Dark Heart Rising (8 page)

Luca’s head was too full of profound discussion to pick up on the odd meaning in Raphael’s words. He planned to walk off the conversation, never to return to it.

‘I had better get home,’ he said.

‘Of course,’ said Raphael, turning away. Already Luca was dimissed from his thoughts.

Luca started to walk away but something made him hesitate. He turned back to Raphael, who was staring after him, a strange intense look on his face.

Raphael couldn’t see him, Luca realised. He was looking straight through him. As Luca watched, Raphael shut his eyes, wincing as though he was in pain. Even from this distance his face was tense.

‘W
here are we?’ I whispered, struggling to see in the dark. ‘It’s like the middle of the night.’

‘Hmm.’ Soren squinted, crouching on his knees, looking over the low stone wall we had appeared in front of. ‘My timing was not perfect. It does seem to be late.’ He put both hands on the wall and leaned out into the pitch black.

I shivered, pulling my jacket closer around me. ‘Is it winter here?’

‘No,’ he sighed. ‘It’s late. The temperature drops at night.’

I ignored the patronising tone to his voice. ‘Well, what good is it arriving when everyone is asleep?’

‘We wait,’ he said calmly, ‘until the morning.’

‘Excuse me, but I have a really nice, warm bed back home,’ I grumbled, ‘which I could be making good use of right now.’

‘Stop whining,’ said Soren, but with a half-smile. ‘I thought you were the tough mountain girl?’

‘Soren,’ I said, careful to keep the whinge out of my voice, ‘do you have a plan? Somewhere civilised we can go?’

‘I am thinking,’ he said. ‘Please be patient.’

I slumped against the wall, pulling my socks further up my legs. ‘Well, let me know when you have thought,’ I replied dryly.

Finally Soren dropped down again, rubbing his hands together.

‘OK, I have friends here. Of course, it is impossible for me to go back east – where I was born. But I do have some … acquaintances here. Fortunately they don’t sleep at night … In fact, this is when they are most awake.’

I stared at him. ‘Please say that again but in a way that makes sense.’

‘Well,’ he said carefully, ‘I don’t want you to be alarmed. I am sure you have been told many exaggerated stories about my friends. But they are decent, really … And they have always been good to me—’

‘Soren,’ I cut in, ‘please get to the point before I die of cold.’

‘The Borgias,’ he said. ‘Vanya Borgia and her—’

I gaped at him. ‘Vanya? You can’t be serious? She’s a vampire!’

‘She would never hurt you. For one thing she would respect any friend of mine. For another, this is Nissilum. There is no danger here.’

‘I know what Vanya’s capable of!’ I hissed, before an uneasy thought occurred to me. ‘You haven’t been lying to me, have you?’

Soren frowned. Even in the darkness I saw his black eyes flash.

‘Of course not,’ he said emphatically. ‘Honestly, Vanya and Valdar are old friends of mine.’

‘Well, they’re not my friends,’ I said. ‘She tried to … well, she knows I am mortal.’

‘Yes, yes.’ Soren waved a hand dismissively. ‘She knows who you are. She knows I am bringing you here.’

‘Soren,’ I said, agitated, ‘I don’t like the sound of this. Vampires and werewolves don’t get on … Vanya hates Luca. Will you stop being so flippant!’

‘She doesn’t hate Luca.’ Soren sighed. ‘Or you. Vanya was overwhelmed by you when she met you. She has lived here for so long … Been abstinent for all that time. It was a temporary lapse.’

I shook my head, recalling the last time I’d seen Vanya. How she’d very nearly seduced me.

‘I don’t trust her. And I don’t trust you either.’ I was beginning to shake now. ‘I’ve changed my mind.’ I stared at him, wondering already if it was too late.

‘Please,’ he said, softly now, ‘I understand why you might be afraid. I apologise. I didn’t think.’ His black eyes looked dewy as he stared imploringly at me. ‘The Borgias took care of me one year when I made the journey here for the Great Ball. Years ago. I was alone and nervous and they took me in.’

I said nothing. I thought of Luca and me dancing, the night of the Great Ball; his soft green eyes, the feel of his arms around my waist.

‘I think they see me as a little brother of sorts …’ Soren went on.

‘But—’

‘But no one will hurt you when I am around. I would not let that happen.’

He gently took hold of my hand. ‘I will take you home now. I can see I have not been sensitive.’

Above us the sky was growing lighter. I thought for a moment.

‘No.’ I sighed. ‘I said I would come back with you once. And now I’m here.’

The rustle of an animal nearby made us both tense.

‘Come.’ Soren took my hand, lacing his fingers through mine. ‘Let’s go.’

‘Please.’ Vanya held out a bottle of something dark and dubious-looking. ‘More juice.’

Soren and I had arrived at her grand house and been greeted as long-lost friends – as though Soren was part of her family. We were sitting in a dimly lit, stone-walled kitchen at a vast wooden table.

I shook my head, avoiding eye contact. ‘Thanks, but I’m fine.’

She smirked at Soren. ‘She’s no fun. I told you, didn’t I?’

Soren half smiled, but his eyes flickered reassuringly towards me. ‘Jane is wary of you, Vanya,’ he said. ‘I must say I don’t blame her.’

‘Oh, darling.’ Vanya pouted. ‘Not you too.’ She rolled her eyes, putting the bottle noisily on the table in front of him. ‘I have so little fun in my life. I at least thought you would join me.’

Soren picked up the bottle and poured himself a drink. ‘There,’ he said. ‘Happy now?’

Vanya settled herself on the trestle bench by the table. ‘So,’ she said, with a sigh. ‘That boy of yours has turned his back on you. I should have warned you about that.’

I shrugged. ‘I should have known.’

‘These wolves …’ she said, considering her words. ‘They’re a stubborn breed.’ She patted me on the shoulder and her hand felt cold through my clothes. I edged subtly away from her.

Soren cleared his throat. ‘Jane needs assurance from you that she is not in danger,’ he prompted.

Vanya sighed, pressing her palms together. ‘My weakness is my strength,’ she murmured. ‘But, of course, Soren. Jane is safe.’

She smiled broadly at me. ‘I pity you, dear. Luca has embroiled you in all sorts of strange goings on … and now he has deserted you.’

I kept my expression steady, but her words brought back a painful reminder.

‘But together we can see if something can be done,’ she went on thoughtfully. ‘For both of you.’

Soren dropped his head, drawing his beaker towards him.

‘Soren has been banished from this place,’ she told me. ‘He has to sneak about from this world and yours. But here, with Valdar and myself, he will always be welcome.’ Her hand stole out and took hold of Soren’s. ‘As will his friends.’

I smiled tightly. Something didn’t feel quite right, but then I was tired. Vanya seemed harmless enough tonight, but I was beginning to feel hopeless about Soren’s plan. I didn’t want Luca through subterfuge. I wanted him to be with me because he wanted to be. As horrible as it was to think of losing him for good, I wasn’t sure I had it in me to steal him away from Lila.

‘Well, I do have some news.’ Vanya spoke. ‘That fiancée of Luca’s has gone back to her family. She will return in a few weeks for the wedding.’

Soren looked hopeful. ‘She is East?’

‘Now, darling,’ Vanya purred, ‘don’t go getting any ideas about going after her. You’ll only make her more determined to marry him. I hear she is besotted …’

I looked sympathetically at Soren, but he seemed to be taking that bit of news quite stoically. His eyes slid over to Vanya and locked with hers. The look that passed between them seemed loaded. But within seconds he turned his attention to me.

‘Lila is a complex girl,’ he told me. ‘And a slave to her family’s code of honour. It doesn’t surprise me that she has convinced herself that she is in love with Luca.’

Why wouldn’t she be?
I thought to myself. Luca was everything I wanted. Why wouldn’t Lila feel the same?

Mindful of hurting Soren’s feelings, I gave him a weak smile.

‘Yeah,’ I said lamely, feeling more despondent than ever.

Vanya cleared her throat.

‘Now listen. It may well be that the girl is attracted to Luca. But that doesn’t matter. Attraction can be fleeting …’ She stroked her chin. ‘It is very possible that she will transfer her attentions back to her childhood sweetheart. She just needs the right incentive.’

‘Such as?’ Soren said archly.

Vanya ignored his tone. ‘Darling, surely you know the answer to that.’

I looked at them. There seemed to be a subtext here that I wasn’t getting.

‘I suggest we form a plan of our own,’ Vanya went on thoughtfully. ‘We need to be clever.’

Soren smiled sadly at me. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said, touching my fingertips with his. ‘It will be OK.’

His black eyes drew me in and the curve of his mouth sent a ripple of something through me. I kept my hand where it was, though I looked away from him, uncomfortably aware that his eyes were still on me.

‘You have heard that the boy is back?’ Vanya directed her words at Soren, though glanced quickly at me.

‘Raphael?’ Soren nodded. ‘I heard, yes.’ Was it my imagination or was he carefully not looking at me. ‘Ready to take on the mantle of king one day.’

Vanya’s nostrils flared. ‘We’ll see. Personally I have long felt that kid was odd. Ever since he was a child.’ She pulled her glossy black hair into a loose bun at her neck. ‘He killed a fox once, all because it broke into the palace grounds?’

Soren shuddered. ‘I remember you telling me. Celeste hushed it all up, blamed it on a servant.’

‘But I saw,’ said Vanya. ‘I saw him do it. It was the early hours of the morning, not yet light. He was so intent. His expression …’ She quivered theatrically. ‘Pure ice.’

‘People kill foxes all the time on Earth,’ I said, frowning. ‘It’s actually a sport.’

Soren and Vanya turned, eyebrows raised.

‘You mortals are a violent lot,’ Soren said, with a hint of teasing. ‘Indeed, it should be us that is afraid of you, little Miss Innocent.’

‘Well I don’t hunt foxes …’ I protested. ‘And I admit, it’s barbaric.’

Vanya shook her head. ‘The point is, Raphael is a bad seed. I would admire him if I weren’t rather fond of his great-mother.’ She sniffed. ‘His mother is useless, of course.’

‘Dorcas?’ I was interested. ‘Where is she?’

‘Away with the fairies … literally.’ Vanya’s tone was dry. ‘She has begun an odd sort of relationship with a gathering of beings in the Old Forest. Nobody talks about it because it is frankly embarrassing, but that’s where she spends her time. Half mad with grief over Gabriel’s death, or something like that.’

‘So Raphael is more or less an orphan?’ I said. ‘Kind of alone in the world.’ I must have looked pitying because I caught her scornful expression.

‘Alone!’ Vanya laughed. ‘He is surrounded by love and devotion at the palace. Celeste dotes on him. Utterly blind to his true nature.’ Her eyes widened at me. ‘And I don’t know why you’re defending him. That boy tried to kill you, didn’t he?’

‘Yes. I know,’ I said firmly, remembering with a shudder. ‘And I’ll never forget it. But I guess he went a bit mad. You’d have to be, to do something like he did.’

‘You can say that again,’ Vanya shrieked. ‘Stark raving mad!’

‘Vanya,’ Soren said warningly, ‘we’re veering rather off topic here.’

‘Yes, yes.’ Vanya poured herself some more juice. She watched us for a moment before gracefully getting up from the table. ‘I must go to my husband now,’ she told us. ‘Soren, you and Jane are welcome to stay here … Though Valdar and I will spend much of tomorrow in our chamber.’ She lit a candle, placed it in an elaborate silver candle-holder and swept out of the room.

‘So, now you know. Vanya is not a threat.’ Soren said softly, edging closer to me. ‘Do you feel better?’

I shook my head. ‘Not better. I’m not sure this is going to work, Soren. I—’

‘
Shhh
.’ He placed a finger on my lips. ‘You’re tired. I’ll escort you home. Once you have slept properly, perhaps we can talk further.’

I nodded, wearily.

‘This is your last chance, Jane,’ Soren told me as he chivalrously helped me on with my jacket. ‘Think carefully before you throw it away.’

S
oren held my sketch up to get a closer look. ‘Not bad,’ he said. ‘But watch that your lines are not too heavy …’ He handed it back to me and moved on to the desk in front of me. I couldn’t help notice the slink of his hips as he walked. There was nothing I could do about my Art teacher but put up with his constant criticism of my work, but did he have to be so good at acting?