I was sitting on the front porch at dawn, toeing off the planks to keep the swing moving, when a crimson sedan pulled up to the gate. Linus got out and strode toward the house, his legs eating up the distance, until he spotted me curled under a light blanket and slowed his gait.

“How did it go?” I patted the spot beside me.

“It went well.” The scent of sage and lavender wafted from his clothes when he joined me. “How’s your side?”

“I might have underestimated the depth of the cut,” I admitted, since I wanted to keep things as honest as possible between us, “but I got it closed.” I kept the cover over my shoulders since I still hadn’t put on a bra. “It might scar, but I don’t mind.” I drew up my other leg since he took over swaying us. “I’m starting to think aspects of my magic don’t work as well on me as they do on others.”

“I can try if you’d like.”

I scanned him head to toe. “You must be exhausted.”

“I don’t mind.” He toyed with the chain. “It’s your choice.”

Thinking back to the dress I had just ordered, I caved. “I am so vain.”

“This is the only body you get, and it’s got to last a long time.” He shifted his hips and pulled a pen from his pocket. “It’s not vain to want to take care of it.”

I let the cover pool around my waist. “What if I just want it to look good in a dress?”

“No matter the reason, I won’t criticize you.” He angled toward me. “Right side?”

“Yep.” I hiked up my shirt, careful to keep as much of my breast covered as possible. “He got my side boob.”

Linus cleared his throat. Twice. “So I see.”

Hiding a grin behind a fistful of shirt, I asked, “What’s the verdict, Dr. Lawson?”

“I can finish what you started. You won’t scar.” He glanced up at me, his eyes darkest midnight. “You did an excellent job. The wound closed beautifully. The rest is purely cosmetic.”

“Vain,” I reminded him. “I thought Atramentous cured me, but I seem to be having a flare-up.”

The weight of his hand on my side, his skin cool against the warmth from the blanket, dappled me in chills. He started his design at the farthest point, along my spine, before working his way forward. The tip of the pen brushed the side of my breast, but not his fingers. Those he kept to himself as much as possible, coaxing a smile out of me. Such a gentleman. Boaz would have copped a feel by now. And…I had to stop doing that. Comparing them. It wasn’t fair to them or to me.

Linus hesitated. “Does it tickle?”

“No.” I laughed under my breath. “I was just thinking how chivalrous you are. Your hand hasn’t slipped even once.”

Red burned the tops of his ears. “I wouldn’t take advantage of you.”

“Ever?” I found myself daring. “Or only with my permission?”

The hunger in his eyes when our gazes clashed knotted my lower stomach until it cramped.

“Your hunch paid off,” Hood started, clomping up the stairs. At the top, he glanced between us. “Am I interrupting?”

“No,” we said in unison, drawing apart.

“Hmm.” He made no further comment, just resumed his report. “I returned to the marsh first. The blood has degraded, but it was enough to trigger the scent memory. I compared that to the other locations where vandalism occurred. There’s a common thread in all of them.”

“A necromancer visiting those places isn’t suspect,” I allowed, “but one visiting all of those locations…”

The easy motion of the swing halted as Linus digested this latest information.

“Vampires have little reason to carry a grudge against Maud or you. The Society, however…” He kicked off again once he noticed we had gone still. “There’s a lot of bad blood there. This, paired with the sigil at the Lyceum, suggests a necromancer is behind the attacks.”

His agreeing with me that a necromancer was behind the vandalisms, including the assault with Maud’s athame, didn’t surprise me all that much. The Society was founded on ambition. Grudges lasted several lifetimes among such long-lived people, and perceived slights snowballed into full-on blood feuds.

“Why send a vampire to the Lyceum?” I pulled the blanket up to my shoulders again. “Why distance the necromancer from the action this time?”

“Vandalism gets them slapped with a fine.” Hood shook his head. “Murder? That’s a death sentence.”

“It appears they’re only willing to get their hands dirty up to a point.” Linus massaged his nape. “I checked the security footage. The assassin didn’t use the main elevator. The clan didn’t bring him in.”

That complicated matters. “Who did then?”

“There’s a tunnel beneath the Lyceum reserved for the Grande Dame’s private use. Visiting dignitaries are also allowed limited access when the need arises. For privacy, the corridor isn’t monitored. We have no proof the assassin came in that way. But we do have him on film rounding the corner from where the tunnel entrance is located. It’s the same thing, really. The hall dead ends. There’s no other way he could have gotten in without leaving a trace.”

A sudden chill sent me burrowing into my blanket. “The order came from high up the food chain then.”

“We already suspected as much with the size of the bounty,” he said, but it failed to quell my unease. “Hood, was there enough blood to take a sample?”

Dreads sliding across his shoulders, he shook his head. “I wouldn’t have found what I did if I hadn’t known the exact location and first detected it when it was fresh.”

“Still,” Linus said, rising, “there might be enough residue for a locator sigil.”

Thankfully, the temporary variety didn’t burn like the dickens the way Keet’s permanent one charred me each time he kicked the bucket.

“You’re going now?” I caught his hand. “It’s dawn. You’ve been up all night.”

“Storms are in the forecast for this afternoon and tomorrow.” He stared where our fingers joined. “This is the best opportunity we’re going to get.”

And there was the small fact he had admitted to not needing much in the way of sleep.

“I’ll get dressed.” I got to my feet. “I’m coming with you.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“You’re not going alone.” I tapped his chest. “The water will nullify the sigil. You need someone to watch your back, and Cletus can’t pull the day shift.” I flashed both hands at him. “Give me ten minutes.”

“You get used to it,” Hood was saying as I opened the door. “After a while, you don’t even feel it when they walk all over you.”

I chuckled all the way up to my room.

Linus didn’t ditch me. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was just a smidge. Boaz would have waited until my back turned, posted a guard, then slipped off into the dawn alone.

Ugh.

I had to get better about not comparing them. Linus was no Boaz, thank the goddess.

Hood, grumpier than usual, pulled the van around, and we piled in. Lethe slid in the passenger front seat—fully dressed, thank the goddess—while we strapped in, and his mood visibly improved having her near.

“I hope you guys don’t mind me tagging along.” She leaned over and pecked him on the cheek. “Woolly is a fortress. There’s not much for me to do when you guys leave, and I’m bored out of my mind.”

“I’m not going to turn down an extra nose or an extra pair of eyes,” I told her.

“We need as much help as we can get,” Linus agreed. “The area is exposed. There’s not much cover.”

The trip to the marsh took just enough time for me to feel the drag of the sun on my eyelids.

“We’re here.” Linus touched my knee. “Do you want to wait in the van?”

“I’ll fall asleep if I do.” And the nightmare would find me. “I can last a while longer.”

While Hood and Lethe shifted, Linus and I pulled on waders and started the trek out to Maud’s favorite spot.

“Sunlight changes everything.” The glare on the water hurt my eyes, and my pale skin stung from the rays beating down on us. But it wasn’t all bad. The dark auburn of Linus’s hair shone, the highlights golden in the natural light. He was too fair for this weather, his freckles pinpoints sprinkling his cheeks and nose. “We should have packed sunscreen. We’re going to fry if we stay out too long.”

Hood trotted past then, Lethe at his side, and we picked our way across the soggy ground to the thicket of tall grass where he indicated the blood had been.

Linus drew a sigil for perception on his forehead before inking another in a web across his palm. He swept his arm in a slow arc from left to right, like a dowser searching for water, until he hit on the blood. “I’ve got a lock. It’s faint, but we can try.”

“Lead the way.” I fell in behind him while the gwyllgi fanned out to search for threats. He led us through a dense section that made for slow going. “This explains why we found so few prints. They stuck to the thicker grasses to conceal their movements.”

We spent the next two hours wading toward a crumbling parking lot that yielded no clues.

Lethe bumped against my side, and I reached down to scratch her ears. “We good?”

A short bark gave the all-clear.

The sensation of being watched prickled my skin with awareness, but it was only Linus. “What?”

“I’m still not used to seeing them this way.” He shook his head. “They’ve worked security at the Faraday since before I moved in. They’re respected, but they’re also feared, even by residents.” He gestured at Lethe, who lolled her tongue and kicked her back foot when I hit a sweet spot. “All those years in the city didn’t prepare me for this.”

“Trust me.” I patted her head. “I respect the position they’ve put me in, and I would never abuse it.” I nudged her away. “I don’t want to get eaten.”

Chuffing, Hood snapped his teeth as he walked past.

“Hey.” I yelped and jumped back. “That’s not cool.”

The mated pair bumped shoulders in what passed for a high-five among gwyllgi from what I could tell.

“What do we do now?” I turned to Linus, who concealed his amusement well, but not well enough.

“There’s a weak signal.” He kept sweeping his hand in front of him. “We can attempt to follow it.”

Tracking vehicles was tricky, thanks to the distance stretching the connection thin. Hunting on foot or in close proximity always yielded better results.

“We can spare an hour.” More than that, without turning up a solid lead, would be a waste of everyone’s time. Unlike Linus, the rest of us needed to catch our forty winks. “How far are we from the van?”

After consulting with his phone, he turned a half step to his left. “We’re an hour east.”

“The day’s not getting any cooler.” I plodded in the direction he pointed. “Might as well get started.”

On the upside, no vampires shot at or stabbed us. I call that a win. Maybe there was something to this sunlight stuff after all.

We arrived back at the van sunburned and parched. Our excursion had lasted about four hours, and even Linus appeared wilted for a change. Using his connection to the blood, we backtracked to the crumbling parking lot then followed the thread into town.

“Pull over here.” Linus stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of an upscale bed-and-breakfast. “It ends here. This is as far as my link from the origin material reaches.”

“Amherst.” I read the name off the sign. “That’s a Low Society name.”

“We might raise questions if we go in together,” Linus warned. “I can go alone.”

The seat belt popped open in my hand. “Do you really believe I care what the Society thinks about me?”

“No,” he said slowly, “but you might want to be more cautious going forward.”

I eyed him warily. “Is this more ball nonsense?”

“The ball shows your intent to rejoin the Society. You’re celebrating your title, welcoming potential allies to join you, and setting the tone for your tenure as Dame Woolworth.”

My lip curled. “Are you sure scones at dawn are out of the question?”

“You’ve already ordered the invitations,” he pointed out. “Matron Orestes will have leaked that information to the right people before they finished printing.”

“Are you telling me there are people stalking their mailboxes, waiting for their invitation to arrive?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not Maud. I’m not your mom. I’m not you. I’m me.” I scooched forward on my seat. “Granted, I’m still learning who that is, but I’m not going to stifle new Grier by cramming her in a Society-issued box and poking holes in the lid. Old Grier lived that lie, and it didn’t end well for her.”

“New Grier doesn’t care what it says that she’s being seen around town with me,” he said without inflection.

Reputation in shreds, I had nothing to lose. I was building this new version of myself from the ground up. “Aren’t you more worried what being seen out with me says about you?”

“Not at all,” he said, rewarding me with a twitch of his lips. “I am, however, mildly concerned I haven’t received my invitation yet.”

Hanging out with me was terrible for his reputation. After a lifetime spent being the ideal heir, enter me. Here I was, dragging his pristine name through the mud alongside mine with each impetuous decision I made. At this rate, he would have no choice left but to marry me. Soon no one would have either of us.

“All in good time.” I slid open the door, jumped out, then offered him my hand, which earned me a full-on smile. “After you, good sir.”

Rather than going ahead, he cocked out an elbow and invited me to thread my arm through his. I did, and we walked together up to the front door of the establishment. A motherly type rushed to open the door for us and welcomed us in.

“Scion Lawson,” she gasped. “I’m honored you would visit my humble establishment.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing, but Linus sensed it and cut me a pointed look.

“How long would you like to stay?” Her eyes kept drifting over to me. “You and your friend are welcome to our best suite, no charge.”

Scalding heat singed my cheeks as his earlier meaning sank all the way in. He didn’t just mean being seen with him around town. He meant being seen walking into a B&B with him. Like we were renting a room. Like we were a couple. Like we were lovers. Why else rent a room in the town where we both lived?

Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it.

Too freaking late.

The silk of his auburn hair sliding through my fingers, the press of his cool lips against mine.

Maybe Taz had been right to call me a masochist. I couldn’t seem to stop inflicting pain on myself.

“Thank you for the offer of hospitality, but my friend is searching for an acquaintance of hers.”

“A friend from college,” I croaked. “I heard they’re in town but not where they’re staying. I wanted to drop in, as a surprise.”

“We just missed them at the marsh.” Flawless as usual, Linus indicated the mud flecking my pantlegs above the lip of the waders I had worn. “Can you tell us if they’re staying here?”

Despite the vague pronoun usage, the innkeeper was too shell-shocked over Linus visiting her establishment to fire on all cylinders.

“Oh, you mean Angie Dearborn.” The woman snapped her fingers. “She booked a room for five nights. Actually, you just missed her. She had one more night left on her reservation, but her cousin was in an accident, and she had to rush home to care for her.”

Too bad there was no equally vague way of asking for a physical description. If this Angie was my friend, as I claimed, I would know how she looked.

“That’s unfortunate.” Linus reached into his pocket for his wallet. He withdrew a pair of hundred-dollar bills and pressed them into her hand. “Allow me to pay for the cancelled reservation. It’s the least I can do.” He passed her a business card with his contact information. “Please, let us know if she returns.”

“I’ll do that.” She cradled the money against her chest like it was blessed. “She’ll be so thrilled to see you, I’m sure of it.”

With a politic smile, Linus guided us back out onto the sidewalk, where I regarded him with new appreciation.

“You do this a lot?” I wondered. “Interviewing witnesses? Greasing palms?”

“Yes and yes.” He walked with me to the van. “I have informants all over the city.”

A local network would be critical to keeping a finger on the pulse of Atlanta. It shouldn’t surprise me to find out he watched over Savannah as well. “We learned one thing.”

“Our necromancer is female.”

That didn’t exactly cut down our suspect pool. Most affluent necromancers were female. “She got spooked when her assassin failed.”

“So it appears.”

“Do you think the cousin bit was a slip of the tongue or a flat-out lie?”

We settled on our respective benches and strapped in, the door shut, before we named names.

Linus read me with ease. “Are you thinking Eloise?”

“Her sister’s dead.” No, worse than that. “Her twin. It makes sense she would blame me. Heloise died on my property, during a confrontation with me.”

“Her death was the result of her own actions.”

“You’re right.” If she hadn’t come after me, Taz wouldn’t have gone after her. “But grief isn’t rational.”

“I’ll make some calls, find out where she is and where she’s been for the last four days.”

Yawning until my eyes watered, I had to ask, “You’re really not going to sleep?”

“No.”

Folding my legs up on the seat with me, I got comfortable. “When was the last time you slept?”

Using an app on his phone, he checked his schedule. “Six days ago.”

“Well, that explains it.”

Linus waited for an explanation.

“You were giving me a complex. You know absolutely everything, you know how to do absolutely everything, and you’re good at absolutely everything. I thought you had a super brain or superpowers, but you’ve just got a metric crapton of time on your hands.” I reflected on that. “Hmm. Going without sleep for a week at a time is kind of a superpower, and you do protect your very own city. How do you feel about being called The Insomniac?”

The corners of his eyes crinkled. “Can I wear pajamas instead of tights?”

“Hey, it’s your uniform. You fight crime in whatever makes you comfortable.”

Hood pulled into the driveway, palmed Lethe’s nape, and glared back at me. “We are going to crash. Do not disturb.”

“I’m going to bed.” I got out after Linus. “How much trouble can I get in from there?”

Lethe snorted in response then bolted in the direction of the woods, her laughter daring Hood to give chase.

“Plenty if you set your mind to it,” Hood grumbled, tossing a wave over his shoulder as he broke into a jog that devoured the distance between him and his mate.

Eyelids drooping, I toddled up the steps into the house. “I’ve hit my limit.”

“You should rest.” Linus closed the door behind us. “I’ll be up shortly.”

I made my way upstairs while he angled toward the office, phone in hand, fingers dialing. As humiliating as it was to realize he heard the full show from my room each night, I found the bright side. He was awake, watching over Woolly and me while I slept.

Linus always made me feel comfortable. Learning he kept watch over me also made me feel safe.

The next evening, I followed the sound of Linus’s voice to the office. He was on the phone, making notes about whatever the person on the other end had to say, so I backed out and ventured into the kitchen. I was about to investigate the contents of a covered bowl on the counter when he breezed into the room.

“Eloise Marchand is missing.” He opened the fridge and passed me a smoothie. “Her sister’s funeral was three weeks ago. According to her fiancé, she asked for privacy on the ride home from the service. He left her alone and rode with her mother to the family home, but Eloise never showed.”

“What did the driver have to say?” I settled on my stool and got slurping.

“He dropped her off at a local dog park. Apparently, she goes there to play with other people’s dogs. Her allergies are too bad for her to own one. The request was normal for her, and given the circumstances, he thought she might want the comfort.” He uncovered the bowl, which turned out to be overnight oats with sliced berries mixed in, and he stuck in a spoon. “She didn’t call for a pickup. After two hours, he got concerned, circled back, but she wasn’t there. They conducted a citywide search but found no trace of her. Magically, she’s outside their range. They have no leads.”

“Where is the Marchand base in the US?” The family maintained strong ties to their French roots, or so I heard, but I hadn’t put much thought into that side of my family. Until Heloise. I had to remedy that, and soon, if I wanted to avoid more unwelcome surprises. “Eloise didn’t say, and I didn’t think to ask.”

“The family home is in Raleigh, North Carolina.”

Right up the coast. “All this time, they’ve lived less than five hours away.”

After sliding me the bowl, he passed me a glass of milk. “Did your cousin leave anything of hers behind?”

“Not even her perfume on the air.” I grimaced at the memory. “I wasn’t very welcoming.”

“The Society’s views on disownment are harsh. She had no reason to think she would be welcome, and she ignored social protocol when she didn’t phone ahead to declare her intentions.” He joined me at the counter. “Eloise researched you. She verified your identity before she made the trip. A woman with your history isn’t going to blindly accept a gift horse. She’s going to pry open its jaws and examine every tooth.”

“Actually, I like horses. That would have been an effective bribe. She missed an opportunity.”

Linus gave me a flat look, and I tucked back into my meal. “I have my team tracking her.”

With both hands, I seized the opportunity. “Have they turned up anything on my father?”

Linus made the offer to search for him weeks ago, but we hadn’t spoken about it since.

“Not yet.” A frown tugged down his lips. “The master has buried his identity too deep for us to dig up his family name. Without that, we’re forced to focus on your mother and any intimate relationships she might have had with vampires.”

“Dame Marchand couldn’t locate my father when he was right under her nose. The trail is twenty-one years cold. The only way to get that information might be asking the source.”

“The master will answer your questions,” Linus said, thoughtful. “He’ll want to lure you in with stories of your father—and mother—if he has them. He’ll want to forge an emotional connection he can exploit.”

“My stalkerpire claimed to know my mother. He said I reminded him of her.”

“He might have been telling the truth, but learning anything from him would have cost too much.”

“We’ll never know either way.” Unless the master spilled the beans at my soiree.

Sensing the direction of my thoughts, he asked, “How go the ball preparations?”

“Venue, check. Invitations, check. Dress, check. Accessories, check. Shoes, check.”

“Have you decided on a caterer? Or decorations? You’ve chosen a theme, what about colors?”

“Please don’t make me.” I dropped my head onto the counter. “Aren’t there people I can pay to do that?”

The bloodless grip I usually kept on my money spilled open with the hope someone would take preparations off my hands.

“Yes, they’re called event planners.” His fingers combed through my hair, the tips cool along my scalp. “I can send over a list of recommendations if you’d like. Mother keeps a file on the services she’s used in the past.”

Access to the Grande Dame’s personal list saved me a step. I wouldn’t have to submit my picks to her for approval, except as a courtesy, since she had already vetted the names. “Bless you for showing mercy.”

“Lethe is in the garden.” He lowered his hand. “You should eat before she comes for you.”

Shoving off the counter, I sat upright and shoveled in the rest of my food. “Are we doing classwork or fieldwork tonight?”

“Classwork.” He toyed with my empty glass. “You’re going to draw a family tree. The Marchands are a dangerous family. You can’t afford to ignore them any longer. Neither of us can.”

“Oh goodie.”

I could hardly wait.