The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de La Cruz

That still doesn’t explain it. Why would they even care about that? What’s it to them? It doesn’t

make sense.”
    “I know,” Jack

sighed.
    “You’re not telling me

everything,” Schuyler realized. He was protecting her. ‘ tell me the truth. There has

to be a reason why they’ve been trying to kill me.”
    Jack hung his head. Finally he

spoke. “A long time ago, during the crisis in Rome, the Pistis Sophia saw the

future. She said that one day, the irrevocable bond among the Uncorrupted would

break. That Gabrielle would spurn Michael and bear a daughter with a Red Blood. And that daughter

would be the death of the Silver Bloods. Sophia has never been wrong.”
    “So I’m their death?” Schuyler

found it absurdly funny. “Me? They’re scared . . . of me?” A half-hysterical yelp escaped before

she could stop herself. It was so absolutely ridiculous. What could she do to harm them? As the

Inquisitor had pointed out, she had used her mother’s sword and missed. She might be fast and

strong and light, but she was not a fighter, not a warrior, not a soldier.
    Jack crossed his arms. “It’s

nothing to laugh about. Leviathan would have killed you right there that night in Rio if he had

known who you were. And now that he knows he was so close and failed to kill you, he’s tracked

you down here to finish the job.”
    “But how do you know Leviathan

has tracked me?”
    “Because I have been tracking

Leviathan,” Jack said grimly. “My father and I have been tracking him for months.”
    “Charles is here?” she asked.

She wondered why the news did not make her feel safer. Charles Force was the greatest of them

all. He was Michael, Pure of Heart, the Valiant, Prince of the Angels, Supreme Commander of the

Lord’s Army. She had been looking for Charles herself, and to know that he was here in Paris, and

as her protector, or one of them, anyway, should have gladdened her heart. But it did

not.
    Charles Force was not a

friend. He was not an enemy, but he was not a friend either. But maybe now she would be able to

find out what Lawrence had asked her to do. Charles would have to tell her about the Van Alen

Legacy. Schuyler had to know. She owed her grandfather that much. Jack nodded.
    “Yes. He decided to come

himself when the Conclave would not send the Venators after Leviathan following your testimony.

We have been one step and two cities behind him for months. When Leviathan led us here, to this

party, we thought he was after the countess, as she was instrumental in bringing about his

imprisonment on Corcovado. But when we saw you in the ballroom, we suddenly knew what his real

intentions were. Charles sent me to make sure you were safe while he took care of Leviathan

himself.”
    So basically she was in danger

from the baddest demon around. Wonderful. She was running from the

Venators when she probably should have been running toward them, now that she knew what was truly

after her.
    “So you believe me? You

believe that I didn’t kill Lawrence like the Conclave thinks?” Schuyler asked.
    He looked down. “I can’t speak

for the Conclave. But I have always believed you. I’ve always believed in you,” he said

softly.
    “Right.” She

nodded, trying to appear businesslike, to hide the fact that she had been moved by his faith.

Jack believed her. He was on her side. He didn’t hate her, at least. He didn’t hate her for

breaking his heart. “So what now?”
    “First things first,” he said

briskly. “Let’s get out of this dungeon. I was worried you would choose this place to hide. And I

think you’ve noticed it smells pretty awful down here.”

NINETEEN

Bliss

    Muffie Astor Carter (real name

Muriel) was a Blue Blood in every sense of the word. She was educated at Miss Porter’s and

Vassar, and had worked in the publicity department of Harry Winston before marrying Dr. Sheldon

Carter, who had found