House of Ravens (32 page)

“
Go knock ‘em dead,”
Trinity offers with a tiny smile on her lips.

Elle hands me a huge bouquet of flowers, and
each of them turns for the table by the door, which contains their
own bouquets. They all file out of the bedroom, dressed in their
rose dresses.

On that same table lays a letter. From
Raheem. It’s full of support and happiness, nothing but the
unending belief in me that he always had. And well wishes for my
future with Ian.

It was exactly the final goodbye that we
both needed.

Footsteps continue down the stairs, and I
hear so many voices stirring.

I take a deep breath, preparing myself. I
close my eyes for a moment. Taking just a second to appreciate
everything that has happened to get us to this point.

Death. Manipulation. Games. Distrust.
Corruption. Prison. War.

So many ugly and bloody things. All leading
up to something I couldn’t have even imagined.

“
You are
stunning.”

I open my eyes to see my father standing in
the doorway, smiling. He seems so happy. So peaceful.

“
Thank you,” I say quietly,
just taking in a moment to look at him. He’s dressed in a pale gray
suit. His hair is combed back, his beard neatly trimmed. A raven
pin holds his tie in place.

We are a healed and united House. A House of
Ravens.

“
Are you ready?” he asks,
holding his arm out for me.

I nod my head, even as my smile spreads on
my face.

Together, we descend the stairs, rounding
into the foyer. The entire house is decorated, opulent and perfect.
Through the ballroom we walk, out onto the veranda.

And there, a beautiful archway assembled
just before the tombs of so many we love, stands Ian.

His eyes watch me, so filled with love and
excitement. His hands clasped together tightly, telling me how
nervous, but how excited he is.

The smile on my face could cure all sadness
in the world as Henry and I proceeded down across the lawn. No one
sits in chairs, removed and apart. Everyone is a piece of this, and
they stand in a small semi-circle around Ian. Rath. Anna, Trinity,
Leigh, May, and Elle. Lula. Nial, Markov, Smith, Lexington, Danny,
and Christian. And the only two humans who trust us enough to care
about this moment: Sheriff Luke McCoy and Fred.

Cameron stands just behind Ian, looking so,
so very proud, ready to burst at the great honor I asked him to
perform.

“
I guess we are all here,”
Cameron says, smiling almost comically at how thrilled he is to be
the one who’s doing this. “We’re all together, all the time. But
this feels different. Doesn’t it?”

Everyone nods, watching as Cameron gets his
chance to shine in the light.

“
We’ve all come a long way
lately,” Cameron continues, looking from Ian to me, all the
friendship and support that’s always been there shining through in
his eyes. When we had to consider who to ask to do this, I knew
there really was no one else. Besides the man I’m about to marry,
Cameron is my best friend.

“
We’ve seen these two go
through crazy transformations,” Cameron says, smiling. “Ian is no
longer trying to kill us all.” Everyone laughs at that. “And Liv is
a true queen, not just some human girl from some far away town. But
we’re all here. Together. Because of these two.”

I look from Cameron to Ian, feeling as if
there is no humanly way possible that I can hold all of these
things I’m feeling inside of me. I’m going to crack, spill open,
and overwhelm everyone.

But I’m not human. And somehow, I stay
together.

“
I think I speak for us all
when I say we’re really happy the two of you finally got to this
point,” Cameron says. “I think we all saw it coming.”

A few bodies give affirmative sounds, a few
chuckles.

“
It’s time,” Cameron says.
“Liv and Ian would like to exchange vows.”

Ian nods, never once looking away from me.
He pulls out a simple gold band, raising my hand up between the two
of us. “Everyone here knows I’m stubborn and hard headed,” he
begins, a lopsided smile pulling one side of his face. “I thought
things were cut and dried, black and white. It took me a long time
to see beauty in the gray. You once told me that we were a miracle,
and it’s absolutely true, Liv.” His breath comes out as a reverent
whisper. He holds my hand so tight, promising to never let me
go.

“
Thank you for giving me a
second chance,” he says quietly. “Thank you for seeing past my
flaws and my mistakes. I made you promises this morning, and I will
keep them. I will love you for the rest of my unexpected, immortal
life, Liv.”

I smile, my heart swelling, emotion biting
the back of my eyes. Ian slides the ring onto my finger. The
attention shifts to me, but I don’t see anyone else besides the man
in front of me. I hold his simple gold wedding band and his
hand.

“
You were something I never
could have even imagined,” I begin. I shake my head, unable to
fully express the depth of my words. “This life is incredible,
everything that we are. Everything we’ve been through. But you—all
the complications, the good and the bad that we’ve gone through—we
are so much more than I could have ever dreamed of. We are a
miracle, Ian. Me and you.” I bite my lower lip as tears of joy pool
in my eyes. “Forever. Death and the refiner’s fire weren’t enough
to keep us apart, even when we were and are so different. We’ve
been proven, despite odds and reality. That’s love. That’s you and
me. Forever Ian and Liv.” I slide the ring onto his
finger.

A floating moment passes, Ian’s eyes
twinkling in the brilliant noon light. He squeezes my hands again,
and it’s taking everything I have in me not to rush forward and
take him in my arms.

“
Ian, do you take Alivia to
be your wife?” Cameron says.

“
I do,” Ian says with a
smile.

“
Alivia, do you take Ian to
be your husband?”

I didn’t think it was possible, but my smile
grows. “I do,” I say with an enthusiastic nod.

“
Then by the power invested
in me, by some website, I pronounce you man and wife!”

He barely finishes the sentence before Ian
rushes forward, his hands on my cheeks, his lips taking mine. My
lips part, the breath flowing between the two of us until there is
no existence outside of he and I.

Hands clap, voices hoot and holler. Words I
don’t even hear.

I’m so happy.

Here in this impossibly simple moment I
never thought would come. Joined forever to the one I was always
meant to be with.

LIGHTS TWINKLE THROUGHOUT THE PROPERTY. The
sun has set, the sky faded from a brilliant yellow and orange to a
dark black with stars peppered throughout the infinite dark. Music
floats through the air, happy and light.

The House members dance around me, laughing
and talking. Easy and relaxed. May is humoring Cameron with some
dance he’s trying to teach her. Trinity watches Cameron over
Lexington’s shoulder. Anna and Luke seem to be in their own
world.

I twirl as the last few beats of the song
ripple through the night, Danny catching me and dropping me into a
dramatic dip. I laugh, loud and full-bellied. Even he smiles, and
Danny never smiles.

As he rights me, I see Henry crossing the
dance floor, smiling at us. “May I steal my daughter for this
one?”

Danny just nods and smiles before walking
over to Leigh. The music changes to something slow. Taking Henry’s
hand, I rest my other on his shoulder.

“
I’ve never seen you so
happy,” he observes as we look at one another.

“
I’ve never felt this
happy,” I say, shaking my head, relishing this moment.

“
I wanted to apologize,” he
says as I rest my head on his shoulder. “For being such a coward.
For never stepping in sooner and becoming a part of your
life.”

“
You were just trying to
protect me from Cyrus.” My thoughts grow more somber, thinking of a
tiny baby that I only held in my arms for a few moments. A tiny
daughter that I had to let have a chance at a better
life.

“
As you’re doing now,”
Henry says, and the message is clear: he knows about my daughter.
Which causes me fear. If Henry knows, there’s always a chance that
someone else knows about her, as well.

“
Tell me about you and
Mom,” I say, changing the subject because today is a day for
celebration, not fear.

He doesn’t respond right away, and I hear
his breathing deepen. It’s so difficult to place, to piece together
the story of how my twenty-year-old mother spent a night with my
serious and reclusive father who had to look so much older than
her.

“
There had been a party
going on all night, down by the river,” he begins. “All of the
summer college kids were back in town, working. I’d heard their
light-hearted conversations, screams of humor all evening, carrying
long into the dark of night.”

It’s hard to imagine. Yes, there are many
college kids who have returned to their hometown for summer work,
but still, no one goes out after dark. They still know the stories,
still fear what has passed.

“
I went for a walk,” Henry
continues the tale. “The river trail has always been my favorite at
night. I didn’t expect to find anyone else on it. But there she
was. Marlane Ryan.”

Henry grows quiet for a long moment.
Reflective. Thoughtful. “She was not like the other kids who were
out partying. It was obvious she was fond of them, but it wasn’t
her interest to stay up all night drinking. She’d gone to get some
air. We started talking.”

It describes my mom so perfectly. Always
friendly, always social. But she kept to herself at times. She
needed her space to think. She wasn’t the raucous type to laugh
loudly and be the center of attention.

“
Your mother reminded me of
someone else,” Henry says. But this time, there’s so much pain
there, so much regret. “She was kind and smart, and had the most
beautiful smile.”

“
You had a wife once,” I
conclude.

After a moment, my father nods. “We married
just thirty years before I moved to America. Within a year, she
conceived, carrying on the Royal Born blood. She gave birth to a
son.”

The breath catches in my throat.

I had a half-brother once.

“
The Conrath name was a
deep, powerful one,” Henry continues. “Court had been trying to
recruit one of us for years, but none of my uncles had any
interest. They ruled Houses, they had no interest in joining Court
where they’d just be another of Cyrus’ pawns.

“
So for years, they tried
to condition Nicklaus to join Court. When my son decided to
Resurrect at the age of twenty, they really laid on the
manipulation.” Henry’s voice grows hard, angry, bitter.
“Eventually, Cyrus did not give my son a choice. Join, or he would
kill Nicklaus’ mother.”

My stomach feels sick. The brutality of
Cyrus is endless.

“
In the end, they took my
son to Court against his will. When he continued to insist he did
not wish to join them, they killed my son, and my wife.”

“
That’s awful,” I say,
disgust filling me. But I can’t say I’m shocked. Cyrus is a
madman.

There are four glass urns of ashes in the
library. Now I know who two of them are.

“
So, I distanced myself
from the system, told myself I was done with the Houses and the
politics. I moved from England to America to get away. To get a
brand new start.

“
But your mother, she was
so much like my wife, and maybe I was just caught in a lonely
moment.” Henry’s voice grows quiet. “But just because we are
immortal, just because I’ve had a lifetime of solitude, save Rath,
doesn’t mean we don’t miss having a connection. Your mother was
sweet. Gentle. Attentive.”

I can imagine how it went. Two people who
had a connection, easy and smooth. And that leading to a night
where two people became one, only to unexpectedly create another
life between them.

“
Your mother came back the
next day, and as badly as I wished to spend time with her again, I
knew I was too broken to let her stay. I had to let her go. And she
did. A short time later, she left town.”

Only to discover weeks later that she was
pregnant. And it makes sense now, why she never told Henry. They’d
shared such a connection one night, and then it probably felt like
he gave her the cold shoulder of a meaningless one-night stand.
When really, she just didn’t know the pain my father had already
suffered.