Shadow of Night

The next morning, Philippe quizzes Diana on her French and Latin. He tells her she needs to improve if she, as the highest-ranking woman currently in residence, is to give orders to the servants and run the household. When Philippe leaves, Diana asks Matthew about vampire mating. Vampire mating is permanent, and Matthew feels like he is confining Diana with marriage. Mating would unleash Matthew’s vampiric instincts, causing him to focus on her with “ruthless intention.”

Matthew thinks he can take care of Diana, but she wants to learn to protect herself and be somewhat independent. Alain, one of the Sept-Tours servants, looks after Diana while Matthew goes riding with Philippe. With the help of Alain and Pierre, Diana begins the household tasks.

She sees Marthe’s room, which she recognizes from the 21st century. Marthe, Ysabeau’s housekeeper, practices herbal medicine. Diana asks Alain if she can use Marthe’s stillroom as an alchemy lab. She takes a box of herbal remedies to stop fertility.

While Philippe and Matthew hunt the next morning, Diana conducts her day as a typical noblewoman, seeing after household tasks, reading, and managing the manor’s grounds. With Marthe’s materials, she practices alchemical procedures using volumes from the library.

Matthew hasn’t had human blood since they arrived in 1590, which is making him weak. Diana offers her blood, but Philippe overhears. Philippe asks if Matthew has consumed Diana’s blood before. He worries that Matthew will never be able to leave her, even in death, and when she dies, he will die by suicide. Philippe tells Diana she does not know Matthew as well as she thinks she does. Matthew secretly goes to the local church at midday every day; he suggests Diana meet Matthew there the next day.

Diana finds Matthew the next day at the church. He confesses it is his late son Lucas’s birthday. Matthew says that, in the sixth century, his late wife, Blanca, had sex with him before marriage simply because he wished for it. After they married, she had multiple miscarriages but continued to try for a child because Matthew wanted one. When Blanca and Lucas died from sickness, Matthew tried to die by suicide, which is when Ysabeau turned him into a vampire. Matthew thinks being a vampire is God’s punishment. He believes that “for my sins, He gave me to a creature who transformed me into someone who cannot live, or die, or even find fleeting peace in dreams” (140).

Philippe thought Matthew was a coward for his mortal death, until the Nazis tortured Philippe, driving him “insane with pain and deprivation” (141) until he begged for death. Matthew, understanding Philippe’s wish, took his life so Ysabeau wouldn’t have to. He drank Philippe’s blood; though this was the easiest death, drinking blood causes a vampire to experience that being’s memories. Philippe’s memories of torture were nearly unbearable.

Matthew is worried Diana won’t look at him the same, but she loves him more for his “act of mercy.” When she gets back to Sept-Tours, she tells Philippe what she learned. He says a witch will arrive soon to help her.

The next day, Diana persuades the two kitchen boys to take her to the barn, where Philippe and Matthew are sparring. When Matthew sees Diana, Philip wins the match.

Philippe orders Diana to descend from the loft and holds Matthew at sword point, interrogating him about whether protecting Diana gets in the way of his fighting. Matthew begins to enter a “blood rage,” which Philippe calls a hereditary “affliction.” Matthew flings Pierre against a wall and pins him down. Philippe guesses Matthew’s recent temper is due to his guilt over killing Philippe in the future; he forgives him. Matthew lets go of Philippe, and Diana coaches him out of his blood rage. Philippe uses his blood to mark Diana as his “blood-sworn daughter.” The entire household pledges to defend her. 

The next day, Diana meets Monsieur Champier, the witch Philippe recruited. Champier is a seer and can sense a vampire has fed on Diana; he threatens to go to the Congregation. Champier begins to read Diana’s thoughts with the intention of removing them from her entirely; once he senses she’s a timewalker, Diana stabs him with a knife pulled from Philippe’s boot. Philippe reveals he invited Champier as a test. He began making her a de Clermont when he blood-swore her, and now will call a priest to formally marry Diana and Matthew.

Philippe begins planning a three-day wedding in the ancient Greek tradition. Because of Matthew’s fear of passing his blood rage down to a child, Diana broaches a conversation about herbal contraceptives, even though Matthew agrees with the common belief that vampires can only reproduce through “resurrection” not “conception.” Diana thinks the depiction of a “chemical wedding” in Ashmole 782 means they could use alchemy to conceive.

Philippe overhears the end of the conversation, and says he’s been alive long enough to see many “impossible” things become reality. He takes Diana to the now-empty site of an ancient temple of Diana, or Artemis, which was customary for an ancient Greek maiden before her wedding. Philippe prays for Diana’s safety and the continuation of his line through her; this prompts Diana to put away Marthe’s contraceptive herbs. Diana feels Artemis’s power and sees a buck, who accepts their gifts.

That night, the community gathers for a wedding feast. The next day, a group of women prepare Diana’s wedding gown. Philippe enters to bequeath her with family heirlooms, including gems. He also gives Diana a large sum of money so she can be more independent. The ceremony takes place outside the church doors, in front of the village.

After a feast and dance, they leave to consummate their marriage.

On Yule, Diana talks with Philippe while she works with alchemical manuals. Alain interrupts with three messages from Scotland, England, and Lyon. The Lyon messenger reports that Champier told friends where he was going, and people are coming to look for him.

Diana finds Matthew, who has the other messages. A Scottish woman, Agnes Sampson, confessed to witchcraft. The first time he lived through these events, Matthew did not intervene to save Agnes. Diana thinks if he intervenes this time, he’ll change both the past and future.

The other message is from William Cecil, who orders Matthew to return to England to spy on the Scottish situation for Queen Elizabeth. Before he leaves, Matthew tells Philippe how to handle the 16th-century version of himself that will show up after he returns to the future: The entire household will have to keep this version of Matthew and Diana a secret. When Matthew is at church on Christmas Eve, Diana thanks Philippe for healing something in Matthew. They leave on Christmas morning.

In the present day, Ysabeau searches her library for a message from Philippe. She is convinced that Philippe left a hidden message for her in a library book after meeting Diana in 1590. Sarah, Diana’s aunt, says that “time is tricky”; there might not be a note to look for yet. Sarah’s cat, Tabitha, finds a note in an illuminated alchemy book. In the note, Philippe hints that Matthew and Diana will parent a child. Philippe knew such a child in his life but never told Matthew. Emily, Sarah’s partner, suggests other creatures know the story as well, which is why they are hunting Diana.

Ysabeau recalls how Philippe would pour over newspapers and endow colleges for women; she thinks he may have been looking for Diana. They agree to look for “time bumps”—places Diana and Matthew affect the present.