The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy, #3)

by Deborah Harkness

“You will be whole once more. Your vampire will help you.”

“She wants you to chase her,” Timothy explained. Gallowglass scowled. “I’m not chasing that dog.”

“If you truly love someone, you will cherish what they despise most about themselves.”

Over the course of the next few hours, Matthew reclaimed me, his fingers erasing every trace of the other creatures I’d been in contact with since he departed.

“To every question I have ever had, or ever will have, you are the answer.”

“Stop glowering, Matthew,” Sarah said, joining us in front of the house. “Your children are going to grow up thinking you’re a bear.”

“The secret is that I may be the head of the Bishop-Clairmont family, but you are its heart,” he whispered. “And the three of us are in perfect agreement: The heart is more important.”

“Before you I was nothing but dust and shadows. You brought me to life. And I cannot survive without you.”

“Hearts cannot be broken, Diana. And only love makes us truly immortal.

I’d let the fear take root inside me until it clouded my thoughts and affected how I saw the world.

Fear had also choked out any desire to work magic. It had been my crutch and my cloak, keeping me from exercising my power. Fear had sheltered me from the curiosity of others and provided an oubliette where I could forget who I really was: a witch.

Rebecca Arielle Emily Marthe Bishop-Clairmont, daughter of Diana Bishop, last of her line, and Matthew Gabriel Philippe Bertrand Sébastien de Clermont, first of his line. Born under the rule of the serpent. Philip Michael Addison Sorley Bishop-Clairmont, son of the same Diana and Matthew. Born under the protection of the archer.

“I could smell her fear in the Bodleian, of course, but now I want to understand it. So afraid, yet so remarkably brave. It will be thrilling to break her.”

“Couldn’t die.” Matthew’s voice was so faint it didn’t even qualify as a whisper. “Not without saying goodbye.” Back in Madison, I’d made Matthew promise not to leave me without a proper farewell. My eyes filled as I thought of all he’d been through to honor his word. “You kept your promise,” I said. “Rest now.”

“You can’t hide from me, my love,” I said instead. “I see you, Matthew. And you will always be perfect in my eyes.”

“Matthew Clairmont is an ancient vampire,” she observed, “and he has you. So I’m thinking love and time will do the trick.”

“Answer your e-mail while you’re at it. I send you messages. You don’t answer. It’s aggravating.”

“But you don’t need words to tell me what you feel,” Matthew said. “I see you, even when you hide from the rest of the world. I hear you, even when you’re silent.”

“The three of us will miss you, but we will manage. If I look sufficiently inept in front of Ysabeau and Sarah, I won’t have to change a single diaper while you’re gone.”

“I felt sure you would understand. You are named after the goddess of the chase, after all. Happy hunting in Venice, my dear,” Ysabeau said, patting me on the hand.

Our family had begun with the surprising love that developed between Matthew and me. It grew because our bond was strong enough to withstand the hatred and fear of others. And it would endure because we had discovered, like the witches so many centuries ago, that a willingness to change was the secret of survival.

We were the tenth knot. Unbreakable. Without beginning or end.