The fire in Vivienne's chamber had dimmed to embers. Outside, the wind pressed softly against the shutters, as though it, too, were trying to listen.
The sisters sat close together on the floor, their cloaks wrapped tightly around them, a single candle flickering between them.
Neither had spoken in several minutes.
Vivienne stared at the folded piece of parchment resting on her knee. The writing had long since seared itself into her thoughts. One simple sentence, and yet the room felt changed by it.
They're watching the village. Be careful who you trust. – M
Seraphina finally broke the silence. "Do you think it's someone from the castle? From Virelia?"
Vivienne didn't answer.
She was still tracing the M with her eyes, again and again, as if it might shift into something more useful.
"M," Seraphina murmured again. "Could it be… Marius? Lady Maia's brother? Or… Marten, that huntsman who—?"
"No," Vivienne breathed, and then sat up, her spine straightening suddenly.
"Of course."
"What?" Seraphina blinked.
Vivienne turned to her with wide eyes. "M. Malachi. It's Malachi. It has to be him."
Seraphina's body stilled. Then she sat upright, the realization sharpening her face. "You're right… it could be him. That makes sense. But—where has he been? And Isabel too? They've been gone for weeks. Neither of them has ever stayed away this long. Why wouldn't he send word in person?"
Vivienne stood and began pacing, her hands opening and closing at her sides.
"What if… What if he knows something about the vampires?" she said. "What if he's found out what they really are?"
Seraphina didn't answer.
"And what if they're already here?" Vivienne continued, her voice rising with each word. "What if they've come to Evandale? What if they're hunting already—what if we're next?! We need to drag that stubborn father of ours, and his wife, out of this cursed land!"
Her voice cracked.
Seraphina stayed seated, watching the fire's slow crawl through the logs. Then, quietly, she said, "You know how hard it'll be to convince him. He won't leave the village unguarded. Not with the walls still standing."
Silence fell between them.
The candle flame flickered.
Vivienne wrapped her arms around herself and turned her face toward the window, though she couldn't see past the reflection of the room.
"We just have to make things less hard for him," she said at last. "And flee."
⸻
The next morning came grey and dull, the sky smothered with thick clouds that never opened.
They went about their tasks like normal—Vivienne in the kitchens, helping Alura prepare herbs, and Seraphina taking inventory for the physician—but the air between them was tight with knowing.
That evening, while the house began to settle into quiet again, Seraphina slipped back toward the solar.
Not to search… but to take.
They couldn't risk leaving all they'd discovered behind.
She moved swiftly, lighting no lamp, her fingers familiar now with the path to the narrow drawer in the desk. She tore out only what mattered—the sketch of the bite marks, the bloodstained corner of a page, and the paragraph that had frozen her the night before:
They were vampires. Blood-sucking demons, void of a heart.
She held the pages in her hands, hesitated… and then looked down at the journal they'd come from.
Old, worn, its spine nearly cracking—but it had more. She was sure of it. More entries, more names, more drawings. Things she hadn't read yet, and might not have time to come back for.
Seraphina stood still, heart ticking.
Then she slipped the pages back inside and closed the book.
She took it in both hands, pressed it against her chest, and left the solar without another glance behind her.
The door clicked shut.
And the dark room was empty once more.
—