“And I shall be happy to answer all the questions you have,” Sylvia chirped as they strode out of the bedroom together. She was eager to have her own questions answered too. Never in her long life had she encountered a human who had been turned into a vampire—at least, not to her knowledge. She was interested in observing Victoria’s transition from mortal to immortal as well as learn more about who she was as a person. Her initial reaction when she’d learned that her life-long friend had fallen for a human hadn’t been so dissimilar from Peter or Katherine’s, since she was afflicted with the same prejudice against their prey as the Hygrace leaders. However, she’d never known Vail to be a fool, so she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt that there was indeed something special about the Crest heiress that made her worthy of a vampire’s love.

As they made their way to the summer house, Sylvia enjoyed chatting with Victoria, content to let the new fledgling use her arm for support while they walked. “I’m not surprised,” she laughed melodically at the other woman’s observation. “Male vampires are drawn to beautiful women like bees to honey, so it makes perfect sense that you would have encountered more of them. Now that you smell more like a Hygrace than a human, you’ll probably start meeting more females like me.”

“She means to say that vampires who share my gender will be less inclined to approach you because you carry my scent,” Vail clarified. He’d kept out of the conversation for the most part to allow Sylvia and Victoria to get to know each other, but he recalled Victoria’s past worry that using his blood to turn her would make them relatives, so he wanted to make sure there was no misunderstanding. The blood that flowed through her veins now was still her own. It had just been cleansed of impurities and altered to carry a vampiric gene after she’d been exposed to his.

“Right, that’s what I said,” Sylvia shrugged dismissively. “And as for Lady Hygrace, we’ll find out when we see her, won’t we?”

They trekked the rest of the way to the summer house, and Vail braced himself to face his family for the first time with Victoria at his side. When they arrived, the rest of the Hygrace clan was sprawled about the room, lounging on furniture and on the floor since there wasn’t enough space for all of them to sit comfortably. By now, all of his cousins who had been injured had recovered fully, so none of them were wounded, but there was still an air of weariness about them. They were emotionally drained after being displaced from their home in London, and they weren’t exactly happy to be sharing a small space, hiding away from the Wynters who had chased them out of England.

It was a veritable den of wolves, and all eyes turned to the trio as they stepped through the door. Even Peter, who was reclining on a chaise lounge beside Katherine, lifted his dull gaze to acknowledge them. The leader of the clan was in obviously poor shape. His shoulders sagged listlessly, his features were expressionless and one leg of his trousers was folded around the stump of his amputated limb. The other members of the family had kept him alive with food and the blood of any wild animals they found around the estate, but there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that if they stopped caring for him, he would most likely let himself wither away to dust. His body had healed from its wounds, but his spirit had been broken by the shock and pain of losing so many members of their clan to Mikael, and that was an injury too deep to mend.

Vail glanced at his cousins, who all seemed to be studying Victoria with a mixture of curiosity, surprise and distrust,  before he ventured further into the room toward his parents. As he did, Sylvia fell back slightly, allowing the couple to approach the clan leaders first while she took on the role of observer. Katherine broke the silence to speak first when they drew close.

“I see your human survived that experiment of yours,” she mused with the faintest hint of disappointment in her voice. Her son had been spending so much time at Victoria’s side while she had been dead that she had secretly been hoping the Crest heiress wouldn’t tolerate the transformation. She and the other Hygraces needed him now more than ever, so she was resentful that a mortal was taking up almost all of his time and energy.

“She isn’t a pet, mother, and you’re going to have to get used to her coming around,” Vail replied patiently. “Victoria is one of us now. She isn’t a human, so there is no reason for you to continue treating her like an inferior.”

Katherine parted her lips to respond and then seemed to think better of it. Instead, she turned to her husband and squeezed his hand supportively. “Peter, look,” she said to him gently. “Vail, Sylvia and Victoria are here for a visit.”