Page 83 of Tempted By the Vampire Prince

My attention strayed to the decorative gold vase on the mantle. I wiped cold sweat from my brow and took a swig of wine.

Between now and then, I had work to do.

Chapter 27

Cache-Cache

CORA

My remaining nails had been bitten down to the quick while pouring over the first draft of a summoning spell that allowed zero loopholes.

It had taken all night, but I’d finally come up with a way to summon the Demon of Dominion, make a deal with her to find Hartley, and then force her back to the Underworld. And it was using Old Sang. The spell Yves had used to ward the stillroom inspired me.

As the Demon of Dominion, Dominique was incredibly persuasive, so I had to be careful once she appeared, which was why I was overthinking the shit out of this. But before I could summon Dominique, I needed my magick back. That required a charging circle. A graveyard would be best, preferably an old one. Thoughts of La Roseraie filled my mind, but I quickly swept them away. There had to be somewhere else.

I rubbed a hand over my tired eyes when a knock came at the door. “Come in!”

Adrien burst inside. His whole little body was vibrating with excitement, as if he were a hummingbird.

“Did you know there are eleven constellations you can chart from open water that you can’t see from land?” he announced, in place of good morning. “Because the harbor lanterns ruin the dark, but from the bow there’s nothing. Just the whole sky, all the way down to the water, and Miss Ravenwood, the horizon does this thing where the stars touch the sea, and you can’t tell where one stops⁠—”

He had to pause and breathe, which appeared to pain him physically.

“Papa let me stay in the bow the entire night. He didn’t make me fish at all. He let me bring my telescope.”

“Did he, now?” I asked.

I straightened in my chair as Adrien continued, trying my very best to rebuild the wall he’d blown through the night my blood had nearly killed him. But it was no use. He went on and on, and the smile on my face only grew.

“And Papa said I could draft the corrections to submit to the Court Astrologers about the placement of stars on Diana’s constellation.” Adrien produced a folded paper from inside his jacket. “I’ve already found four errors. Uncle Renaud said I was a prodigy.”

At the mention of his uncle, I pressed him for details. “And how was your uncle? Did he catch any fish?”

“Three.” Adrien spread his corrections across my writing desk, and I had to move the invitation and Corbeau’s book out of his way. “He didn’t really watch his lines, though. He mostly asked Papa questions. Which sea captains he trusts most, and whether the harbor forts are manned all year.”

Those were not the questions of a bored fisherman.

Adrien smoothed a crease in the paper. “I don’t think Uncle Renaud actually likes fishing either. He just pretends to, because he’s a grown-up.”

I was sure he was right.

Della chose that moment to appear at the open window, looking rather pleased with herself. Adrien greeted her happily, then ran to grab a handful of berries from the sack I kept beside my bed.

“Miss Ravenwood!” he practically shouted. “Della has a hoard.”

I turned to find him peering into the gap behind the wall and the nightstand.

“Is that where you were last night? Collecting treasures?” I asked Della.

Adrien was already drawing the hoard out, piece by piece, laying each item on the rug in a grid, cataloging as he went.

“Three buttons. A hairpin. Two of my chess pawns—” he shot the raven an amused look. “I wondered where those went,” he said. “A gold button with a lily on it⁠—”

Ha. She’d finally done it. Somewhere in this castle, one of Yves’s jackets was down a button. I ran two fingers across her snowy feathers.

“—a pearl⁠—”

The pearl sat in Adrien’s palm, small and creamy white, and my mind went straight to a heavy necklace and a head of braided brown hair studded with dozens of its sisters. My little burglar had been snooping around in the guest wing.