The Heart's Ashes (75 page)

I rested a
flat palm to the glass, which frosted and turned cold under my
touch. I’d never be a part of his world again, never lay with him
against the rock while everything spun around us. All I could do
was watch him existing in the innocence of the past while my heart
ached to be with him. “I’m so sorry, David,” I whispered, leaning
my head against the icy partition.

On the other
side, long, bone-white fingers touched mine through the cold, and I
looked up at David, who smiled at me; his dark green eyes sparkling
in the corners—but his lips blue, his face ashen. “I’m not sorry,
Ara. Now I get to keep you here for eternity. I’ll be
waiting…waiting...”

“
Wait,” I cried as his voice trailed off, leaving my hand
alone against the cold glass. “David?”

The light in
this world went black; the wind picked up around me, whipping my
hair out behind me, wrapping my long, lace dress around me feet.
And the glass fell away, leaving my hands falling through the
absent air.

He’s gone.

I wrapped my
arms across my body.

Everything is
gone.

I felt nothing
around me; not behind me, underneath me. I am alone.

“
I love you, David, forever,” I whispered softly as I closed
my eyes.

Quiet whispers
urged my attention. My eyes stayed shut while my ears pricked. “I
know she’s alive,” said a voice I didn’t know—a strong, austere
voice.

“
She’s dead. Now, will you please leave us to grieve her
passing in peace,” Mike said.

I heard a
thud, like a flat palm on wood. “I watched you leave the castle
with her, Monsieur White. I know she’s alive. Now, show me to her,
I beg of you.”

My eyes
flashed open. Wait! I do know that voice.

“
She’s sleeping.”

“
She’s awake. I can hear her heart,” the man said, his voice
carrying through the walls, right into my deepest cavity of
fear.

Mike
sighed.

“
Please,” the man said, “just let me see her. Let me see that
she’s all right, and I’ll leave.”

“
What makes you think I’m going to trust you for one second
with her.”

“
I ask out of respect, Monsieur White. If I came here to
impose or to hurt her, I’d have brought guards.” All went silent. I
wished I were out there, watching. “I am unarmed, unprotected. See
for yourself.”

A soft patting
sound filled the silence. “Fine,” Mike said. “So you’re unarmed.
That means nothing to me. How do I know you’re not here to kill
her?”

“
If that were so she’d already be dead.”

“
All the same, you’re still not getting within an inch of her.
Now leave.”

“
Goddamn it, I fought for her. I fought for her,” he raised
his voice, “I did everything I could to have her life spared, and I
battled within the last inches of my political boundaries to save
my son.”

Son? Arthur.
That’s Arthur’s voice. I sat up. Arthur was the austere voice.

“
Yeah, well, some job your political boundaries did. How ‘bout
moral boundaries? How ‘bout life versus death?”

“
Please. She’s all that’s left of him, now. Just show me that
she’s all right. I’ll give you anything—I’ll give you anything you
ask for.”

“
Where’s Drake?” Mike asked.

“
Show me the princess, and I’ll tell you.”

“
Tell me, and I’ll show her to you.”

Arthur sighed.
“Very well, he’s hiding in Rome. He has a safe house there. Show me
the princess, and I will give you the exact location.”

“
Why would you give up your own king?”

Arthur went
silent. “I have my reasons—reasons I do not wish to share at this
point, but you must trust me. I mean no harm to Amara, or to the
Lilithians. I merely want to keep her safe.”

“
Why?”

“
Just take me to her. Please?”

“
Mike?” Morgaine’s voice broke into the conversation. “Show
him. Then he can leave.”

Mike huffed
and the front door closed.

Do I wake up,
or pretend to be asleep? I don’t know. None of them have footsteps.
I should be able to hear them walking, but there’s nothing.

As the door
handle twisted, I flopped back down on the pillow and closed my
eyes. Sleep acting it is. I’m not ready to face Arthur.

A long, slow
sigh carried the sound of relief. “So, it is true.”

“
What?” Mike asked.

“
My son left a note telling me where I could find her if
everything went to plan.”

“
Plan?” Mike scoffed, closing my door. “What plan?”

“
He was supposed to…to throw her from the window if you didn’t
get there in time.” Arthur cleared his throat. “I was to pick up
the pieces and bring her here.”

“
Why would he do that?” Mike snarled, and a scuffling noise
ended with a dull thud on the wall. “Why would he throw her out a
window?”

“
Relax, Mike,” Morgaine cut in. “She wouldn’t have died from
it. It was actually very clever. I don’t know why we didn’t think
of it.”

“
No,” Mike said. “Don’t you believe him, Morgaine. There’s no
way they could mutilate her like that, and be planning to help her
all along.”

“
I know,” Morgaine said. “Arthur, what’s your deal? What’re
you doing here?”

“
Let me see her, tomorrow, and I will explain.”

“
No. I think you need to explain now.”

“
Please. I am a man of my word, Morgaine, if nothing else—you
know that.”

“
Yes,” she whispered humbly.

“
I must speak to the princess alone. If you gift me that, I
will return your kindness with any information you require. I can
help you catch Drake
and
remove him from power.”

“
Why would you do that,” Mike asked.

Everything
went quite, then, in a low voice Arthur said; “Freedom.”

All I could
hear was breathing.

“
Fine,” Mike said. “Tomorrow afternoon. Across the road—that’s
as alone as it’s going to get, and only if she
approves.”

“
Very well,” Arthur said. “I shall be there at precisely
fourteen-hundred hours.”

“
I’m sure you will,” Mike said, and the front door slammed
shut.

“
Damn,” Morgaine said. “Did not expect
him
to drop by.”

Mike sighed
heavily, probably dropped his head into hands, too. “He’s
convincing, I’ll give ‘im that. I almost believed his story about
that depraved prick.”

“
I know,” Morgaine said, “me too. He’s definitely up to
something.”

“
But what? I just don’t get it. What could he hope to achieve
by making himself and Jason look like the good guys?”

“
Mike?” I called out.

The door
popped open and Mike smiled at me, so warmly; I loved that
smile—the one that made me glad to be on his side. “Hey, baby, how
you doin’?”

“
I don’t get it either?” I sat up, continuing the conversation
as if I’d been a part of it all along. “Why would he want to help?
He watched Jason hurt me.”

“
I don’t know. But I want you to find out.”

I shook my head. “No way. Uh-uh, I am
not
meeting with him—he drank from
me, he sat there while Jason—” my lip quivered, “while
he—”

“
While he what, Ara? What did he do to you?” Mike landed on
the bed in front of me; Morgaine walked away.

“
I…I never thought I’d get out of that dungeon. I thought I
was going to die in there and be hoisted onto the wall with the
other skeletons.”

“
Oh, baby, that was never going to happen.” He grabbed my face
and pressed his nose to mine. “Morgaine and David were planning
your rescue from the start—before they even knew you were a pure
blood, before Emily and I even knew you’d been kidnapped. They
were
never
going
to leave you there.”

I nodded and
ran my finger over his arm; his veins were still blue and his heart
beat just as strongly as before. I could feel the way the beat
would pulse under my tongue; see the appeal humans have to
vampires. “You’re still so warm,” I said, “I can’t believe I turned
you. I mean, I’m really sorry, you know, if you didn’t want to be a
vampire-murdering kind of Lilithian.”

“
Are you kidding? Ara, this is the best kind of vampire to be.
Morgaine’s completely pissed—wishes she could swap.”

“
Why? I mean, she’s totally cool.”

“
Yeah,” he scoffed, “But she can’t kill vamps, and—” he
bristled with arrogant pride, “—I’m stronger than her, which she
hates.”

“
I bet.” I smiled a little. “How does Emily feel about
it?”

“
She’s—” He shook his head, smiling. “She’s over the moon,
Ara. Well, she was once the shock wore off.”

“
How did you figure it out—what you were?”

“
We
didn’t. Morgaine
knew.”

“
How?”

Mike laughed. “When I met with her to go over the rescue
plans, she shook my hand and the first thing she said to me
was
So you let her bite
you?
.”

“
What, she knew just from a handshake?”

“
Yeah, apparently I nearly broke her hand.”

“
But you have a strong handshake, you always have.”

“
Not strong enough to hurt a vampire’s hand.”

“
You hurt Jason’s—at the wedding. I saw you.”

Mike nodded,
grinning. “Ara, I was immortal then.”

“
Oh.”

“
And I don’t think hurt is the right word.” He grinned. “I
heard crunching. I mean, it wouldn’t have actually been broken, but
I think he knew—if he knew what you were, he would have known at
that moment, what I was.”

“
Why didn’t he take you in as well, then?”

Mike stared
ahead, his smile trailing away with thought. “I…don’t know.”

“
Do you think maybe there’s some truth to what Arthur
said?”

“
No way, Ara. We can’t trust him. He’s up to something. I
don’t know what, but what ever it is, don’t trust him.”

I nodded. “I’ll meet with him. I want to know what he has to
say.” Some small part of me needed to know how Jason could possibly
have loved me so deeply in my dreams, then hurt me so viciously,
only to help me again in the end. Whether what Arthur said is the
truth, or not, I could handle a lie better than the
fact
that Jason just
hated me so badly.

“
Okay, that’s fine, baby, but don’t talk to him about
David.”

“
David?” My lips fell apart. “Why would I talk about
David
?”

“
It’s just—”

“
Mike?” Emily popped her head in the door.

“
Yeah, gorgeous?”

“
Um, I need to talk to you for a sec.” She ushered him with
her hand.

“
Sure, uh—” He looked back at me as he stood up. “You be okay
for a minute?”

“
I’ll stay with her.” Morgaine came gliding in. “She looks
like she could use a good girl-to-girl chat, anyway.”

“
Okay, I’ll be back in a few.” Mike closed the door behind
him.

Morgaine
reached across to flick on my bedside lamp. “How are you
healing?”

I shrugged. “I
can still feel the pain, but the cuts are closed up.”

“
The bruising on your face has gone down.” She smiled
sympathetically.

“
Yeah, like magic, huh?” I ran my hand over my smooth lip—the
gash closed.

“
Not magic, princess. Vampirism.”

I shook my
head. “I don’t know how to feel about all this, Morgaine. I don’t
like it—any of it.”

“
You’re scared,” she stated in a factual yet kind
voice.

I nodded. “And
Arthur really scares me, too. He was watching, you know. Through
all of it—he just sat there.”

“
I know, and…you
should
be scared of him, but, do you know how powerful
Drake is?”

My shoulders
responded for me.

“
Put it this way; I once heard he ripped a human in half,
straight down the middle, with his bare hands, then made her human
family eat the—”

“
Oh, God. Stop,” I said, covering my ears.

“
Sorry.” She bit her lip. “But, you have to
understand—even
if
Arthur were on our side, which I doubt, he wouldn’t have been
able to help you. Drake says walk—you walk, Drake says rip the arms
off child, you do it.”

“
Is that why Eric helped Jason?”

“
No, Eric went back to help Jason so he could report your
position to the knights. He sent a text as soon as he found
you.”

“
Did he tell you what he did?”

“
What Jason did?”

“
No. Did Eric tell you what he did to me when Jason—” I
swallowed, unwilling to re-experience the scene.

Morgaine
touched my shoulder. “I know he had to suffocate you. Is that all
Eric did to you?”