“Good question,” Blade said. “Can I be the one to swing the axe?”

  “No one is being executed, and Morgaine is to be left alone. Got it?” I eyed them all sternly. “Drake will put another spy in place if we remove Morgana. It’s—”

  “Better the devil you know,” Quaid said, and David, Mike and I laughed.

  “Yes,” I confirmed. “But she’s not to be trusted. And she will no longer dine with us, come to Court or have any involvement in manor events or activities. She is, essentially, an unwanted guest.”

  “Can we trust that she won’t kill you in your sleep?” Em asked.

  I nodded. “You guys let me worry about Morgaine. She’s terrified of me, but—”

  “Even more of David.” Ryder laughed.

  “Yes.” I smiled at David’s smug grin. “David and Jason can keep an eye on her, too. She won’t get away with scratching her own arse without them knowing.”

  Jason nodded in agreement.

  “So, what do we do?” Quaid asked. “About Drake?”

  “Um,” I said, and bit my lip.

  David’s soothing touch moved from my wrist into the palm of my hand, and he gave a gentle squeeze before pulling away, igniting my strength. I didn’t know what needed to be done, and while that made me feel like an idiot—maybe as if I should know, being that I was the all-powerful queen—I got the sense from the king that what I knew or didn’t know was of no consequence.

  “Well,” I said with an awkward grin. “That’s what I need you guys for. We need a plan.”

  And the room exploded into action, several standing suddenly, throwing ideas across the table as if they’d thought long and hard about this. Arthur joined the ring, contributing a great mix of fact and knowledge that levelled out the fantasy spilling from my imaginative knights. I’d begged Arthur many times to join my council and he countered each request with a very valid, very noble reason why that was a bad idea. But it seemed, at last, I’d get my own way. He was too great an asset and too wise not to have as an advisor, and after ten minutes talking with my knights, I could tell from the way he smiled over at me, rolling his eyes, that he’d come to accept this as well.

  “Looks like we have a new council member,” I said to the king, flashing Arthur a cheeky grin.

  “So it would seem.”

  Arthur shook his head impatiently and returned to the discussions.

  I relaxed against my chair then and smiled at David, tilting my head back to look up at Jase when he came to stand behind me, his hands firmly massaging my shoulders. “Good job,” he whispered in my ear.

  “Thanks,” I said, cupping his hand.

  “It makes you think, doesn't it?” David said quietly, taking in the scene with careful consideration.

  “Think what?”

  He rubbed his chin, folding an arm over his waist, a frown over his eyes. “That if we’d dismissed the idea of a prophecy and rejected the terms of the contract months ago, Drake would've been cold and dead in the ground before now.”

  “Yes, but we were misled by the ancient assumption that he was indestructible,” I reminded him.

  “Ah, hind sight,” David said wistfully.

  “Twenty-twenty,” both boys said at once, then laughed.

  ***

  After a few hours in that dark, dank space, my stomach growled and the ogre surfaced, demanding a recess until later. Most of us headed to the kitchen and, after those of us that eat food ate, I sat at the kitchen table, talking with Arthur, Falcon, Jase, Em, and David for a while—arranging the scattered pieces of our separate knowledge into one perfectly formed segment of Drake’s puzzle. It was kind of strange, though, in a mostly nice way, to sit with such an old vampire as Arthur in a setting that more fitted the youthful faces of my company. He joined in as though he really were only twenty-five and as though we were all equals, yet I couldn't help but breathe the air of authority that permeated off him in waves, the undying grace of an old High Councillor still present in his countenance.

  But the calm around him dissolved when Emily asked if he’d known that the marred bones David presented his king were not, in fact, the Lilithian he was supposed to kill, but the ancient remains of his and Arietta’s infant daughter.

  A moment of absolute breath-holding silence moved over the room.

  “When he presented them, no,” Arthur said, bowing his head to David. “But I bear him no ill-will for that.”

  “How can you not?” Em practically gasped. “I mean, you’re just learning about this now, right?”

  “No.” He smiled softly at her as he spoke. “After the masquerade, when I discovered that Ara was Lilithian, I started piecing things together. I’ve known for some time.”

  “And they’re on display, right?” Quaid asked from his guard post by the sink. “Ara said she’d seen them when—”

  “Yes,” Jason said flatly, clearly wishing for a change in subject. “They’re in the dungeons at Elysium.”

  Arthur’s gaze fell on the table top, his hands sweeping across it to take up the teapot and pour himself another cup.

  “We’ll get them back, Arthur,” I promised, patting his hand. “Once Drake’s dead, we’ll lay her to rest where she belongs.”

  He nodded once and sipped his tea.

  Falcon gracefully moved the conversation on then, and we spoke a little about who would live at the “Castle of Death” when we finally rid its walls of that infestation of Drakarians. Jason and David agreed the deed and title should be returned to Arthur, since Drake had demanded he sign it over some three hundred years ago. I had to say, I agreed with the boys.

  David didn’t say much to Jason outside that one conversation, though, aside from the odd grunt of general acknowledgment here or there, but since there was no open hostility, I took that as a good sign. David seemed, for the most part, to have discarded any planned acts of vengeance, adopting instead a more noble and mature stance on the whole matter between the three of us. As if what we now had to face outweighed what had been done in the past.

  No one brought up the conversation about my imminent death, but I knew it was on David’s mind—not close enough to the surface that I could hear any of it, but close enough that it was in his eyes. I sipped my coffee, smiling intermittently at jokes made between Falcon and Quaid, but I wasn't really listening. I found myself lost trying to focus on David’s head, wondering what aspect bothered him most about the information he’d learned today.

  Even Arthur studied David carefully a few times, and after about an hour, finally stood and asked David to talk privately with him.

  When Mike came in with Ryder and Blade, I left them to their tea and conversation and headed up to see if Arthur and David were still talking.

  “Ara?” Jase caught up on the stairwell.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey. So, I was thinking…”

  “Uh-oh,” I joked.

  He laughed. “I figured it’s been a pretty tough week for you, and I know everyone just kinda expects you to move on and forget your dad now that you’re home, but … well—” He toed the corner of the wall, both hands wedged wrist-deep into his pockets. “I figured you could use some fun.”

  “Fun sounds good,” I said suggestively, opening the door for his obvious date request.

  “Do you wanna come with me on a picnic tomorrow—out at Lamia Village?”

  “The village? Why there?” I asked, taking the next set of stairs toward the third floor.

  “Um, well … they’ve got this little gathering on—to welcome the new children to the community. It’s a…” He grinned sheepishly. “It’s a teddybear’s picnic.”

  I started laughing.

  “I thought it was cute, you know, that it might be nice if you were there.”

  “Oh, Jase.” I extended the hand of friendship to touch his shoulder. “I’d actually really love that.”

  “Great.” He clapped once, backing away. “Well, I’ll go sort everything out, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “And I’ll see you at the lab tomorrow?” he asked. “I’m pretty eager to show you this breakthrough.”

  “Yeah, see ya then.” I waved and kept walking as though I was heading to my room, but stopped when Jase was gone and backtracked a few steps to Arthur’s.

  David was still in there; I could hear their voices, despite them coming out muffled and bleak through the specially-designed doors of this manor.

  I pressed my ear right up to the wood, holding my breath so I could hear better.

  “So, it’s over—for good?” Arthur asked.

  “No, for the best,” David said. “She’s happier with him.”

  “You don’t truly believe that, do you?”

  David exhaled. “Yeah, Uncle. I do.”

  “And what of this resurrection business? What do you plan to do about that?”

  “I don’t know,” he said in a long breath, kind of groaning. “Obviously I’m not gonna let him bring Lilith back.”

  “But there seems very little to be done.”

  “Unless we can find the Original Vampire. Maybe he can—”

  “We know almost nothing about him, David.”

  “Ara said you told her once that her father resembled Vampirie.”

  “Yes. That is true, but not enough for me to think they were one and the same.”

  “Why not? It’s been centuries since you saw him. Maybe he ages at a slow rate, perhaps a year for every hundred?”

  There was a little pause. I took a moment to check over my shoulder to see if anyone was coming. The only people around, though, were the silent guards lining the halls. Even Quaid hadn’t quite caught on that I’d left the kitchen.

  “It is possible,” Arthur said almost unwillingly. “But, if this were the case, then the man that girl just buried quite possibly was never dead.”

  I held my breath again, my heart beating in my throat.

  “Don’t say anything to her until we’re sure,” David said.

  “I wouldn't dream of it. Do you have a picture of Greg—a recent one?”

  There was another long pause. “We did.”

  “But?”

  “But…” David exhaled. “We don’t anymore.”

  “Well, I need you to get one.”

  “It’s already taken care of, I … hang on,” he said, and I heard footsteps, turning on my heel to bolt out of sight when the door popped open and David stared down at me disapprovingly. “How much did you hear?”

  I made a small gap between my forefinger and thumb.

  “Get in here.” He pulled me inside by the arm and slammed the door. “I thought I could hear a heartbeat.”

  “Amara.” Arthur stood from his seat by the fire. “What were you doing?”

  “I came to see if you were still talking.”

  “How much did you hear?’ Arthur asked.

  I went to make the same gesture I showed David, but he pushed my hand down.

  “She heard everything,” he said simply.

  Arthur folded his brow toward his fingertips. “Amara, I’m sorry—”

  “Do you think it’s possible, Arthur?” I stepped a bit closer, eyes as wide as my hoping heart. “About my dad?”

  “Honestly, my dear?” He waited until I nodded. “No. I don’t see how it could be.”

  The flood of excitement in me dissipated, shrinking my soul.

  “I’m sorry,” he added. “I know that’s not what you wanted to hear.”

  “It’s okay,” I mumbled to my feet. “It’s not your fault.”

  “No, it’s yours,” David cut in. “Next time, think twice before eavesdropping.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  David exhaled, then gently laid his hand to my back. “Come on. I think it’s time for you to go to bed.”

  “Goodnight, Amara,” Arthur called.

  “Night,” I said sadly.

  In the hall, David shut the door and his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. I wanted to apologise again, tell him I hadn’t meant to overhear them talking about that. But then, really, what had I meant to overhear?

  “Can I be honest with you, Ara—without you getting upset?”

  I nodded.

  He checked over his shoulder then leaned in a little. “When I was away, supposedly dead, I did a lot of research. And I never really shared any of that with anyone—never really let them know what I was doing, but…”

  “But?”

  “But—” We started walking toward my room. “I followed your dad—for some time. There were things about him, Ara, habits and general mannerisms that had always made me suspicious.”

  “What, like you thought he was a vampire?”

  David nodded. “Always. Ever since he first shook my hand when I brought my previous school transcripts in for record keeping. But, he had a heartbeat and never drank blood, so I brushed it aside.”

  “Until now.”

  “Well, until I was researching your bloodline and came up flat.”

  “And how did that change things?”

  “Remember I told you I couldn't get a sample of his DNA?”

  “Mm-hm.” I nodded.

  “I lied, Ara. I did get a sample, but the results were unreadable. I thought maybe I’d botched it somehow or contaminated it, and I never ended up getting another. But, what if I didn’t mess it up? What if the results came back that way because he wasn’t human?”

  “David—” I stepped back from him and opened my bedroom door. “Please don’t let this just be wishful thinking on your part. If—”

  “Ara, I wouldn't do that to you. I wouldn't be telling you this unless I thought there was a very real possibility that the man who raised you as his own was, in fact, the original vampire. Think about it,” he added, shutting himself in the room with me. “Why would Vampirie, if he was hell-bent on protecting you, let anyone else raise you?”

  “My dad left me with my mom.”

  He bit his lip, wiping his thumb across his chin. “True. But, on the way home, you told me that Drake said Vampirie loved you—that he had watched over you your whole life. Can you think of any other man that fits the profile?”

  “No, but if Vampirie’s my dad, then why did he die?”

  “Sweetheart,” he said, taking my arm to move us away from the door. “Maybe he’s not dead. It was a closed-casket. There was no viewing—”

  “Yes, because he didn’t want to be on display. He always said that.”

  “I know. But maybe there was a good reason for that. And what about this?” He gently brushed the inner curve of my breast as he lifted my new talisman and showed it to me. “What if this is some kinda clue? Maybe Amara wasn’t his mother. Maybe he raised her as he raised Rose, one after another, becoming their son when they got too old to be his daughter.”

  “Then where is he?” I shrugged, my eyes tearing over. “If he’s not dead, if he’s a vampire, where is he? And why did he have to die? Why did he do that to Sam and to Vicki?”

  “Why did he leave your mother?”

  “I…”

  “Ara, he may be doing what he has to to protect you. Maybe now, more than ever, he needs to become the vampire—something he can’t be if he has a human life. Any vampire knows that. It’s one or the other.”

  “But he ages. And he—”

  “I don’t have all the answers. And I don’t want to give you false hope, either, but I know you’ll sit here all night and draw all of these conclusions on your own anyway.”

  We both laughed lightly.

  “I’d rather we talked about it—joined forces and tried to figure this out than to have you do it alone, because I know you will. And I know that uncovering these kinds of secrets is easier when you have a wingman.”

  I wiped under my eye. “Why are you being so helpful, David?”

  He relaxed back a little, studying me like I was hidden behind a wall of hesitation. “I never meant to be…” his eyes drifted to the place of thought, “—cruel to you, Ara. I guess I did mean to hurt you, but that’s not what I want now. I just want us to…”

  “Get along?” I tried.

  He nodded. “I know we both have wounds, but I need us to put those aside so we can unite and end this mess of contracts and ancient feuds once and for all. I’m tired of it. I just want to live.”

  I smiled, my shoulders moving back to their natural position as I exhaled. “That sounds pretty good.”

  “Good. And…”

  I waited for end of that sentence, but he hesitated quite a bit longer. “And?”

  “And I told Vicki I left our wedding album on the bus. She’s sending another—”

  I didn’t hear the rest of what he said, because a giant sob burst out from my lips and into my hands, the gust obstructing all sound. “You got another one?”

  He nodded, looking incredibly awkward. “I’m sorry I did that to you, Ara—especially just after you found out your dad was sick. I…”

  “It's okay.” I reached up with my tear-moistened hand and patted his forearm. “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not. I was a dick.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, you were.”

  “I was hurt,” he said, piercing the long silence that followed with, “And angry. And I … I saw you there, in that picture, and it brought back a mix of so many emotions, Ara—not just for the pain of what’s gone, of what I thought our future held on that day, but also for what happened next.”

  I cringed, flashing back unwillingly to the agonising darkness of that torture chamber.

  “It’s a black hole in my lifeline, you have to understand,” he said. “I can't go back there. Not to the wedding and not to what happened to you after. You don't know what I suffered while Jason was torturing you, and even though it was all a game—just Drake and his lies, I didn't know that then, and to think back on it … to see us so happy and so innocent, to see us before, it shattered me, Ara. And I lost control. And I am sorry.”

  I looked up to meet his eyes but they were averted.

  “I really did love you once,” he said simply, swallowing hard after. “And I failed you so many times I think I hate you more for that now than I hate myself.”

  “You hate me because you feel like you failed me?” I asked with a hint of amusement.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65