She stopped, sighing, and spun, but couldn’t spot him in the dense shadows.
“Here.”
At last, she found his tall crooked silhouette looming in between two pines. The moon was out, glinting in the glacier blue of the impossible color of his eyes—the only detail on his face Charlotte could make out.
Her blood warmed under her skin and pooled in her face. Maybe it was the fury. Maybe it was because she still so desperately needed him. Suddenly, a hand the color and temperature of the surrounding snow reached forward, landing on her shoulder. Her eyes fluttered open to find Valek hunched in front of her as if someone knocked the wind from his lungs. He reminded her so aptly of the surrounding trees. Tall, slightly crooked, beautiful and ageless, though hundreds of years old. Vampires were eerily good at blending into the background.
Even as he touched her, she’d never felt so separate from him. Not when she’d found him in the library with Evangeline. Not when he’d allowed the coven to ration her like she was nothing but food. Not ever. Again, she felt tears pool in the corners of her eyes. Oh, don’t cry, she thought to herself, not now. She squared her shoulders, blinking up at him, clenching her jaw as if to trap any emotion that might escape. She fought to remain a wall of stone.
“What?” she snapped, with her fists curled.
“Charlotte, please. I don’t know what is happening to us.” His normally solid voice was cracked and desperate. She blinked at him, not used to the desolate sound. “It feels like you’re slipping right through my fingers. The moment you got sick, Lottie, the feeling wasn’t at all the same,” he lamented. “Everything seems…off.” Charlotte never remembered seeing him in so many pieces before. “It seemed like you didn’t want to be near me. It seemed like you’d rather be nearer to him.” He growled the last word, his bright blue eyes sinking a few shades darker.
“Because he didn’t leave me, Valek!” Charlotte wailed. Surprised by her own tenacity, her jaw dropped as she gauged his reaction. When he didn’t speak, words continued to launch themselves like arrows. “He never hurt me!” Valek closed his eyes. “He’s neutral territory. He’s safe. You’re not safe, Valek. As far back as I can remember you’ve never been safe for me.” Her tears were free falling now. Now matter how many of them she seemed to swallow, there was nothing she could do to dam them up. “You’ve always been a threat to my sanity, my life, or my heart. Being close to you is like surviving a battle for my life. I’m either hiding or dodging the next blade before it slashes my throat. I can’t do this anymore.” She wanted to drop to her knees, but steadily she held herself up. Her breathing was ragged as she leaned against her own exasperation and the tiny bit of strength she had left. The last place she wanted to be was in his arms—no, maybe that was the first place she wanted to be. There was no deciding. Her head was spinning.
Valek stepped back, clearly reeling from her ultra-candid admission. “Tell me how you really feel, Charlotte,” he whispered, aggrieved. His eyes stayed slanted and guarded.
Was he actually angry with her for finally speaking her mind? Well, fine. She bit down hard on her bottom lip, knowing her words cut him deep, but he needed to hear it. How much longer was she supposed to keep this charade up—the charade that she was fine with being tossed around like a rag doll? Surviving one attack before coming back up for air. Surviving another, then back up for another breath. By now, she was absolutely enervated, sick of drowning. Her body was wracked with the notion that Sarah’s magic was finally failing her. Done. Lamenting, she shook her head at him.
“I wish I could keep holding things back from you, Valek, but I need a break,” she murmured, swatting a fresh set of tears from her face. Her cheeks burned with the thought of looking weak in front of him. She was so tired of being the helpless damsel. She clenched her fists, trying to manifest some sort of power from them, like Aiden always had. She came up empty.
Valek’s gaze scathed her, his skin looking more ashen than usual from underneath the silken strings of his long hair. Her dark angel had fallen so very far, it seemed. Her heart quickened in her chest as she melted under his smoldering blue stare, unable to peel her eyes away. Where was she to go if she didn’t want to be with him? How long would she even survive if she wasn’t under his constant care? Her mind continued to swim, though she held her stance.
“May I touch you?” he asked abruptly, causing her breath to hitch in her throat.
She glanced down at his claws wavering apprehensively at his sides. She struggled with the thought of them on her again, as forgiveness seemed to be a country away. Moments of silence went by. She wasn’t sure how long she stayed staring at him as she thought about his request. Valek shifted on his feet, and she could see he was growing uncomfortable as he waited for her answer.
“Please,” he choked out.
She blinked, her voice cracking. “I’m not sure it would do any good right now.” She answered honestly, blinking back the fresh wave of forming tears. Guilt and bile mixed in her throat as she spoke, the taste thick and sour. How could she admonish him so brutally without wanting to throw herself at him the next moment begging for forgiveness? Strangely, however, she’d never felt stronger.
Valek straightened himself, regarding her with what she was sure was meant to be an impassive stare, though the pain bubbling just behind his stony façade was apparent. “Allow me this one opportunity for retribution, Charlotte, and then I’ll let you make your decision. You can either stay with me,” he swallowed, wincing as he did, “or go with him.”
What? Was he planning on going rogue, just leaving the others to fend for themselves? “What about Sarah, and the others?” Charlotte’s voice broke.
“I’ll allow them to make the same choice. As it seems I haven’t been allowing certain people to think for themselves recently,” he murmured. “We keep talking about freedom, so here it is.”
“Valek….” The muscles in her throat clenched as she said his name. “Nikolai is just a friend. I barely know him.”
“Yes, I am aware. But your feelings for me have altered. I can sense that, no matter how you try to conceal it. And it’s my own undoing, so I can blame no one but myself. I am simply allowing you to explore other…opportunities.”
Charlotte gaped at him, but only nodded, unsure of what else to say.
She watched as he glided toward her gracefully over the shallow hills and valleys of the fresh snow. Though his boots sank deep into the trenches of it, he failed to waver. She ground her teeth together, knowing that unless Valek ever changed his mind about making her one of them, she would never know such dexterity—such grace. A serge of envy twanged through her less-than-capable extremities. Now she felt it—the thing everyone had been trying to tell her for so many years. Predator and prey. In that moment, as he slinked toward her like some lethal stalking predator, she finally understood. She shouldn’t have ever survived that first night when he’d found her. He should have ended it there. She couldn’t fight the thought, in this moment, that her entire existence had been a mistake.
Carefully, slowly, as if she might disintegrate under the strong, marble pads of his fingers, he lifted his hand to caress her cheek. She didn’t move as his cool contact sent shivers shooting down her back. His light graze trailed down her damp face to the line of her jaw, to the column of her throat. Blinking, he retracted his touch and waited expectantly.
So did she. To her utter shock, she didn’t feel much except for the undeniable chill. Was it simply the weather, or complete emptiness? What did he think was going to happen? She stood in front of him, feeling dead. Cocking her head to one side, her mouth went dry with the words she didn’t have for him.
Valek must have heard her mind, because he took another step away from her, his expression positively anguished. “So, this is it.” He shrugged casually, though his face carried an expression of utter panic. “This is the end.”
A string of red slipped from the corner of his eye. His mouth pressed into a flat, grim line, his
brows furrowing, as he neglected to bat the tear away. Charlotte could not being herself to lift the weight of her arms to embrace him, for they seemed heavier than lead. The love she knew still existed was buried so deep below her surface, encased by Lusian’s control, Aiden’s jealousy, and most importantly, Valek’s carelessness. She was as numb as the winter around her. Though her heart clenched to see him this way, she just couldn’t move herself forward toward him.
“All of the awful things I’ve let happen, and this is the consequence,” he muttered disparagingly.
“It just seems to have happened that way.” Charlotte whispered, dropping her gaze to her knotted fingers. Touching her—what did he think that was going to prove? It wouldn’t undo the damage. She surprised herself, clearly taking no prisoners. Who was this girl controlling her mouth and movements? She was positively stunned by her callousness. Stunned, but not yet totally sorry for it. She needed, for once, to be strong by herself.
“Lottie, I can’t begin to explain myself. Once I find the sword, I’ll send the Wood Witch to cure you.”
This was news to her. He was still planning on going after the sword? Even after she’d refused him?
“Of course.” He answered her thought. “Charlotte, I understand your hatred toward me, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let anything happen to you.” He looked positively wounded. “My feelings are unchanging. Unconditional. I told you that.”
“I don’t hate you.” She spoke calculatedly to the ground beneath her. She couldn’t look at him, fearing that if she did, it might cause her to fall to pieces and diminish her strength.
“CHARLOTTE! VALEK! RUN! NOW!” called Sarah
“STAY WHERE YOU ARE!” A new foreign voice called. But Charlotte recognized it. It zapped fear straight through her as she and Valek turned to see a woman riding atop the back of Mr. Třínožka, her golden hair flying wilding about her face, swinging a sword high above her head. That must have been it. The Sword of the Order. Nikolai and Sarah quickly followed behind on the backs of Beta and Jiri, fixed to the spider by lengthy chains.
Charlotte felt her stomach crawl up into her mouth as Valek stepped before her. “Cinder Price…took you long enough to find me,” Valek challenged, a threatening hiss creeping from between his teeth.
“Do not bother running. I have all of your friends. I’ve slaughtered most of your coven. I win.” Mr. Třínožka slowed and Cinder slid off his back into the snow, her armor clanging.
“You wear a lot of metal. Are you afraid?”
Cinder’s responding laughter was barking. “You’re as mad as they say you are. I’d expect nothing less. Now, let’s make this fast. I want to return to the palace with your head in my hands before breakfast.”
Abruptly, Charlotte heard what she was sure was Ears cawing in the distance, before sweeping down through the canopy abruptly to land on a branch just above the group. Charlotte flinched as the tawny hawk cawed again. She frowned at Nikolai, whose eyes were locked with a curious expression on the bird, his jaw set in a hard clench. Ears made another vicious sound before spreading his wings wide.
“There, now, Windsor, come to me….” Another voice beckoned from the shadows. Charlotte launched herself into Valek’s back, wrapping her arms around his middle. She knew who it was. Aiden Price appeared with Dalibor in toe, his arm stretched up to the hawk as it landed with grace. “Don’t be upset.” He stroked its wings. “Ears, Nikolai? Really? What an awful name.”
“YOU’RE WORKING WITH HIM?” Charlotte screeched. She wanted to charge the boy and claw his eyes out. “YOU LIAR! YOU SCOUNDREL!” This was it. Valek was right. This was the end. They were surrounded. Overpowered.
“Nonsense,” Valek whispered down at her.
Aiden leapt down from the knoll to the dip in the ground in front of Valek. “Good to see you again my friend.”
“The Dark has favored you,” Valek admitted. Charlotte winced at the overpowering sight of him. His smug expression and pointy ears were all too similar, but several things about him were different. His hair was longer. His complexion looked grayer. And there was something else—something the naked eye couldn’t see, but it was something Charlotte sensed nonetheless. It was a new, scarier, intimidating quality that seemed to make the shadow before his feet deeper in color and his presence more dominating. It seemed to make his stance broader and the peaks and valleys of his chiseled features harsher.
“Hello Charlotte,” he whispered to her, his voice frosty and somehow completely unfamiliar.
She winced, feeling her heart catch in her throat. She needed to stare for just a few more moments to be sure it was really him.
“VALEK, WATCH OUT!” Sarah shrieked just in time for Valek to dodge Cinder as she lunged at him with the sword, but he caught the blade in his grip, its edges cutting into his skin.
“Falter under my power!”
Valek ripped the sword from his grasps and chucked far into the trees. She looked down at her empty hands, positively dumbfounded. Dalibor relinquished a battle cry, sending a blast of fire at Sarah who froze it mid-air with her sewing needle. Aiden didn’t move. He simply stood there, looking pleased while Cinder growled and began grappling with Valek.
Charlotte’s heart hammered in her ears as she tried to register what was happening around her. Was Aiden really standing before her? She knew this day had been coming, but hadn’t thought it would be quite so soon. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, her heart beating so violently, it was almost painful. She could feel her own pulse all the way down in her fingertips. But that was when she remembered the letter opener still tucked safely into her stockings. She whipped her gaze in time to watch Valek tear his fangs into Cinder’s shoulder.
“Valek, let her go!” Charlotte called racing.
The woman reared herself and began running on Charlotte.
“Cinder! Cinder we’re here!” A new voice called over more whinnies and trots. A platoon. A large figure led the way.
“The new Regime guard force has arrived,” Aiden announced, his grin broader still.
They’d distracted her enough for her not to notice Charlotte tear the blade from her stockings, ramming it right into the side of Cinder’s throat. She fell back, gurgling, clutching at the spewing wound.
“GET THE SWORD!” Sarah called, leaping off her horse.
“Cinder! No!” The large man cried.
Charlotte began to run after Sarah while Valek battled with Dalibor and a few of the other Elves arriving to the scene, racing on him with blades and fire. Mr. Třínožka helped. Though she could see he’d been wounded, he used his good pincers to impale several enemies.
“CH-CHARLOTTE! BEHIND YOU!” Edwin called.
It was a harrowing, mournful, pleading sound that made her glance up in time to see Aiden rushing toward her. Once again, everything was moving so slowly. As she felt him wrap around her body, she looked to see Valek with one fist clutching Nikolai by the collar of his shirt, the other stretched out, reaching for her. He looked beautiful and blurry against the heavy fall of snow, an image of darkness against the clean, sparkling white. She finally felt that familiar ache for him. Realizing the enormity of the mistake she’d made only a few moments ago, she wished she could take it all back.
“It seems you’ve made the right choice, this time, love.” Aiden growled with his lips pressed against her ear. His teeth grazed her earlobe and she wondered distantly if he’d also developed fangs. A shot of fear bulleted down her spine. Breathing came more difficult than ever as she found it harder to keep her knees locked.
“Aiden,” she whispered back with all of the strength she could muster, “I’m dying. Take me. Do whatever it is you want to do, but please don’t hurt him.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, angel.” His laugh was almost a bark in her ear and she flinched at the sound of it. “But before you go, there is something I want to tell you. Do you see that boy right there?” Aiden’s extended finger indicated Nikolai, restrained and panting agai
nst Valek, who had him pinned against himself by the throat. It was as if Valek was threatening Aiden. Nikolai’s life for Charlotte’s. Tit for tat, though she knew who was going to win.
“That boy is like you. Human. He possesses a great deal of power –abilities he had far before I got to him because he was born with the Curse inside him. Born with the Dark magic. Do you know how?”
Aiden’s words sounded alien in her ear. She didn’t recognize this person. He wasn’t even the same Elf that had stood beside her in the chapel of the Regime, when things had gotten really bad. He was altogether evil –as if he’d gone mad. “He is this way, because he is your Valek’s great-great-grandson.”
Charlotte’s breath hitched in her throat as her heart dropped to her bowels. She furrowed her brow. “No. You’re wrong. That’s impossible.”
“Lies!” Valek spewed at Aiden. “You are feeding her lies!”
Even from her distance, and the blurriness of her vision, she could see Valek’s eyes wash red before new blood tears of his own began to fall.
Aiden’s chuckle rumbled low in her ear. “Are they, Valek? Charlotte knows about the wife you used to have, doesn’t she?” Charlotte immediately recalled her nightmare from weeks ago and the contents of her stomach started to ascend. “You remember your human wife, don’t you Valek? The one you belonged to before you abandoned her for a new life with Francis?” Aiden spat his name like it was the name of the most lethal poison. “Francis turned you, and you faked your death to explain your odd disappearance from her life.”
How does Aiden know all of this?
“And then you watched from a distance as she got sicker and sicker. Slowly dying before your eyes. And in your last, desperate attempt to save her life, you failed. Got carried away, didn’t you?”
What was he talking about? Valek roared his anguished response.
“You tried to change her while she was pregnant, did you, Valek? How desperate. How sick.”
“Yes, I did!” Valek wailed, his tears staining the snow beneath him red. He released Nikolai, who tumbled to the ground, scampering away from him. Charlotte felt like she wanted to collapse, but Aiden kept her pressed steadfast to his chest. “I didn’t care. I just didn’t want to live in a world without her!”
Of Blood and Magic Page 40
