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TWO NIGHTS AFTER MEETING with his allies, Sebastian’s frustration at his inability to find a match had increased. Drinking down a warm glass of blood, he stood in front of the fireplace to brood. He’d wasted three months spying on fae beings while trying to choose a likely candidate. “Maybe I should pay a visit to this mysterious Night Cursed fortune teller,” he murmured.
Figuring he didn’t have anything to lose, he left his empty glass sitting on the coffee table and headed for the front door. The glass vanished before he’d taken two steps now that he was done with it.
Light snow was falling as he stepped outside. He pulled his hood up, then harnessed his energy and took off at a sprint. Sebastian crossed through the Vampire District and entered the City Square several minutes later. He came to a stop in front of the boutique where Madam Quilla had set up shop. He could hear the gypsy bustling around inside and pushed the door open.
Madam Quilla looked up and frowned when she saw him. “Are you open for business, mademoiselle?” he asked, trying not to frighten her. Most beings thought vampires were evil and were instinctively afraid of his kind. He was sure she didn’t get many undead clients turning up at her door.
“Sure,” she said and her frown smoothed out. She gestured at the chair across from hers. “Take a seat and tell me what you need from me.”
Sebastian paused to place the sign that said she was busy in the window, then crossed to the chair. He glanced around the purple room, then his attention returned to the gypsy. “I need you to tell me my fortune,” he said.
She let out a small sigh at his vague reply. “I’m going to need more information than that,” she said wryly. “Do you want to know about your love life? Do you have enemies you need to know more about? Do you have some allies that you’re not sure you can trust?”
“All of the above,” he said with an unwilling smile.
She took a deck of tarot cards out of her pocket and began to shuffle them with enviable speed and efficiency. He pushed his hood back and the seer’s eyes met his. Her hands went still and her gaze became unfocussed, but it wasn’t because he was bamboozling her. “You seek vengeance against someone who betrayed you and caused you great suffering,” she said in a faraway tone. “You came to Nox with the intention of killing this man, but you found he’s far too powerful to easily be destroyed. You’ve made allies who have boosted your strength, but you need more power if you wish to succeed with your plans.”
“How do you know all that?” he asked suspiciously, eyes flicking around the room as he searched for a possible ambush.
“I’m a fortune teller, Lord Sebastian,” she told him and placed the deck of tarot cards on the table. He flinched that she knew his identity. “I see your fate has become entwined with your allies’,” she went on. “You must find your match soon and become bonded with her. Her time is running out and her masters will soon discover her rebellious intentions. Once you are bound, it will strengthen the link between yourself and your allies. Once all three of you have found your matches, you will have a greater chance of defeating your enemies.”
Sebastian was rocked by the gypsy’s prediction. She hadn’t outright said she knew he’d formed a new triumvirate, but she seemed to know all about him and his allies. He glanced at the cards that he hadn’t even touched. Somehow, she’d gleaned this information without using the usual methods. “Do you work for the Immortal Triumvirate?” he asked.
Madam Quilla’s upper lip curled in apparent distaste. “They created Nox and the Night Cursed, so we all belong to them,” she said grudgingly. “But I don’t work for them. I don’t report to them about my visions. All of my appointments are confidential.”
He reminded himself that she would forget all about him by tomorrow night. Xiara Evora was the only cursed being who seemed to be able to recall the past. “Can you tell me where I can find the woman I’m supposed to be matched with?” he asked.
The seer’s response surprised him again. “You’ve already met her.”
“I have?” he asked, both eyebrows lifting skeptically.
“Yeah. You’ve run into her a few times now,” the gypsy said nonchalantly. “I believe you recently became very well acquainted with her,” she added with a smirk and waggled her eyebrows.
He narrowed his eyes at her suggestive grin, then they widened when her meaning sank in. “Eden is my match?” he asked, half in disbelief and half in hope.
“You two were destined to be together,” Madam Quilla said. “You’ve already claimed each other with your innate magic. Now you need to break her ties to her masters so she can be free. She’ll finally be able to reach her full potential and become the match you need.”
Sebastian mused about her prediction. It was as if his dreams were coming true. If Eden was the woman he was destined to be with, then he needed to find her and rescue her from the rising danger that he’d been sensing. No wonder he was so obsessed with her if his vampiric charisma had claimed her. He still didn’t know how she’d managed not to be turned into his mindless thrall. “What is Eden?” he asked.
Madam Quilla broke eye contact with him and looked down at her tarot cards. “That isn’t my place to say,” she said firmly.
He knew his magic wouldn’t work on a cursed being, so he didn’t bother to try to charm the answer out of her. “Where can I find her?” he asked next. “Do you know where she lives?”
“Eden won’t be home at night,” the mystic informed him. “She’s out hunting.”
“For whom?”
“For you,” she said, meeting his eyes again. “She needs your help just as much as you need hers. You can save each other, but you need to trust each other first. You need to listen to her story, then decide whether you will take her as your mate. Your fate isn’t set in stone. Everything still hangs in the balance, including the destiny of Nox itself.”
Her grave tone resonated with the master vampire and a shiver of doom ran down his spine. If he and his allies failed to destroy their enemies, Nox would continue to decline. Its inhabitants would slowly be stripped of their energy and magic until they became weak and useless. “Will I find Eden in the Vampire District if she is searching for me?” he asked.
“That’s where I would look if I were you, monsieur,” she replied in a terrible French accent.
“Merci, mademoiselle,” he said with a slight smile. “I’d best be on my way. It could take me some time to find Eden.”
“Good luck, my lord,” Madam Quilla said as he stood up. “Nox is counting on you and your allies to succeed.”
He inclined his head at her, then removed the sign from the window and let himself out. He’d gotten far more than he’d bargained for from his visit to the boutique. Excitement began to rise inside him at the prospect that Eden was the right woman for him after all. If he’d trusted his instincts sooner, they could have become matched weeks ago. After a century and a half of living alone as he’d hunted his nemesis, he found it difficult to trust anyone. He was now going to have to place all of his trust in a woman he barely knew. “She will have to trust me as well,” he murmured.
It seemed Eden had secrets of her own that she would have to reveal to him. The sooner he tracked her down so they could learn the truth about each other, the better off they would both be.
That thought decided him and he took off running. He dodged around pedestrians so quickly that they didn’t even register his presence as he sprinted to the Vampire District to begin his search.
