I was utterly drained. The grind at work had already worn me thin, but compared to the chaos of the court trial, my time at the bank felt almost serene. I took a grim sort of comfort in knowing that justice—of some kind—had been served, yet the events at the Night Council’s headquarters left me burdened with an unease I couldn’t put into words.

I was well aware of the Lord Protector of Kessler’s influence among the vampires, but what gnawed at me was his brazen interference in my ...