Chapter 1

I went to the largest jewelry shop in Greyharbor before dusk.

When I stepped inside, a young woman wearing a sunstone pendant stood behind the counter. She had an innocent face and a warm, sweet smile.

"You have wonderful taste, ma'am. This moonstone brooch would look lovely on you."

I was impressed by how much she knew about gemstones. I was even more surprised that someone so young owned this century-old shop. She touched the rare sunstone at her neck and said shyly, "My protector paid off my turning debt and bought this shop for me. He was worried I'd just been turned and wouldn't have a way to support myself."

Most newly turned vampires had to serve their makers for years before they could repay the blood debt. For someone to buy her freedom and give her a shop on top of that, he clearly cared for her deeply.

I couldn't help feeling a twinge of envy. "He must really care about you, to think so far ahead for you."

Her words made me think of my husband, Adrian Vaughn. Three years ago, after we'd sworn our blood oath, I wanted to manage the estate accounts and oversee the family's properties in Greyharbor. But Adrian refused. He said the Chief Magistrate's wife should not dirty her hands with business, let alone mingle with commoners and blood servants.

The young woman rolled her eyes. "Dirty your hands? He's just afraid that once you have power, he won't be able to control you anymore. If it were me, I wouldn't put up with a man like that for a single night."

Just then, steady footsteps sounded from downstairs. She lifted her crimson skirts and hurried toward the staircase. "That must be someone my protector sent with rose blood jelly. The Twilight Parlor just released this new recipe tonight. I only mentioned it once, but he remembered."

I followed her gaze.

The one coming up the stairs with a black lacquered food case was Caine Mercer, Adrian's most trusted personal guard.

Chapter 1

"Caine?"

The young man in black jerked his head up. When he recognized me, his pale skin seemed to drain of what little color it had, and the food case in his hands nearly slipped from his grasp.

The young woman noticed nothing and smiled as she took the case from him. "Adrian actually sent you himself tonight?"

Caine's throat bobbed. His fingers, clenched around the short sword at his hip, were white at the knuckles. For a long moment, he couldn't manage a single coherent word.

I recognized that case. The blood jelly from the Twilight Parlor was made with licensed blood and night roses and served in silver-rimmed crystal bowls. It was cloyingly sweet. Adrian never touched sweet blood, but I loved it. A few days ago, I had casually mentioned wanting to try a new flavor, but he had replied flatly that the Night Council kept him too busy for such trivial indulgences.

So, when he had time, he simply saved his thoughtfulness for another woman.

"Ma'am, why do you keep staring at the case?" The young woman lifted the lid, and the sweet fragrance of roses and blood immediately filled the air. "If you'd like some, I can share it with you."

Caine lurched forward and blocked her with his body. With his head bowed, he said, "Lillian, this lady was just passing through. She'll be leaving soon."

This guard, who had hunted down traitors alongside Adrian and never flinched at hunters' silver crossbows, was now lying to my face to cover up his master's affair.

My stomach turned.

"No need." I turned toward the staircase. "I don't care for sweet blood."

When I walked out of the jewelry shop, the lingering glow behind the fog stung my eyes. My maid, Claire Bennett, hurried over with an open parasol and steadied my arm. "Ma'am, you look terrible. Are you all right?"

I shook my head. The black carriage rattled over the wet cobblestones, and the early autumn chill crept in through the gaps in the window. All I could think about was how I had spent three years trapped in the estate, learning to be a quiet, proper wife who would never embarrass the Magistrate. Meanwhile, my husband wore his mask of restraint and integrity and built another woman the most expensive love nest in the city.

After nightfall, Adrian came home. He wore the Night Council's dark crimson formal coat, with the silver chain on his shoulders marking his authority as Chief Magistrate. A servant took his coat; he washed his hands and sat down across from me by the fireplace.

"You went out at dusk?" He picked up his unsweetened blood wine, his tone flat.

"I took a walk on Duskbell Street."

Adrian was handsome and always stayed calm during public trials. Anyone who met him would praise him as the fairest magistrate in Greyharbor. He took a sip of blood wine and frowned. "Stay away from places like that. They're full of merchants. You are the Magistrate's wife. You shouldn't spend time with people like them."

For three years, he had controlled every part of my life with that same cold, superior tone. I couldn't laugh too loudly at banquets, look through merchant ledgers, or visit the underground theater to hear the night poets' latest work, because he said it would ruin his good name.

I lowered my gaze. Then I noticed a faint smear of dark rose sugar glaze on his cuff.

I laughed.

Adrian set down his glass. "What's so funny?"

I looked him straight in the eye. "The rose blood jelly from the Twilight Parlor. Did you enjoy it?"

Chapter 2

Adrian's hands went still, and a flicker of panic crossed his eyes. But it vanished at once, and he quickly looked calm again.

"A colleague sent it to my office. I had a taste." He picked up a white napkin and wiped his fingers slowly. "Evelyn, when did you become so petty? You're questioning me over a bite of sweet blood?"

Once again, he had turned his lie against me. If I hadn't seen Caine with my own eyes, I would probably have done what I always did: wonder if I was being too suspicious, if I wasn't good enough, or if, after nearly a century of life, I still didn't know how to be a proper wife.

"A colleague sent it?" I nodded. "That colleague must know you very well, yet somehow doesn't know that you never touch sweet blood."

Adrian's expression darkened. He stood and looked down at me. "What exactly are you trying to say? I spend every night working with the Council and the hunters' delegation, and I have to come home to this? You're throwing a tantrum over nothing?"

Throwing a tantrum over nothing.

He used those words every time he wanted to shut me down.

When I said nothing, he scoffed. "You're impossible."

That night, he slept in his study.

The next evening, I went to the estate's accounting office. Edmund Hall, the estate's longtime accountant, stood up as soon as he saw me and blocked the ledger on his desk. "Ma'am, what brings you here in person? These numbers are boring. Please leave them to me."

"Give me this month's general ledger."

"But the Magistrate told me to—"

"Give it to me."

My voice was quiet, but Edmund was already wiping sweat from his brow. After a long pause, he finally handed me the ledger.

I only had to read the first page before my heart sank. Three thousand gold pounds had vanished from the joint account. The ledger said the money had been used to buy ancient Night Council scrolls. What kind of scrolls could possibly cost exactly that amount? The jewelry shop on Duskbell Street, including everything inside, had sold for the exact same sum.

I closed the ledger. "Who withdrew the money?"

Edmund's knees buckled. "The Magistrate approved it with his blood seal and sent Caine to collect the money."

A chill ran through me.

A blood-oath marriage didn't give Adrian the right to take my premarital assets. After our marriage, I had given him a limited proxy seal to cover daily estate expenses. He could draw from a few of my shops in emergencies. I trusted him. I never imagined he would use that trust to steal from me.

Adrian had used the joint account I'd funded to buy his lover a shop. He claimed running a business was beneath him, yet he had no problem spending my money.

That evening, I took Claire to the cafe across from the jewelry shop on Duskbell Street. Our private lounge on the second floor had a clear view of the shop. Before long, a plain black carriage pulled up outside. Adrian stepped out without his Council coat and walked in alone.

Through the glass, I watched Lillian throw herself into his arms. Adrian did not push her away. Instead, he wrapped an arm around her waist, and his face softened in a way I had never seen before.

Lillian reached behind the counter and pulled out a silver-white rose brooch. Adrian took it and pinned it to her collar.

My fingers slowly curled into a fist.

That brooch was set with a rare, flawless moonstone. Six months ago, on our blood-oath anniversary, I had spotted it in an auction catalog and eagerly shown it to Adrian. He said it was too extravagant for the Chief Magistrate's wife and would make me look like a vulgar, newly rich merchant. I quietly closed the catalog.

Now that "vulgar" brooch sat on Lillian's collar.

It was never the jewelry that was vulgar. He simply didn't think I deserved it.

Claire was shaking with rage beside me. "Ma'am, how can he do this to you?"

"Let's go." I stood and didn't look across the street again.

It was late by the time I returned to the estate. The butler, Graham Cole, was waiting in the foyer. He bowed to me. "Ma'am, the Magistrate is staying in his study again tonight. He says you don't need to wait up for him."

Chapter 3

"All right."

I walked past the butler and went straight to the bedroom.

I was done waiting. I would never wait again.

I had Claire lock the door, then pulled a black wooden chest from the back of the wardrobe. Inside were not gowns or jewels, but the deeds to every property my family owned in Greyharbor.

The Lamberts were not old-blood nobility, but they ran the largest licensed blood supply station in Greyharbor, along with a night hospital, a transport fleet, and dozens of shops. I was the family's sole heiress. When I insisted on marrying Adrian, who had nothing to his name, my father was so angry that he shattered a century-old crystal glass. Even so, he gave me a large fund of my own.

In the three years since, Adrian had risen from a councilman with no backing to Chief Magistrate. His salary was not even enough to run the estate and maintain its protective wards. Nearly every gold coin spent on hosting council members, forming ties with old-blood families, and dealing with the hunters' delegation came from my family.

I checked the accounts page by page, and my heart sank a little more with each one. Five hundred gold pounds had been withdrawn from the East District textile shop last month and eight hundred from the Southbank blood tavern this month, yet none of it had appeared in the estate's general ledger.

Where had it all gone?

It had gone to the sunstone around Lillian's throat, the rose blood jelly from the Twilight Parlor, and the expensive moonstones in the shop's display cases.

Adrian looked down on me for being a merchant, yet he had no problem spending my family fortune to spoil his delicate lover.

The next night, I took the ledger to the study. Caine was standing guard outside the door. When he saw me, he stepped sideways to block the entrance. "Ma'am, the Magistrate is handling private matters."

"Step aside."

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I can't let you in."

I let out a cold laugh. Given my age and bloodline, if I truly wanted to get past him, Caine couldn't stop me. I didn't give him a chance to draw his sword. I shoved him aside and kicked the study door open.

Adrian sat behind his desk, signing documents with a bone-handled pen. When he saw me burst in, he slammed the pen down, splashing dark red ink across the page.

"Evelyn, you're becoming more rude by the day."

I walked to the desk and slammed the thick ledger in front of him. "Is this the Chief Magistrate's idea of good manners? Stealing his wife's money to pay for his lover?"

Adrian jumped to his feet. "What are you talking about?"

"Five hundred gold pounds from the East District textile shop, eight hundred from the Southbank blood tavern, plus three thousand from the joint account. Do I need to bring the jewelry shop's new owner here so she can tell me where all that money went?"

He stared at me without offering an explanation. He didn't even try to hide it anymore. Instead, he looked at me with open disgust. "Evelyn, all you see are ledgers and gold. You're so obsessed with money that I can barely stand you."

He grabbed the ledger and threw it to the floor, his voice rising. "I am the Chief Magistrate of Greyharbor. So what if I used the money from a few of your shops? You swore a blood oath with me. Everything you have belongs to the Vaughn household. Are you trying to humiliate me by waving these stupid ledgers in my face?"

I looked at the man before me and felt like I was looking at a stranger. Three years ago, he had cut his palm open by candlelight in the old church and sworn to respect and protect me forever.

"I'm not the one humiliating you. Your greed and lies are doing that."

"Enough!" Adrian shouted for Caine. "Escort her back to her bedroom. Without my permission, she is not allowed to leave this estate."

The Vaughn household had no blood spell that could keep me there, only guards and Adrian's authority as my husband. But if I forced my way out, he could accuse me in front of the Night Council of breaking our blood oath and attacking the Magistrate's guard.

I didn't resist. Letting him believe he still had all the power worked in my favor.

At the door, I glanced back at him. "Adrian, you'd better pray you never need anything from me."

On the third night of my confinement, Graham led a young woman into the inner courtyard. "Ma'am, this is the new dressmaker. She's here to take your measurements for your winter gowns."

I looked up from my seat on the terrace. Lillian stood there in a deep crimson gown, the moonstone rose pinned to her chest and the sunstone Adrian had given her still hanging around her throat.

Once the butler left, all the innocence disappeared from her face. She looked smug, like she had already won.

"So proper, just like a Magistrate's wife should be. Too bad you'll never know how to make a man happy."

Chapter 4

Lillian Hart sat down across from me without even asking, stroking the rose at her chest. "I thought you looked familiar that day at the jewelry shop. So you're Evelyn Lambert."

She gave a soft laugh. "Adrian says you're like an ice-cold statue. Being around you makes it hard to breathe. He also said that if you didn't come from money, he would never have put up with you this long."

I sat quietly and listened as she repeated, word by word, every bad thing Adrian had said about me behind my back.

Lillian lifted the silver chain at her throat. "Do you know how much this sunstone cost? Adrian paid a thousand gold pounds to a northern witch for it. He said I'd only just been turned and couldn't stand the sunlight. With this, I wouldn't have to hide in a cellar forever." She tilted her head. "Has he ever given you anything this special or thoughtful?"

I looked at her smug face and felt a sudden wave of pity for her and for the woman I used to be.

I stood up and slapped her across the face.

The sound of the slap rang out across the terrace. I had held back my strength, but even so, the new vampire staggered. She held her swelling cheek and stared at me in disbelief. "You hit me?"

"A kept woman living off someone else's blood comes into another woman's home and insults her. Did you really think I'd just take it?"

Lillian's eyes reddened at once. She clenched her jaw, but then she looked past me toward the courtyard gate.

A moment later, she rushed to the table and grabbed my mother's dawn-prayer silver bracelet.

The bracelet was made of holy silver, with a Lambert blood seal inside the band. While it was whole, it protected the wearer from hunter curses. But if it broke, the seal would stop working. The holy silver inside could then stop a vampire's healing.

"Put it down!"

Lillian, still wearing the thick gloves she'd brought for dressmaking, smashed the bracelet against the stone floor. The silver band broke into pieces, and the last thing my mother had left me was destroyed.

Furious, I rushed forward and shoved her. She let my shove send her backward into the broken pieces of silver. A sharp piece went through her glove and into her palm. The smell of burning flesh filled the air at once, and she screamed.

"Lillian!"

Adrian rushed into the courtyard. He had clearly known she was coming and had been waiting nearby all along. He didn't even look at the broken bracelet on the ground. He went straight to Lillian and pulled her into his arms.

"Adrian, I was only trying to take her measurements." Lillian held up her burned hand. She was crying and shaking all over. "She doesn't like me. She hit me and pushed me onto the silver. Will I ever be able to use this hand again?"

New vampires were much more vulnerable to holy silver than old-bloods. All Adrian could see was the wound in her palm that wouldn't heal.

He reached me in one step. "Evelyn, have you lost your mind?"

He slapped me across the face with all the strength of an adult vampire. I crashed into the stone table and fell onto the broken dawn-prayer silver. A piece cut deep into my palm, and the holy silver burned through my veins, stopping my healing at once.

The taste of blood in my mouth had barely faded when a sharp pain tore through my lower abdomen, as though something inside me was being torn away. I grabbed my stomach. Sweat covered my body, and warm blood soon turned the hem of my skirt red.

Adrian was still shouting at me. "She just turned. She hasn't even learned to control her thirst yet. Why do you have to hurt her? You're jealous and cruel. You don't deserve to be the Magistrate's wife."

Claire came rushing out of the room. The moment she saw the blood, she screamed and dropped to my side. "Ma'am! She's carrying your child! The holy silver is in her blood. Get a physician, now!"

Adrian froze. He looked at the blood on my skirt, and fear filled his eyes.

But Lillian cried out from his arms, "Adrian, my hand is going numb. Am I going to lose control? Am I going to turn into a mindless monster?"

He looked from her to me. A moment later, he pulled Lillian closer. "Caine, send a physician to my wife's room."

Then he carried Lillian away.

"Adrian." I used all the strength I had left to call after him.

He stopped, but did not turn around.

I stared at his back and spoke, making every word clear. "If you walk out of this courtyard tonight, our blood oath ends here."