The Heart's Ashes (82 page)

“
Couldn’t we have just
told
Drake that David was dead—told him he was
burned?”

“
He’d never have believed it. It’s been so long since a pure
blood Lilithian existed, Drake was already sceptical that true
death could be achieved.”

“
Do you think it was him that pulled David from the fire—to
test if he was dead?”

“
No.”

“
But, it could’ve been. I mean, it’d make sense.”

“
No. It wasn’t him. I’m sure of it.”

“
How?”

“
Because I followed Drake once he left the
courtroom.”

“
To where?”

“
He fled down a tunnel—took a secret passage, his Warriors
following. Then, while they were waiting at this dead end, for what
I only assume was a secret door, one of the Warriors pulled a blade
and stabbed Drake through the chest.”

“
Stabbed?”

“
Yeah.”

“
He can
be
stabbed? I thought he was the all-powerful.”

“
Every vampire can be stabbed with the right kind of metal,
and a little lethal venom helps, too.”

“
Lethal? My venom?”

“
I guess so.”

“
How did the Warrior get it?”

Eric shrugged.
“All’s I know is Drake got carried off, the Warrior was executed
with his own sword, and the secret door closed—that was that.”

“
Did you tell Morgaine about that?”

“
Course. Had a full debrief. But it’s not Morg I report
to—it’s Mike.”

“
Report to? Why Mike?”

Eric blinked a
few times slowly, a rise of obvious sarcasm moving in to his eyes.
“Who else, Amara? He’s head of the entire Knight’s Core.”

“
Knights.” I shook my head, my eyes a little wider. “That’s
still so weird.”

“
Weirder for me,” Eric scoffed. “The knights aren’t supposed
to exist. The Blood Warriors killed them all—six or so centuries
ago—or so we thought. Turns out Morgaine and a few other Lilithians
have been forming a secret society. They’re small, but they were
enough to storm the castle on an unsuspecting king.”

“
So.” I looked at David again. “All this—” I held my palm out
to his burned body, “—is so we can sneak into power, trap Drake,
then have a superbaby?”

“
Well, that’s scraping the surface, but, yes. He would’ve
taken any pain to save you.” Eric looked up at David too. “I’ve
never, ever seen a man more distraught as when I told David what
you are—what the real reason you were kidnapped was.”

“
What did he say?”

“
At first?” Eric said. “He smiled, completely lost for words.
Then, as the realisation of what they’d do to you sunk in, the
smile faded to a hollow, daunted stare. He dropped to his knees
and…”

“
And?”

“
Well, let’s just say that the holding chamber at Loslilian
needs a little redecorating, now.” Eric laughed softly. “But, all’s
well that ends well, right?”

“
I don’t call this ending well.”

“
That’s because you’ve been kept from much of the truth about
what could have happened, Amara.”

“
Like?”

Eric shook his
head. “You’re not my wife. It’s not for me to say. I’ll leave it to
David if he wants to tell you.”

“
Eric?” I rolled my eyes, flicking my sarcasm switch. “I don’t
belong to him. This is the twenty-first century. You can tell me
whatever you like.”

“
Where I come from, the time
and
place, you don’t cross those
boundaries with another man’s wife, okay? He has to protect you—not
just from the dangers of the world, but the cruelty of it, too. If
he wants you to know, he’ll tell you.”

“
Well.” I folded my arms. “That is annoyingly honourable of
you, Eric. Didn’t know you had it in you.”

He smiled.
“You’re married now, kiddo. That changes everything. Besides,
you’ll be my queen soon. I don’t wanna be beheaded for
treason.”

“
Beheaded? You can’t be beheaded.”

“
I know. I was being funny. You know, the
off with his head
—painting roses
red?” He smiled, leadingly. “Because you like red
roses…”

“
Oh, ha-ha. Funny.”
Not
, but I smiled, anyway. It was a
little funny, I suppose. “Maybe my first decree as queen will be
that if you’re about to make a joke, you have to announce that it’s
a joke before you say it.”

“
Or—” Eric grinned, shuffling a little closer, “—you could
make a rule that you and Mike don’t attempt comedy in any way,
shape, or form.” He shrugged. “That should protect your people from
the worst of it.”

“
Hmpf.”

Eric laughed
aloud and shook his head.

Mike and I
burst through the front door, hilarity roaring between us. “I’ve
never seen a look like that on anyone’s face before, Ara. It was
classic.” He wrapped his arm over my shoulder and kissed my
head.

“
That poor, poor old lady. She’ll never recover from that, you
know.” I stopped laughing long enough to look at Mike’s face, then
burst out with a gust of spit and air again, covering my
mouth.

“
Something funny?” Emily stood in the archway, her arms
folded.

“
Yeah.” Mike unwrapped his arm from me, his wide grin reaching
out to include Emily. “But it’s really one of those had to be there
things.”

“
Hm.” Emily flicked her hair and spun on her heel. “Like most
things with you two.”

“
Em?” Mike walked after her.

“
Mike?” Morgaine popped up out of nowhere, holding out a
phone. “It’s Aaron.”

“
Aaron?” Mike stopped, frowning a little. “I was wondering
what happened to him.”

“
Who’s Aaron?” I whispered to Morgaine.

“
He’s the scouting officer helping put the army
together.”

“
Oh, right.”

“
Aaron. Long time.” Mike walked into Emily’s room, with one
finger in his ear, the phone against the other.

“
So, where do you go to recruit a bunch of vampire killers?” I
asked. “I didn’t know Buffy had kids.”

“
Ha!” Morgaine laughed. “No, we um, well, when you’ve been
alive for a couple centuries, you make a few connections. I have a
friend in a ‘certain’ government authority.” She grinned. “He’s
helping us recruit. You might say we’re a ‘special branch’, made up
of the best of the best.”

“
Seriously?” I raised one brow. “The government are in on
it?”

“
No. Just a few people within a
certain
branch.”

“
Oh, okay.” I nodded.

“
Yeah, we get their assistance in personnel, weapons, all
sorts of things, in exchange for our assistance with the mediocre
human issues, you know, terrorist attacks and stuff.”

“
Oh right, the mediocre issues.” I nodded again, more
sarcastically than the last time. “So, how’s the genealogy research
going?”

“
Well, I traced back as far as your ancestors in the early
eighteen hundreds, but there’s really not much before that. I did
find one thing though.”

“
Why do I get the feeling this is bad news that you think is
good?”

She laughed.
“Your mother’s grandmother is still alive.”

“
Really? But…she must be ancient?”

“
That’s just it.” Morgaine smiled. “She’s nearly a
hundred-and-ten years old, Ara.” The smile widened. “I think we
found another Lilithian.”

“
Do you think she knows what she is?”

Morgaine shook
her head. “If your mum didn’t, I’d say the chances are slim.”

“
So, is she in any danger then, will Drake come after
her?”

“
Doubt it. She clearly never triggered the change.”

I thought
about that—about how easy my life would’ve been if I’d never met
vampires. Well, easy in comparison to this. I’d still have lost my
mum, still be miserable and grieving. But it’d be normal. Except,
I’d never have known David. Hm. Guess this running from
death-hungry vamps is better.

“
Ara?” Morgaine waved a hand in front of my face. “You in
there?”

“
Oh, yeah. Sorry.” I chuckled then looked up at Emily, who
perched herself near the bench, pretending to be reading a
magazine, but so obviously not. I grabbed Morgaine’s arm and
dragged her behind the wall a little. “What’s up with Em and Mike?”
I asked. “They seem a little…”

“
Hostile?” She grinned. “Yeah. Emily wants to talk to you,
actually.”

“
Why?”

“
Wants your advice.”

“
Morgaine, you’re not giving me much here. Advice on
what?”

“
She’s thinking about breaking it off with Mike.”

“
What?” I practically yelled.

“
I can hear you two,” Emily called from the
kitchen.

We stepped
back in. “Em? Why? Why would you want to…” I lowered my voice and
looked over at Emily’s closed bedroom door, “break up with
him?”

“
I’m tired of fighting for his attention, Ara. He doesn’t love
me. It’s simple.”

“
But, have you talked to him?”

“
Mike won’t talk to her about it,” Morgaine said.

“
He’s just been really distant.” Emily glanced at her door
again when it opened slightly, Mike’s loud phone-voice invading the
room.

“
Serious?” I rested my hands on my hips. “I didn’t even
realise you guys weren’t okay. I mean, Mike’s been so normal and
fun—I didn’t notice he was down.”

“
Exactly.” Morgaine’s face lit with resolution. “He’s not, and
he doesn’t seem to care that Emily is.”

“
Oh.”

Mike walked
back into the kitchen. “Okay, Aaron. I’ll see you Tuesday.
Bye.”

“
All good?” Morgaine said as she took the phone
back.

“
He’s got five guys he thinks might be good for Queen’s
Guard.”

“
Yeah?” Morgaine bounced on her toes once.

“
Yup. I’m leaving tomorrow to meet ‘em. Wanna come,
Morg?”

“
Yeah. Hell yeah.”

“
What about training?” I piped up.

“
I’ll leave instructions with Em or Eric.”

I’d rather
Eric than Em. “Okay.”

Mike nodded,
resting his hands on his hips, then looked across the kitchen at
Emily.

“
I’m just gonna…” Morgaine let her sentence trail off to where
her finger pointed, then walked away.

Maybe I should
follow; I looked back at Mike—he was gone, already standing behind
Emily where she leaned on the bench.

“
What is it, Em?” he asked so softly he could be speaking to a
child.

“
I can’t compete, Mike.” She folded her arms and dropped her
chin to her chest.

“
Compete with what?”

“
With her!” I practically felt her pointed finger stab
me.

Mike spun
Emily around, lifted her to sit on the bench, then stood between
her legs. “Emily. There’s no competition. Ara has always been my
friend. It’s the same with you and David.”

“
Uh-uh. No way. David and I are nowhere near as close as you
two.”

At least Mike
and I don’t share blood!

“
What do you expect, Emily? I was gonna marry her.”

“
So you keep saying.” She looked down at her lap. “And that
means I have to come second for the rest of my li—well, for the
rest of eternity?”

Trying so hard
not to clear my throat or cough to break the awkwardness, I took a
few inching steps toward the exit, wishing I’d followed
Morgaine.

“
You know that’s silly, Emily, and I’m sorry you feel that
way, but what more can I do?”

“
Nothing,” she said, her eyes tearing. “It’s okay, Mike. We
just…we aren’t meant for each other.”

What?” The
word burst out of him. “Why?”

I stopped by
the wall and made myself small, unable to walk away now, not when
my two best friends were taking a one-way roller-cart to
disaster.

“
All I wanted was for you to love me. That’s it.” Her voice
quavered and broke. “But you can’t even do that.”

“
What makes you think I don’t love you?”

“
You never say it, never laugh with me, have fun with me—all
you ever talk about is Ara and her cool new powers.”

“
Emily, I—” He looked at me, his hand over his chest. “I love
Ara. I absolutely love her with all of my heart—”

Oh, boy.
Things Guys Shouldn’t Say, For Dummies. I rolled my brow down to my
fingertips.

“
But
you
—”
he touched her face, “—I love you with all of my soul. There
is
no comparison. Don’t
you know that?”

“
You never say it,” she whispered, almost
inaudibly.

“
Can you not feel it when I touch you, when we make love, when
I hold you?” He stroked his fingertips along her jaw. “Actions
speak louder than words, Em.”