Vail had only just turned away from the Lady Victoria when he was surprised to feel a slender hand rest on his forearm. After he’d let his tongue slip so carelessly, he had expected her to be eager to get away from him, not say that it was “alright” and ask him to stay. He wasn’t sure what to think about that. After all, she was a member of the [i]Crest[/i] family. They were the enemy of his kind, so surely it wasn’t wise to linger around one of them any longer than he already had. His father would certainly be furious with his recklessness if he found out he’d even spoken to her at all.

On the other hand, this wasn’t Alexander. This was Lord Crest’s daughter, a far younger woman whom had likely never killed a vampire in her life. In fact, it was entirely possible that she wasn’t even part of the Order to begin with. Thinking about it a little more, he realized he’d never seen any women among their ranks when they’d crossed paths in the past. He casted her a sideways glance. Perhaps she wasn’t as dangerous as he’d first thought.

As she went on to say that his words had been refreshing, Vail nearly snorted. He hadn’t been trying to speak his thoughts to her at all. At the time, he had just scrambled to excuse his behavior so he wouldn’t cause a commotion and draw even more attention to himself. The comment had just spilled out since Lord Alexander happened to be on his mind. It wasn’t even close to the noble gesture she made it out to be. But, of course, there was no point in correcting her when she seemed so flattered by the misunderstanding, so he said nothing more on the matter.

When the Lady Victoria extended her hand in greeting, Vail hesitated briefly. Even though he’d decided she was harmless by herself, he still wasn’t sure if she was aware of his family name. The Hygraces were the most powerful vampire clan in England, and they were quite well known to the Saints of the Order. The two groups didn’t fight amongst each other very often—his father had followed in his uncle’s footsteps by insisting that they shouldn’t kill the humans they fed on, which kept some peace between them and the Order—but Peter had told him that Alexander knew about them. He didn’t want to alert Victoria on her own territory if she knew the Hygrace name as well. 

“Vail Griffiths,” he said, safely supplying a fake surname as he took her hand. Absently, he noticed that her skin was delicate, soft to the touch, but it wasn’t a detail he lingered on for very long as he answered her question, “No, I’ve never met your father personally, but I believe my father has.” At that, he hesitated again, unsure what else to say. Lord Alexander had been an enemy to his family for decades, so he couldn’t bring himself to offer her any words of praise about the man. Still, he supposed it wasn’t her fault that her father had been a Saint, so there was no harm in offering his condolences.

“From what I’ve been told, your father was quite important to your family,” he admitted vaguely. “I’m sorry for the untimely loss.”