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  And as the afternoon shadows lengthened, our hunger for each other didn’t abate. Over and over he pushed me into climax, until I thought I could take no more. But I did. Finally we lay sated and contented—at least for a while.

  Fat, little cherubs, with their rounded, dimpled pink cheeks, smiled down at us from the ceiling cornices. They were a sweet reminder of the tiny cherub growing in my womb. Not long now, and I’ll be starting to show.

  ‘Perhaps we can leave the cake out.’ But then again, what’s a wedding without a cake?

  ‘Come again?’ His lips grazed my brow.

  I turned more into his side to look up at him. ‘You didn’t hear my thoughts this time, did you?’

  I’d been consciously picturing the cherubs.

  He smiled. ‘Only hear them when you want me too. Now you know how to do it. What’s with the cake?’

  ‘I was just thinking of the wedding cake, that maybe it’s not such a good idea to have one. Besides me, and perhaps the housekeeper, who else would eat it? Mum, Dad and Jen are back in Sydney. Unless I send them each a huge piece so it won’t go to waste I’ll be stuck eating it all. I’ll be showing enough soon.’

  Alec gently placed his hand on my belly, leaned down and kissed it. ‘Our babe’s heartbeat’s loud and clear.’

  Our baby.

  My heart fluttered at the words. ‘First heard it two weeks ago. Got a shock as I thought my heart was doing something funny, until it hit me.’

  He grinned and laid his head on my belly, his cheek warm against my skin, his dark hair contrasting with the fairness of my skin, like a raven with a dove. I ran my hand through his hair enjoying it silky smoothness between my fingers.

  If we could have lain like that for the rest of eternity, I would’ve been content.

  Alec rose and gazed tenderly at me, and smoothed the hair back from my face. ‘I’ll talk to Pere Hubert later today. I’m sure he’d like to conduct the ceremony.’

  Pere Hubert—Father Hubert—was the village priest, a kindly old man who’d visited a couple of times offering comfort and solace. His understanding and gentleness had touched me. ‘I’d like that, too.’

  Alec’s lips brushed my belly. ‘Would you be okay with a private ceremony, our circle only? I’d like to keep it from the Brethren for now. Not until our babe’s born and we know for sure the Principate can function without the Bloodgifted.’

  ‘Makes sense.’

  Some time ago, I’d reconciled myself knowing my family and friends could not be at my vampire wedding—too tricky with a large Brethren presence. But that didn’t mean—sometime in the near future—we couldn’t retake our vows in Sydney for the benefit of the humans. We’d already discussed that, and Alec had promised.

  ‘I intend keeping that promise.’ He kissed me. ‘But right now, you and our babe’s safety is all I care about. Nothing else matters. You two are my life. I’m only sorry John and Eilene can’t be here to celebrate with us. I know how much that would mean to you.’ The vehement tone of his voice contrasted with the softness of his eyes as he gazed at me.

  I swallowed down the lump in my throat. Was it possible to fall in love with a man more and more every day? Oh, yes, it was.

  ‘It would ... and it wouldn’t.’ I sighed. ‘Dad wouldn’t enjoy seeing me married to you ... a vampire ... you know. If anything, it would hurt him, and I couldn’t bear to see that.’

  Alec rolled onto his back, taking me with him. His lips brushed the top of my hair. His other hand roamed my back and buttocks. ‘I’m sorry, darling.’

  ‘I hoped, in time, he’d get to know you ... see that some of his perceptions are wrong.’ Now there appeared to be so little time, especially with me living on the other side of the world from Sydney. It would probably be at least a year until I saw him and Mum again, and his heart would have deteriorated further.

  A dark cloud settled over my thoughts.

  Alec kissed each of my fingertips. ‘He knew Luc, and he’d met Marcus, who’s the best of us. John chose to see what he wanted to see.’

  There was no hint of bitterness or recrimination in his voice. It was simply a statement of fact as he’d observed it, and he’d known Dad far longer than I did. Although I didn’t like to admit it, that much about Dad was true.

  ‘Mum called him the stubbornest man in creation. You know she used to ply him with his favourite foods—sweets especially—whenever she wanted him to see things her way? It worked. She could whip up a dessert lovers dream cake in an afternoon, and by the evening, Dad was eating out of her hand.’

  I wriggled my fingers under his nose.

  ‘Yep, and....’ An idea came to me. ‘I’ll bet Sabine could bake us a cake. Doesn’t have to be elaborate. Get some flowers from the greenhouse, and the staff can decorate the great hall. And ... look—’ My pulse raced as I bounced off the bed and ran into the closet. A moment later I stood before Alec, holding Judy’s wedding dress against the front of my body, the plastic wrapping cool against my skin. ‘It was Judy’s. She’d kept it among her things all those years.’

  Alec sat up, his jaw slack as he gazed at me. ‘I remember her wearing it. Luc had asked me to be his best man.’

  Time stood still as I stared at the beautiful man in my bed, the man who hadn’t aged, and who drank my blood. The surreal moment that passed as quickly as it came.

  I blinked. ‘I keep forgetting you’re a hundred something. Old man.’

  He grinned, eyes twinkling, and tapped the empty spot next to him. ‘Come here, and I’ll show you exactly how old I am.’

  I draped the dress carefully over the back of the sofa. Linking my hands behind my back, I sauntered casually back toward the bed. ‘Don’t want you to exhaust yourself.’

  Alec gave a feral growl. His eyes darkened as his gaze raked my body before levelling with my eyes. ‘Darling, after I’m finished with you, I’ll have to carry you down the aisle.’

  My breath left me as a delicious shiver sent my heart racing, and with trembling legs at the promised pleasure in his voice, I sank into his open arms.

  Everything else could wait.

  Chapter 11 - Behind the Pearl

  LAURA

  A misty cloud of warm air hovered around my mouth, even as the icy night air chilled my cheeks. Kari and I stood outside the two-storey village library in D’Antonville, and I wrapped my arms around myself in an attempt to stave off shivering. Like the local primary school and the municipal hall, between which it was wedged, the library appeared to be a centuries-old building with inset columns, decorated stonework and a curved tiled roof.

  Although no snow covered the ground, the frosty air had me longing to get inside. Our family crest—the sword and serpent insignia—stood proud and steadfast from the top of the façade. Directly below it, three arched windows spilled warm light onto the street.

  The librarian was expecting us.

  I still hadn’t told Alec about Judy’s diary, not until I was sure its information was as explosive as I suspected. He had enough to worry about. But, he hadn’t been happy that only Kari would be with me.

  ‘With that thing out there—’

  ‘It’s probably nowhere near us. And, besides, you know how feral Kari can get if I’m in danger. I remember the way she jumped on Rasputin’s back.’ And then he had mesmerised her and nearly killed her. Perhaps not a good illustration.

  He’d then wanted one of the men to accompany us, but they were all busy, too. In the end, he’d come up with the sensible solution: extend the ward ring’s shield to cover the main part of the village, but not as strongly as Luc had done in the nineteen forties who’d made it invisible to human eyes.

  ‘Perfect.’ I’d kissed him and, with Kari as my bodyguard, drove into the village.

  Now, as we were about to enter, I sensed ... something ... as if I was being watched. I didn’t know why, but my gaze was drawn toward the furthest end of the street, where the village church stood, an old medieval building, complete with spire, flying
buttresses and its turrets adorned with grotesque-looking gargoyles.

  Ech! Never understood the medieval penchant for those things.

  My insides turned cold. ‘Kari, is the church covered by the protective ward?’

  ‘Aaah ... not sure. Let me check.’ Hand outstretched, she strode several metres down the street and stopped. ‘It ends here,’ she called over her shoulder. ‘It’s tingly. Why do you wanna know?’

  ‘Had an odd feeling, that’s all.’

  Please, please let it not be the lamia. We were alone, and if it was, Kari’d be no match for the thing. Tentatively, I checked my serpent ring. Its eyes glowed right red. My pulse returned to normal—no danger.

  Eyes narrowed, she turned back and surveyed the distant church. I heard her quietly counting, ‘... twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four.... Nah, all’s good.’ She scratched her head. ‘I know what you were thinking. There are no extra gargoyles. But ...’ She did another pan of the street and sniffed deeply. ‘I’ve never smelled the things, so I can’t really tell.’

  ‘Believe me, you’d remember if you did.’ And since I couldn’t detect anything foul either, I put my fears down to jittery nerves, and just knowing that thing was free and out there ... somewhere. Hopefully, not here.

  She shrugged. ‘No way it could get through the ward shield thingy anyway. C’mon, let’s get inside.’ The confident smile on her pretty pixie face allayed my fears, and linking arms, we hurried up the stone steps and through one set of three purple double doors above which busts of Voltaire, Rousseau and Thoreau gazed down at us from their carved niches.

  I’m sure I must’ve purred when the warm air-conditioning hit my numb cheeks, along with the smell of freshly brewed coffee. Kari giggled and rubbed my face to get the circulation going. Her hands were toasty.

  ‘Get ready to have your ears bleed. Adeline talks and talks and talks and—’

  I slammed my hand over her mouth. ‘Okay, I get it. Adeline doesn’t get out much. Right?’

  ‘You’ll see,’ Kari mumbled behind my hand.

  A short, slim woman—in her early forties, perhaps—with a pert, upturned nose and rosy cheeks met us in the foyer. She looked vaguely familiar, as if I’d seen her somewhere, although we hadn’t met. Or had we? And if she was as chatty as Kari had said, I was sure I would’ve remembered her.

  ‘Milady and Mademoiselle Kari, come in, come in.’ Her French accent fell softly on the ear. She beamed, revealing a gap-toothed smile. ‘I’ve made some coffee. It should warm you up.’

  ‘Sounds wonderful.’

  Clear grey eyes regarded me with interest. ‘How much like your father you look. What a loss, what a loss.’

  I rubbed my chest at the wound her unexpected remark had opened. It had only just begun to close. Kari shot me a sympathetic look and I had to bite back the tears. Deep breaths.

  She indicated the way to her office where a steaming pot of coffee and several mugs sat atop a bench. In a little sink nearby, I glimpsed a couple of food stained dishes. She must have only just finished her evening meal.

  Atop a solid mahogany desk, arranged in military fashion and equidistant from each other, were pens, books and folders. Even the laptop sat at a perfect ninety-degree angle. And perfectly centred between all, an elegant wood and brass name plaque. I mentally translated it from the French: Adeline Dalpuget, Head Librarian and Archivist.

  ‘We met, milady, briefly at the funeral, but I doubt you’d remember. So many people offered their condolences, and I was only one face among hundreds.’

  As she spoke, I glimpsed an earring shaped like an ancient scroll, and I remembered seeing her at my parents’ funeral. Why I should remember those particular earrings, I had no idea. Perhaps it was, unlike everyone else’s dark sombre dress—some even had jewellery made from jet—those little silver dangly scrolls were like a cheerful light in a dark time.

  ‘I do remember you. You sat with the First Families.’

  Her grey eyes twinkled. ‘Yes, yes I did. How kind of you to notice. I was with Monsieur Le Mayor and his wife, and our handsome chief of police ...’ She rattled off a host of names, none of which I knew, adding little hints about their character traits. ‘... really shouldn’t eat so much brioche. It gives him gas.’

  Behind her, perched on the edge of the librarian’s desk, Kari barely managed to disguise her snort with a cough as she downed her coffee. After which, she mimicked Adeline’s chatter with finger movements and much head and eye rolling. It was all I could do to hold a straight face. But we weren’t here to socialise.

  ‘The coffee was lovely, thank you, Madame Dal—’

  She laid her hand on my arm. ‘Just Adeline. I’m not one for formality. Lord Luc, God bless his soul—’ she crossed herself ‘—called me Addy. It was so nice of him. He even let me—’

  I cleared my throat. ‘Adeline, did Lady Judith ever hand you a notebook for safekeeping?’

  She shook her head. ‘Not ever. Is that what you’re looking for?’

  ‘About this size.’ I indicated with my hands. ‘Black, red or brown leather. It’s supposedly here in the library behind a precious pearl.’

  Adeline’s eyebrows soared upwards. ‘Pearl? Obviously a mistake. The only pearls in this library are to be found in books. Which is natural, as books are pearls....’

  Kari and I exchanged a glance. ‘Hidden inside a book?’

  Could that be what Judy’s cryptic note meant? It made sense, but then again, wouldn’t it create a bulge within the book it was hidden? Unless it was hollowed out.

  ‘No, no, no. I know every book in this library. It’s not possible.’

  ‘You personally check every one? Open them up and see that pages haven’t been removed?’

  She stared at me, mouth opening and closing like a guppy. ‘Ah, um ... not ... recently. There are thousands of books here, shelf upon shelf—’

  ‘Then it’s possible.’ Could it be that simple? I couldn’t wait to get started, sure the library would have something on pearls. ‘Thanks for the coffee. Now, where’re the books on pearls?’

  I rinsed my cup in the sink and went to the door.

  ‘Milady, wait. Let me show you.’

  Adeline led us up a wide set of stairs into the main section of the library. Unlike the library in the chateau, there was no frescoed ceiling, marble columns or medieval globes. The interior was simple and modern, with a large central area filled with tables and chairs. I could see kids using the place during school hours, working on projects or sitting in nooks reading a picture book.

  A small pang tugged at my heart. The Year 6 class I was meant to be teaching this year would have another teacher. Perhaps, when all this was over, one day, I could resume my teaching career.

  ‘From here to here.’ She pointed out two shelves with a range of books from the history of pearl diving to academic publications on oyster cultivation and the harvesting of cultured pearls.

  ‘Kari, you take the this shelf.’ I tapped the timber frame. ‘I’ll go through the bottom one.’

  She nodded, and we set to work, opening every book, even checking the bindings in case the notebook had been hidden there. Adeline hovered at our elbows, reaching out then snatching her hand back as if worried we’d damage her beloved books. How did she deal with groups of school kids?

  Compared to Kari’s vampire speed, I must have seemed as slow as a snail. She was finished when I had barely completed half my assigned row. She pitched in to help.

  ‘Nothing.’ I threw my hands up when we were done and turned to Adeline. ‘No special reserve?’

  ‘I’m sorry, milady. This is it.’

  ‘I don’t understand. It must be here.’ For good measure, I peeked behind the shelves in case I’d missed something.

  Kari sat cross-legged on the floor and looked up at me expectantly. I joined her, resting my head in my hands while mulling over the possibility we might never solve the puzzle and find that notebook.

  Although we had tried to be c
areful with the books, the military precision with which she realigned the shelves would have pleased any general.

  Behind the precious pearl.

  The words played over and over in my mind. It made sense to Judy, and I thought it had to me, too. Had I been wrong?

  ‘Lolly, can I take a peeky at that note again?’ Kari’s cheeky wink at using my mum’s pet name for me had me rolling my eyes. ‘I reeeeaally like it. Please, can I use it?’

  ‘Why fight it,’ I said on a sigh. ‘But not in public,’ I stipulated as I reached into my pocket and handed her the slip of paper on which I’d copied Judy’s sketch with the elusive words.

  ‘Okey-dokey.’ She hummed a little tune as she examined the note, and then her gaze roamed the library.

  ‘Did I get it wrong, Kari?

  ‘Don’t know.’

  Leaning my head back against the shelf, I spotted a dedicatory plaque on the wall opposite. My parents’ names were on it. Luc had commissioned the building back in the early eighteen-hundreds, and Judy had sponsored recent extensions and renovations.

  In all the years I had known her as my aunt, how little of her true life I had actually known; a whole other existence I’d been ignorant off.

  As I stared at her name—Judith Dantonville—her initials stood out to me: JD. She’d often signed her name simply using her initials, with a small e after the D for the “ville” in Dantonville: JDe.

  I sat bolt upright. ‘Jude!’

  ‘What?’ Kari’s nose crinkled as she turned to face me.

  I shot to my feet, heart pounding. ‘Judy’s initials—JD with a small e added to it, stands for Jude, as in short for “Judy”. Mum and dad always called her that.’

  Kari and Adeline looked at me blankly.

  ‘Don’t you see? It’s a play on her name: Jude for Judy, and Jude, a book in the New Testament, the Bible—“the pearl of great price.” That’s what she meant by precious pearl. It’s hidden behind a bible!’

  ‘Ha! I would never have gotten that.’ Kari gave my arm a gentle punch.