You're short-tempered today, Damien.

Damien's POV

I saw Calla the moment she came into the dining room.

She was back in the standard housemaid's uniform, the collar high; it covered most of the bite mark. But every time she moved, that patch of skin swung into my line of sight.

And she had chosen to stand behind Julien.

At that thought my eyes went back to Julien.

He was turned toward Dominic, discussing patrol assignments, reaching now and then for his coffee. When Calla saw the cup running low she stepped in at once to refill it.

I frowned and held down the urge to drag her over to my side.

The breakfast in front of me turned flavorless. I took a swallow of coffee and stood.

"Julien. Come to the study when you've finished. I need to talk to you."

He looked at my plate, barely touched, and then at me with some concern.

But he raised no objection. He pushed back his chair and rose.

As he got up the space between them opened, and Calla dutifully stepped back, folding herself into the shadow the doorframe cast.

I turned away with a blank face, and the hard knot of air jammed in my chest loosened a little.

Julien and I walked side by side along the second-floor corridor, the thick carpet swallowing our steps.

When the study door opened, the coals in the hearth had burned down to gray ash, and the air held the stale smell of parchment and ink.

"You're short-tempered today, Damien." Julien pulled out the mahogany armchair and sat. "Still not recovered? You ought to have yourself examined. It's not a small thing."

I pressed my fingers to the space between my brows, unsure how to answer, and gave a vague sound.

"I've had the physician look at me. Nothing serious."

He sighed, didn't press it, and the conversation moved on to the estate's defenses.

Without my noticing, it was noon.

A light knock came at the door.

"Alpha, the head housekeeper sent me to clean the inner windows."

It was Calla's voice, and I answered almost before she'd finished. "Come in."

The door opened a hand's width and Calla came in with a wooden tray holding a few tools for cleaning the window seams.

The noon sun came through the glass at a slant and fell across the side of her neck, gilding even the fine down on her skin.

"Go ahead with your work."

Julien gave me a puzzled look. I waved a hand as though absently and put my eyes back on the documents spread before me.

Julien went on talking. I didn't take in a single word.

It was the first time I'd realized I was capable of brushing him off like that.

But I genuinely couldn't concentrate. Calla was wiping the pane nearest the light — which was exactly why I'd wanted her assigned to the windows last night.

Silver is deadly poison to vampires. Even a half-blood, the moment their skin touched silver of this purity, would blister and burn.

Under cover of turning a page, I slid my eyes toward the windowsill, the knuckles of the hand holding my pen pulling taut.

I only wanted to test whether Calla carried any trace of that damned vampire bloodline. That was why I was paying her such close attention. That was what I told myself.

The noon sun came through the window and fell on a face paler than most people's.

Nothing. No reaction at all.

No fear. No flinching.

A second later she reached out and braced her hand on the silver ornament on the sill.

No burn. No reddening.

I quietly let out the hand I'd been clenching.

Calla never noticed my gaze. She folded the last cloth, put it back on the tray, checked the window frame once more for anything missed, and only then carried the tray to the door.

"Alpha. It's done."

I lifted my head from the papers and gave a flat sound of acknowledgment.

"Yes. Go on."

She asked nothing more. She dipped slightly and left the study.

Once the door closed, Julien picked up the patrol arrangements again.

I reopened the file and tried to put my attention back into the dense columns of records, but my eyes kept drifting to the door on their own.

Only when Julien stopped talking did I realize he'd said my name twice.

"Damien?"

I looked up at him.

A thread of worry had appeared between his brows.

"What is wrong with you today? You've been distracted since this morning. Did that drug last night leave something behind?"

"No." I closed the file and pressed my fingers to my brow. "I'm just tired."

Julien plainly didn't believe it, but he didn't push.

"Then we'll stop here for today. We'll take up the rest tomorrow. You should rest properly."

I didn't argue. I nodded.

Julien left shortly after, and the study went quiet at last.

I leaned back in the chair and shut my eyes, and found the one image that wouldn't leave was Calla standing in the sunlight, wiping the window frame.

I had confirmed she carried no vampire traits.

It hadn't set me at ease, not fully.

I sat there a long while, until the light outside the window shifted, and the nameless irritation in my chest didn't clear.

A faint, fine ache came suddenly from my gland — from my temporary mark.

Something had happened to Calla. She was afraid.

I stopped walking, closed my eyes, and forced myself to pick apart what lingered in the air.

She was moving. And she was getting further from me.

I followed the scent through the servants' wing, around the stone wall behind the main building, and stopped at last before a rusted iron gate.

In the old days this place had held wolves who'd lost control. Silver spikes lay buried in the ground to bind the pack, and the walls still carried any number of bloodstains from that older era.

Ordinary servants wouldn't dare come near it. No one would go in of their own accord.

But Calla's scent was coming from behind that gate.

My face darkened and I shoved the door open.

The iron screamed.

Inside, the weeds had run riot, vines choked the abandoned stone pillars, and sunlight barely reached the ground. And at the very back I saw a slender figure.

Calla was leaning against a broken stone stele, her eyes shut and staying shut.

Thorns had torn her skirt, and there was a clear gash on her calf, blood running down past her ankle.

I slowed my breathing. I was about to go to her when a figure stepped out from the other side.

I froze.

Julien.