The reply to the door took far longer than Vail had anticipated. He shifted his weight between his feet as he waited for someone to let him enter, growing more restless with each passing second that he had to stand near so many Saints. The pervasive scent of silver put him on edge, and he fought the urge to stiffen anytime one of the men spared him a fleeting glance. None of the hunters seemed particularly eager to pick a fight with him, but he wasn’t dumb enough to trust a group of people who killed his kind for a living. Until he was beyond their line of sight, he would be ready to defend himself or flee if any of them decided to take advantage of the fact that he’d turned up by himself.

At last, the door opened, but instead of a maid appearing to lead him to Victoria’s bedroom, he was greeted by an unfriendly face. The Hygrace heir narrowed his eyes as Ray attempted to turn him away. Although the Saint’s heart didn’t seem to palpitate when he asserted that Victoria didn’t wish to see him, Vail didn’t buy it for a second. Lady Crest had been happy to spend any length of time with him when they’d met before, so he was sure that her protective friend was just inventing excuses to prevent him from getting to her that morning. He opened his mouth to call Ray’s bluff, but before he could get a word in, he was distracted by Lady Diana’s abrupt interruption.

Baffled by her hostility, Vail held his ground but leaned away from the widow as she jabbed her finger in his face. Her accusations only deepened his frown, and he puzzled over any possible reason why Victoria’s mother would think he had done something to hurt her. They hadn’t even seen each other since two nights before. “Another woman?” he echoed bemusedly. There was no ‘other woman,’ and as far as he could remember, he hadn’t given any of them a reason to think there was. He had continued to put Victoria first to the point of nearly losing claim to his inheritance. That wasn’t something he would have done for anyone other than her.

However, as soon as Diana went back into the manor and Ray spoke again, the realization struck him. Somehow, they must have found out about his outing with Sylvia the day before. He swore internally. The Crests had learned about the engagement Peter was trying to force upon him and sometime between his last visit to Victoria and now, she had been convinced that he was dallying with a vampire behind her back. His hazel eyes darted between the Saint standing in front of him and the nearest group that had begun to stare since the elder Lady Crest had raised her voice. He couldn’t leave without rectifying the situation, but if they had been given orders to keep him out of the manor, it would do him no good to stand on the porch and keep arguing with Ray.

“I’m aware,” Vail said dryly, turning back to the man blocking his path. “I suppose I’ll have to come back when you aren’t so busy.” Keeping the Saint’s gun in the corner of his vision, he took a step back and turned around to leave, walking as if he was returning to his own estate. He kept up the act just long enough to sway the human to let his guard down before he suddenly whirled back around and sprinted toward him, tearing the weapon roughly out of his hand. The silver casing seared his skin, and he curled his lip in a pained snarl, quickly dropping it on the floor as he pushed past Ray into the building and slammed the door behind him. The barrier wouldn’t buy him much time, but it was enough for him to track Victoria to the kitchen before he could hear Ray bursting in behind him.

Heart pounding, he ran into the kitchen and pressed his back against the wall to the right of the doorway. He wasn’t sure how many Saints had taken chase, but if even one of them got a clear shot at his heart, he didn’t have many options left to get away. “Call off your guards,” he said urgently to Victoria, curling his burned hand into a fist at his waist. “Quickly. I want to talk, and we can’t do that if I’m dead.”