CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT
Rachel brushed at her eyes as she reread Polidori’s letter to Mary. It reminded her of something Jess had said, on the steps outside Heaven. “Hundreds of thousands of years of human history . . . And yet we’re only here for such a short time.” It reminded her of the quiet conversations she’d shared with Aubrey in the parlor, the kitchen, the courtyard. Over port and cigars. With nothing but words bringing them closer together. She sank into the wing of the chair, a shiver running through her.
The vast spectrum of the passions. The best. The worst.
“He’s seductive, isn’t he?” Jess had said.
She recognized Jess’s voice in the courtyard below her window. She hadn’t heard the front door’s usual creaking salutation and presumed there was no longer a need for the preten
