Blood Father (Blood Curse Series) (32 page)

Keitaro snarled in a knee-jerk reaction, flashing his fangs unwittingly, and then he quickly reined it in. “Of course.”

Arielle ignored the flash of temper. “Do you remember the song the kids would sing, sometimes at the campfire at night?”

Keitaro frowned, trying to recall... “Something about an omen,” he said. “Ancient
s
uperstition
, Mhieridian mysticism…the white owl.”

Arielle leaned forward. “Exactly.” She softened her voice and began to speak in a lyrical, singsong tone. “When the white owl soars in a midnight sky; friends and foes alike will die. When the white owl dips his snow-tipped wing, hearts will weep, and tongues will sing: a song of grief, lives lost too soon, a song of blood…beneath the moon.”

Keitaro listened carefully, but he didn’t respond.

Arielle sighed. “The night before I met your sons in Mhier, a white owl dipped low out of the sky and nearly clipped my cheek with his wing while I was crossing a river, and I remembered the Omen. I just knew somewhere deep inside that it was coming…
for me
.” She held out her arm, showing Keitaro the enigmatic etchings, the mystical dots and lines that replicated Auriga, the Charioteer, in her flesh. It was the first time she had openly,
eagerly
, showed someone the markings. “Echo, Ryder, Walker…King Thane, Cain, and Teague…
friends and foes alike
will
die
.” She shivered. “I learned that my father,
that Ryder
, actually perished while trying to save me; and you learned that Shelby…that he is now living in the spirit world. Yet, we were delivered from Mhier: You still have your family, and we still have each other.
Hearts will weep and tongues will sing
.” She pressed on. “
A song of grief, lives lost too soon; a song of blood…beneath the moon
.
”

She pointed at her wrist, sat back in her chair, and crossed her arms. Hugging herself, as if to provide internal, moral support, she shut her eyes. “So I tell you this, as the one I name as my father”—her eyes filled up with tears, and she didn’t hold them back—“as the best friend I have ever known. I am terrified, Keitaro. I feel like a fish out of water, a drifter with no home. I don’t know how to be a mother or a mate or a member of a tight-knit family; hell, I don’t even know how to love. And I’m a wimp…” She nodded her head to emphasize the confession. “Because I want to go through the conversion like a rebel wants to sit down and have tea with a lycan. I know the pregnancy will be uncomfortable but tolerable, yet I still flinch every time Kagen reaches out to touch me, even though we’ve obviously made inroads.” She opened her eyes and sighed. “I just want to run deep into the forest and keep on running, until my legs will no longer carry me. And I know that it’s crazy, it’s wrong, it’s insane; but I swear, that’s how I feel.”

Keitaro sat in silence, clearly weighing her words. After several tense moments had passed, he rose from his seat, knelt before her on the floor, and leaned into her sheltered body. He cupped her face in his hands with exquisite gentleness and held her gaze with a compassion that could only be described as fatherly
love
.

“Oh, Rielle,” he breathed out. “You would be less than human if you felt any other way, and my heart goes out to you.” He stroked the inside of her wrist in a paternal gesture and smiled. “But daughter, you must know, you are the bravest, the kindest, the purest soul I have ever known.”

Arielle warmed at his words.

“And you will get through this. You will come out on the other side, better, stronger, wiser.” He punctuated his words with a nod. “Look at me, Rielle. Look at me and trust my words.”

Arielle forced herself to meet his gaze and hold it—his eyes were so full of benevolence and wisdom, just like a father’s should be.

“As a male who sees you as my own child, the daughter of my heart, you must know that I would do anything—
ever
y
thing
—to protect you, that I would guide you, shelter you, and provide for you like no other…except for one.” He raised his eyebrows. “Kagen. My son.” His voice grew hoarse with conviction. “He loves you, Arielle, from a place much deeper than you can imagine. It’s written all over his face. Nay,”—he waved his hand through the air—“
e
ste
scris in stele
: It’s written in the stars. You knew it from an omen in Mhier, and he knew it, without the omen he needed from Dark Moon Vale. And I know it as surely as I know my own name.” He kissed the back of her hand tenderly, a father’s kind caress.

“Daughter, I am asking you to trust me, to be brave, to put one foot in front of the other and follow Kagen’s lead. You don’t have to feel everything right now; you don’t have to understand it all in a day. All you have to do is trust your heart…trust your father…and trust my son.”

Arielle nodded slowly. She knew Keitaro was right.

“And Rielle,” he added solemnly. “Kagen needs you. Our people need you.
I
need you.”

“You think so?” Arielle asked, a hopeful note in her voice.

Keitaro smiled. “Nathaniel shared something very transformational and
important
with me; and in time, it is something Kagen will share with you also. The night I was taken from Dark Moon Vale, Kagen encountered the Lycanthrope. He saw them take me into Mhier and tried to stop them, but he was too late to save me. They tortured him, Rielle. Ultimately, they killed him, yet he returned from the grave through tenacity alone to avenge his mother’s honor, to try and rescue me, but his memory was impaired—it was just
gone
. And all these years—all these long, painful years—he has lived with this secret inside him, an unbearable darkness, an indefinable impulse to heal,
to save
, and to destroy, all at the same time. He is freer than he has ever been, or at least he will be, now that this demon no longer haunts him from the shadows, but it will take time for him to heal, to integrate, to become all that he was meant to be, without this dueling energy. And there is no one who can help him more profoundly than you.”

She took a deep breath, trying to wrap her mind around Keitaro’s words, what they meant for Kagen and what they meant for her. “He did mention something, back when we were in Mhier: something about unvanquished demons and darkness, something that didn’t belong in a healer…something he feared.”

“Yes,” Keitaro said. “And I know that he has plans for you,
for the two of you
, with regard to your healing arts: You are both such a gift to the people, but I also think you may be a gift to each other, two healers who need to be healed. Perhaps, in time, you can help heal each other.” He let his words settle before moving on. “And as for me? I, too, feel overwhelmed, a bit afraid, and more than just a little confused.” He laughed, but it was a distinctly hollow sound. “But the thing that anchors me here, the thing that compels me to get up, to go on, and to learn to live again—without Serena, without Shelby—is the knowledge that while I was away, while I was yet a slave, the gods saw fit to give me the most precious gift in the world to a vampire, to one such as myself, bound by an ancient curse that makes siring female children impossible: They chose to give me a daughter.
Y
ou
,
Rielle. And it is the knowledge that I will teach you all that I taught my sons, that I will hold your babe in my arms at his naming ceremony, my own flesh and blood, that we will walk through the forest
together
as
free
souls that inspires me to go on, to rebuild…to continue. Do not deny me this gift, daughter of my heart. I need you as much as my son does, just in a different way.”

Arielle could hardly believe her ears.

It was as if something in her heart, something buried, missing, and frozen in time, finally stirred and came back to life.
Yes
, Kagen was showing her what it meant to love. Slowly, gently,
ever
so
tenderly
, he was teaching her the ways of passion, commitment, and union; but Keitaro was showing her a different hope entirely, a chance to be reborn. They had survived Mhier together, and they would thrive in Dark Moon Vale, if she could only have faith.

Scooting forward to the edge of her chair, she pressed her thumbs to the corners of her eyes to hold back her tears and nestled her head against Keitaro’s chest. “Father,” she whispered softly. “Will you hold me?”

As his strong arms enfolded her, as he gathered her to his heart, she knew that she was truly home at last. When he sighed and uttered a familiar phrase—“Yes, Arielle. The answer will always be
yes
”—she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

By all that was sacred, Keitaro and Kagen were cut from the same cloth: They were two males of honor and strength and compassion…

And they both loved her dearly.

She would get through the conversion and the pregnancy.

She would get through the Curse.

And for the first time in her tumultuous life, she would have a lover who adored her, and a father who would never turn away from her again.

Kagen Silivasi stood on the arched stone bridge that led to his property, the clinic, and his private residence, and he closed his eyes in order to take in the moment. As he listened to the soothing sounds of rushing water winding its way through the wide creek beneath his feet, he couldn’t help but think that his life was a lot like that winding river: rushing, flowing, ever-turning in unpredictable ways in reaction to the hidden elements below the surface…

Yet always remaining true to its predestined course.

He sighed and opened his eyes, and then he drew in a deep, approving breath at the sight of his
destiny
, Arielle Nightsong, standing before him in a beautiful yet simplistic gown of pale green linen and ivory lace.

She was magnificent.

Breathtaking.

The most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

He smiled as she fidgeted restlessly from nerves and bunched the front of her gown in her fists, rolling the delicate fabric in the palms of her hands. Truly, the female was a rare, hidden treasure. She had come to him the afternoon after her visit with Keitaro, bravely announcing that she was ready to undergo the conversion, that she didn’t want to wait, and she had approached the entire process with uncommon courage and strength. And, while there was no such thing as a painless conversion, Arielle had been unusually lucky in that regard. As an Ancient Master Healer, Kagen possessed the rare ability to enhance biological processes within the human body; to manipulate energy at a cellular level, acting as an active catalyst; and to speed up the process of change, transformation, and healing with his mind. Arielle’s entire conversion had taken no more than forty-five minutes from start to finish, and the beautiful free-spirited female had come through it without incident.

While he had insisted upon slowing things down, taking the next week or so to get to know his mate, to explore Dark Moon Vale as a couple, and to help acclimate Arielle to her newfound powers and abilities, eventually, they had both agreed it was time to move forward with the forty-eight-hour pregnancy. Once again, Arielle had met the challenge head-on with both courage and staunch determination. He laughed inwardly, remembering how she had insisted that they listen to several audiobooks together:
What to Expect
the First Year
,
Helping
Your Child Sleep
Through
the Night
,
and
Raising a Happy and Healthy Child
from
Birth
to Adolescence
. Even now, he had to admit the process had been extremely beneficial to both of them. Not only had they learned a lot about child development—which had then given Kagen the opportunity to explain all the ways in which it would
not
apply to a vampire infant, all the ways in which a vampire developed far more quickly than a human—it had given them an opportunity to discuss their hopes and dreams as a family, as parents, to clearly define their values and expectations. It had given them a chance to come together as a team, to draw even closer as a couple.

When the baby was born, Arielle had been positively amazed, not just by the mystical, painless process, but by the sudden appearance of an undeniable angel, the precious little gift from the gods that Kagen had placed in her arms. And she had been nervous at best, stoic at the least, as he fulfilled the demands of the Blood Curse, returning the unnamed one—the dark, soulless twin who would surely grow up to murder, maim, and destroy—to the icy Chamber of Sacrifice and Atonement in the required ritual that always ensued. While the concept of the sacrifice was both foreign and abhorrent to her sensibilities, Arielle had grown up in Mhier, in the land of the lycans, and she had seen evil in all of its various forms, firsthand. While she had been appalled by the cruelty of the Curse, disgusted by the evil, misguided vengeance wrought by the Blood—the original females who had spawned the Vampyr race—she had also understood that it could not be altered: The soul was the seat of all potential; and pure, unadulterated evil could only grow up to wreak pure, unadulterated havoc on the world.

She had understood that the Vampyr had not chosen this blight; they were helpless to remove it from their lives; and raising a demon-like being to become like King Thane was not the answer to their plight.

Now, as she stood on the sturdy, archaic bridge before him, looking more like a goddess than a woman, Kagen could only stare in bewilderment…and love.

“Are you ready, sweeting?” he asked, reaching down to pry her fingers loose from her dress before it became an unsalvageable, wrinkled mess.

Arielle shook out her hands. “I am,” she whispered.

As if on cue, Marquis, Nathaniel, and Nachari stepped closer to the couple, taking preordained places at their sides, their beautiful mates forming a loose outer circle behind the pair, even as Braden Bratianu and Kristina Riley-Silivasi joined them at the back of the throng.

Napolean Mondragon shimmered into view, standing all at once before the newly mated couple, and all the air in the valley seemed to coalesce around him, to settle upon his broad, muscular shoulders as it hummed with electric energy. The bridge grew instantly quiet as all the attendees shifted their gaze to the powerful lord, watching as his long black hair rustled in a preternatural wind, the translucent silver highlights framing his face like a halo.

The king smiled warmly at Kagen and Arielle, and then he gently nodded his head. “And where is the precious babe?” His voice was like a warm summer’s breeze.

“He’s here.” The deep, husky burr sent currents of electricity sizzling through the atmosphere as Keitaro Silivasi strolled languidly toward the center of the half-circle, stood just to the right of Kagen, and nestled the peaceful infant tight against his chest. “He’s sleeping soundly.”

Kagen regarded his father—
his father
—with a look of utter amazement and gratitude, and then he turned to appraise Marquis. Under normal circumstance—
no
, under anything
but
normal circumstances—as the oldest living male of the family, Marquis would have been the one to hold the child, but now that Keitaro was here, now that he was
alive
, the mantle had returned to him.

Marquis straightened his shoulders and inclined his head in a gesture of solidarity, and then he did something highly unusual for the hardened, ancient warrior: He winked at Kagen with unrestrained delight in his eyes. Clearly, the Ancient Master Warrior was thrilled to be standing in his rightful place as the firstborn son, not the
head
,
of the family; and as he glided noiselessly to the right of Keitaro, Nathaniel and Nachari quickly followed suit, each male taking his honored place, based upon the order of his birth.

Kagen laughed out loud.

By all the gods, he felt
complete
.

Napolean turned to Kagen, and his face grew all at once serious. “It is with unspeakable joy that I greet you this day, my subject, a fellow descendant of Jadon, an Ancient Master Healer, mate to the daughter of Auriga, father to this newborn son of Ophiuchus, the serpent holder, who makes his home above the celestial equator.” He shook his head in awe, his deep voice resonating with reverence. “As your sovereign lord and an Ancient Master Justice, I must point out that it is not lost on me that this child was chosen by this god: For eons, Ophiuchus has been identified with Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, who has the power to revive the dead.”

Kagen shuddered, and he felt deep chills pulse all the way down to his toes. Surely, he knew this, about Ophiuchus and Asclepius—he had studied all the celestial deities in great depth at the University—but now, it suddenly made sense. That fateful night in the valley when he had heard a faint voice urging him to fight his enemy, to resist and survive
—
“
Vampire, you are a healer, a magician, a practitioner of unparalleled ability
; f
ight
them with what you have left
”—it had been the voice of Lord Asclepius, the ancient god of medicine, the one who had the power to
revive the dead
.

“What name have you chosen for this male?” Napolean’s melodious voice pierced the silence, interrupting Kagen’s thoughts, and he immediately came back to attention.

His eyes alighted with pride, and his heart swelled with love. “Should it please you, milord, and find favor with the Celestial Beings, the son of Ophiuchus is to be named
Shelbie Ryder
Silivasi
. And we will call him Ryder.”

Keitaro shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and Marquis and Nathaniel let out a collective exhalation of deep regard. Nachari’s eyes met Kagen’s, and while they glistened with crystalline tears, there was a powerful gleam of gratitude in their depths as he slowly nodded his head.

Napolean reached out to take the baby from Keitaro’s arms. “The name pleases me, healer, and there is no objection from the Celestial Beings.”

As the sovereign lord bent his head to the child’s wrist and his fangs began to elongate, remnants of Kagen’s alter ego stirred; but this time, he recognized it for what it was: an unconscious impulse, one that instinctively reared its head in reaction to any perceived threat to his family, and he did not have to react. He definitely did not have to save the child
from Napolean
, and he most certainly did not need to
kill them all
.

He chuckled, took a deep, cleansing breath, and simply watched, dispassionately, as Napolean pierced the child’s vein vertically, along the inner arm, and Ryder’s soft teal eyes blinked open for the first time. The babe did not flinch in alarm, nor did he protest the intrusion or cry out in pain. He simply stared, mesmerized, at the magnificent being before him and cooed when the king sealed the wound with his venom.

Napolean held the child out in front of him and smiled. “Welcome to the house of Jadon, Shelbie Ryder Silivasi. May your life be filled with peace, triumph, and purpose. May your path always be blessed.”

He gave the child back to Keitaro, who kissed him soundly on the forehead and nuzzled his hair with his chin. “Welcome to our family, Shelbie Ryder Silivasi, and to the house of Jadon. May your life be filled with peace, triumph, and purpose. May your path always be blessed.”

Marquis took the child next and repeated the refrain.

Once Nathaniel and Nachari had done the same, the child was handed back to Keitaro, who gestured for Jocelyn, Ciopori, and Deanna to come forward and waited as each of the
destinies
took a turn holding the baby and repeating the familiar chorus. Braden and Kristina followed last, and the first part of the ceremony was complete.

Napolean cleared his throat and turned his attention back to Kagen and Arielle. “By the laws which govern the house of Jadon, I accept your union as the divine will of the gods and hereby sanction your mating. Arielle Nightsong Silivasi, do you come now of your own free will to enter the house of Jadon?”

Arielle began to sway on her feet, her lean, agile body rocking ever so slightly to the left. She took a hurried step to the right to regain her balance, and then she reached out for Kagen’s hand and squeezed it for all she was worth.

He sent a soft, gentle wave of calming energy into her hand and flooded her body with warmth.
All is well, sweeting
, he whispered telepathically.

She nodded and relaxed her hand. “I do,” she said fervently.

“Hold out your wrist,” Napolean instructed, the corner of his mouth turning up in a grin.

Arielle held out her arm, no longer bothered by the strange sight of the enigmatic markings and lines, and if Kagen hadn’t known better, he would have sworn she seemed almost eager to give her blood to the king. She was definitely willing to give her life to the Vampyr.

Napolean took her arm with exquisite gentleness. He bent his head, long locks of shimmering silver and black falling in a royal curtain around them, and then he pierced her vein cleanly, his teeth sinking deep, his lips forming a tight, unbreakable seal over the wound. As he took long, dragging pulls from her vein, his mouth working in an easy rhythm, Kagen marveled at the sensation of
peace
that flooded his body. There was no hint of possessiveness, no impulse to
kill them all
—

The rivers were finally absent of blood.

Napolean released his hold, removed his fangs, and sealed the wound with deft alacrity, and then he turned to regard Kagen and his
destiny
. “Congratulations,” he said with a smile, and then just like that, he shimmered out of view.

Ryder was formally named.

Kagen and Arielle were formally mated.

And the noble king was gone.

Arielle stepped back from the crowd, needing to get some air.

She found a comfortable perch alongside the stony wall that bordered the bridge, and leaned back to rest her legs, grateful that the ceremony was finally over.

As she watched Kagen interact with his family,
Keitaro interact with his sons
, she couldn’t help but feel blessed for having been part of this family’s journey.

Her
family’s journey.

It seemed like only yesterday that she had been a child growing up in Mhier, a daughter weighted down by the yoke of a distant and lonely mother; a slave, estranged from her father, with no foreseeable future, save to one day become the bride of a tyrant king; and a rebel, entrenched in a cause that could never be won.

She shivered and ran her hands along her arms to avert the chill.

That was then…

And this was now.

Suddenly, feeling lighter than she had felt in years, she stepped away from the wall, stretched out her arms, and spun around in a wide, dizzying circle. As the crisp mountain air swept through her hair, teased her arms, and fanned her elation, she laughed out loud with abandon.

Her new family might think she was crazy, but she just didn’t care.

How could she do anything but dance—or sing?

If someone would have told her, just two years ago, that
this
would be her future, she would have told them they were crazy, that heroes only existed in fairy tales, and life was a long exercise in survival, brutality, and pain.

But now?

Now she knew different.

When Kagen approached her on the bridge and held up his hands in question, she had an overwhelming impulse to launch herself into his arms, and she did just that.

He staggered back and caught her, laughing. “I take it this is happiness?”

“Oh yes!” She laughed, burying her face in his chest, and then she just as suddenly pulled away. She gestured at the water, the sky, and the valley; and then she spun around again. “But Kagen, it’s so much more.”

His stunning brown eyes brimmed with joy as the deep, dark pools of splendor narrowed on her face. “Tell me,” he urged her softly. “That is…if you can find the words.”

Arielle struggled to articulate her feelings, to find a way to express the overwhelming lightness of being that was radiating in her soul: How could she possibly tell him that the ghosts of the past, the unrelenting hounds from hell, no longer haunted her like prey?

That they would no longer plague her dreams?

How could she possibly express that what had once been corporeal was now as mist, that what had once been ethereal was now…simply gone. That what had always—
always
—been too ever-constant to outrun no longer nipped at her heels?

There were simply no words…

So she cupped his face in her hands, rose to the tips of her toes, and kissed him softly on the lips. “I love you, Kagen Silivasi,” she whispered earnestly, and then she brushed the backs of her fingers along his cheeks, hoping he would understand: There were few things more elemental to the journey of a soul than the ability to claim one’s destiny, than the right to determine one’s future, than the chance to reach one’s potential.

And Kagen had made all of them possible…

F
or
her
.

Though the words failed to come, she felt it in every cell of her being—

Arielle Nightsong was free
.