by Rye Brewer
That was it? That was the entire basis of his breaking off our relationship? I laughed both out of joy and disbelief. “Allonic! Don’t you know that I would live in Hades, so long as it meant being able to live with you?”
“You might as well be living in Hades, for all of ShadesRealm’s remoteness,” he murmured.
“I don’t care! I care nothing about that, so long as I get to be with you. Oh, Allonic, if that is truly the only reason why you believed we couldn’t be together, I’ll tell you here and now that you have nothing to fear. I would go anywhere, do anything, if it meant we could be together. I’m prepared to face any challenge if you are the outcome.”
“Truly?”
“I’ll pack a bag right now,” I replied, matter-of-fact.
“You really mean it? You would go with me?”
“Allonic!” I threw my head back and laughed. “Besides, you’ll need a fae mage. Who better to serve than me?”
He released my hands in favor of taking hold of my face. “Fae mage? More like my queen. For that is who you will be. My queen, forever and always.”
“Always,” I agreed with a smile and a deep, sweet kiss that seemed to go on forever. Just as my love for him would go on. And to think, I had almost lost him.
When I pulled away, however, it was with a frown. “I suppose we ought to tell Gregor.”
“Oh. Yes.” He frowned, too. “I do feel sorry, taking you away from him at a time like this.”
“As do I,” I admitted. “But life must go on.”
“Indeed.”
We both stood up and left my chambers together, intent on finding Gregor and sharing what I fervently hoped he would regard as good news.
17
Cari
“I haven’t admired the city from this height in a long time,” Naomi admitted as we sat together on the balcony. “Too many years spent living underground. I forgot how lovely it all is.”
“Even this section looks more appealing from four floors up,” I agreed with a smile.
In the moonlight, with Paris shimmering before us, it seemed anything was possible. We could both afford to smile, to be happy for a little while. She was recovering well, and Gage had regained his strength after his ordeal. All was well for the time being.
“Have I thanked you yet?” she asked, seemingly out of the blue.
“You don’t have to. Truly,” I added when she flashed a skeptical smirk. “I don’t expect thanks. I did what needed to be done, especially after you saw to it that I was able to free Gage. I evened the score, if anything.”
“There was never a score to make even.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Just the same, you took a great chance,” she murmured, looking out at the city once again. “You might have been caught in the sun or killed by my captors.”
“But I wasn’t. I knew well what I was doing, and so did Gage. We both owed you that much, at the very least.”
“But Raze didn’t.” She turned her head, glancing through the open doors leading inside.
Gage was in there with Raze, the two of them catching up on clan business. It seemed their clans did not get along. It was a blessing the two of them managed to get along in spite of everything.
“No, he didn’t. I guess he’s just a decent guy, then.”
“I suppose he is. You must understand my surprise, as it’s been so long since I knew a decent man.” The bitterness was still heavy in her voice, remembering the way Micah had killed her Xavier. I couldn’t imagine that sort of pain, though it would have become a very real thing for me had Naomi not spoken up and helped me find Gage.
“You’ll never have to worry about him again. I’m only glad we found each other in the middle of all of that.”
“I agree,” she smiled, resting her head against the back of her chair. “Would it sound too ridiculous if I told you you’re like the sister I never had?”
“Ridiculous?” I asked as my heart swelled with pride. “Hardly. I’m honored that you feel that way. You were an only child?”
She nodded. “It was only me. Not that it much matters, anyway. My family would be long gone by now.”
“That’s true,” I whispered. “The same will be true for me one day, too. I’ve been thinking of my family, especially today.”
“Why today?”
“I made the mistake of checking my email on Raze’s computer. And there was one from my father.” I explained the twisted history with him, how little I had seen him since I was twelve, how I had resented his second family—especially his wife. How he had pretty much written me off.
How surprised I was that he would reach out at all.
“I didn’t know until I read that email that I missed him,” I admitted. “And I feel bad when I think about him believing I’m dead. Because he’ll have to, eventually. Right? Eventually, that will be the only conclusion he can come to. And I guess it will hurt him.”
“I guess it will. He is your father, after all. He reached out, he has men looking for you.”
I glanced at her from the corner of my eye. “Were you born of human parents?”
“Of course. It is rare for vampires to bear children. As far as I know, there is only one line of vampires even capable of it.”
My heart sank a bit. I would never have children. I guessed I had already known that, though. “Who are they? One of these clans Gage and Raze keep talking about?”
“No, not a clan,” she explained. “A bloodline, which is not quite the same thing. The line was set a long time ago, and its descendants might belong to any number of clans—or no clan at all, in fact. They pass the trait down. Bloodlines can either be those born with it or those turned by someone of that bloodline. It’s recessive though. And they don’t know they’re capable until they suddenly find out they’re with child, I suppose. It’s not exactly something which is discussed, but I understand it is very rare.”
“I see.” I needed to get off the subject, as it was somewhat more painful than I had imagined. “Did you want to see your family after you were turned?”
“Of course. I missed my parents terribly, especially at first when everything was so different. The entire world had changed, as I know you know.”
“Yes, and it wasn’t very long ago.” I smiled. “What about you? Are your parents still alive?”
“Oh, no,” she whispered. “I was turned more than two centuries ago. They are long since deceased.” She sighed, a bit wistful.
“I’m sorry.”
“There is no need to be, though I appreciate your concern. Many decades have passed since then. The pain is nothing more than a faint memory. An itch I can never quite scratch, which no longer bothers me much.”
I fiddled with my fingernails, just about burning up with curiosity but afraid she would think I was being pushy if I kept asking questions. The world went on around us, cars honking their horns and people calling out to each other. The familiar sound of vomiting from a nearby alley—whoever was doing it had started early this evening, since it was barely midnight.
“Did you ever… want to see them? Did you ever visit them? Just to check and make sure they were all right without you?” I eventually asked. I wouldn’t rest easy until I did.
“I did,” she sighed. “I know this is not the answer you wish to hear, but it didn’t help me.”
“No? Why not?”
“Because they went on without me.” She turned her head to look at me, a sad smile touching her pretty face. “They went on. Not as if I’d never been born, mind you, but as if they had accepted my loss. Even though I had disappeared. Even though the vampire who had turned me left quite a mess behind. I tried to fight,” she explained, shrugging. “It was pointless, but I did try.”
“And it made you sad.”
“Extremely,” she summed up. “Back then, there was no way for me to let them know I was still alive, at least in the most general sense. That my consciousness still existed. It was a far simpler time, in wha
t became known as Hungary. My father was of royal blood. An advisor to the house of Habsburg.”
“You were royalty?” I whispered.
It was hardly unbelievable. She carried herself like a princess.
“A minor royal,” she smirked, self-deprecating. “Even for all our money and connections, we were still members of the same limited, superstitious world. If I had suddenly appeared—unable to venture into the sunlight, unable to eat normal food, always thirsting for blood—well, I would not be sitting here with you right now.”
She stared up at the sky, lost in memory now. “My name then was Noemi. I used to love running free in the woods, wishing I had been born a boy so I might be allowed to do as I pleased rather than having to sneak out when the governess’s or tutor’s back was turned. I would strip off my shoes and run barefoot. I never could convince any of the other little girls in the palace to join me.”
“You lived in a palace?” I marveled.
“Yes, the king wanted to keep my father close, so that he might be able to call on his wisdom day or night. And he did, too. My mother would fume whenever a guard knocked at their chamber doors in the middle of the night. More than once did she make a snide remark about it being no wonder they’d never been able to conceive another child, since he was always leaving her.” She laughed. “I didn’t understand it back then, naturally.”
I laughed with her.
“It wasn’t until two months after I’d been turned that I could no longer stay away,” she murmured, and she wasn’t laughing anymore. “It happened to be the night of a ball at the palace, one for which I had been preparing for many months prior. It was to be my coming out, you could say, along with the princess. My best friend. The seamstresses were in the process of creating my gown for the occasion when I… was turned.”
I started feeling sorry for bringing it up. The memory was clearly painful for her.
But she was already deep in it, too deep to stop until she’d told the entire story. “I remember how cold it was that night. How clear the air was, the sky. So many stars. I lingered beyond the balcony outside the grand ballroom, watching as so many people I recognized danced and laughed and committed scandalous acts together. Court intrigue, you know.”
Of course, I didn’t know. But I was so very entranced by her story.
She chuckled drily. “To think, I once considered all of that important. I watched, and oh, my heart ached. I resented the monster who’d changed me, who had hunted me in the woods when I was out alone moments after sunset. He had taken all of this away from me, an evening which was supposed to be mine. The possibility of finding my husband, having a family. Dancing at a ball.”
I put my hand on hers, hoping it would somehow keep her grounded in the idea that things were better now. They were, weren’t they?
A single tear rolled down her cheek. “And then, my mother came outside. She looked beautiful, was always the most beautiful woman at court, by far, more so than the queen. I wanted so much to call out to her, I had to clamp my hands over my mouth to keep from doing so. My father joined her soon after. I almost imagined revealing myself to them, their happiness at my being alive. I wanted to tell them how I loved them, how I hadn’t wished to leave them.”
She fell silent for a long time.
I waited, almost dreading finding out how the story ended.
“Father murmured something in Mother’s ear. And she laughed.” Naomi wiped away another tear. “She laughed. And he laughed with her. And one of their friends, some duke or other, joined them and they shared the joke with him and he laughed, too. One would never know the evening had originally been intended in part for their daughter. Only two weeks I’d been gone. A fortnight. And they were able to dance at a ball and laugh with friends.”
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, crying for her.
“I never saw them again. I left Hungary altogether.” She wiped away her tears for the last time, straightened up in her chair. “I hope I did not depress you too thoroughly with my pathetic tale.”
“It wasn’t depressing, or pathetic,” I told her, patting her hand. “I asked, after all. I shouldn’t have.”
“No, no, it was only fair that you did. Only right. You’re curious. You are still finding your way in a new life. And you want to see your father again, thanks to the message he sent.”
She was right, of course. I wanted to, more and more every time I thought about it.
Raze and Gage joined us, and they couldn’t have come at a better time.
Gage’s hand on my shoulder provided the comfort I needed just then. “Are you all right out here?” He smiled down at me.
“Better now that you’re here.” I smiled back.
“Lovebirds.” Naomi chuckled. “I suppose it is nice to see real love, to remember that it’s possible.”
Raze, meanwhile, hadn’t taken his eyes off her since joining us. He had barely taken his eyes off her at all, ever since we found her in the park. He’d been so quick to offer her his blood, to help her to his safe room.
I wondered if he knew he was catching feelings for her. I grinned, turning my face away so he wouldn’t see.
“What were you two talking about in there?” I nodded toward the living room inside.
Gage leaned against the railing and shrugged. “You know. Comparing notes on some history. It’s always interesting to hear old stories through another person’s perspective. Our clans were rather… at odds for a very long time.”
“The way I heard, you hated each other,” I teased.
“Something like that.” Raze chuckled. “Water under the bridge. What about you two? What were you talking about?” He looked at Naomi.
“I was talking about my father, and how I’ve been thinking about wanting to see him.” Saying it out loud was freeing. I didn’t have to pretend not to care. It was normal to want to check on the people who had meant something to me in my former life.
Raze nodded, eyes narrowed. “See? Or visit?”
I knew what he meant. “See. For now. I wouldn’t want to take the chance of a visit.” Though I did eventually want him to know that I was alive—or, rather, not dead. The distinction was important, I supposed, since for some, vampires weren’t considered to be alive.
“So, you want to do to Italy and find him,” Gage surmised.
“I guess I do,” I admitted. “I can’t help it. I’m not trying to put anybody in danger—that’s the last thing I want. But yes. I would like to at least see him before he… you know.” Before he died. Not that I expected that to happen any time soon, though if my experience had taught me anything it was the impermanence of human life. How quickly things could turn, and how completely.
He nodded slowly. “All right. I’m in.”
I was stunned. Beyond stunned. “You are? You’ll go?”
“Why not? I want you to be happy.”
Naomi reached over, patted my arm. “I’m in, too. I haven’t seen Italy in too long.”
Raze glanced from one of us to the other. “What about me? You think you’re going to run off and leave me behind?”
It looked like we were all going to Italy.
18
Anissa
Even at a distance, I could see Gregor’s face light up when he spotted Jonah and I walking toward his tree from the portal Sirene had created for us. Her portal was quicker than coursing to the League Headquarters to access the entrance to Avellane. Things seemed calm here, which brought me a sense of relief. I’d been afraid of arriving in the middle of another massacre.
“This is a welcome change from coursing to headquarters and back,” Jonah snorted as we linked hands. “A shame we haven’t had a witch in our family all this time. It would’ve made travel so much easier.”
I only raised an eyebrow. “Now I know for sure that you’ve come around on Sirene, or else you would never would have spoken those words. You would never even think them.”
“I happen to enjoy the convenience,” he smirked.
/>
I knew he was teasing and wouldn’t admit it under the threat of imminent death, but he cared a great deal about Sirene. Whether or not that caring was only the result of his promise to Fane, I couldn’t say.
But I didn’t think it was.
“I didn’t expect to see the two of you so soon.” My father smiled when we reached his chambers.
Jonah squeezed my hand, signaling me. He was right: this was my question to ask. I swallowed over the lump of emotion which had suddenly clogged my throat. “We want to be married. Right away.”
Gregor’s eyes widened. “Now?”
“Yes. Please.”
My father chuckled. “You know, in my day there was such a term in the human world as a ‘shotgun wedding,’ where the father pushed the groom to the altar by way of sticking a shotgun in his back. Normally took place when the bride was already in the family way. I can’t help but be reminded of that now.”
Jonah laughed as my cheeks burned with embarrassment. “This isn’t coming out right,” he explained. “Anissa plans to take a trip, and I can’t imagine saying goodbye to her for even a little while without knowing she’s my wife. We’ve waited long enough. I can’t wait any longer.”
Gregor smiled, clapping him on the back. “Now, that’s the sort of thing a father wants to hear. I would be delighted to perform a ceremony right away.” His eyes looked a little watery when they met mine.
This was happening. We were minutes from being husband and wife.
If only Mom was here. Sara. Allonic. I reminded myself of what truly mattered: marrying the man I loved.
“Gregor?” Felicity burst into the room with Allonic behind her.
My heart almost burst with relief. I hadn’t expected to see my brother again. Knowing that he could be here for my wedding made things as close to perfect as could be, given the circumstances. “You two can be witnesses!”
They stopped short.
“What?” Felicity asked.
“We’ve come to be married immediately,” Jonah explained with a grin. “We’re both excited, in case it isn’t evident.”
