The Heart of Arima.

by Emma V. Leech

  I staggered and fell back against the wall, my head spinning. “What the fuck?” I felt sick and crouched down for a moment as the nausea subsided, and then I remembered what I was doing. I was going to face Corvus, to explain the truth about what had happened.

  I got to my feet and ran.

  Chapter 32

  It was pitch dark. There were usually street lamps along the main road, but all the bulbs had been shattered. I wondered what I would find at the Chateau. The closer I got, the more I noticed the smell. It smelt of ozone, like a lightning strike.

  At the bottom of the long driveway that led up to the chateau was a small car park. The human guards usually left their cars there during the day shift and there were work vehicles which belonged to the chateau. Or at least there had been.

  A mangled and blackened heap of metal was billowing smoke into the night sky, the only sign of what may have once been a truck. I swallowed and tried to dislodge my heart which seemed to have worked its way into my throat.

  I never thought much about the power Corvus possessed. When we were together it was just …right, just him and me, at least it was when we weren’t arguing. Thinking about it we spent a lot of time arguing but even then, he never tried to change my mind by force, though I knew he could make me do what he wanted. I wouldn’t even know it.

  In reality he did everything he could to make himself appear less threatening, more normal. I had let myself forget just what he was, what he could do. I was remembering fast.

  A cold wind picked up and revealed the waning moon, I was glad of the light as it stopped me falling on my face. At least I was until I looked at the land that dropped away to the left of the driveway and saw the crater.

  It looked like the surface of the moon itself.

  I had often wondered where Corvus’ lair was. Vampires were touchy about such things and Corvus had always been of the opinion it would be safer for me not to know. I figured it would be relatively close to the chateau though and underground. It would seem I was right.

  I wondered if he was still down there, but before I had a chance to go and look I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention.

  Vampire.

  I swung around to find Lucas bearing down on me. “I can’t believe you have the nerve to show your face here, witch!”

  He said witch like it began with a B.

  “Back off, Lucas, I haven’t done anything wrong.” Well it would appear that Inés had been successful in removing the love spell. You would have thought she could have just toned it down to a ‘I don't much care for you’ spell but maybe that was too much to ask?

  He stalked towards me, hatred blazing in his eyes. “I always said you made him weak. Now look, you have humiliated him and when word gets around there will be Masters queuing up to try to take over this family.”

  Shit. I had no idea if that was true. Lucas had always been a drama Queen but I knew enough about vampires to know any sign of weakness would be enough for others to try to step in. Only very few vamps became strong enough to be Masters. Lucas was still Corvus’ second despite his great age, because Corvus didn’t trust him. He was too unpredictable and Lucas wasn’t strong enough to break free of Corvus’ bonds.

  “I don’t have time for this.” I turned on my heel to find Lucas standing in front of me. He was snarling, fangs clearly visible and his intention clear. I didn’t bother to try to reason with him, there was no point. I just hit him with a binding spell.

  He froze mid step. If it hadn’t been for the murderous look in his eyes it would have been comical. I made a silent vow to thank Cain for making me practice that spell fifty times a day for the last two months, and I promised I would not bitch about his teaching methods again. He’d probably just saved my life.

  I ran down the hill towards the crater as fast as I could, hoping desperately that Corvus was still there. The spell was strong but I didn’t know for sure how long it would last before he was free to come after me. Of course I was assuming Corvus still wanted to protect me. The thought of the alternative made me want to cry and I felt his pain well up inside me again. I conjured up the photo of him with that woman in my mind again and felt the pain recede as anger and jealously swept over me again. Better. Sort of.

  I ran to the edge of the crater and peered down in the feeble moonlight. I didn’t want to stumble down there in the dark and was hesitating on the edge when the power wrapped itself around me.

  “Corvus?”

  I could feel him, in the darkness, watching me.

  “Corvus?”

  “Why are you here? Surely you have not grown tired of your lover already?” His voice sounded hoarse, like he’d been shouting.

  “He’s not my lover, Corvus. Nothing has happened between us, I swear it. It was all a trick, the child, the prophecy, all of it.”

  His power prickled over my skin with an intensity that felt as though my flesh was melting from my body and I cried out in pain. “Stop that! Get a grip, Corvus. I’ve done nothing wrong, nothing at all!”

  He stepped out of the shadows that had concealed him and I gasped. It had been a long time since I’d been afraid of Corvus but right at that moment I wondered if I’d been kidding myself. He moved with the fluid grace that all vampires seemed to possess, but it was the intensity of his eyes that sent a cold thrill chasing through me and made my heart stutter.

  There was a time, when we first met, that I had thought he meant to kill me and right now, I was reminded of how that felt.

  I opened my mouth to speak but no sound came out. I could hear my own heart beating frantically in my ears and had to close my eyes for a moment. I breathed in and let it out again, slowly. My heart slowed, just a little but enough that I felt in control again. I looked up and met those eyes steadily, so blue and filled with such cold anger but behind that, such sadness.

  “Corvus, you will understand soon that you’ve been tricked. If you go too far. You’ll destroy us.”

  “Isn’t that what you want though, Jéhenne, to be free of me?” He stepped closer and I shivered as that power slid over my skin.

  “No! How many times do I have to say it? I don’t want to be free of you! I never did, I want you, I love you ...only you!”

  “But you want him too!”

  “No!”

  There was a pause before he spoke again, his voice hard. “You want his child.”

  I shook my head, willing him to believe me, to sense the truth of my words. “No. We will never have a child and I will never have a child in the future, not now ...not ever. There will never be another but you and if that means no children ...so be it.”

  He stepped closer to me and the look in his eyes was something I never wanted to see again. “But I can smell him on you!” His nostrils flared in disgust and I saw his eyes darken with fury. “Gods! I suppose at least he is a Prince. Was that what made it so easy to go to his bed when it took so long for you to come to mine? Is that what you wanted all along, Jéhenne. Would you have spread your legs for me if I could have made you a true Queen?”

  I gasped, horrified that he could believe that of me. “I haven’t been with him, I haven’t! I went to see him it’s true. I told him but ...” I shook my head, everything seemed such a muddle. “I wasn’t unfaithful, Corvus, I swear it!”

  He looked at me and then held his wrists up to show me the tattoos on his wrists. They were nothing like the delicate feathers on my own wrists that fluttered as though disturbed by a gentle breeze. These were crudely drawn, thick ropes that seemed to cut into his flesh, the skin red raw.

  “Then what is this? Explain it to me, Jéhenne. Explain!” he roared, and a hot wind blew up, burning my skin and whipping my hair around my face.

  “Ah, yes,” said a familiar voice, “that was a little, inconvenient, in the circumstances.”

  We both whirled in astonishment to see Corin leaning back against a tree, smiling at Corvus with a nonchalant expression.

  “You dare ...” There was
a blur of movement and the next moment Corvus was in front of him but not close enough as Corin was suddenly surrounded by rows of wooden stakes, the ends sharp and pointed.

  Corin laughed. “Nice try, vampire, but I believe you should listen to what Jéhenne is trying to tell you before you do something you live to regret.”

  “Killing you would never give me a moment’s displeasure, Your Highness,” Corvus snarled. “In fact I would remember every detail with great satisfaction.”

  Corin pursed his lips and shrugged. “A war with my people may change your mind about that but still, you have waited so very many years for her. Do you not think another few moments to hear her story would be appropriate?”

  Corvus leaned into the stakes and I saw blood bloom through the material of his shirt as the points pierced his skin. “I can hear what she has to say when you are dead at my feet.” The cold blue eyes met the gold and I felt the prickle of his power as he tried to compel Corin to let him closer.

  There was a flash of anger from those golden eyes and Corin leaned forward. “Your tricks do not work on me, corpse!” he sneered. “Come to my lands if you dare, vampire, and then we will see who lies dead.”

  Corvus laughed: a cold, hard sound. “But you have come to me. I knew you liked to live dangerously but clearly your thoughts have turned to suicide. You would not come here unless you intended to die. What’s the matter? Could you not please her as I did? Is it too much to live with?”

  There was a snort of amusement. “Don’t flatter yourself!” He sighed and leaned back against the tree, looking perfectly at ease. “Nothing happened between us, you fool, though I admit it wasn’t for lack of trying on my part. She is yours, she loves you, and even the thought of her child ...our child, couldn’t change that.” I was struck by the tone of his voice. He sounded so weary but before I could consider it he spoke again. “Those marks on your wrists," he said and held his own wrists up with a disgusted expression. "And mine, are a sign of your own stupidity, not her actions.”

  Corvus snarled at him and then turned and grasped me by the arms. “Speak to me. Tell me what passed between you?” His hands dug into my flesh so hard I cried out but he just shook me harder. “Speak, Jéhenne, my patience is at its limits!”

  “Nothing, Corvus, I swear it, I didn’t ... I didn’t ... I never wanted him!”

  He frowned at me but I felt some of the tension leave him. “Did he touch you?” His voice was low, the fury in his eyes cold and hard and I tried to fight the fog that seemed to be clouding my mind. I knew the answer was yes, yes he had tried, tried to take me away, he had touched me against my will, held me down ... But ...

  “Jéhenne! Did he touch you?”

  I looked up to see Corin watching me, something in those eyes that I couldn’t read. “Yes. He ... He tried, yes. He tried to trick me again, to take me to his realm.”

  There was a snarl and a burst of power and I was standing alone. I looked to Corin but he had gone too. I screamed as a flash of light to my right exploded in the darkness and for a moment I saw Corin lit up, scrambling away from Corvus’ grasp. As the ground shook and a crater opened at his feet Corvus fell, only to appear again moments later. Corin ran, a forest of trees thrusting up through the ground at his heels but it barely slowed Corvus as his power smashed them before him, huge splinters hurtling through the night like wooden daggers towards Corin. He raised a barrier to defend himself and I wondered why he hadn’t sent them flying back towards Corvus as I knew he could have.

  The barrier was the work of seconds but it was enough for Corvus to get close enough to lunge for him. Corin raised his hand and lightning forked from the sky. I opened my mouth to scream a warning but it landed just in front of Corvus, making him stumble back but leaving him unharmed. I watched as time and again he got close to Corin but the lightning strikes kept him at bay. The longer it went on I realised that Corin was only trying to defend himself. He wasn’t attacking.

  Corvus went to lunge again but to my astonishment, stumbled back as his legs were bound. Thick brambles crawled from the earth, twining and coiling around his legs and torso, the thorns biting into flesh, scratching and making him bleed from hundreds of tiny wounds as they bound him tighter. Corvus lashed out and broke them effortlessly but more and more snaked out of the soil, replacing the broken branches as quickly as he broke them until his body was almost completely bound. With a roar of rage that raised the hairs on my arms he sent out a blast of power that shriveled the vines, and he was gone so quickly I could no longer see him.

  Corin was slowing, breathing hard, and I wondered what on earth he was playing at. He clearly had no intention of trying to kill Corvus, so why didn’t he just run?

  Corvus however wanted Corin dead and had every intention of making it happen. I felt a thrill of fear. I didn’t want Corin to die, though I probably should, after what he’d done, shouldn’t I?

  I watched with my heart in my mouth, wondering if I should interfere but too terrified to get close. Magic and power seared the ground, scorching everything in its path. The ozone smell mixed with the stench of burning and the scent of magic, sickly in its intensity. The men were both completely focused, dirty and showing signs of their fight but Corvus had blood lust in his eyes and Corin was losing ground. This was not his world, he could not draw on his power as he could in his own realm and that fact was about to get him killed.

  I felt my heart twist. I couldn’t let him die, I just couldn’t.

  Corvus easily dodged a powerful explosion that rocked the ground at his feet and Corin tried again, his movements getting more desperate. With a speed I couldn’t track, Corvus lunged for him once more and this time he succeeded.

  He held Corin, one powerful arm around his neck pulling his head back while the other restrained his arms. “Well then, Prince of elves, it seems your lands will need to find a new heir to the crown. Has your father any other sly bastards lying around to take your place?”

  Corin struggled but Corvus held him fast. “I’m the sole heir as you well know and if you kill me, my people and the Dark fae will come for you. Is that really what you want?”

  “I don’t give a damn! You touched what is mine and now you will pay the price!” Corvus bared his fangs and Corin flinched as I cried out.

  “Corvus! No!”

  He paused, glaring at me. “You want this wretch to live? Don’t tell me you have feelings for him! After what he did to you?”

  “I ...” Shit. Shit. Shit. “Corvus if he ever sets foot here again I will kill him myself but it isn’t worth a war with his people. There are things you don’t know. Terrible things are coming, Corvus, and I’m going to need you if I’m going to survive. You won’t be there for me if you’re fighting a war. Please, please believe me we have far bigger things to worry about.”

  Corvus yanked Corin’s head back, squeezing so he could barely breathe. “What things? What is coming?”

  “Bad things, Corvus ... Please, you must let him go. We don’t have time for this.”

  I walked cautiously closer and saw Corvus looking down at Corin’s exposed neck with longing. The desire to kill him, to sink his teeth into that soft flesh and take his life was glittering in his eyes. The taste of Corin’s power, his magic ... That was going to be hard to resist.

  “What do you mean?” he hissed. He looked up at me, his eyes black with hunger and I felt a thrill of fear that I might not be able to stop him. I glanced at Corin whose eyes were following my every move.

  “Sariel,” I said, “he has called in his debt.”

  I saw Corvus’ face darken with anger. “Gods, Jéhenne! I warned you, why will you never listen?” Corin yanked at his arm, trying to release his grip a little but Corvus didn’t budge. “How bad ... How bad is it?”

  I swallowed and felt fear in my heart remembering just what it was Sariel would have me do. “Bad,” I whispered. Corvus swore viciously and I stepped closer. “That’s not all though, there’s more, and ...” I felt tears fill my
eyes and saw Corvus’ face soften as he looked at me.

  “Jéhenne?”

  “You have to let him go. He’s right. His people will come for revenge. Sariel has ordered me to go to the underworld to retrieve his heart. You have to come with me and if you do your family will be unprotected.” I watched the anger in his face as he realised I was right and his grip on Corin tightened. “Let him go, Corvus, let him go.”

  The seconds ticked past and I began to wonder if I'd gotten through to him when he released Corin, pushing him away in disgust. Corin stumbled a little and then walked away to stand against one of the dozens of trees that he had created until he got his breathe back. “Thank you, Jéhenne,” he said quietly.

  I walked over to him, knowing that Corvus was watching my every move. “I meant what I said, Corin. If you come back here again, I’ll kill you myself. Now go, before he changes his mind.” I looked at him and saw a smile flicker at the corner of his mouth but there was real sadness in those golden eyes of his. I felt something a lot like regret stir within me but couldn’t understand what the hell that could be for. “Go!”

  He gave me a bow, looking every inch the Prince he was. “Goodbye, Jéhenne.” And then he was gone.

  Chapter 33

  Corvus and I stood together, alone in the darkness. The distance between us seemed stretched by tension, drawn back like a bow string.

  “You swear to me you didn’t ...” He paused and I knew he couldn’t bring himself to say it. I stepped closer to him, reaching out my hand to touch his fingertips with my own.