Winterly (Dark Creatures Book 1), стр. 126
At length Milli was forced to disengage herself from Emma’s arms so that Sister Mary could be greeted.
Milli’s glance fell with manifest surprise and suspicion upon Valko when Emma introduced him to Mary. It was apparent that Milli’s attention had been solely focused upon Emma until now. She stood gaping as though waiting for him to sprout wings or fangs. “Mr. Valko,” she finally said with a sedate nod when he did neither.
“Upon my word,”—his eyes glittered with humor as he examined her severe attire—“you look positively divine.”
Milli lifted her chin. “You find me now a humble postulant.”
“A nun, Milli?” Emma’s gaze flickered rapidly between her cousin and her sister. “That’s a prodigious change of heart! You’ve only been here a week!” Then, in a low whisper, she said, “Are you out of your senses, you wet goose? You know very well you cannot hear a sermon without falling asleep in the midst of it.”
Milli colored.
Sister Mary gave Emma’s arm a firm but loving pat. “The weather is so fine today, why do we not all take a stroll about the gardens.”
Mr. Valko, catching Sister Mary’s eye with a conspiratorial nod, engaged Milli in conversation, distracting the girl from the sharp looks she was throwing her sister. He needn’t have worried, though, the sisters were hardly in the habit of pulling caps. Emma and Mary preceded from the parlor, followed by her sister and Valko. Valko, however, appeared in no hurry to keep up with Mary’s brisk pace. Emma shot the wehr-wolf a hard look as the distance between she and her sister grew.
“You are not well, Emma,” said Mary with another pat. “Vampyre troubles, I suppose?”
Emma stumbled, nearly catching a willow branch in her gaping mouth.
Steadying her, Mary continued on as though she was merely discussing the weather. “You mustn’t be surprised, my dear, Milli has been confiding in me, you see.” The nun planted herself on the bench beneath the weeping tree. She gave the spot beside her a peremptory pat, gesturing for Emma to join her there. “But I thought I might suspend my belief until I had heard the words confirmed by you. Have you found the words yet, Emma?”
“I hardly know what she’s been telling you,” said Emma, prevaricating.
“I was given to believe that you and Milli have lately been the guests of a certain viscount who, as it happens, has turned out to be a vampyre. Your sister claims he has shown a great interest in you. Is all that true?”
Emma searched her cousin’s face, but found no derision or judgment there. Only patient concern. “Would you believe such a thing even possible?”
“I believe in angels and demons; I believe there are a great many things beyond our ken…” She let her thoughts trail off with a knowing look.
“And would you believe that I was foolish enough to fall in love with him.” In a maundering rush, Emma expounded all, concluding her tale of woe with the cold farewell of his letter. “And now my sister, who might sprout a pelt at any moment—” her laughter fell between them like broken glass “—imagines herself a postulant. A wehr-wolf nun, of all things!” Emma threw a hard look over to where Valko and Milli were strolling, by all appearances carefree. “I never saw a novice so flirtatious,” she said.
“We must all make sense of our world as best we can, you must not begrudge Milli this small moment of normalcy; she is young.”
“And silly besides.” Emma turned away from the couple with a sigh. Only then did she notice the queer bird spying from a branch nearby. A watchful raven. “I ought to have protected her better.”
“You have ever been a diligent protector, Emma. Really, you are too hard on yourself.”
“No, if I’d been more vigilant, guarded my virtue better—”
“You would not be human, my dear. All we can do is strive to find our way again when we misstep, and to do so with grace and kindness, and, God willing, to help others along the way.” They were silent for some time before Mary spoke again. “You still weep for this creature?”
Emma nodded, her watery gaze fixed to the pond. “Wasted tears from a wasted heart.”
“No, Cousin, I do not believe that love can be wasted. A heart must be freely given, even if there is no hope of reciprocity.” Mary appeared thoughtful. “However, you gave me to understand your vampyre returned your love.”
“Only words spoken,” said Emma. “Words that have already flown away; what he wrote is now etched forever in memory.”
“It seems to me he set you free. That is selfless, is it not?”
“A nun in defense of a devil?” Emma shook her head. “I thought you might hate him for what he is; I thought you might judge me for what I still feel for him.”
“Never, Cousin, it is not my place to judge others—I leave that to our Father; I aim only to understand. You’ve as fine and true a heart as ever beat and I trust its partiality to this vampyre of yours. Moreover, he seemed perfectly amiable to me.”
“Is it not enough that he is a vampyre?” Surely such a creature, in the eyes of the church—hostis humani generis, as it were—was as far from redemption as hell was from heaven.
“A vampyre,” said Mary, nodding, “that saved you from this Nekromantis; and under his aegis your sister has remained safe all these nights.”
Emma stilled. “What do you mean by ‘all these nights’?”
“When Milli was brought to us she was most unwell, as I believe you know. Strangely, her malady seemed to worsen towards the close of day, and the physician’s leeching appeared only to aggravate matters all the more. Frankly, I am most suspicious of leeching.”
Ironic, thought Emma, for she was defending