Prophecy: Child of Light (30 page)

Her eyes moved to the windows and she pressed her hand against her chest. She focused on Valentine and smiled when she felt the magic pulse around the mark over her heart. If Valentine had escaped captivity by Kalinor and the deadly rays of the sun, he would be coming for her. If he came here, Arkalus’ men would kill him. She couldn’t have that. Valentine had once told her that she was strong, and she had to be strong now.

She searched her brain for something that could help her. He’d mentioned to Elena that they were going to St. Petersburg. Maybe she could get word to him to meet her there. Maybe she would be able to escape tonight and get to the train station before he arrived. She could easily cut him off.

She pushed herself back up onto her feet and padded quietly over to the door. She pressed her hand against the wooden panels of it, using her senses to see what waited on the other side. There were at least three guards now, possibly more. She couldn’t escape that way.

Turning the light off, she went to her beside table and flicked the lamp on. It cast a warm, dull glow about the room, giving her more cover than the bright overhead one had. She walked around the bed to the windows and peered out of the one she’d escaped through the night she’d met Valentine.

Her eyes roamed the grounds below her.

There were two guards stationed below each window of her room and she could see others patrolling the wall. There was no way she would make it to the wall before she was caught. She tried to lift the sash and found that it had been locked. The only way out would be to smash the window and within seconds, the guards outside her door would be on her.

She quietly congratulated Arkalus on how secure her prison was. He wasn’t taking any risks, but then she hadn’t expected him to. He wouldn’t let her get away from him again, not now he’d eliminated everything that had stood in his way.

Sitting down on the edge of her bed, she wondered if Arkalus really intended to claim her. A voice at the back of her head mocked her for doubting that he would. He wouldn’t care about the prophecy or the fact that he was double crossing Kalinor if it meant he achieved his heart’s desire and had her as his own. Even if it were only for a short while, he would still mate with her. It wouldn’t do him any good. Any bond between them would be weak because of her feelings for him. A claim would mean nothing while she hated him. Not that it would stop him from trying to make her his.

She flopped back on the bed and stared at the familiar ceiling above her. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine that she was back in Venice or Paris, and that Valentine was in the next room. She was surprised by how much imagining that comforted her. It wrapped her in a warm blanket of reassurance that everything would turn out good in the end. She sighed and opened her eyes, letting the comfort slip away until nothing but the hard reality of her situation faced her.

There was no escape. Daylight was approaching now, sealing her in. She could waste her energy and spend all of the day looking for an escape route, or she could put her time to better use.

Sitting up, she shuffled backwards onto her bed and brought her legs up onto it so she was sitting Indian style.

She held her right hand up and stared at it. Maybe there was a way to escape. The amulet was just something that focused her power, like a lens, and made it easier for her to control the magic. She took a deep breath and thought about Valentine, testing her magic to see if he was what it responded to the most. A strange glow engulfed her hand, hovering a few millimetres away from her skin. She turned her hand around, amused by the way the magic flickered and danced. Splaying her fingers, she watched the threads of magic creep around them, encircling them and making them tingle with power.

“Go me,” she said with a smile. It was oddly gratifying to see her progress in commanding her powers. She held her wrist with her other hand and tilted her right hand back until her palm was facing forwards. It had been easy to call, but something told her that it still wouldn’t be easy to control.

Narrowing her eyes on the vase that sat on the mantelpiece above the fireplace, she willed the magic to knock it off.

It shot from her hand and blasted the vase into a million pieces, leaving a smoking hole in the wall at the same time.

She bit her lower lip and cringed when she heard angry shouts in the hall.

The door opened to reveal a half dressed Arkalus.

“What in the Devil’s name do you think you’re playing at?” He growled the words and glared at her. She lowered her hand and tried to look innocent but he noticed the hole in the wall. He walked over to it and ran his fingers around the outside where the plaster was charred.

He looked back at her with a frown. “Explain this.”

She shrugged. “I was just sitting here.”

“You were just sitting there.” He looked sceptical and tried to see her hands where she had hidden them behind her back. “Show me what you have.”

“I don’t have anything,” she said. He didn’t look as though he believed her even though she was telling him the truth. She held her hands up to show him.

He grabbed hold of her wrist and yanked her onto her feet, nearly pulling her arm out of its socket. He spun her around and searched her for the weapon she was apparently concealing. She smiled when he let her go and threw her bed covers aside, evidently hoping to find the weapon hidden there.

“I said I had nothing.”

He turned on her and she backed away from him when she saw the black look in his eyes change to one of hunger. Her brows furrowed when she bumped into the wall and realised she couldn’t escape him. He slowly closed the gap, his gaze burning into her while he looked her over.

She closed her eyes when his body touched hers, his arms snaking about her waist to hold her against him. She could feel his desire and turned her head away, not letting him near her mouth. He pressed a kiss to her cheek and her jaw tensed when he worked his way down towards her neck. Her hand itched, the stars tingling as magic buzzed through her veins and built up inside of her. A tiny voice at the back of her mind kept whispering things to her.

It would be so easy.

In the blink of an eye or a flick of the wrist, he’d be gone.

She’d be free.

Before she could do anything, he was walking out of the door muttering commands to his guards.

She looked at her hand as it glowed and pulsed with magic. It was too unpredictable without the amulet to focus it. She couldn’t control that much power. When she’d unleashed it on the vase, it had surged through her and she’d barely been able to stop it when it had blasted into the wall.

It was no use. If she tried to use it to kill Arkalus, she would probably kill half of the mansion and herself too.

She heard the key grating in the lock and then the door of the next room slammed shut.

Walking back over to the bed, she lay down and curled up into a foetal position. There had to be a way of escaping this prison. She’d done it before, she could think of a way again. Her fingers toyed with the star around her neck while the rising sun made sleep call to her.

The witches had told her that dreams would give her answers. She prayed that sleep would bring them.

Her thoughts drifted to Valentine.

She hoped he was safe.

No.

She smiled and shut her eyes, her hand closing around the star necklace she wore.

She knew he was safe.

She was the one in danger.

* * * *

T
he sun was still high in the sky. Prophecy could sense it. It was telling her to sleep, but sleep wouldn’t come no matter how much she tried. She stared at the television as she idly flicked through the channels. Her stomach growled, reminding her that it had been too long since she’d properly fed. The last thing she’d eaten had been the clergyman and most of that had been used to cleanse her blood of the poison. If it hadn’t been for Valentine’s strong blood, she would have been hungry long before now.

Her eyes drifted shut and she licked her lips. She could remember the taste of it, the feel of it. It had been the one thing that had been clear during her delirium. She could remember Valentine holding her to him, could still feel the desire he’d felt when she’d bitten him. She hadn’t seen any of his memories in his blood. She’d just felt an overwhelming sense of connection.

She touched the marks on her neck and then let her fingers drift down to her necklace.

She wondered why she had no marks other than Valentine’s. Would this person he’d spoken of be able to unlock her memories? Would she remember her sire? Her mother?

She frowned and flicked back a channel to a documentary. She watched the video of a solar eclipse and then a scientist appeared. He pointed to a series of diagrams that she couldn’t follow.

Her fingers tightened around the necklace as something dawned on her.

Eclipses.

She was born during an eclipse and in her lifetime another would come, but this one would signal the end. That’s what Mathias had told her. Another eclipse would come.

She turned the sound up, wanting to hear what the scientist was now saying to the woman interviewing him.

“It is very interesting. This eclipse is so different to others. It will last longer, you see, long enough that it is causing quite a buzz in academic groups and amongst astronomers.”

Her mouth dropped open.

An unusual eclipse and in her lifetime?

It had to be the one that the prophecy spoke of.

“It will move steadily across Europe, beginning here near Africa and it will travel this way, covering most of Russia.”

She switched the television off when she heard the key scrape in the lock. Her whole body tensed while she waited to see who it was. She held her breath. The door opened.

Relief coursed through her when she saw her maid, Serenity, standing in the doorway, her dark hair hanging loose around her shoulders, making her skin look like milk against the black of her dress. Iona had always said Serenity and herself could be twins. Their height was similar along with their build, but that was where the similarities ended as far as she could see.

She stood to greet her friend but stopped dead when Serenity held up a dark red dress.

Prophecy shook her head at the sight of it, as though that act alone would make it go away.

Serenity gave her an apologetic look and hung the dress up on the wardrobe door.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be awake,” Serenity said and sat on the edge of the bed.

Prophecy sighed. “How could you expect me to sleep at a time like this?”

She sank into the armchair by her desk and propped her chin up on her upturned palm.

Serenity gave her another sorry look. She wished that she wouldn’t. She didn’t need to feel sorry for herself and that’s how her friend was making her feel.

“So what’s he like?”

She frowned at her. “What’s who like?”

“The man that did that to your neck.” Serenity pointed at the marks.

Prophecy’s fingers idly traced them and she smiled as she thought about Valentine. Serenity had always been there for her whenever she’d needed to talk about things that had happened and she’d always kept her secrets.

She knew that it wouldn’t change now. Her friend wouldn’t care about the charges that had been made against her.

“He’s actually quite nice, once you get past the Aurorea thing and the fact he’s overly obsessed with his duty.” She slumped further into her chair.

“Cute?”

“Not cute,” she said with a serious frown. “Handsome, definitely, but not cute. He’s... exceptionally skilled and always seems to know what he’s doing. I don’t think I would have made it out of England without him.”

“You’ve been to England?” Serenity’s eyes widened in curiosity.

“I’ve been to Paris, too, and the guards captured me in Venice. So much has happened, Serenity. I’ve learnt things about me that I never knew or thought possible.” She raised her hand up and called the magic, letting it lazily arc along her fingers.

Serenity left her place on the bed, walking across the room to her. She looked even more curious now. Prophecy smiled at her but moved her hand out of reach when her friend went to touch it.

“I don’t have much control of it, at least not yet anyway.” The magic died and she lowered her hand. “I wish I did. I tried to see if I could command it without my amulet last night, but I made a hole in the wall.”

Serenity looked at the hole and then frowned at her. “So where’s this amulet thing?”

“I guess Valentine has it. I mean, I took it off when we had to go see this witch and I put it in my pocket, only it’s not in my pocket any more. So I’m hoping that he has it.”

“Valentine? I’d love to see him. I don’t care if it’s treason to meet him. Arkalus keeps talking about him. He seems scared. All the servants are talking about it. He denies it whenever someone mentions it of course. He just says that he’ll kill the dog when he meets him.” Serenity paused for a moment, her look turning awkward before she continued to speak. “He really bit you?”

“Twice, I think. Once in the graveyard where I met him and then again when he’d kidnapped me.”

“What was it like?”

Prophecy shrugged. “It felt better when I was biting him.”

She smiled internally at the way Serenity dropped to her knees beside her, her eyes lighting up, showing her how eager her friend was to hear more.

Leaning over, she bit her lip and then took a deep breath.

“It was incredible, Serenity. I was drugged at the time by the vampire hunter, but it was incredible. I can’t get it out of my head. I can still feel his fingers in my hair and his body against mine. I can taste the elation and the desire. It was like nothing I’d ever tasted before, experienced before.”

Serenity blinked and then smiled lazily, as though she’d just experienced everything she had told her.

“He sounds incredible.”

“He is.” She grinned at her friend, the weight of her situation momentarily lifted by something so familiar and calming as talking to Serenity. “He really is.”

“What happened to him?”