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"What?" Jack asked, unable to hide his curiosity

"If you truly love someone, you will cherish what they despise most about theets that, you reet, I’ll re Diana that you are ing in self-hatred And youras I aarden, under the cover of a s had finally started to fall He was oddly preoccupied with his phone

Every minute or so, his thumb moved, followed by a fixed stare, then anotherat her phone all the tihter stopped abruptly "It’s you You’ve been in touch with her all along"

"Just pictures No words I don’t trust ation--ords" Matthew’s thumb moved

Fernando had heard Diana say to Sarah, "Still no word fro, the witch had not lied, which had prevented the fa as Diana sent only pictures, there would be little way for Matthew to kno badly things had gone wrong in Oxford

Matthew’s breath was ragged He steadied it with visible effort His thumb moved

"Do that oneabout the phone"

The sound that cah, as if the huht and let the in

"What do you think Hugh would have done with a cell phone?" Matthew cradled his in both hands as though it were his last precious link to the world outside his own troubled e it, for a start I loved your brother with all my heart, Matthew, but he was hopeless when it ca chuckle sounded less like a sound a wild aniht make

"I take it that patriarchy has been more difficult than you anticipated?" Fernando didn’t envy Matthew for having to assert his leadership over this pack

"Not really Marcus’s children still hate ers closed on the phone, his eyes straying to the screen like an addict’s "I just saw the last of them Ransome made me account for every vampire death I was responsible for in New Orleans--even the ones that had nothing to do with purging the blood rage from the city"

"That must have taken some time," Fernando murmured

"Five hours Ransome was surprised I remembered them all by name," Matthew said

Fernando was not

"Now all of Marcus’s children have agreed to support me and be included in the scion, but I wouldn’t want to test their devotion," Matthew continued "Mine is a faation, of other vampires, even of me It’s not based on love or respect"

"Fear is easy to root Love and respect take more time," Fernando told him

The silence stretched, became leaden

"Do you not want to ask me about your wife?"

"No" Matthew stared at an ax buried in a thick stus all around it

He rose and picked up a fresh log "Not until I’o to her and see forable to hold her--to watch our children grow inside her--to know she is safe, it’s been--"

Fernando waited until the ax thunked into the wood before he prompted Matthew to continue

"It’s been what, Mateus?"

Matthew pulled the ax free He swung again

Had Fernando not been a vampire, he wouldn’t have heard the response

"It’s been like having my heart ripped out" Matthew’s axhead cleaved the ith a le day"

Fernando gave Matthew forty-eight hours to recover from the ordeal with Ransome Confessions of past sins were never easy, and Mattheas particularly prone to brooding

Fernando took advantage of that tirandchildren

He made sure they understood the family rules and ould punish those who disobeyed them, for Fernando had appointed himself Matthew’s enforcer--and executioner The New Orleans branch of the Bishop-Clairmont family was rather subdued afterward, and Fernando decided Matthew could now go holy concerned about Diana Ysabeau said her ed, but Sarah was still worried Soht, she told Fernando, and she suspected that only Mattheould be able to fix it

Fernando found Matthew in the garden as he often was, eyes black and hackles raised He was still in the grip of blood rage Sadly, there was no more wood for hi at Matthew’s feet

Inside the bag Matthew found his sers of various sizes, a frame saw, and two of his precious planes Alain had neatly wrapped the planes in oiled cloth to protect the their travels Matthew stared at his well-used tools, then at his hands

"Those hands haven’t always done bloody work," Fernando reminded him "I remember when they healed, created, made music"

Matthew looked at his or with a curved base so they can be rocked?" Fernando asked conversationally

Matthened "Make what?"

"The cradles For the twins" Fernando let his words sink in "I think oak is best--stout and strong--but Marcus tells me that cherry is traditional in America Perhaps Diana would prefer that"

Matthew picked up his chisel The worn handle filled his palm "Rowan I’ll make them out of rowan for protection"

Fernando squeezed Matthew’s shoulder with approval and departed

Matthew dropped the chisel back into the bag He took out his phone, hesitated, and snapped a photograph Then he waited

Diana’s response ift andHis as in the bath He recognized the curves of the copper tub in the Mayfair house But these were not the curves that interested him

His wife--his clever, wicked wife--had propped the phone on her breastbone and taken a picture down the length of her nad body All that was visible was the ht, and the tips of her toes resting on the curled edge of the tub

If he concentrated, Matthew could i froers, trace the long, strong lines of her thigh and shoulder Christ, he missed her

"Fernando said you needed lu