Page 96 of Eternal Craving

After ten minutes, I returned to Miranda’s side. “None of them?”

She squinted. “I need more time.”

An uncomfortable silence followed as she stared off into the crowd.

“Him.”

She’d chosen a rotund, middle-aged aristocrat. He munched on a pastry, and some crumbs fell out of his mouth and sprinkled onto his shirt.

“To be your first?” I asked gently.

“Does it matter?”

“Consider this…your first kiss, your first glass of wine, your first?—”

“All right, all right.”

“Or your first lover?”

Miranda stormed away from me, past the fountain, and headed out of the courtyard. I quickly followed her.

A crack of the whip and our carriage rumbled away over uneven ground. I took Miranda’s hand in mine and kissed it. She pulled away.

“To survive, you have to do thateverynight,” I said.

She wiped away a tear.

I stared out of the window. “I miss seeing the sunrise, walking in daylight.”

She kicked me.

We rocked back and forth in our seats, speeding down dirt roads past overgrown fields. The trees hung low, their branches scraping the windows.

Miranda gave me a puzzled look. “Where are we going?”

“A detour.”

Within minutes, we’d pulled up outside a graveyard. I assisted Miranda out of the carriage and guided her along the worn trail. Out of sight of the driver, we stopped before an imposing mausoleum.

Miranda read the inscription on the tomb entrance. “Carmen Casimiro?”

“But Carmen does not lie alone,” I said. “She has company.”

Miranda’s gaze settled on the bouquet of rotting flowers.

“Sometimes, when a person is transformed...”

“Yes?”

I turned to face her. “It goes wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“I appear normal to you, able to pass for a human – albeit an extraordinary one.”

“And handsome.”

“Right,” I said, grinning. “A romantic idea of what it is to be immortal.”