Page 83 of The Vampire’s Temptation

“Gladly,” Laria addressed him. She quickly explained the original curse, and how it had made them what they were—immortal beings. Vampires. “Lady Isobel was horrified at what she’d done,” she said. “She tried desperately to reverse the curse. At first, we assumed her efforts had not worked at all. But then her children began to receive their powers—”

Alessandra nodded. “You’re talking about the Cheld’s origin,” she said. “We know this part.” She’d already shared this part of the story with Garrett, thank goodness.

“But do you know the purpose of your abilities?” she asked.

She nodded. “To ensure—” she cleared her throat, “—vampires are kept in check, so to speak.”

Laria looked at her expectantly. “In check how?”

Okay, so Kenton hadn’t really gone into specifics.

“I’m not 100% sure,” she admitted. The Derrickson siblings exchanged another of those meaningful looks, and she blurted out, “Just say it. Tell us what it is you have to—”

“By rooting out those who would abuse eternal life and the power that comes with it,” Laria said coolly, as if they were discussing the weather. “By beheading, ripping out the heart or driving an aspen stake through the heart of any vampire who threatens humankind.”

“Aspen . . .” For some reason, that was the detail her mind hooked on to.

“The wood our brother’s coffin was made from,” Lawrence added. “The Cheld are the only real danger to our kind. The only ones truly able to end the eternal life of the cursed, aside from a more powerful vampire.”

Her head spun as she put the final piece into the puzzle.

The Cheld were the Balance to the evil of Lady Isobel’s original curse. A light to diminish the dark.

“Will I become a murderer?”

“I don’t know,” Kenton had answered.

But he’d come to Stone Haven to ensure she would not, hadn’t he? To ensure she would never have the chance to develop the powers that would allow her to kill his kind.

She only noticed Laria’s hand over hers when the other woman squeezed it, attempting to comfort her. The sympathy in the woman’s eyes was almost painful to behold.

She raised her chin to look Lawrence in the eyes.

“Lawrence, when you first came to town, you told me that Kenton wanted to kill me. Was that true?”

“There’s more you need to understand, Alessandra. About Kenton and his role—”

“Was. It. True?”

Each word ground out of her mouth, painful but necessary.

“He loves you,” Laria said. “And asked us to help protect you. If you knew what it took for him to do that—”

She summoned the full force of her abilities, refusing to look at anyone but Lawrence, and asked one last time.

“Did Kenton Morley come here to kill me?”

In the end, it wasn’t Lawrence or Laria who answered, but her brother. Though how he knew . . .

“Yes,” he said beside her. “Kenton, whoever he is, I believe did come here to kill you.”