Extraits

He was not the man I’d thought he would be. He was not his mother’s creature. I had seen his dizzying array of masks, one for every occasion, and I had peeked beneath them.

“As you say, madam.” Crestfallen, Hubert slumped his shoulders. “I am yours to command, should you need anything, anything at all. Your slightest whim is my greatest desire.”

Until that moment, I couldn’t have told you if Linus had ever referred to Atlanta as his, but I heard the possessive edge, the anticipation, like being parted from it was a physical ache. Proving once again I was a crap friend, I had never asked if he was magically bound to his city. Was his anticipation homesickness or a magically fueled compulsion?

Until Maud…and Atramentous…I had dreamed big dreams as a kid. Getting a degree alongside Amelie. Planning how we would live together and how I would marry Boaz to make us real sisters. But those were old wishes for an old life. I wasn’t that person now, and neither was Amelie. Neither was Boaz. None of us were the same. Time and distance and life experiences did that to people.

“You want to believe your enemies will show you mercy, that they adhere to the same moral code as yours, but they won’t, Grier. They don’t.” She accepted the hand I extended to her, and I pulled her to her feet. “There’s no such thing as a clean fight. Vampires will use their strength, their age, their skills against you. So will necromancers. So will humans. You must sacrifice your ego, accept there is always someone stronger, faster, or smarter than you, and do what it takes to survive.” She gripped my shoulders until I winced. “Whatever it takes, understand? There is no shame in living to fight another day.”