Lady Crest knew full well that Peter was devastated and that only time could heal his wounded heart. She knew Vail appreciated her efforts when he leaned into her shoulder. She nodded when Vail told her he would come back to them eventually and returned the squeeze of his hand. Their bond was true and could be seen by all of his family that Victoria was here to stay for him despite being looked at as a freak and outsider. “Time is a healer.” She replied to Vail’s statement. 

Victoria chuckled at Sylvie’s reaction to her half-brother’s charms. Indeed, he was very charming. But he was also genuinely caring toward his family and was accepting of Vail as his sister’s chosen lover. James was used to women throwing themselves at his feet. And although single, he wasn’t actively looking for a long-term mate yet as he was only a young vampire himself at the age of twenty four. Easily two hundred years Sylvie’s junior and as such, he was considered out of her league. Lady Macey was also a noble and James was not considered a Lord because his father was not, although he was the son of Lady Diana Crest. 

James grinned as Vail countered his remarks of his sister’s loveliness. “Ah touche!” He chuckled as Victoria smiled modestly up at Vail as he looked upon her with that warmth in his eyes that she had brought out in him. At first, she did not think she could charm the vampire into feeling such a way for her and it wasn’t her original intention until the first moment his tongue touched her fair skin in his first attempt to drink her blood. That very intimate act in itself awoken something within her, a primal desire for a male partner.

She listened intently to Sylvie’s information report and digested it carefully. “So they are amassing an army ready for total dominance over humanity. This is what the Saints were afraid of.” She sighed and pondered the situation. “What news is there from the Order?” She looked around at them all. Nobody had heard anything from them. “Has no-one heard from them at all?” She asked as James and Francois both shook their heads. She felt a swelling despair, her heart leaped into her throat. Were Ray and Gerald dead? 

“Perhaps they are in hiding. Risking any communication with us may lure the Wynters here or back to them.” James tried to inject some positivity into his sister. She nodded slowly but it did not stop her eyes well up with tears of sadness. “Maybe…” She murmoured. “Then I’m going back to find them. The Wynters will not know my new scent. They won’t know the Moncouriers scent very well either." It sounded like Victoria had made up her mind on what she wanted to do next, regardless of the danger or Vail’s permission to let her. She’d always been brave from the outset, as Vail knew from the moment she distracted him from his prey the second night they had met.