‘Stop, please. You’re not going to help me. I get it.’ She leaned her elbows on the railing and cupped her head in her hands. The breeze shifted and wrapped him in her scent.

He swallowed down the saliva pooling in his mouth. He wanted her, and the admission filled him with bitterness. She wasn’t for him. He knew that.

He asked anyway. ‘You really think the Aurelian could help?’

‘Yes.’ She went still. ‘Are you saying what I think you are?’

Lifting his chin slightly, he peered into the night. ‘Helping you would take funds I don’t have.’

She straightened but didn’t look at him. ‘I can fund whatever we need. I’ve already given Doc some assets to cash in to help out. Plus I’ll pay you whatever you think your time is worth.’ She turned, eyes regrettably hopeful. ‘And I’ll give you blood. You’re going to need the strength. I have to drain it anyway, so why not take it?’

The part of him that had begun to warm went cold again at her offer. ‘Since you know so much about me, you must know why I’m anathema.’ And what he’d been in his human past. Not that he’d been so different.

‘I know in order to become anathema, you killed another vampire, but not the details. I’m sure they’re in your file. I just don’t recall.’ Snowy teeth worried her bottom lip.

‘Let me help then.’ He crossed his arms. Memories of that night burned the backs of his eyes. ‘The vampire I killed was my sire. Would you like to know how I killed him?’

Her breathing increased. ‘I’m sure you had your reasons—’

‘Reason had nothing to do with it.’ He leaned in and lowered his voice, purposefully trying to shock her. ‘He turned me, and I drank him to death.’

The lip dropped away from her teeth, and she stepped back with a little gasp.

He watched her expression as the full meaning of his confession registered.

‘Oh,’ she whispered again, and wrapped her arms around herself. Her eyes searched the air around her, for what he didn’t know. She swallowed. ‘Oh.’

Mal had not just killed some random vampire, but his sire, and not just killed him, but drank him to death. She shuddered and looked anywhere but at him. If that was true, and she had no reason to doubt him, he was doubly cursed. First because any vampire who committed parricide was cursed to kill every being he sank his fangs into. That part seemed to hold true, but the other belief, that a vampire who drank his sire also gained that sire’s power, didn’t seem evidenced in him. Perhaps because of his perpetually weak state. Or maybe he had been that powerful before he’d been cursed the second time. No wonder the nobility had tried to put a stop to him. A vampire that destructive would be bad for all of them, but like typical nobility, they’d held fast to the law that no vampire should ever kill another and so they’d just cursed Mal and let him live.

But the nobility’s curse, the second one that had brought about the names on his skin and the voices in his head, would be almost powerless if not for the first. Whoever had placed that curse had known him well enough to know how effective it would be.

‘You still want my help?’ He watched her. She could feel it. Maybe he thought she might bolt. But running was pointless and not what she’d been trained for. This was one of those times in a person’s life when the hard choice was the only choice.

She stared at the ring on her finger that hid the tiny blade. ‘I don’t think I can clear my name on my own. If I could stay alive long enough, maybe, but having a vampire on my side would be a big help. So, if you’ll help me, I’ll take it.’ Chances were good she’d die one way or the other. If Mal killed her, maybe she’d get to come back as a ghost like Fi.

It took him a moment to respond, like he hadn’t expected to still be having this conversation. ‘Tell me about this ring you’ve been accused of taking.’

Exhaling softly, she pressed her hip to the rail and ran her fingers over the peeling paint. Rust had turned it into snakeskin. She was glad for something else to focus on. ‘I don’t know much about it, except that two very ambitious vampires, Lord Ivan, whom I’m sure you know, and Lady Tatiana, believe it to be extremely powerful.’

His face darkened. ‘I know who Ivan is.’

‘Well, I overhead them speaking about it. The female tried to persuade Algernon to give it to them for research.’ A partial smile lifted her mouth. ‘She’s one of those vampires who thinks all other creatures are beneath her. She barely notices comarré, forget acknowledging that our senses are nearly as good as our patrons’.’

‘Typical nobility.’ He spoke the words with such rancor, she wondered if his agreeing to help wasn’t partially motivated by his own hatred of the noble Families. Did he hope to somehow exact his revenge while helping her? If that’s what it took to get his help, so be it.

‘She claimed the ring was very old and very important and told Algernon he shouldn’t show it to anyone else or even speak of it. Lord Ivan told Algernon he was never to put the ring on. Tatiana told him doing so would mean death. I don’t know if she meant because of the ring’s power or because she’d kill him for doing it.’

Chrysabelle flicked a curl of paint into the sea. It fluttered down to float on the black water. ‘Algernon laughed them off, but I don’t doubt he knew they were serious. Lord Ivan might be Dominus of the House of Tepes, but Tatiana isn’t someone you want to cross either.’