. “Look,” Dorina said, crouching in front of me, because I’d sat back down on the bed at some point. “I get that you’ve had a bad day, but I need confirmation on this.”
“Why? So you can tie Jonathan up with a bow and give him to your husband as a belated wedding gift?”
“Yes.”
I just looked at her.
“Maybe without the bow,” she conceded.
“And you think that will help?” Because Louis-Cesare hadn’t struck me as the vengeful type.
Admittedly, I didn’t know him very well, but he’d seemed strangely . . . normal . . . for a vampire, from what I remembered. And while it sounded crazy to say about a dueling champion, he hadn’t actually seemed to like violence. I was sure he was capable of it, but the relish a lot of vamps took in their enemies’ pain . . . no. Not so much.
“I think that will end it,” she said viciously, and there came the baby fangs. As a hybrid between vamps and humans, I guess it only made sense that she’d have half- sized fangs. But like with everything else about her, they’d ended up cute.
Goddamn it.
“He can’t get past it,” she told me now, her eyes dark. “I want to help him, but I don’t know how. He seems fine, and then I see it—a shadow crossing his face. And he has nightmares. Have you ever known a vampire to have nightmares?”
“Uh, no.”
“Well, he does. And it’s always the same thing. I don’t know everything that went on there, when he was with that monster, but he’d already had some abuse in the past that—”
She broke off abruptly, her jaw clenching. And, suddenly, I wasn’t seeing the beautiful woman with the gorgeous husband and the ring of the gods. I was seeing someone suffering from the same uncertainty I felt most of the time, desperately wanting to help but not knowing how. And not knowing if anything she did would be enough.
I really doubted that ripping Jonathan to shreds was going to solve Louis-Cesare’s problem, but what did I know? He was a vampire, after all. Maybe it was their version of therapy. Or maybe just knowing that the son of a bitch was dead would be enough.
“I’ll do what I can,” I told her. “But if it’s him or me—”
“Then do your worst,” she agreed. “But try to get a picture.”
And then she was gone, leaving me sitting on the edge of the bed, clutching my water glass and wondering if I’d imagined the feel of a soft kiss on my cheek.
Chapter Thirty-three
I got a shower in Mircea’s bathroom, although it didn’t seem to warm me up any. But something else did. I’d been rummaging through the stuff Hilde had left, which included clothes, shoes, toiletries, even a new toothbrush—
And my makeup bag.
I grabbed it, my hands actually shaking in relief. And sure enough, there it was, hiding under a powder puff: a partly empty bottle of a potion called the Tears of Apollo. Which was completely empty a few seconds later.
My hand caught the edge of the sink, my body shuddering through the feeling of that substance coursing through me, like liquid power. It wasn’t, but it was liquid stamina, designed to allow a Pythia to access more of the Pythian energy. I’d discovered just how much more on the search for Pritkin, and ever since, it had been my best friend.
It wasn’t enough these days; nothing was enough.
But it was close.
And it didn’t take long. In seconds, everything became easier. The shaking I’d started doing stopped. My temperature normalized. Even the hunger I’d been feeling went down to I-missed-dinner levels, instead of a burning, gnawing ache. Damn, this stuff was good!
After a few moments, I brushed my teeth, because the Tears was definitely not a taste sensation, and ran a brush through my hair. It was finally long enough to put up in a ponytail, so I did. And then pulled on a pair of jeans and a simple tee.
It was plain, without any cutesy sayings, and technically meant to be worn under another shirt, which I didn’t have. There was also no jewelry in what Hilde had provided, or smart pantsuits, or casual little dresses, or anything that might work for further meetings. The implication was clear: get your ass home. Which I planned to do, just as soon as I got a debrief. And some of whatever delicious