A Dowry of Blood (A Dowry of Blood #1)(47)

The weight of this knowledge pressed down on me like an iron yoke.

“Magdalena, help me move him,” I breathed. “Alexi, get the key and go guard the door. I want you to open it, but not until I say so.”

Alexi nodded frantically, scrambling off the bed and fumbling the key out of your pocket. I grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back to me for a quick kiss before I shooed him out of the room. Then I pulled Magdalena into a tight embrace, burying my face into her matted hair.

“What are you going to do?” she asked in a whisper.

I took her face in my hands and kissed her too, tasting the ghost of your blood on her lips.

“I’m going to end this,” I said.





You weighed no more than a child when I hoisted you into my arms. It shouldn’t have been possible. You were taller than I was, and I had never had much strength in my arms. But I was able to cradle you against my chest and carry you through the doorway and out the hall, your head lolling against my shoulder.

I took the stairs carefully, Magdalena rushing ahead of me just in case I tripped and fell. Alexi was waiting by the door as requested, every muscle in his body taut with terror.

With you gone, we all felt exposed, vulnerable despite our newfound strength.

“They’ve broken through the gate,” he said, voice tight.

I nodded to Alexi as soon as my bare feet hit the cold floor of the main entryway.

“Let them come,” I said. “Unlock the door and then get behind me with your sister. Be ready to run.”

Alexi did as he was told, then rushed into the reassuring darkness of the house and Magdalena’s open arms. I took a deep breath and shifted your weight in my arms, clutching you tight, and then pushed open the front door.

Twenty men and a handful of enraged mothers come to seek justice for their children stood in the yard, guns brandished and crowbars in their hands, hungry for violence. Their shouts assailed my ears as I stepped into the moonlight, cradling you like a groom might cradle their bride.

The mass stood stock-still when they saw me, the horror on their features illuminated by their flickering torches and lanterns. I suppose I must have looked terrifying; a slip of a girl covered with blood and holding the desiccated body of the monster they had all come to fear. The cries of rage died on their lips as I took a few deliberate steps towards them, feeling the night air on my skin for the first time in ages. Despite the fear pounding in my chest, I felt alive. I felt truly free, no matter what was to become of me.

I knelt and placed your body onto the ground, and in doing so released our hundreds of years together. Grief seized my heart in a vise, though it was lined with a sort of euphoria as well. It was as if I had been holding back tears for eons, and now, as I gasped out a sob, something that had been locked up tight inside me was breaking free.

“Here’s your demon,” I said, my voice fracturing around the tears. “Do with him what you will.”

The townspeople descended on your body with a collective shout and I stumbled backwards, sagging against the doorframe of the great old house. They dug their heels into your body and looped a rope around your neck. I dashed back into the house just in time to see one of them raise a scythe high, poised to rend your head from your body.

I slammed the door behind me as it came down with a sickening shink .

“Run!” I called to Magdalena and Alexi. I grabbed each of their hands, hauling them up the stairs back to our rooms. “Grab whatever valuables you can carry and run! Once they’re done with him, they’ll be coming for us.”

Magdalena and I stuffed the pockets of our dresses with jewels and golden cigarette cases, and Alexi rifled through your rooms for all the money he could find. Then, without even a chance to change our clothes, we snatched up our coats and shoes and fled out the servant’s entrance.

The night was cool and wet, and dew clung to our legs as we raced through the tall grass behind the house. Magdalena stumbled, and Alexi and I hoisted her up, urging her forward. I didn’t know where we were going, but I knew we had the whole world ahead of us and certain death behind us. There was nowhere to go but forward.

I looked back only once, just in time to see the villagers hold their torches to our home and cheer as it caught fire. The entire house was up in flame in moments, scorching the small empire you had built. Everything, our clothes, our letters, and the memory of the long days we had spent confined in the country house were consumed by the flames.

“Gone,” Alexi babbled, the fire flickering in his wide eyes. “It’s all gone.”

“We will rebuild,” I said, urging him on forward. “We will survive. It’s what we’re best at.”

We pulled each other through the muck and the mire, heading for the nearest road.

We held each other and we wept, but we never looked back again, my love. Not once.





Sometimes, when I walk through the city, I get a crawling feeling on the back of my neck that compels me to turn around. Sometimes, I think I see your face in the crowd, only for an instant, before you’re swept away by the masses again.





We hurried through the wharf, noise and bustle swirling around us as we looked for Alexi’s ship. Magdalena was resplendent in a green dress that skimmed her knees, and Alexi looked plucky and seaworthy in suspenders and a newsboy cap. Seagulls swooped and screamed overhead as we three walked arm in arm, craning our necks to read the names of the great ships.