“He was really mad at me.”
“No. He was mad, Ara, but you know it’s not really you he’s mad at, don’t you?”
I shook my head. “He is mad at me. He’s mad that I let myself be bound to Jason. He’s mad that I do stupid things because my heart tells me to. And I’m sure he’s mad at me for still breathing.”
“Baby, don’t say things like that. You know that’s not true.”
“I reckon it is. Think about it: he lived his whole life serving one king. Then, I not only came along and ruin his beliefs in his law system, but I happen to be a Lilithian—a, quote: ‘disgusting creature’—who is gonna throw everything out of order for the sake of a prophecy. I’ve turned his world upside-down just by existing.”
Mike sighed. “Ara. You know David doesn’t feel that way.”
“Yeah. Whatever.” I exhaled deeply, feeling queasy again with the way the road tipped downward, taking us on a steep decline to where the trees stopped abruptly at the base, parting only for a wide, multi-colored brick wall with stones of red, yellow, and pale blues. It looked charming, in a secret-garden-kind-of-way, but the spear-tipped iron gates took the fairy-tale out of the scene, screaming graveyard.
Back behind me, I could see where the trees thinned out again as the road led away. “They’re not natural, are they?”
“Huh?” Mike looked sideways at me as we pulled up beside a speaker box.
“The trees? They didn’t grow around this wall, did they—someone put them here? I mean, trees don’t just grow in a line like that in the middle of an empty field.”
“Oh, uh, yeah. I think so. I don’t really notice things like that, Ara.” He wound his window down and leaned out slightly, then turned back for a second. “Why don’t you ask Morgaine, she knows all about this place?”
“Okay.”
“George? You there, mate?” Mike asked the box.
“Heeeey, it’s Mikey,” a jolly old voice came through the speaker.
“Hey, George. You wanna open the gates? I got a future queen in my car.”
“No worries, sir. I’ll be down in a jiffy.”
The sound of the car engine—something usually quite soothing—was only a filler for the intimidating silence that swallowed my ability to breathe. “Where are all the people? I thought they were waiting to meet me.”
“They’ll be up at the manor, I’d say.”
“How many?” I squirmed in my seat.
“Not too many. The Ninth and the First Orders aren’t here. It’s only the Fifth and the Upper House.”
“Why?”
“Because the others are across international waters, Ara.”
“Oh. So how many people, er… Lilithians are gonna be there?”
Mike scratched his head as the gate opened before us. “’Bout a hundred.”
As we pulled forward, nerves pinched my chest, and Mike dipped his head to the old man by the gate, whose stark white hair looked transparent in the sun, his skinny legs barely holding his bent frame.
“Pleasant drive, sir?” the man said.
“As always, George,” Mike said, then looked along the sides of the road for a second, frowning. “Where are all the cars? Don’t tell me people have parked up by the fountain.”
“No, sir.” George wrapped his fingers over the doorframe through the open window. “Miss Morgaine called a stop to all visitors ’til our princess is settled. Just the Upper House up there today.”
Mike’s jaw went tight and he gave the steering wheel a soft whack with the heel of his palm. “I told her not to do that.”
“She felt it best, Sir.”
He looked at the old man, clearly wanting to shoot the messenger. “All right, thanks, George.”
“Be well,” George said and stepped back, saluting Mike as we drove slowly away.
“What was that all about?”
“Looks like you get your wish.”
“Really? No fan club?”
“Nope.”
“Yay.” I sat taller and looked to the road ahead, closed in by the trees that concealed the brick wall. I half expected to have gray hairs by the time they finally parted and the manor rose up in front of me again. My eyes widened to allow for the sheer height of it, sitting on a long gravel drive that ended in a turn-circle around a giant fountain. Along the sides of the road, the grassy lawns met with hedge fences, while the trees stayed far behind. A large section of the manor sat further forward than its ‘wings’, with a grand staircase leading up to big white doors.
“You like it.”
“Yeah,” I said as we came closer. There must have been about sixteen windows on each side of the manor, with the large front-set façade in between. And waiting in a line at the base of the stairs were a neat party of women in pale-gray dresses with white aprons. “The staff, I’m guessing?” I pointed to them.
“Yup.”
“And, are all those people on the porch the Upper Council?”
“House. Upper House. Do you remember which ones are of highest authority, from what Morgaine taught you?”
I swallowed. “Um, yeah.”
“Liar.” Mike laughed.
My neck shrunk between my shoulders. “Oh crap. I really should’ve paid more attention.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “If you paid any attention, you would’ve been better off.”
“Oh, God.” I hid my brow in my hand as the car rolled to a stop right where everyone could see me.
Mike pulled my hand away from my face. “It’s all right. You don’t need to know that, right now. Just nod and smile, baby.”
I nodded and smiled, turning my head when Mike suddenly appeared at my door, offering his hand.
“My lady.”
“Oh, you just love that new speediness, don’t you?”
He closed the car door behind me. “Do you even need to ask?”
The stillness and quiet that came from the day then made my footsteps on the crunchy gravel sound like pebbles being jiggled in a small bag. The only other sound was the soothing trickle of water falling into the round bath at the base of the fountain. Despite the glaring sun making me squint, I looked all the way up at the statue’s smiling face: she seemed to hide a secret behind her eyes, perhaps one whispered by the snake on her shoulder, its lips to her ear.
“Who is that?”
Mike looked up at her. “Lilith.”
“Our Lilith?”
“Yeah,” he said distractedly, closing the trunk as he grabbed my suitcase. “The snake is said to represent the original Lilith—the one who conned Eve into eating the Fruit of Wisdom.”
My eyes rounded. “Wow. I remember Dad talking about God’s Lilith in a lecture once.”
“So, you are capable of retaining information.”
I slapped his shoulder. “I remember everything you ever tell me.”
He scoffed. “Pity you never give my words any value.”
“I do. I take on board all your advice, Mike. I just choose to follow the bits that appeal to me.”
“So, none of it appeals to you?”
“Not usually.” I shrugged.
“You annoy me,” he said in a deep, humored tone.
“Hey, all.” Eric popped up out of nowhere.
“Hey!”
“Amara. Good to see you again.” He embraced me as a guise to whisper closely. “I can smell him all over you.”
“Really?”
“Mm,” he said, rubbing my arms then my back, as if it were just a friendly gesture. “No one else here will recognize the scent, but I’ll just cover it up with mine anyway.”
“Thanks.” I gave him a tighter squeeze, laughing.
“So, what do you think of Lilith?” He cleared his throat and nodded up to Lilith, stuffing his thumbs in his pockets as he stepped back. “This is the only statue Drake didn’t destroy when he took control of this place.”
“Why did he leave this one?”
“Because he sculpted it.”
My
eyes shot from the statue to Eric’s. “Seriously?”
He nodded.
“Amara!” Someone practically squealed my name. I looked up to the steps as a small body burst from among the small crowd and flew into my arms. “Oh, I know it’s only been a week since I saw you, Princess, but I missed you. I’ve been so worried about you.”
I closed my eyes, holding Morgaine tight. It was like hugging myself, with her small frame, skinny arms and the strawberry shampoo she’d started using since she fell in love with mine. “I missed you too. And hey, thanks for getting rid of the crowd.”
She pulled back from the hug and ducked her head from Mike’s vehemence. “That’s okay. I knew you weren’t ready for that yet.”
I nodded. “You ‘get’ me.”
“I do.”
We both looked at Mike, who rolled his eyes and wandered forward, carrying my suitcase rather than dragging it over the gravel.
“Come on.” Morgaine took my hand. “I want you to meet your House.”
I tried to pay attention to introductions, but all the names and faces blurred together. By the time it was over, I’d nicknamed everyone but could only remember three: one of them being Mustache Man, another was Shrewd Portly Woman, and Man With Gray Sideburns. They all seemed friendly enough, but I could smell the judgment and lack of faith coming off them like a subtly-released fart.
Eventually the crowd dissipated, and Mike came back through the white doors with a newspaper tucked under his arm and an eager smile accompanying his warm eyes. “Ready for the grand tour then, baby?”
I yawned again. “I’m ready for bed.”
Morgaine linked her arm through mine. “Come on. You’ll wake up when you’ve seen your new room.”
As I stepped over the threshold of the manor, my gaze followed a twin marble staircase that parted around double doors, stopping on the second-floor landing where it seemed the doorway had simply duplicated and moved up a level, like an elevator—one sitting over the other. I wondered why they needed two doors to what was probably the same room.
Somewhere in the distance, the click of heels on the white marbled floors and quiet chatter of what I assumed was staff made the manor feel more like a museum than a supposed home. But the warm, soft scent of fresh-baked bread gave me an instant smile. “Wow,” I breathed.
“I know, right?” Morgaine said. “Look up.”
Above me, the high ceilings rose all the way through each floor of the manor and opened out to a stained-glass dome, its image like something inspired by Michelangelo, shining gloriously with the afternoon sun reaching through the colors. “Who is that in the glass?”
“That’s Queen Lilith and Peter—her betrothed.”
“Betrothed?”
“Yes. In order to rule the Three Worlds, Lilith had to marry into certain politically-influential families. Peter was a vampire of noble blood, and the two were forced to marry by their fathers. But they hated each other,” she said. “Although, in the end—after Peter tried to kill her—they fell in love.”
“Hm, and I thought my relationship was weird.”
“No. Believe me”—Morgaine started walking, dragging me along—“you have no idea. They were the most twisted, messed-up couple in the history of our kind. So, anyway, there are two more like this dome on the other ends of the manor. Each one depicts Lilith’s story from beginning, to middle”—she pointed up—“and end.”
Mike cleared his throat.
“You okay, Mike?” I spun to look at him behind me.
“Mike’s bed is positioned under the portrayal of Lilith’s end.” Morgaine tried to hold back her smile.
“Yeah, so I go to sleep every night only too aware of the horrible things Drake could do if he catches you.”
“He’d need more than an army to get past you.” I grinned.
Mike nodded, his inner knight rising. “Damn right.”
“Shall we continue?” Morgaine took my hand and walked me forward a few steps. “Through those doors between the staircases is the Great Hall. You’ll need to remember that because we hold most of our gatherings there.”
“Except for House meetings,” Mike added. “We hold those in a function room.”
“But Private Council meetings in the Round Room,” Morg said.
I nodded, remembering vague details about the Round Room from Morgaine’s teachings.
“And if you look down there”—she pointed to an archway on my left—“at the end of the manor is the Throne Room. That’s where we hold sessions of Court.”
“Throne Room?”
“Mm-hm.”
“Isn’t that going a little far with the whole monarchy thing?”
“No. Amara, you are royalty; royalty has a throne. Get used to it.”
“So I have to sit on some big chair and tell people what to do all day?”
“Not all day, no. And you won’t be sitting on the throne until you’ve taken your oath and been crowned. So stop worrying.”
“Besides, I’m sure you’ll pretty much lose focus and stare out the window at the trees all day.” Mike patted my shoulder, as if doing that would make his insulting remark seem like a humored observation among friends.
“That reminds me.” I turned to Morgaine. “The trees around that wall at the gate, are they natural?”
“Yeah, why do you ask?”
“I dunno.” I shrugged. “They just looked a little out of place.”
“They are,” she said. “Some say the forest bordering Loslilian is enchanted—that it grows legs and moves to protect things as needed.”
“Weird. How long have those trees been there then?”
“Well, the forest has been here since the beginning of time, really, but the trees at the gate grew up around the entrance shortly after Vampirie gave the throne to Lilith and she swore her oath.”
“Wow.”
“Yep. So if you look through there again”—she pointed to my left, and it was only on my second look that I noticed the curvy antique-looking furniture in this entranceway—“that’s the way to the common rooms, kitchen, and dining areas, well, casual dining. We dine formal for dinner every night in the Great Hall.”
“Really? Every night?”
“It’s tradition.”
“Whose tradition?”
“Lilith’s, actually. One she started when she ruled. The vamps didn’t keep that tradition, or any others, when they took over, but we’re keen to bring them all back.”
“So I have to eat with a table full of people every night of the week.”
“Yes, and you’ll love it.”
Both Mike and I laughed in the back of our throats. “You don’t know me very well then, Morgaine.”
“It’s too bad. You’ll be the queen soon, which means you, of all people, have more reason to adhere to tradition. You just have to get over it.” She skipped ahead of me.
I headed up the stairs slowly behind her, taking everything in. “This place is huge.”
“Yep. It has nineteen bedrooms in the west wing—”
“West is right of the front door,” Mike added from behind.
I looked down the stairs at him. “Thanks, that was my next question.”
“And nineteen bedrooms in the east wing as well,” Morgaine continued in her ‘tour guide’ voice. “There are thirty staff rooms which, because the land slopes down on the south side of the manor, sit at ground level under the Great Hall.”
“Like I said”—I stopped on the landing and turned back to wait for Mike, who was too busy texting on his phone to keep up with Morgaine and me”—it’s big.”
“It is.” Morgaine stopped by another staircase that was hidden from where we stood in the entranceway. While the grand one we just came up faced the Great Hall, this one faced back toward the front wall of the manor, vanishing higher up where it curved around. “We better hurry up. I have other guests arriving in a half hour.”
“Yeah, Mike. Hurry up,” I said.
“Sorry.” H
e stuffed his phone in his pocket.
“Okay, so this staircase”—Morgaine started up it—“will lead you to the west wing’s third floor, and the mirroring staircase will lead to the east wing.”
“What’s in the east wing?”
“Mostly bedrooms.”
“Which wing has the library?”
“West wing,” both my tour guides said.
I smiled widely, following Morgaine up the stairs. “I think I’ll be spending a bit of time in that room.”
“I’m sure you will.”
When we reached the third floor, the windows that lined the entire front of the manor became floodgates for white sun, casting squares of light along the lengthy path from where we stood to where the corridor ended.
“Okay,” Morgaine said, walking faster. “Rooms one and two are empty right now and rooms four and five, right beside the room at the end, are mine and Eric’s.”
“What about that one?” I pointed to a set of mahogany doors sitting grandly at the center of the corridor, the frame intricately carved with detail. “Is that the library?”
“Yes. That’s your private entrance.”
And it was a perfect entrance. It stood out, unlike the portal sitting inconspicuously in the wall back at my old school.
Morgaine’s tiny cold fingers took mine. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Libraries always make me miss David.”
“Well, you can spend all afternoon in there once we get you settled.”
“Cool. So, is it a big library, like on Beauty and the Beast?” I asked.
“Trust you to ask that,” Mike grumbled from behind. I smiled back at him.
“Yes,” Morgaine said. “It is. The main section is two-floors-deep. Picture floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.”
I walked with my eyes closed for a second. “Picturing.”
“And there’s a special section on the first floor, where we keep the scrolls and other ancient books. But it’s closed off—locked. You wouldn’t even know it was there if I didn’t tell you.”
“Why not? Is it hidden behind a secret passage?” I laughed, but Morgaine didn’t.
“Yes.”
“Oh.” I frowned. “Well, why is it locked?”
“To keep people out.”
“Including me?”
“Yes.”
“Why would you tell me about it then? You know I’ll find a way to go down there.”
Dark Secrets Box Set Page 140
