The Darkest Night

by Emma V. Leech

  Everyone watched them, the tension in the room so thick Corin felt he could reach out and touch it. Laen and Océane, Claudette, they all watched him, aware that there was much being left unsaid. Claudette squeezed Corin’s hand, a silent show of support, of love, and he held it tight, afraid to let her go. Her eyes were wide with fear for him, and he cursed Caelum for putting it there.

  Océane sniffed and wiped her eyes. “Caelum, is that why you came and told me the stories, to make me believe in the Fae?” Corin was relieved to have Caelum’s attention taken from him and smiled at Océane, aware that this had been her intent.

  Caelum frowned and shook his head. “Not exactly. It was more a case of … opening your mind to the possibilities. Fate is a tricky thing, but Raeshe was powerful and her instincts were rarely wrong. She told me how best to guide you without alerting those who would cause you harm if I had been more obvious in my attentions. I helped your imagination grow, gave you a love of all things mystical and magical. I would like to think that I also gave you hope that better things awaited you.”

  “You did,” Océane replied, her voice still thick with emotion as she clung to Laen’s hand. “I lived for your visits.”

  Caelum looked pleased by her remarks, but his face was still serious. He glanced back at Corin, but before he could say anything more, Corin held up a hand.

  “I feel there have been quite enough revelations and intrigues for one night. Come, ma belle,” he said, giving her hand a slight tug.

  Claudette smothered a yawn and nodded. “Oh, yes, please. I’m exhausted.”

  “Yes, you must look after yourself now, my lady,” Caelum said with a smile, all solicitousness as he wagged a fatherly finger at her. “Rest is most important at this stage.” He blanched at the furious look Corin sent in his direction, and everyone else in the room held their breath as magic prickled through the air.

  “I’m sorry,” Claudette asked, perplexed as Corin felt panic tighten his chest. “What do you mean?”

  “I .. .er ...” Caelum’s usual calm demeanour vanished for a moment, but was quickly replaced. “I simply mean that after all the stress and emotional upheaval of the past days, you must take care of your health,” he said with a smooth smile, sending Corin a look that suggested he needed to speak with his wife. As if he didn’t know that. “I imagine it has been a very difficult time for you.”

  “Well, yes,” Claudette said, giving him a strange look that suggested she wasn’t entirely convinced. “Thank you for your concern.”

  “Yes, thank you, Caelum,” Corin added, an edge to his voice that made the great healer bow his head low.

  “If you will excuse me, Your Majesty, I will leave you.” Corin nodded, only too happy to get rid of the wretched fellow, and Caelum left them alone.

  Laen caught Corin’s eyes, one eyebrow quirking a little. Corin sighed and wished the rest of the world would go to Tartarus and stay there. What exactly did he have to do to be able to go to bed with his wife? Praying that whatever it was had been done now, he was about to get up when there was a knock on the door.

  “Oh, what now?” Corin demanded, exasperated as he stared at Laen.

  Laen shrugged and opened the door to Bram: he looked shaken and unhappy.

  “May I speak with you for a moment, Corin?” he asked, his usual cocky, devil-may-care attitude long gone. Corin suppressed the desperate desire to refuse and run from the room, and instead nodded and gestured for him to sit.

  “Of course,” he said, hoping his voice sounded sympathetic through gritted teeth.

  Bram hesitated as Océane got to her feet. “I’m going to bed, if you’ll excuse me,” she said. Leaning over, she kissed Laen’s cheek. “I’ll see you in a bit?” Laen nodded and kissed her again as Claudette got up, too.

  “I’m going to bed, too,” she said, kissing Corin goodnight and giving him a warm smile at the longing look he gave her as she walked away from him.

  They watched as the ladies left to go to their rooms, and then Bram sat down with a groan, putting his head in his hands.

  Corin got up. Knowing full well what was coming, he poured out three large glasses. “Don’t even think about it,” he warned Laen as he glowered at Corin’s generous measures.

  Corin handed a glass to Bram, who looked up at him, his face ashen. “She’s seen a healer,” he said, his voice rough. “His damn potion is gone from her blood, but ...”

  “But the damage is done,” Corin said, his voice soft. As much as he pitied Ameena, he didn’t want to talk about this. Not because he didn’t understand, quite the opposite. He knew what she was feeling.

  “Gods, I’ve made such a mess of things, Corin,” Bram said, staring into his glass with a despairing expression. “I don’t know what to do.” He looked up at Corin, his dark eyes anguished. “She won’t see me. I’ve told her I’m sorry, I’ve told her it that it wasn’t her fault … it’s that bastard Devil! Gods, if ever a man deserved to be shot,” he snarled, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “He did this to her. She was alone and vulnerable … and … and I let her down,” he finished. He downed the drink and looked back at him. “You were right, Corin. Everything you said. I should have listened.” His eyes were pleading now, and Corin’s stomach clenched. “What am I to do?” he demanded, sounding so desperate that Corin’s heart broke for him. “She says she made the choice, that Ravendell didn’t force her, and that I should get away from her while I have the chance.”

  Corin felt bile rise in his throat. Damn him. Damn Devil Ravendell. Yes, the man always gave you a choice, he never used force. He didn’t need to.

  “She says everything I ever said of her is true,” Bram said, sounding torn between anger and desperation. “But I never meant half of what I said, she just made me so bloody angry, and ...” He stopped as his voice broke and he buried his head in his hands again. “She says she’s going to go home and that I won’t see her again, but I can’t let her go. I won’t.”

  “Then don’t,” Corin said, his voice hard. He stood up, glaring at Bram, suddenly furious with him. He shouldn’t have let her go. He should have been there when Ameena needed him, not off sulking like a bloody child. “Fight for her if you want her. Prove that you mean it.”

  “I want to, dammit!” Bram objected, flushing at Corin’s obvious anger. “But she won’t even see me, let alone hear me out! She’s so consumed with her own shame that she can’t see anything past it. She can’t see that I don’t care either way. I love her!” he cried, looking startled by his own admission. “I love her,” he repeated, sounding lost.

  Laen got to his feet. He looked at Corin, who refused to catch his eye, before moving to Bram.

  “It’s late, Bram,” he said, his voice full of sympathy. “Everyone is tired and on edge after such a night. I’m sure things will look less black in the morning.”

  Bram shrugged, staring at his toes, the picture of misery. “Perhaps, but I doubt it. I have never in all my days met anyone as stubborn as Ameena.”

  “Leave it with us,” Laen advised, reaching down and patting his shoulder. “I’m sure Corin will think of something, he usually does.”

  “Yes,” Bram nodded, brightening considerably as hope lit in his eyes. “Yes, he usually does.” Corin glared at Laen in fury, trying to diffuse the expression before he turned back to Bram, who was staring at him like some kind of saviour now. Damnation. “Well, I guess I’m going to go and spend the night on the floor outside Ameena’s room,” he said with a rueful smile. “Goodnight.”

  Bram left, closing the door and leaving the two men alone.

  “Don’t you dare ask me, Laen,” Corin said, his voice hard and angry as he walked away. “I won’t do it.” He crossed to the window, turning his back on Laen, and pulled back the curtains. What had begun as a fine, clear night was now cool with a hazy moon glowering behind increasingly dark clouds.

  “Very well, if you don’t want to.” Laen’s voice was mild, but Corin wasn’t fooled. He turned
to see Laen reclining, one long leg crossed over the other, apparently relaxed. Only the stern look in his eyes gave him away. “You could help her, though.”

  “Why me?” Corin demanded in fury. “Why is it always me who has to fix everything? Don’t I have enough problems of my own? Why must I solve everyone else’s, too?” he shouted, infuriated when Laen didn’t so much as blink at his outburst. “And how exactly do I do that without explaining everything to her? Do you really think I want anyone else in the world to know about it? To know my shame? Gods!” he cursed as heat prickled down the back of his neck. “It’s humiliating enough without having to relive it all over again.”

  “You were only sixteen, for pity’s sake,” Laen said, getting to his feet and sounding quite angry himself now. “As if anyone could judge you for what happened.” The anger fell away from his face and he sighed, shaking his head, the guilt visible in his eyes. “You were just like Ameena, alone and vulnerable, and Devil played on that. I just thank the gods I found you before any real harm was done.”

  Corin stared at him, searching his face for any sign that he was lying, any chink in the story he had been reassured of over and again. Laen stared back, his face neutral and unblinking.

  “You ask too much,” Corin said, dropping his gaze and turning away.

  “Perhaps,” Laen agreed. He moved closer, one large hand resting on Corin’s shoulder for a moment. “I’ll bid you goodnight, then.”

  He left, and suddenly the room felt cold and empty and far too still. Corin poured another drink and sat down. With a slight flick of his hand, a fire erupted in the hearth beside him and he watched the reflection of flames flickering in the crystal glass. He sipped at it, trying to regain some measure of calm until he cursed with rage and threw the glass into the flames. The shards glittered as they smashed, the flames leaping higher as the alcohol blazed.

  Corin put his head in his hands. “Damn you, Laen.”

  Chapter 40

  Corin lingered in the shadows. He could see Bram, his back against the wall, sitting on the floor by Ameena’s door. He wasn’t asleep, though his head was tipped back, eyes closed. Corin sent his magic creeping out towards him, and in moments, Bram’s body relaxed, his breathing deepening as sleep stole over him.

  Stepping out into the light, Corin sighed. He did not want to be here. He should be with Claudette, his body curled around her warmth. The desire for it was an ache under his skin. When he was with her, the darker moments of his life did not trouble him, seemed almost to have happened to another person, they were so far from his new reality. Now, though, alone and driven by his conscience to help another’s suffering, the past seemed far too close for comfort.

  He knocked softly on the door, hoping perhaps she was asleep and he could leave after all.

  “Go away, Bram!” yelled an exhausted voice from inside.

  He sighed, keeping his voice low. “It isn’t Bram.”

  There was a moment’s silence before rustling was heard behind the door. It opened a crack and a pair of wide grey eyes peered out, clearly disbelieving of what they were seeing.

  “I … I’m so sorry … your M ...”

  Corin held up his hand and shook his head. “Just Corin, please. May I come in?”

  He saw the internal struggle in her eyes. She desperately wanted to say no to him, but … he was the king.

  “Please, Ameena, I would like to speak with you,” he said, wondering why on earth he was saying that. It was the last thing he wanted. If she didn’t want him here, he should just go.

  “What about?” she asked, her eyes suspicious now.

  “About Devil.” There was no point in trying to hide that fact after all.

  She flinched at the sound of his name and shook her head. “You are very kind, I’m sure,” she said, her voice taut. “But I don’t want to ...”

  Firmly enough to force it open, but not so hard as to alarm her, Corin pushed the door open. She staggered away from it, looking at him with fear in her eyes as he shut it behind him.

  “Forgive me, Ameena,” he said, holding his hands out in a peaceable gesture to try and reassure her. “I have had a very trying night and I just want to go to bed. I find, however, that I will be unable to sleep unless I speak with you first.”

  Ameena folded her arms, scowling at him with distrust and anger, but he noticed with sorrow that the fire was gone from her eyes. She was dressed in black leggings and a large, baggy black jumper, and her skin seemed as pale and cold as marble.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” he said, holding her gaze. “What happened tonight.”

  For a moment, fury flashed in her eyes, but he knew well enough it was aimed at herself. “Of course it was. Why are you all making excuses for me? It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve had a one-night stand,” she shouted, the words harsh and defiant. “Does that shock you?” she demanded.

  Corin snorted, genuinely amused by the idea. “I think you’ll find it will take a great deal more than that to shock me.”

  She scowled at him and shook her head. “Then why is it so hard to accept that I knew what I was doing? I may be a screw-up, but at least I own my mistakes. He was gorgeous, I was miserable, he offered me an escape and I took it.”

  Corin looked at her, staring at her hard. “If that is all that happened … why are you so ashamed?”

  She hesitated for a moment before throwing up her hands. “Well, it is possibly the first time I have ever been rescued and had my humiliation shared by a king, a prince, and a frigging lord,” she said with some asperity.

  Corin smiled at her, glad her spirit hadn’t been crushed entirely. She was stronger than that. “I imagine it is,” he said, his voice warm, but his amusement faded quickly and his eyes grew serious. “But that is still not the crux of it. Tell me the truth, Ameena.”

  Ameena hugged her arms around herself and walked away from him to sit on the bed. Her head was bowed down and she plucked nervously at the bed cover. “I don’t know.” She shrugged, frowning. “It’s all such a muddle.” She hesitated. “I don’t know why I did it.” She let out a breath, then, and smiled at Corin. “God, but he was so beautiful and ... and ...”

  “And he offered you an escape from your pain, and it seemed so very inviting,” Corin said, his voice low. “He would make you forget. He would take all the pain away and make you feel nothing but pleasure.”

  She looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears as she nodded.

  Corin sat on the edge of the bed beside her, not looking at her. “He has the face of an angel, doesn’t he? Such understanding in those eyes.” He looked around then to find Ameena frowning at him.

  “He gave me a choice, I didn’t have to accept him,” she whispered.

  “Didn’t you?”

  Her frown deepened and Corin sighed. He got up and took her hand, pulling her to her feet. “Come here.” He towed her towards a full length mirror that stood in the corner of the room. “Look.” He passed his hand over her head, not touching her, and she gasped in shock. With his magic, she could now see a swirl of colours surrounding her, pulsing and moving. “This is your aura,” he said, moving his hand through the colours and making them move faster. “Some of us have the power to see this. I am one, Devil is another. I suspect he has seen you before tonight. He has spies everywhere and he will know of your closeness with Bram, know of your tumultuous relationship.”

  She looked at him via the mirror, obviously not understanding why this was relevant. “Why on earth would he care about that?”

  “Because Bram is someone I care for,” Corin said, wishing that Ameena hadn’t been caught in the crossfire of such and old and bloody feud. “I’m afraid that by hurting him, Devil would hurt me, and Devil would do anything to cause me pain, directly or otherwise.” He looked at her with sympathy, wishing he didn’t have to explain it all. “We have long history between us, you see, old wounds, too deep to heal. From the darkness of your aura, though, Devil would be able to see you were
in pain, vulnerable, an easy target.”

  She laughed, a sad and bitter sound that matched the cynicism in her eyes. “Well, that explains a lot. I wondered why on earth he would bother with me.”

  Corin sighed, impatient with her, now, for being so lacking in confidence. “That was not what I meant,” he said, his tone harder now. He gestured to the mirror, to the sad girl he could see with lovely grey eyes. “You are very beautiful, Ameena. He would have wanted you anyway, I assure you. The fact that he could profit from it would have been a bonus.”

  She shrugged and walked away from him, sitting back on the bed. “So what?” she demanded. “It doesn’t change anything. I knew what he was offering, he didn’t hold a gun to my head, I accepted because I wanted to, I wanted him. I wanted him badly.”

  Corin sighed, knowing that what she said was perfectly true. This was harder than he had hoped. “Not a gun, no,” he said, walking towards her. “You don’t understand what Devil is, though. In some cultures, he would be called an incubus.”

  Her eyes widened as she looked up at him, and Corin sat on the bed again at her side.

  “He is, simply put, irresistible when he wants to be. There are those of us who are powerful enough to refuse him, but it is an effort, nonetheless. For a human, with no magic, you had no chance, Ameena.” He smiled as he saw the understanding dawning in her eyes. “There is something about him, about the power of his magic that calls to that part of us that wants.” He paused, trying to find a way to explain it better. “Imagine you saw a panther in a cage, the beautiful big cat reclined in the sun, purring, all soft fur and sleek lines.” Ameena frowned at him but said nothing, her face attentive. “There might be a part of you that wished that you could stroke it, wished that you could touch that soft, sun-warmed fur, just like you would with a pet cat, but no matter how strong that desire, you would never, never, open the doors of the cage and walk in, would you?”