“A pleasure, my lady.” Arthur bowed.
“Hello, Arthur.” I walked the gap and took both of his hands as he offered them. It felt natural, normal, as if we’d been friends our whole lives.
“How have you been?” he asked, his mysterious blue eyes seeming to search my soul—maybe for the sadness for supposedly losing my husband, or maybe for happiness to see him, I wasn’t sure, but I suddenly felt very naked. “Barely any time has passed since David left this life. I imagine this is all a bit much for you.”
“I’m… coping.” I looked at Morgaine.
Shadows crept into the room, sneaking under the walls and roof as the sun retreated, making her eyes glow a bit like a cat’s eyes at night, and it wasn’t until I looked closer that I realized she was holding back tears. Arthur looked too.
“Oh, look at me. I’ve gone and gotten myself all worked-up,” she said, quickly wiping them away.
I did the same, though I didn’t actually have any tears. It was hard pretending David was dead. She was much better at it.
“My girls,” Arthur said, touching both our shoulders. “There is little joy to be found when grieving. But David would not wish you to cry for him.” He especially looked at Morgaine. “You know this.”
We both nodded.
“Amara?” He tucked my wrist into the crook of his elbow. “Walk with me.”
“Sure,” I said, waving to Morgaine as he led me away.
“It brings me great pleasure to be by your side again, Princess,” Arthur said.
I patted his forearm with my other hand. “Me too. I always looked forward to your letters.”
He smiled softly to himself. “I know. And that fact not only gave me pleasure in writing them, but also made my days of waiting for this moment much brighter.”
As we stepped through the tall glass doors, the daylight that had been hidden by the manor walls spread around us, still very much alive out here. The rounded balcony’s marble railing rolled seamlessly down to stone steps, sitting grandly above a grassy split-level path to the hedge maze. The sweet, sharp scent of lilies and cherry blossoms made summer perfume in the warm evening air, following us into the garden.
“I know you told me not to,” I said, having thought about it for a second, “but I kept one of your letters.”
His hand tightened over mine. “Why?”
“It sounded so genuine.”
I expected an objection, but he only offered silence as we took a left turn to a small courtyard just in front of the staff quarters.
“May I enquire as to which letter it was?” he said finally.
“The one about days being brighter—pretty much what you just said before, but in writing.” I grinned up at him, feeling the pinch of the small dimple by my lip.
He nodded and presented the bench-like garden swing nearby. “Would you like to sit?”
“Thank you,” I said, sweeping my skirt under my legs as I sat down carefully, trying not to rock it too much so I didn’t tip over and land on my butt like a clumsy ox.
“I wonder”—Arthur sat beside me—“if David ever told you he spent nearly every second summer of his human life at this manor. That he sat here, on this very bench.”
“He sat here?” I said and looked forward, imagining young David running through the hedge maze. “I haven’t really been told much about this place at all, or about David.”
“You will learn. In time.”
More silence followed—comfortable silence—and all I could think of was how great dinner smelled and how nice it would feel all hot and solid in my belly. When the setting sun reached the greens of summer on this side of the manor, turning them orange and pink as it crept closer and closer to the ocean behind the trees, I turned to Arthur with a question on my lips that I knew I shouldn’t ask.
“Arthur?”
“Yes, my lady?”
“I’m trying to get all the laws of the vampires straight in my head and figure out how things were before Drake took over from Lilith—”
“Drake never took over, Princess. He merely took back the throne.”
“Well, whichever way you want to look at it.”
“No, my dear, that is a fact. Drake built the monarchy. He designed the Sets, the rules. He is the reason the human race was not wiped out centuries ago.”
“Why would we have been wiped out?”
“War among humankind, greed among vampires—blood lust. He has stepped in many times to save humans from themselves. And from vampires.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Everything we stand for, everything the community is today is a result of Drake’s empire.”
“Why? If he’s so evil, why would he do that?”
Arthur seemed to sigh internally. “You know as well as I do that good and bad are not black and white. Drake, by human standards, may seem evil but he is still a good man.”
I nodded. “I’ll buy that.”
“Now, back to your original question.”
“Oh, um, I was going to ask why Lilithians weren’t allowed to mix with vampires, and how David got away with dating Morgaine if it was illegal.”
Arthur smiled. “It wasn’t always that way. For a time, Lilithians and vampires lived in peace. But Drake quickly realized that the control we had gained over the population of vampires was based mainly on the fear they had of punishment—punishment carried out by Lilithians. In order to maintain that fear, we had to create a divide between the species.”
“Why a divide?”
“Understanding, my dear. When you understand something there is little reason to fear it. If that happened, we could have lost control. So, Drake was none too concerned if council leaders wished to mingle with Lilithians, because they knew the importance of maintaining that divide, but average vampires were not permitted. He particularly had little issue with Morgaine, given that she was of high authority among her kind: employed, rather than enslaved by Drake.”
“Employed?”
“Yes. She was”—he let out a slow breath—“good at her job. Not to mention she was, at one point, rather close with Drake and spent many nights in his company.”
I covered my mouth. Gross.
“Consensual, of course,” Arthur added. “In that, it was acceptable for David and Morgaine to be together while here at Loslilian. After all, this place”—he looked around fondly—“is like living in another time, a separate world. But outside these walls the rules of the Sets were always enforced. Vampires associating with Lilithians is… was illegal and frowned upon.”
“Why was it so different at the manor?”
“Loslilian was always a very human place. Drake did not care much for the preservation of vampire customs here.”
“Why?”
Arthur considered it for a second. “Perhaps because Lilith was always so human. Many of her servants and staff were human, and throughout history, even after Lilith died, this manor remained that way. Vampires brought their human mates here until they were ready for transformation, and—”
“Why didn’t David do that with me?” I sprung forward on the seat. “Before he knew I couldn’t be a vampire. We could have run away here until I was ready.”
He rubbed his chin. “I know. And I offered him this, but he refused.”
I swallowed a hard lump. “Why?”
“David… well, he had some inner truths he wished to keep from you. He told me once that you were a very moralistic girl; that you challenged and questioned everything that was right and wrong, basing your friendships and feelings on how you measured a person.”
“Doesn’t everyone?”
He smiled. “In the vampire community, that is a luxury we cannot afford. There are no exceptions. We have all committed unspeakable acts of cruelty. A council member, however, is known too well for their ability to separate themselves from the unpleasant—disregarding compassion in order to instill fear as a means of maintaining control. David was afraid if you ever learned of the things he’
d done, you would not have the heart to love him.”
“But I know what he’s done. I know all about him. I’d always have loved him.”
Arthur laughed. “I’m sure you would, my dear, but I can tell you right now you know not even one percent of the things my nephew did in his time on the council, and you never will. Not as long as I have any say.”
“Why?”
“I will not see my words tarnish his memory or cause you to despise him.”
I folded my arms. “Wouldn’t that be a good a thing? Then I could move on in my heart.”
“Is that what you would want?” He leaned forward to look at my face. “So soon after losing him, you wish to forget, to hate?”
I shrunk a little. “Sometimes I wish I did hate him. I can handle hate easier than heartache.”
“Heartache,” he said to himself, nodding.
I wondered what he expected me to feel. Heartache seemed pretty natural, given that David was apparently dead.
“I’ve worried for you these past weeks,” he said, keeping his eyes forward. He looked so much like David when he did that, with the same hard eyes that could soften with a smile.
“I’m fine, Arthur. Really. I guess I’m used to losing people I love.”
He looked at my smile, then down at his hands, frowning. “I’m not sure what to make of that.”
I shook my head and pulled my dress down over my knees where it rose up. “Don’t think into it at all. No one has ever figured me out, Arthur, and I guarantee you won’t be the one to do it.” When the silence lasted uncomfortably long, I turned my head reluctantly, feeling his glittering grin on me. “What?” I said.
“Do not be so sure, Princess, that I cannot figure you out.” He looked away again. “I believe I may be closer to your inner truths than you would allow.”
Yikes. “And what makes you so sure?”
His lip quirked, and he looked so young, like the thirty years his face portrayed, not the hundreds his mannerisms did. “I’ve been around a while. You’re not the first moody, complicated young girl I’ve had the pleasure of befriending.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.” He laughed, still not looking at me.
“And you think that gives you greater insight into who I am and how I work?”
He turned to me then and took my hand delicately, the stiff, guarded Arthur I met in the Great Hall gone, replaced by a guy with boyish charm. “You remind me very much of David’s aunt. Did he speak of her?”
I nodded. “He told me how she died.”
Stiff-Arthur reappeared, releasing my hand as a wave of darkness flooded his eyes. “It pains me to come back here. Her memory, and that of my nephews, infect every corner of this place.”
“I’m sorry.”
“As am I. But despite that, I am here—for you, and if there is anything I can advise on or assist with, you need only ask it.”
“Well, there is one thing.” I hesitated.
“Speak it, my dear, and it shall be done.”
“Mike told me there’s at least a third of the vampire population in prison or being tortured right now. I want to review their cases and maybe free them, but I don’t know much about your law system or even where the prisoners are.”
“Why would you wish to free them?”
“Because I don’t think those vampires were imprisoned fairly, you know, for stupid things like having a human companion.”
“Amara—” He scratched his chin, sighing.
“Look, just tell me where they are.” I folded my arms, making myself taller beside him. “I don’t care if you agree with me or not, I mean, why would you? You’re probably the one who put them all away. But I’m in charge now—”
“Not yet. You have not taken your oath.”
“Well, I will soon. And freeing those prisoners will be the first thing I take care of, aside from disbanding the Sets.”
“Disbanding!” He sat taller.
“Drake has everyone under such tight control. Good vampires like Eric, they can’t live. They want freedom—”
“Amara, you can’t just—”
“It’s. Not. Open. For negotiation.” I put a hand up between us. “You’re here to advise, not tell me what I can and can’t do.”
He blinked a few extra times. “And I endeavor only to advise, Princess. It is not my wish to govern you.”
“Yes, it is. I can tell from your authoritative stance—seat—that you want to make me do what you think I should do.”
He sat back a little, becoming smaller. “I’m sorry, my lady. I did not mean to come across that way.”
“Just… can you please just tell me where they keep the prisoners?”
He exhaled. “Most are held at le Chateau Elysium, the Lilithian First Order in Paris, a few are in New Zealand, and some in China. But while Drake still rules the vampire domains, we can free only those in Paris and the ones held here.”
“Here? There are prisoners here?”
“Of course, in the cellblock.”
“We have a cellblock?”
“Yes.” His lips spread, giving in to the dimples in his cheeks—his nephew’s dimples.
“Well, that’s great then.” I sat back and pushed my hair off my face, catching the slight hint of my vanilla honey hand cream as I did. “We’ll get started freeing them after dinner.”
“You can’t do that yet. You haven’t thought this through, nor have you—”
My mouth popped open. “What would you know about what I have and have not thought through! I have thought about this, for a long time, Arthur. And I—”
“Amara, the prisoners held here are among the vilest of creatures, locked away for their inhumane behavior. These are the worst kinds of vampires.”
I softened. “What did they do?”
“Mostly, they are the ones who massacred humans without need, or disgracefully disposed of them or tortured them. Some of them are rapists, some, worse than that. Where do you think a great number of serial killers originated from?”
“Really? Your kind actually cares if vampires become serial killers?”
“Of course. Did you think we allowed vampires to violate basic human rights?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head. “We had laws, Amara. We had respect among our community—honor, principles—brutal crimes were punished.”
“But when Jason kidnapped me at the Masquerade, he said he was allowed to mutilate his kill any way he saw fit.”
Arthur smiled. “He was just trying to frighten you.”
“So you aren’t allowed to mutilate us?”
“In some ways we are, but there are limits. You see, fear makes the blood warmer, so scaring a human a little is deemed acceptable, but in the case of the prisoners we store below, what they did went beyond a little fear.”
“And Jason kidnapping me didn’t?”
Arthur swallowed. “Not according to our standards.”
“What about your own personal standards?”
“My dear, it is purely because you are a friend and I care for you that I see what my nephew did as unacceptable. Had he raped you, I would have skinned him alive, whether you were a friend or not, but other than that, I’m sorry, he did not hurt you enough to justify imprisonment. And don’t look at me that way. I had to see the same look on David’s face the day Drake made that ruling.”
I looked down at my feet.
“Amara?” He took my hand, his tone commanding. It was harder to see now with only a dim light on the distant horizon, while pale lamps stepped in where the sun failed, making Arthur look menacing. “Jason never had any intentions of”—he inched closer, swallowing—“he was never going to rape you. He…”
“I know.”
There was a shift then—in energy. I felt it. “How did you know?”
“He told me.”
“When?”
“The night of Karnivale.”
“You talked that night?”
“Mm-
hm.” I nodded, realizing I’d probably said too much. I just assumed he already knew. I could almost hear Morgaine’s disapproval.
Arthur remained silent.
“Arthur, you okay?”
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully, brows pinching in the middle. “I’m glad he had the chance to tell you that before he died.”
“Me too.” My lip quivered, so I thrust my shoulders back and sat taller, swallowing the gut-wrenching agony that Jason’s death invoked. “But back to the issue at hand: the prisoners.”
“They should not be freed.”
“Yes, but I’ve been told Drake’s methods were harsh and that he was unfair.”
“Then perhaps you have been misinformed,” Arthur added crossly. “Drake did rule our nation for many centuries with an iron fist, but with good reason. Misbehaving vampires draw attention, spread unrest and, like an airborne plague, encourage others to do the same. The only way to control them is to own their fears—to be the very nightmare they run from in their sleep.”
“You sound pretty passionate about this?”
“I have served beside King Drake my entire vampire life, Amara. We have fought for our freedom, our concealment, and our community. To see a young girl become Queen and make changes to all that we have spent centuries developing…” He sat forward and looked at the ground between his legs. “It’s just difficult. I can see you making the very same mistakes Drake made in the beginning.”
“Like what?”
“He made friends of vampires; an option, I’m afraid, is not viable for those in power. He tried to rule by love of his people, and while that is a noble path, there are lines. And you must draw them. Second, you have a good heart, Princess, but you must learn not to use it when making decisions about members of our society that cannot fit in.”
“That’s all very well, Arthur, but what Drake deems punishable, and what my kind do, are very different things.” I thought about Pepper. “You yourself—last time we spoke—said he was tyrannical, and he needed to be stopped—”
“This wasn’t what I meant.”
“Look, fact remains, I want to free the prisoners. Now, are you going to help me with that, or not?”
“I guess I have little choice,” he said to the ground.
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