It had been easy . . . so easy . . . to offer herself for Max and Kritanu. She’d seen the flash of expression on Max’s face when Sara produced the gun: sick with fear. He’d known his fate then. Not fear that he would die, but knowledge that Lilith would have him once again. And this time, without the strength and power of his vis bulla to help him fight her thrall.
Victoria knew that Kritanu would not last. Lilith had no use for him, and the blood would be too much for the vampires to resist. When Kritanu was dead, would Max use the silver ring to join him? She had to get there before he did.
Sebastian seemed to read her thoughts. “Victoria, Kritanu is as good as dead. And so is Pesaro. He’ll make certain of it himself. ”
“Where is the ring?”
He sighed, tightening his arms, and then released her. His damaged hand smoothed along her cheek as he tried to smile. But it faltered. His fingers trembled. “I knew better than to hope you’d listen to me. This is who you are. This is who you’ve become: changed from the selfish, superficial Society girl, poorly disguised in man’s clothes and playing at a double life . . . to this. And . . . I love who you are, Victoria. I’ve never met a more fascinating, intelligent woman. ”
A wave of guilt and affection overwhelmed her, and at that moment she drew in her breath to speak. But he shook his head sharply, the same way Max would have. “Don’t. Let’s get the ring. And hope that Brim and Michalas arrive soon. ” He released her and stepped back, that charming smile unsteady on his lips. “But perhaps we should think of a plan first. ”
Relieved that she could concentrate on the rescue, Victoria returned his smile with a grim one. “I already have. ”
Twenty-five
The Vampire Queen Receives Her Guest
When Victoria and Sebastian left the Brodebaugh home, there was an additional surprise, and something that gave Victoria an even greater sense of urgency. They found Kritanu in a heap on the front stoop. He’d been left there for some reason—a happenstance that was both relieving and terrifying. She couldn’t imagine why or how, and assumed that Max’s cleverness had somehow achieved it.
Thus they would be able to save Kritanu’s life; but that left Max on his own, with no one to protect. No one to stay alive to protect.
He knew she was coming. She’d told him. But, would he wait? Could he, in that hell?
Should she expect him to?
Do you never do anything for yourself?
This might be the one time he did.
She wouldn’t be able to blame him.
During the retrieval of the copper ring from the rooms Sebastian had rented, and the trip back to Victoria’s town house, Sebastian tried to argue with her. He wanted to approachLilith in her stead, or at least, with her. But Victoria was adamant.
“You and Brim and Michalas—if they’ve arrived at last—will come in through the secret passageway, which, God willing, they’ve not yet discovered. If you have to fight your way in, at least they won’t be expecting three Venators. ”
When they reached the town house, they were relieved to find Brim, the mountainous, coffee-colored man with barely a brush of wiry hair and a vis bulla in his eyebrow. Michalas, the lithe, whip-slender Venator with tight, burnished curls, had also arrived. They, in fact, had been making ready under Wayren’s direction to travel to the Brodebaugh residence and provide their assistance.
Victoria couldn’t have been happier to see them. Her confidence surged as she told them her plan.
“I need not tell you to take care,” said Sebastian, a short while later, as the hackney left Victoria off near the entrance to the sewers. His face looked marginally better, for he’d washed away the blood and sweat, and had changed clothes. However, nothing could hide the mottling purple and red on his skin, and the strain in his eyes. The last knuckle of his maimed finger was bound and poulticed, thanks to Wayren. “And I need not tell you why it is important that you return. ”
Brim and Michalas nodded. But they said nothing.
Indeed, there was nothing left to be said.
Victoria slogged through the sludgy underground canal as she and Sebastian had done weeks earlier.
The back of her neck was cold. Red—and some pink— eyes burned, glowing in the darkness of the sewer tunnels, but none made a move toward her. They blinked, and there was impatient rustling in the shadows, but Victoria ignored it. Lilith was too smart—and complacent—to rush things.
When she came to the dead end of the sewer, where the rush of water fell down into darkness below, she easily found the narrow walkway that led up and along the side of the tunnel to the underground abbey. To her uneasy surprise, she realized she didn’t need a light. Her eyesight in the darkness continued to improve: a morbid reminder of her tenuous hold on mortality.
Once at the top of the ramplike walkway, Victoria slipped through the narrow crevice. She slunk across the small space, then faced the first door, which led to the antechamber that had been empty during her first visit, and where she’d fought with the vampires while Sebastian hid the secret door. To her surprise, the door that had been bolted when she and Sebastian came was unlocked and easily swung open. But that made sense . . . for Lilith was expecting her.
This chamber was still empty but for a pile of rags in one corner and a broken wooden chair. The back of her neck was frigid and her heart slammed in her chest. She walked across the room and pushed open the heavy door to the throne room.
At first, it seemed as though her entrance had gone unnoticed. There were few occupants in the space—a small cluster of vampires sitting in chairs. Sara, standing nearby like a lady in waiting. Lilith, who sat in her large stone throne with her long, slender fingers curled over the arms, was talking to Sara.
And Max. Thank God, Max.