The Heart's Ashes (79 page)

“
You said
we
. Who is we?”

“
Those who have broken free of the Set; the
Rebellion.”

“
So, you’re not with the Set now?”

“
For now, I am. I will remain so until you take over, Majesty.
Unfortunately, I am sworn in, bound to do all bidding which
benefits my people, but I must also maintain my cover in order to
help you rise up slowly beneath Drake until you’re powerful enough
to take over.”

“
Why would you do that? If you’re bound to do what’s best for
your people, how is a Lilithian take-over beneficial?”

“
I believe a world without Drake will bring peace.” He touched
a tight fist to his chest. “I am faithful to the old ways and wish
to see balance restored. And it is only by the power of the
prophesied that it will ever come to par.”

“
Prophesised? This is all too big, Arthur—the first vampire,
Drake, ruling the Lilithian Order—how do I do that?”

“
It is your destiny.” He squeezed my hand, his blue eyes
smiling.

“
Why? I mean, why can’t the first vampire just come back and
take over—where is he anyway?”

“
No one knows. We’ve not seen him for many years—sometime
around the late fourteenth century.” Arthur turned to face me.
“Amara, you must do this. For the Lilithians, for the humans—for
vampires—” he paused for a breath, “for David.”

“
I can’t. I don’t know how. Arthur, I can barely find the will
to live anymore.”

He gasped.
“Amara, do not say such things. It pains me to hear you speak that
way. So many have fought and died for your survival—your mere
existence is a miracle.”

“
But my existence is nothing, Arthur, not without David. It’s
nothing.” I let tears stream freely for him to see.

The gentle,
familiar eyes of David’s uncle traced my cheeks, softening as they
came back to meet my gaze. “Such a sweet thing,” he said and
stroked a thumb across my tears.

I rolled my
face into his touch, so automatic, because it was so like David’s
in every aspect that it seemed only natural to accept him.

Seeing my
guard drop suddenly, he moved in and wrapped me in his arms. “Shh,
my sweet girl. Please don’t cry.” And with every tingle of his
fingers over my hair, I could see so clearly where David formed
many aspects of his personality.

But it was too
much; his arms, his chest, the scent; “You feel like him,” I noted,
drawing back, looking at his chest. “And you smell like him.”

“
Well, we were related.” Arthur smiled, looking just as cheeky
and sweet as David.

“
I just—it makes me miss him more.”

“
Oh, Amara. He was right to fight so hard for you. You are
something very special—blood-line aside.” He laughed, shaking his
head. “I suddenly find myself in complete understanding why
both
my sons felt such a
great deal for you.”

Both
of them? My breath stopped and
I turned away instantly, covering my arms as little bumps rose
up—consuming the softness of my skin. “Jason felt nothing for
me.”

“
I hope you don’t truly believe that.”

“
Why?”

He exhaled. “You may never understand this, Amara, but what
Jason did to you was far less than a council member would have, had
they been examining you. It must have
killed
him inside to hurt you that
way.” Arthur looked over the lake, his eyes lost to
thought.

“
I don’t care what he felt. There’s no words—”

“
I know. Believe me, I know.” He looked back at me. “But I
loved him, and despite the monster he had to be, I see him still
for the boy he once was.”

“
I find it hard to believe he was ever a boy—ever an entity of
innocence.”

“
And despite that, he was good. What he has done to you, to
your life, Princess, is nothing in comparison to what he has
suffered. But—” he paused, regaining composure, “I expect he is at
peace now.”

“
I hope not. I hope he’s rotting in hell,” I said through
gritted teeth. “He threw David on the fire. He picked him up and
tossed him away, like he was nothing!” I covered my mouth,
restraining my fury; o
h my God, I just
yelled at a high councilman—David’s uncle, nonetheless.

Arthur rested a fist against his lips for a second. “He had
no choice. He
had
to be the one—that hurt you. He was compelled to love you,
but forced to destroy you. It was his blood oath, Amara.” He
reminded me of David then; scary when he got heated about
something. “He
couldn’t
walk away—he had to play a role. Can you
understand that?”

I shook my
head. “I don’t know what a blood oath is, Arthur, and I don’t care.
All I know is—”

“
Wait?” He sat at the edge of the seat. “You don’t know what a
blood oath is?”

“
No. What does it matter?”

“
It is everything, Amara, my dear—it is the reason for all of
this.”

“
Okay. I’m listening,” I said, internally rolling my
eyes.

“
A blood oath is the promise, sworn in your own blood, on the
stone of truth, that you will uphold your word—follow any bidding
of the entity of which you have sworn to. Jason’s oath was bound to
the ruler of the throne; the command iron clad—no way around
it.”

“
Why would he take an oath to do whatever someone orders him
to? That’s crazy.”

“
Yes, but it was a means to an end. He took the oath when he
joined the Blood Warriors about two years ago. You may have seen—”
Arthur looked down at his arm and made a circle-like motion with
his finger, “—a mark, a band around his arm?”

“
That’s
what that was?” My mind
flicked to the memory of Jason by the lake—his tattoo.

“
You saw it then?”

“
Yes, but he wouldn’t tell me what it was.”

Arthur’s lips
closed into a thin smile. “He wanted to change the vampire-human
relations law, but needed a position on the council. The only way
in at that time was to start at the bottom—swear an oath, join the
Warriors then work his way up.” Arthur took my hand again. “Amara,
when you swear an oath in blood, you are physically bound to act on
your word. He had no choice but to hurt you; he knew if he was in
control of your torture, it would not be so brutal as if it were
another warrior or a council member.”

“
I don’t understand—are you saying he didn’t want to hurt
me?”

“
You didn’t know that?” he asked, astonished. “Do you not know
the things he could have done to you?”

“
No. I don’t. All I know is he had a list and he—”

“
He didn’t complete the list, girl.”

I recoiled
internally at his raised voice.

“
He could have had the entire list finished within your first
few days. I—” It was amazing to watch him become suddenly so
uncomfortable, like Dad when he bought me my first bra. “I read
what was expected; you have no idea how lucky you are that he
didn’t progress even one task further.”

The memory of
the dark, wet walls, and the itch all over my skin crept back in.
“Really?”

“
I assume you saw the tools—on the table?”

I nodded.

“
Well, then, perhaps you can understand.”

“
No.” I shook my head, bursting into tears. “If that was true,
if he really cared all along, why did he make me kill
David?”

“
Oh, Amara.” Arthur wrapped his hand over the side of my face
and swept me against the curve of his neck. “David had to die.
There was no way around that—but it was a merciful death, at least,
by your lips.”

“
No.” I shook my head. “If Jason loved me, he would’ve known
how that would kill me inside.”

“
He had no choice, Amara. The only power he had in all of this
was to erase it from your mind after—make you forget.”

“
I don’t believe you.”

“
You don’t have to; I don’t expect you to.” He sat me up from
his embrace. “But just know—Jason only hurt you because if it had
been another, it would have been worse. He couldn’t save you, he
didn’t have the physicality. He
literally
—” Arthur moved his head to
emphasize his word, “—cannot disobey a blood oath. He tried to
escape with you, but the king got to him—called him, ordered him to
return.”

“
No. That’s crap. Jason planned all along to turn me in. He
told me. He said the masquerade was just a test—to see if I’d
die.”

Arthur covered
his mouth and coughed out a laugh. “I’m sorry, I should not laugh,
it’s just—the memory.” He laughed again and stifled it quickly.

“
What memory is it you find so amusing?” I swallowed a lump of
humiliation.

“
Not that you were hurt, my dear, only the look on my son’s
face when he came to me after that ball, covered in blood—your
blood—regret and horror his own mask.”

“
Regret?”

“
Yes. I will never forget the look in his eye. I embraced him,
and when he told me what happened, it was
I
who noted what you are—not Jason.”
Arthur looked down. “From that moment on, your life was in danger.
Jason spent this last year fighting to keep you a
secret—redirecting the Blood Warriors’ advances on you and
David.”

“
But, he told me, when he kidnapped me, that he only
befriended me to study me, biding his time until David returned, so
he could have him killed.”

Arthur smiled
again. “If he told you the truth then, the Council would’ve known
he planned to keep you a secret. He would have been arrested and
tried along with you and David, and your torture would have been
executed by who knows what kind of monster.”

With my mouth
wide, I traced the corner of my eye where Jason cut me, remembering
the heat of the torch.

“
Do you understand?” Arthur pulled my hand gently away from my
eye and stared right into them; “To save his own life, only for the
purpose of carrying out your torture if his plan to take you away
failed, he told them he was investigating you—that he had been
unclear up until now.”

“
The camera?” I said. “He didn’t burn my eye—he checked over
his shoulder before he threw the torch.”

“
Did he?”

“
Yes.” I stared, bewildered.

“
Smart boy. His manner of evading those tests was genius.” He
laughed again. “Mind, you nearly ruined his plan when you so
heartbreakingly cried for how he said he loved you. I know the king
was convinced enough to stop talking mid-sentence and
watch.”

“
Oh, my God.” I covered my mouth, my weak arms flooding with
blood. “So, it really was because of the blood oath?”

“
Yes.”

“
Then…if he hadn’t answered that call—in the car…?”

“
He would never have done that to you. He had no qualms about
turning his brother in and keeping you for himself, but the way he
hurt you, after he fell in love with you, was only to protect you
from much, much worse.”

“
Did David ever make one? A blood oath?”

“
No.”

“
Why?”

“
He was never one to risk what he may feel in the future for
what he wanted in the present. Until he met you, of course, then
lost his mind and did the stupidest thing he’s ever
done.”

“
Leaving the Set.”

“
No.” Arthur sat back. “Going to that Blood Rave, of all
places. I wish I could show you—I wish I had my nephew’s power to
show you what occurred to result in this outcome. If you need to
blame someone, my dear, it should not be Jason.
David
went to that Rave—exposed
himself, and you. After that, there was little Jason, or myself,
could do to keep you safe.”

“
He was so cruel though, Arthur. How could Jason love me, and
yet be so cruel?”

“
He carried out the action that was listed on the form by
Drake.” Arthur shook his head, his blue eyes flooding like pools of
sympathy. “One day I will find a way to make you
understand.”

“
Did he tell you—” I bit my lip to stop it from quivering,
“—that he spirit bound me?”

“
I heard, yes. I was not present in the chamber when he
announced it, but word has a way of spreading.”

“
So, you didn’t see? You weren’t there when
David…?”

“
I was granted the mercy of absence for that. However, I fail
to understand this bind.” His brow pulled over one eye. “You’re
Lilithian, how could—”

“
He bound me while I was human—came to me in a
dream.”

Arthur took my
hand, extending his other one to lift my chin; “Was
it—consensual?”

“
Yes.” I nodded as tears spilled over my pouting lip; “But he
posed as another in the dream.”

“
Who?”

“
Mike.”

Arthur nodded.
“Hm.”

I looked
down.

“
Then, perhaps you will understand, through your own suffering
for the love you will eternally feel for someone who is dead, that
your existence is ever more important.”