My mouth felt dry as he climbed back on the bed and it was hard to breathe as I looked at him. My pulse thundered in my head as I was overcome by the wave of possessiveness that swept over me. I finally realised why the bond was so important to him; I wanted to mark him, brand him as belonging to me alone, stamp ‘property of Jéhenne Corbeaux’ on his forehead and know that no one would ever see this again but me. Mine, I thought hungrily, and I knew that somehow he heard me. A slow smile spread over his lips as he climbed over me, gracefully, like some great cat. He whispered, “All yours,” and then I felt his teeth nip playfully at my ear lobe. “Mine,” he growled and I pulled him down, holding him to me with everything I had. I bit his ear in return before tracing the tendons in his neck with my tongue.
“Yes,” I agreed before sinking my teeth into his neck.
“Oh gods, Jéhenne, please tell me you’re not going to change your mind.” His voice rumbled in my ear and I shook my head, too breathless to speak.
There was no more talk after that, nothing but sensation, a blur of hands and lips, of teeth and tongues until I was no longer sure where he ended and I began. He opened his mind to me and I felt everything that he felt. I felt the love that he’d kept, for me alone, for so many years. The power of him, my magic and pure adrenalin coursed through my veins until I felt incandescent, combustible ...like I would burn the world to a cinder in one brilliant, shining moment, but with my usual greed I never ever wanted it to end.
Chapter 10
I awoke in a tangle of sheets and stretched luxuriously. I ached all over but it wasn’t unpleasant. Cracking open an eyelid I could see a fire burning in the hearth opposite the bed, and remembered that I was in Corvus’ room, in his bed and suddenly I remembered a whole lot more.
I became aware that I was being watched and I turned my head to find him regarding me with an expression that could only be described as smug.
“Hello,” he said
I smiled, feeling suddenly shy which was completely ridiculous after everything we’d just done.
“Hi.”
He reached over beside the bed and pulled out a small hand mirror from the bedside drawer.
“Look.”
I took the mirror from him and looked at myself. Around my neck and reaching down between my breasts were the same feather tattoos that had appeared on my wrists and ankles, but whereas before they had simply been black, now they all shone with iridescent colours. They moved, as though they fluttered in a gentle breeze, shifting the colours through deep blue, green, purple and red.
“Wow.” It was all I could find to say. I’d never even considered having a tattoo to be honest but this was not your average kind of ink.
I looked at Corvus who turned his back, and I gasped in amazement. The crow tattoo across his shoulders and back had always been a source of fascination to me. It covered most of his back and was perfect in every detail as well as seeming to have a life of its own. That had been amazing enough, now however it gleamed with the same petrol sheen as my own tattoos. I ran my hands over his shoulders and across the crow, which preened and raised his head as my hand caressed it.
“Beautiful,” I whispered and kissed his shoulder, sliding my arms around his neck. “Well then, husband, are you happy now?”
He laughed, pulling my arms tighter and kissing my hands. “Hmmm, not yet but give it a few more hours.”
He turned in my arms, pulling me back down onto the bed and I snuggled against him contentedly, my head on his chest.
“I was an idiot to make you wait so long,to make us both wait.” I sighed, thinking about all the times I had spent the night alone, when I could have been here.
“Well, I don’t like to say I told you so, but ...”
I smacked him halfheartedly and propped myself up on my elbow so I could see his face.
“Did I mention that I love you?”
He brushed the hair from my face, tucking it behind my ear. “Yes, actually, but I’m not going to complain if you want to say it again.” He looked at me in such a way that my heart sped up in anticipation. I reached my hand up and traced the shape of his mouth and he kissed the fingers. “No regrets?”
I shook my head. “Only that I took so long to make my mind up.”
He pushed me onto my back and leaned over me. “It will be dawn soon ... so you’d best start making up for lost time.”
I smiled and twined my arms around his neck. “I can do that."
“Jéhenne! Jéhenne, wake up!”
There was a blast of icy air over my back and I heard Corvus grumble and shift beside me. Cracking my eyes open I could see the blurry outline of Phil hovering beside the bed. I shrieked and grabbed the covers; thankfully I’d been lying on my front.
“What the bloody hell? Phil! Get out of here!”
He folded his arms and looked at me crossly. “And there I was thinking you’d be pleased.”
I sat up holding the covers to my neck and saw that there was a little old lady with him. She had curly grey hair and was wearing a long cotton nightdress and an expression of awe as she gazed, open mouthed, at the figure beside me on the bed. I glanced over to see that, in grabbing the covers I had taken them from Corvus who was sleeping on his back and looking even more impressive than he had in the suit. I covered him up hastily; she looked disappointed.
“Bonjour,” I said, manners getting the better of me in even this situation.
She dragged her eyes unwillingly from Corvus and smiled. “Enchanté”
Returning my attention to Phil, I scowled. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I found Georgette, I thought you’d be happy,” he grumbled.
“I am but I don’t see why you had to bring her here.”
“I didn’t, I’m on my way to see Inés but I thought you should know there’s something weird going on.”
“Of course, there’s something weird going on,” I said irritably. “There is always something weird going on, if there wasn’t it would be really weird.”
Phil folded his arms and rolled his eyes at me. “Alors, I just thought you should know- whoever did this, she’s like you.”
OK, now he had my attention. “Like me how? Dame Blanche you mean?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, just that there was magic around her and it ...I don’t know how to explain it but it felt the same as yours, the same as around Inés.”
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know how to explain it exactly but all magic has ...well a variety. I’ve noticed different magic looks, smells, even tastes different.”
“But this was like mine and Inés’?”
“Oui.”
“Shit.” That was not news I had been hoping for, it looked like Inés might not be as paranoid as I’d thought.
“Anyway, I thought you should know.”
“Yeah, I guess. Thanks. Take her to Inés now, OK?”
He nodded and grabbed the old lady’s hand.
“Oh and, Phil?”
“Oui?”
“If I ever find you in my bedroom again I’ll find a banishing spell to send you somewhere really hot. Got it?”
He grinned and I heard his laughter even after he’d disappeared, taking the old lady with him.
Thankfully Corvus had slept through it all; dead to the world, though even if he’d woken he would have only found me talking to myself. Vampires couldn’t sense, see or hear ghosts, and in fact the Chateau was heavily warded to keep them out so they couldn’t spy on the family.
We’d had to get Inés to reset the ward to give Phil access and Corvus had not been happy when she’d sent him the bill.
In this world if you wanted a sophisticated ward, you went to Inés. She was acknowledged throughout the supernatural community as being the most skilled with wards and potions, but you had to be prepared to pay. It was one of those things that made her such a paradox; she had to be loaded but still lived in her tiny little cottage and drove an old wreck
. She had charged Corvus so much that even he had blanched at bills with so many noughts that I couldn’t comprehend the amount. Yet she charged Georgette less than a euro for her potion, despite the fact it had taken many hours to make.
I leaned over and kissed Corvus on the cheek, pulling the covers up around his neck. It was almost dawn and the first rays of light would be climbing the sky soon. Glancing over at the fireplace I noticed a few embers still glowing and got up, intending to get it going again.
A warm vampire is a happy vampire.
I picked up Corvus’ shirt and slipped it on and then knelt beside the fireplace to rake at the embers. I put some kindling on top before adding some larger logs, and watched in satisfaction as the flames began to leap.
I had been about to get to my feet when I heard it again, a cry that made my heart clench and something deep in my stomach contract. I gasped and my eyes were drawn to the flames. He was there, my son, I could hear him crying and the sound tore through me. He was lost; I felt it with every fibre of my being. He was lost and waiting for me to find him but how was that possible? If he was in my past he'd be as old as Corvus if he was an immortal. So did that mean this was showing me the future, a future where he would be lost, taken from me? Was it a warning?
“Don’t cry, baby, please don’t cry,” I begged as tears gathered and fell from my own eyes. I could see him clearly now, he was older this time, just walking perhaps, his little face streaked with tears. He seemed to see me, and he reached out, chubby arms raised and I held out my arms in return, longing to grab hold of him. Big eyes looked back at me, fearful, needing me, eyes that were large and filled with tears and ...a deep, tawny gold. I gasped, no, no, no, it couldn’t be, it just couldn't! Except there those eyes were, beautiful, like the eyes of a lion, albeit a very small one, and there was only one man in the world with eyes like that, so very, very distinctive. He began to cry harder, his eyes screwed shut as he realised I wasn’t going to take him.
"No, baby, don't cry, don't cry please. Maman will come, I'll find you, I promise, I promise. I won't leave you alone." The vision flickered and disappeared and I wept beside the fire, until I noticed the atmosphere in the room, and the prickling sensation that was making my skin burn. I looked around to see Corvus standing behind me, watching, and gasped at the expression on his face.
"Maman? You were speaking to a child?" His voice was like ice and yet his anger was searing my skin. “Whose child?”
My brain froze with terror, my heart beating against my rib cage like a frantic animal trying to escape. I couldn't think, couldn't begin to imagine how to answer that question.
Before I even had time to respond I was pinned to the wall by my throat. "Answer me." He wasn't hurting me, there was no pressure behind his hand but I knew well enough how powerful he was. I also knew he wouldn't hurt me, at least, I had thought I'd known that before I’d seen the look that was in his eyes now.
"Mine," I whispered. "It's mine."
"When? Was that the past ...or the future?"
I could barely breathe; I couldn't lie to him. He'd know. "I ... I don't know."
He shook his head, blue eyes blazing with fury. "You know. Whose child was that?”
I was trembling now. "I don't, I don't, not really. I--" The pressure on my throat increased.
"You believe you know ... Don't you?"
I felt tears streaming down my face and tried to form the words in my mouth but they wouldn't come, I was too afraid of what he would do.
"Answer me."
I jumped as he shouted at me and to my horror his words were a command; I had to answer. "The future, I think it's the future," I wept. "You promised! You promised you would never command me!"
"No," he said coldly. "I didn't. You wanted me to promise but I couldn't because I knew I would not be able to keep it. You, however, have just pledged yourself to me, knowing you will not honour me."
"I didn't, I didn't!"
"Then what was that!" His fist slammed into the wall beside my head and I screamed. He let me go and I slid down the wall to crumple in a heap as he walked away. I clutched my knees to my chest, sobbing and trying to figure out how the hell this night had been so wonderful and had turned into such a nightmare.
"Who is he?"
It felt as though my heart simply stopped beating, just for a moment. The fear of answering his question, the question I knew he would ask ...
"Don't ask me," I sobbed. "Please, please, I'm begging you, don't ask me."
"Why not? If you tell me who the father is, I will kill him and perhaps, in time, I can forget this."
"But nothing has happened, Corvus, nothing!"
"It will though, won't it, one day? When? When does this happen?"
"I don't know, I swear on my life, I don't know, it could be centuries from now!"
He gave me a look that chilled the blood in my veins. "And you expect me to live with you, to be with you and wonder each day if this is the one when you will run to your lover?"
"No, no, no," I moaned. “I wouldn't, I would never do that. I won't, I won't do it!"
"Yes you will!" His voice thundered around the room, his anger so fierce I thought it might strip the skin from my bones. "The only way to avoid it is to kill him before it happens. Tell me who he is, Jéhenne, and I will end this before it begins."
"No!" I scrambled to my feet and ran to him, clinging to his arm. "No, you can't!"
He shook me off with less effort than swatting a fly. “Why not? Do you love him? If you want him so much why are you even here?"
"I don't want him, I don't love him ... I don't even like him that much!"
His hand grasped my chin. "Oh, I think you like him well enough. Tell me, did he have to beg his way into your bed like I did?"
"I don't know anything about it, Corvus, I swear to you. I don't know why or how or when, I only know there is a child ... That--that there will be a child."
The look he gave me chilled me to my bones and I didn’t think I had ever been so afraid, but I had to fight. “I have no way of knowing the circumstances.” I scrabbled around for excuses knowing I could never find one he would accept. “Perhaps ... Perhaps you have left me, grown tired of me in the future. Perhaps you’ve been unfaithful and I have left you. There could be any number of reasons for me not being with you!”
His expression didn’t change.
"Jéhenne," his voice was low, barely more than a whisper. "Tell me his name and I will deal with it and we need not think about it again."
My legs were trembling, barely able to hold me up and my eyes burned with tears but I knew I couldn't tell him. I wouldn't let him kill a man who had done nothing wrong, and I couldn't, simply couldn't, keep that child from being created. It would be like killing him, and I could no more do that than kill the child with my own hands.
"No."
His thumb stroked my skin gently and his voice was soft, pleading. "You said you don't care for him, prove it to me, Jéhenne. Give me his name."
"I don't care for him but ...” I had to say it, there was no other way. “But I want my son,” I whispered.
For a moment there was nothing in his eyes but a pain so raw I thought my heart would break, and then he turned away.
"Get out."
"No ...No ... Corvus, please ..."
"Get out!"
I was forced from the room by his command, falling to my knees in the hallway as the door slammed in my face. I scrambled towards it, pounding on the wood and crying his name but there was no reply. I sat there, on the cold floor, too shocked to move until a voice jolted me out of my stupor.
"Well, well, don't tell me he's finally come to his senses?"
I looked around to see Lucas watching me with a self-satisfied look on his face. I got to my feet unsteadily, clutching Corvus' shirt around me and wiping away my tears.
"Fuck you, Lucas."
I walked away with as much dignity as I could muster until I got to my room, and then ...I cried.
Chapter 11
I sat on the bed in my room, trembling. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. Would he ever forgive me? How could I have done it? How could I have betrayed him like that ...even though it hadn’t actually happened yet? What could have changed my feelings so much that I would have been unfaithful? Had it been as Corin had predicted? Had my longing for a child driven me to it? I just couldn’t believe I would do such a thing. Yet there was a child with golden eyes, and I couldn’t deny that.
I don’t know how long I sat there, too shocked to move, but eventually I stirred, dragging myself to my feet and into the shower. Going through the motions automatically, I washed, dressed, and went downstairs, grabbing my car keys and heading outside.
It was a crisp, bright morning, the grass white and brittle under a thick layer of frost and a big orange sun, glowing behind the black trees. A soft mist hugged the ground and whispered around the tree trunks, silhouetted against a sunrise that was painting the sky in shades of crimson and gold.
Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning
The old rhyme repeated in my head, and it felt as though my life was unraveling like the thin strands of cloud that striped the sky. It wasn’t as if I’d ever had much of a grasp on it. Things had been running out of control ever since I had come to France, even before that if I was honest. Every now and again I felt I knew what was happening, like maybe I could find some sense in the chaos and my place in this world, even make a life for myself. Yet every time I came close to believing this, everything would come crashing down around me again.
Was it retribution for past sins? What had Jéhnina really been like? Maybe I had been a wicked creature back then; maybe there were things Corvus didn’t know, things I was still paying for. Whatever it was I felt like someone hated me, wanted me to pay, and whoever it was would continue to ruin my life until I had no life left at all.
The Heart of Arima. Page 8