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Vivien, the girl who
was still shaken by her boyfriend dying and coming back to life as a vampire.
    She wondered if he’d be there when
she came out of her chambers, guarding her door—and suddenly waiting even one
more second to see him was intolerable. She didn’t run, but it was a close
thing, and her hand was shaking when she opened the door to the hallway.

 
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
    Limits
     
     
    A little less than half an hour
after Doril had left the chambers, the door opened again, and Dame Vivien
appeared. Aedan, who had been leaning back against the wall across from the
door, straightened up at once and gave a formal bow.
    “Blessings, Dame Vivien.”
    The look of expectation, or maybe
even hope on her features vanished, along with her smile. Aedan had no trouble
imagining that she’d thought she might find Bradan guarding her door. He
answered the question he was sure she would ask before she needed to voice it.
    “Bradan is resting. We had a long
night.”
    “Oh, of course.”
    She stepped out of the chambers,
standing in front of Aedan rather than starting down the hallway.
    “How is he?” she asked. “I mean…
He’s a vampire, I know that, but… His wound? Does he still… hurt?”
    How strange that Aedan could still
be surprised at how little she knew of their world…
    “He’s fine,” he said. “Vampires
heal fast. There’s barely a scar left.”
    Had he been a vampire before
getting wounded, there wouldn’t even have been that much. But he’d been human,
and that scar would be the last one to mar his skin permanently, much like the
fang scars at the crook of Aedan’s neck, left there by his Maker when she had
turned him.
    “I’m glad,” Dame Vivien murmured.
“I’m glad he’s fine. And glad you saved him.”
    She was smiling when she finished.
It wasn’t often she granted Aedan a smile. He couldn’t think of any time when
he’d less deserved it. ‘Saved’ wasn’t the word he’d have used to describe what
he’d done to his brother. Still, he couldn’t say as much now, not to his dame.
To hide his discomfort, he offered another small bow.
    “Where to, Dame Vivien?”
    She gave him an eye roll before
starting down the hallway. Aedan followed, one step back and to the side.
    “And we’re back to ‘Dame Vivien,’
I see,” she said with a sigh. “You called me Vivien yesterday. I didn’t mind,
you know.”
    When he didn’t reply, she glanced
back at him. She expected an answer, but what could he tell her that he hadn’t
already said? He’d noticed how annoyed she became if he pointed out that
something wasn’t proper, and decided it’d be wiser not to use that term around
her.
    “Yesterday, I was upset,” he
finally said, and the words came out with some difficulty. He didn’t like
admitting his own weaknesses. “I wasn’t thinking. I’d offer an apology for it,
but I know you would be more offended by the apology than you were by my slip
of the tongue.”
    Her snort didn’t sound dame-like
in the slightest, but it was rather adorable.
    “Well, at least you’ve got one
thing right,” she muttered.
    They’d reached the first floor,
and with a shake of her head, she entered the library. Aedan, as he always did,
stopped at the door. She started to say something about Doril, but fell silent
when she realized he hadn’t followed her inside. She frowned as she considered
him.
    “Why do you always do that?” she
asked. “You never come in unless I ask you to.” Her eyebrows shot up. “Can you
come in if I don’t ask you to? On Earth, there’s this thing about vampires. In
movies and stuff, they can’t enter a house unless someone invites them in. Is
it the same thing? Is that why…”
    She’d been talking excitedly, but
her voice trailed off when Aedan shook his head. He wasn’t sure what ‘movies
and stuff’ meant, but she only had half of it right.
    “It is correct that I can’t enter
a dwelling unless someone there has invited me to do so,” he