House of Ravens (10 page)

“
Wow,” I breathe. I still
can’t believe so many aspects of my new life.

Ian gives a low whistle. “That sure is
something.”

Yeah, it is.

“
Well, it is appreciated,”
I say as I hand the letter back to Rath. “It’s going to be
expensive, supporting this many House members now.”

Rath nods, and I can see the relief there on
his face. My father left me a lot of money. But now that we have
twenty people to support, that would drain the funds incredibly
quickly.

“
I’ll talk to you later,”
Ian says as he presses a kiss to my temple. “I’m going to go see
Lula.”

“
How is she doing?” I ask
as I follow him to the garage where his black utility van has been
moved.

“
Not good,” he breathes
with a sad expression. “Her lungs keep filling with fluid. If it
gets much worse, they’ll move her to the hospital. When it gets to
that point, at this age, they usually don’t recover.”

“
I’m sorry, Ian,” I offer,
touching his arm gently.

He only nods. “I’ll be back in a few
hours.”

“
Okay.” He walks through
the door and closes it behind him.

“
Alivia.”

I turn to see Markov crossing the hallway to
join at my side. “May I speak to you?”

“
Of course,” I say. He
hands over a stack of mail to me. On the top, I find another post
card, this one from Indiana. It’s signed from Daphne.
Having a wonderful trip!
it says on the back.

“
I just wanted to tell
you,” Markov says, his cold gray eyes staring at me. “I have a
bad…feeling about Smith. Something just doesn’t seem right with
him.”

“
Is there any particular
reason why?” I ask, dropping my voice low and quiet. My own eyes
scan the space around us, checking to see if we’re going to be
overheard.

Markov glances over his shoulder once again.
“It’s just something in the way he watches everyone. He’s
observant. Too much so. Like he’s looking for weaknesses. Ways to
infiltrate. Ways to manipulate.”

His suggestion turns my blood chill. “I know
he doesn’t look like the most cuddly character,” I say. “Maybe it’s
just that.”

Markov shakes his head. “I’ve been around
for a long time, my queen. There’s something about that man that
does not sit well with me. I think you should be cautious with
him.”

I tuck the mail under my arm, crossing my
arms over my chest and looking around the empty kitchen. I thought
I was moving past this point, the one where I couldn’t trust those
around me. But here it is, yet again. “I trust you,” I tell Markov.
“I want you to watch him. It won’t bode well if he realizes we’re
keeping an eye on him, so you must be careful.”

That familiar, frightening gleam flashes in
his eyes and a little smile forms on Markov’s face. “That won’t be
a problem.”

“
I’m sure it won’t,” I say.
Markov is my friend. I trust him with my life now. But he still
terrifies me. “I trust you and your instincts. Thank you for saying
something.”

He bows his head, and I’m ever amazed at the
reverence he treats me with. He turns and leaves.

Great. What if Smith is a spy for the Bitten
army? Or for Cyrus? Not that the king should still have a reason to
keep watching me. But I can’t rule it out. Smith volunteered to
leave the House of Allaway to join me, so where does the connection
fall?

Maybe there isn’t one. Maybe he’s just a
sketchy-looking character and we’re all simply paranoid.

The frustration and adrenaline that’s
suddenly spiked in my blood causes the dryness in the back of my
throat to flame hot. And the moment I think of it, it feels as if
all of the veins running throughout my body dry out. Cracked,
depleted. I feel my eyes light to red and my fangs lengthen just
slightly, my numbing toxins pooling in my mouth.

Walking to the new fridge we just had
installed, I pull my key out and unlock it. Cool air spills from it
as it swings open, revealing shelf after shelf lined with donated
blood.

It’s awful. All of this blood was donated so
that it might save people’s lives. And we’re just downing it for
consumption.

But when you look at it, I suppose you could
say it is still serving its purpose. We drink this blood, instead
of feeding off of people. Not all of us have very good control. We
drink this, and there’s no risk of us killing someone. Or
accidentally creating Bitten.

I take two blood bags from the shelf and
lock the fridge up again. I sit at the small table in one corner
and open the first bag.

Not everyone is satisfied with the bagged
stuff. I know for a fact that Markov goes hunting once a week for
fresh blood. I have to trust that he’s had good control and hasn’t
killed anyone. After all, he’s been a vampire for over two hundred
years.

I’ve never seen Danny drink the bagged
blood. Smith hunts. And I once saw Rowan actually throw up the
bagged stuff. He’s still a child in age, and Resurrection. He’s a
few weeks younger than myself. He’s only just now starting to
normalize out where he doesn’t feel the constant need to feed.

That’s not too bad. We have four members who
must have fresh blood. That leaves fifteen who can survive in a way
that doesn’t harm anyone.

But I realize, the control we have here is
fragile. While at Court, I came to realize just how little control
I have over anything. I cannot control these members of my House.
They are still individuals.

I will have to consider myself lucky if they
keep the rules and the balance of the House.

I STAND AT THE WINDOW, the curtains pulled
back, the window fully open in my bedroom. The crickets are
especially loud tonight. A short-lived evening rain has left
everything smelling amazing, but the temperatures are rising every
day, and it’s already beginning to feel humid. The beginning of May
has ushered in the beginning of the summer season.

I love it. The warmth. The flowers. The
sense of adventure it brings.

But not this year. Everything is so very
different this year.

Because this will be my first summer as a
vampire. The first summer I cannot go out and lay in the sun, just
because it feels wonderful. The first summer there will be no
swimming in the pool in the sunlight.

And everything just feels so…dire. The air
chokes my throat in a vice grip. The anxiety that sits in my heart
could kill me. And it’s not just knowing what is to come. It’s this
feeling of death in the air. I’m breathing a curse in and out, and
with every breath, it leaves me coated in anxiety.

I want to know. I want to understand. These
curses. Nobody seems to have an answer as to how they are created
or where they come from.

And what is going to happen, when my House
finally faces off with the leader of this Bitten army? What if we
are successful in killing the leader? Is that who the curse is
meant for? If they die, will this feeling go away?

But what if the curse is for me?

Too many unknowns, and the more I think
about it, the more panicked I feel. Like a rabid, hairless beast
climbing up my throat, hissing and shaking the whole way it scales
me.

A figure darts from the veranda below me, a
blur of motion as they move to the edge of the property. I
immediately grab for a stake, ready to yell for the House, when the
figure stops, and I realize it’s Anna.

And she’s not alone.

Sheriff Luke McCoy stands at the edge of the
river, waiting for her.

She places her hands on his hips, leaning in
close when she talks to him. They speak for a few moments, before
wandering down the rivers edge, hand in hand.

Interesting.

I actually jump when the door to my bedroom
swings open. I whip around to see Ian looking startled himself at
my reaction.

“
Sorry,” he says. “I didn’t
mean to scare you. You okay?”

“
Yeah,” I say, looking back
out the window. The two of them are nowhere to be seen now. “Just…a
lot on my mind. How is Lula?”

Ian sets his backpack on the floor, and I
hear an assortment of things clang together. I have little doubt
they’re medical tools, so he could check his grandmother over
himself. His paramedic side isn’t going away anytime soon. “She’s
actually doing a little better,” he says as he walks over and sits
opposite me in the window seat. “Her lungs sound a lot clearer. And
she remembered who I was today.”

“
That’s good,” I say
hopefully.

He nods. “The guy who handles her will met
with me today, though. Said we’d better get affairs in order, for
when she does pass on.”

He’s quiet for a little while. He reaches
out absentmindedly, tracing the tip of his finger along the tiny
bones in my foot. It tickles slightly, but my new levels of control
keep me from flinching away.

“
The house will be split
between Elle and I. We can either keep it or sell it,” he finally
speaks again. “Same with all of her belongings. She doesn’t have
much money, but what little there is, I told the guy to give to
Elle.”

“
And what about her?” I
ask. “She’s still only sixteen.”

Ian nods. “I’ll become her legal guardian.
Though, it seems a little unnecessary. She’s already living on her
own.”

Which kills me to think of her living in
that house, alone. Ian and I both tried to plead with her to move
in with us, but she refused, and we both know that as a human, she
will always be in some danger. Control is a relative thing,
especially when you’re so thirsty you can’t see straight.

“
Ian, are you sure you want
to stay here?” I ask, leaning forward and taking his hand into both
of mine. “I feel awful, like I’ve made you abandon your family.
I-”

“
Liv, with you is where I
want to be,” he says, pulling me closer, making me look into his
eyes and see how much he means what he’s saying. “I’ve spent the
last decade taking care of Lula and Elle. And I’m not going to stop
taking care of them. But, I have to keep living my life, too. I…I
need to let myself have just a little bit of happiness, for the
first time in maybe my whole life. So please, don’t go and feel
guilty about me. Lula’s okay. Elle’s fine.”

I study his eyes, trying so hard to make
myself feel the way he’s asking me to. But I do feel guilty.
Very.

But he’s said it. This is where he wants to
be. And this is where I want him to be.

“
You make me happy,” I
whisper, leaning in and touching my forehead to his.

“
It’s kind of a miracle,”
he says. I can hear the smile on his lips. “I didn’t think that was
possible for me. Not anymore. But us? I am happy, Liv. With
you.”

I lean forward, crawling as I do, and settle
into his lap, one of my legs on either side of his waist. He
reaches up, caressing a hand on the side of my face. He blinks,
twice, three times, just studying me.

“
I love you, Alivia Ryan
Conrath.” The way the words are whispered, it’s as if they are the
most true and reverent words he will ever speak. “I have from the
moment I realized I didn’t have to kill you. Even when you were
being a pain in the ass,” he chuckles and I laugh, too, my heart
swelling with all of the history between us. “Even when I wanted to
hate you and you definitely hated me. But I loved you through it
all.”

He reaches down and takes my hands in his,
and he raises them to his lips. He isn’t in a hurry to say what he
has to say. His kiss lingers, thoughtful and with purpose. He
breathes me in and out.

And my heart is racing a million miles a
minute. My spirit soars. I’m not sure even my enhanced vampire body
is capable of holding the contentment I’m feeling.

“
I’m never going to stop
loving you, Liv,” he says after a while. “Through all the bad and
the bloodshed and the dramatics, it isn’t going to stop.” He shakes
his head, holding my eyes strong and firm. He brings my hands to
his chest, placing them flat against the muscles there. I can feel
his heart beneath the surface, steady, but quick. He covers my
hands with his, holding them firm there.

“
Liv,” he whispers, his
voice dropping lower, but keeping that sure calmness. My eyes rise
to meet his, and I feel everything swell in the air around us.
“Will you marry me?”

We are floating, existing somewhere that
time and space and war cannot touch. Just Ian. Just Alivia.

“
Yes,” I breathe, no
hesitance in me. “Yes.”

We meet somewhere in the middle and his lips
become mine and mine become his. His strong arms wrap around my
waist, eliminating any space that might still exist between the two
of us. My legs wrap around him, my arms locked behind his neck.