The Heart of Arima.

by Emma V. Leech

  It might destroy us all.

  Fear tipped me over the edge and the key welcomed me with open arms. The power washed over me and Mme Dubarry fell to the floor, screaming as she felt the power of the underworld bear down on her.

  “Break the spell!” But it wasn’t my voice that spoke, it was thunderous, the voice of every soul that ever was- at my command.

  Madame Dubarry wavered for a moment, her eyes bulging and gasping like a landed fish, and then she slumped to the ground.

  Chapter 31

  Rodney crouched down beside the woman’s body and looked up at me with wild eyes. “Bloody hell, Jéhenne. I think she’s snuffed it!”

  “No!”

  I dropped to my knees, the key forgotten and released, and I fumbled for a pulse. Please, please, God, let her be OK, I prayed silently.

  Corin knelt beside me. “Mind out of the way, Jéhenne.” I moved over to give him room and watched with my heart in my mouth as he put his hands on her. There was a soft, white glow from his fingertips as he sent his magic into her.

  “What were you thinking?” I looked around to see Rodney standing with his head in his hands and I could see the shock in his eyes. I didn’t want Rodney to look at me like that, not ever, but I didn’t want Corin dead either.

  “I only wanted to frighten her into breaking the spell,” I explained as fear clawed at my guts. I turned back to Corin and cried out with relief as I saw her take a ragged breath. “Oh, Corin, thank you. I didn’t mean to ...”

  He nodded and patted my hand. “I know, Jéhenne, believe me I know.”

  “Bleedin hell, Jéhenne, you scared the crap out of me!” Rodney yelled and I swallowed nervously. I hated it when Rodney was angry with me. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

  Corin looked up, just as angry. “I imagine she was trying to find a way out of this damned mess!”

  “Yeah an’ killin’ the silly bitch helps how exactly?” he demanded and I felt my temper flare.

  “Do you know what Corvus will do to us if he sees those marks, Rodney?”

  For a moment I thought he was about to yell at me again but he just nodded. “Yeah, I know, but you haven’t done anything wrong.”

  “And do you think he’ll stop for an explanation before or after he rips Corin’s head off?”

  “Do you think we could keep the visuals to a minimum?” Corin said with a pained expression.

  “Sorry,” I muttered but I didn’t get to hear his response as Madame Dubarry groaned and her eyes flickered open. She took one look at me and opened her mouth to scream, so I slapped my hand over it.

  “I’m not going to hurt you, OK?” Slowly, I took my hand away and she didn’t scream. She didn’t seem particularly reassured either. “I don’t know what happened between you and Corvus and I don’t want to, but if he sees these marks, innocent people are going to get hurt. I can’t believe that’s what you want? Is it?”

  To my dismay, her face crumpled and she started to cry. I really didn’t want to feel sorry for her but she looked so pathetic.

  “I loved him …so much, and he just walked away from me. I would have done anything, anything at all.” She sniffed noisily and I sighed, fishing around in my pocket for a tissue. Corin tapped me on the shoulder and handed me another of his blue silk ones. I snatched it from him, rolling my eyes, and handed it to the sniveling woman. She looked up at me tearfully. “There’s never been anyone else you know, since him. No one could ever compare.” She grabbed my hand suddenly and I stiffened. “Did you know that you can hate someone and love them at the same time?”

  I nodded. Oh yes. Yes that was something I knew very well. “Pourquoi vous? Why did he want you and not me?”

  She looked genuinely perplexed and whatever the situation had been, I believed she had loved Corvus. She’d have been a fool not to.

  “He’s always been mine,” I told her, sounding far more possessive than I had intended.

  “But you are just a child!” she scoffed.

  “I’m not a child!” Though I had an overwhelming desire to stamp my foot and cry, I wasn’t about to admit to that so instead I sighed and decided I’d better explain. “This isn’t my first lifetime.” Her eyes grew big and round and I wondered for a moment if she was going to faint again. I wouldn’t have blamed her, it still sounded far-fetched to me and I knew it was true. “We were together when Corvus was mortal; he has been waiting for me.”

  “C’est vrai?” she looked at Corin, obviously not willing to take my word for it, and he nodded silently. “But he’s thousands of years old! He’s been waiting …all this time?”

  “Yes.”

  I watched her face as the information sank in. “That’s why he couldn’t love me. It wasn’t me … He tried to explain and all these years, I didn’t understand. Mon Dieu, what have I done?”

  Thank you, God.

  I clutched at her hands. “Then you’ll break the spell?”

  She bit her lip and gave a sob. “I’m so sorry, but I can’t. I don’t know how.”

  I felt the terror that had begun to recede, clawing at my insides with renewed vigour. “You must know! Where did you find the spell in the first place? There must be a way to reverse it?”

  “I’m sorry, truly I am, but another witch gave me the spell years ago and she’s been dead for over a decade. I’ve no way to undo it.”

  My eyes met Corin’s and I saw my own fear reflected back at me. We were screwed.

  “Then you’ll just have to come with us and explain.” I grabbed hold of her wrists intending to haul her to her feet, but she had become a gibbering wreck.

  “Non! Non! I can’t, I can’t! Please, please, I beg you, please don’t make me see him again …not like this!” she sobbed. “Please, don't, he’ll still be the same and I … Non! Non!” I let go of her wrists. Despite what she’d done, the poor woman had suffered enough. I couldn’t add to it, it was too cruel.

  We left her and gathered our papers together silently. We could hear Madame Dubarry sobbing quietly as I shut the kitchen door and we headed back down the corridor to find the way out.

  We came out at the bottom of the cliff but farther along the river. Once more the sun was sinking into the horizon, the last rays of light glittering on the river as soft mist gently obscured the details, like a pastel drawing. How could anything be so tranquil when I knew my world was about to explode.

  I walked behind Rodney, with Corin at my side, struggling to put one foot in front of the other. Just keep going, Jéhenne. Everything will be OK. I tried to listen to the voice in my head, even though I knew it was lying.

  The car park was in sight when the pain ripped through me. I cried out and Corin turned and reached out to catch me. There was nothing but pain. Anger, jealousy, fear and desperate sadness, they were all there but for now the pain was all I could register. I couldn’t walk or speak, I could barely breathe, I just wanted it to stop. Oh please someone, make it stop!

  I didn’t feel Corin lift me and carry me to the car, but he must have done. I tried to focus and found I was sitting in the passenger seat with Rodney shaking my arm anxiously. We must have been driving for some time as I could see we were less than an hour from home.

  “Jéhenne?” I turned to him, but couldn’t speak. “You’ve got to explain what happened. You got to make him listen to you!”

  I was numb. I could barely take in what he was saying to me, all I could feel were the waves of pain. Corvus had lost control. The power that was usually so carefully contained was spilling out. The defenses that shielded his emotions from me were broken and all I could do was feel the pain radiating from him. I wondered what damage he’d done and hoped that no one was hurt. He’d never forgive himself.

  “Listen to me, damn it!” Rodney yelled and Corin turned in his seat.

  “Leave her be, can’t you see she’s in pain?”

  “Of course I can!” he said with anger in his voice. “But we need a friggin’ plan. If we just roll up at the Chateau
he’ll kill us all before we set a foot on the ground!”

  Corin pulled the car over to the side of the road. “He has a point, Jéhenne.” I tried to respond, but I felt like I’d been somehow …disconnected. Corin put his hand on my forehead and closed his eyes. I could feel his magic sinking into my body but it didn’t touch the pain. This wasn’t a broken bone or an illness ... There was no magical cure for this. He sighed and took my hand instead. “Jéhenne, focus; you have to shut him out. You can’t face him like this. Focus on something, something big. Think about how you feel. What do you feel, Jéhenne?”

  I tried to focus but his words kept slipping away from me. What had he said, big? Something big … What did I feel? I remembered the photo, the picture of that woman with Corvus. Jealousy swirled in my stomach like a sickness. Yes, jealous. I grasped hold of the feeling and nurtured it. I imagined the two of them together; I remembered the look on her face in the photo. Imagined him touching her …

  “No!”

  I flung open the car door and stumbled out into the darkness, gasping. Anger and jealousy, not pain. Yes, I could do this. I tormented myself some more with the image of them together and felt the pain recede. It was still there, a deep ache over my heart but overlaying it was my own anger. Anger at this whole damned mess, anger that, once again, I was a pawn in someone else’s game. I was picked up and put down, moved around like I was nothing, like I had no value outside of whatever plans had been made for me. I looked down at my hands. Ablaze with blue flame they lit up the darkness and I knew I had control once more.

  “Jéhenne?” Rodney called me from the safety of the car. “You alright, luv?”

  I nodded and walked silently back.

  As we drove into the village where Amelia lived my worst fears were confirmed. It was less than a mile from the Chateau.

  Flashing blue lights lit up the normally tranquil streets as Gendarmes tried to make sense of what had happened and people walked around looking shocked. Windows had been blown out and hundreds of smashed roof tiles covered the ground.

  We got out of the car as it was impossible to drive any farther and began to walk to Amelia’s house. We’d only taken a few steps when Amelia flew through the darkness and hurled herself at Rodney.

  “Oh thank the gods.” She covered his face with kisses and hung onto him like her life depended on it. “I’m so glad you’re safe!” Then her eyes fell on me, with Corin standing beside me. “How could you, you little bi--”

  “Milly!” Rodney yelled. “She aint done nuthin’!” To my surprise Amelia stopped in her tracks, and looked up at Rodney with big eyes. “It’s a trick, Mills, they didn’t ... Well, they didn’t. Right?”

  “Oh.” She turned to me and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Jéhenne, I shouldn’t have believed it.”

  I shrugged, there was a part of me that didn’t feel she owed me an apology, I’d come close enough to betraying him hadn’t I? “You had no reason not to, I imagine.” I paused, hardly daring to ask. “Have you seen him?”

  “Kind of, I mean, I couldn’t even get close ... I didn’t want to. He ... He scared me, I didn’t dare.” I nodded, I couldn’t speak. “What happened?” she asked.

  “Rodney will explain.” I turned and walked away. “I have to talk to Corvus.”

  Rodney grabbed my arm. “Shall I come with yer, luv? Back you up like.”

  I looked up at him, feeling a lump in my throat. “No, it’s alright. I need to do this alone, but thank you.” I gave him a hug and he squeezed me hard.

  “Good luck, lovely.”

  I began to walk away when I heard Corin’s voice behind me. “Jéhenne, I want to talk to you.”

  I kept walking and didn’t slow down until he took hold of my arm, pulling me to a stop. “Corin, I can’t put it off, I have to see him. I need to explain, try to at least.”

  He gave me a pitying look. “And what, exactly, are you going to say when he asks you what happened between us?”

  “I ... I ...” I felt my eyes fill. “Oh, Corin, you need to get out of here. He’ll kill you and ... And he’s never going to want to see me again.” I felt the hopelessness of it all weighing me down. I couldn’t lie, he’d know and if I told him the truth, no matter the circumstances, he’d never forgive me. “Maybe if I’m lucky he’ll kill me too.” I sniffed.

  Corin took my hand and drew me past the Salle de Fetes, out of sight. “Now, now, Jéhenne, no dramatics, I won’t let him hurt you.”

  I looked up at him in astonishment. “Are you out of your fucking mind? Did you even hear a word I just said?”

  He smiled at me, a wicked glint in those golden eyes. “Oh, Jéhenne, you really should learn not to underestimate me. Tell me, dear one, what do you have in your pocket?”

  I frowned and then felt my heart stop in my chest as I realised what he was getting at. “No!” I slid my hand into my pocket and drew out the blue silk handkerchief he’d given me in the car. Shit. Shit. Shit.

  He stepped closer and brushed his fingers down my cheek. “That’s three gifts, Jéhenne. You are mine now. I can command you if I wish, and you will do as I desire.”

  I looked up at him, trembling, too appalled to speak.

  He gave a bitter laugh and stepped away from me. “Oh don’t look so horrified. I’m going to help you, may the gods forbid I actually get any pleasure from this whole damned mess.”

  “Help me how?” I asked, terrified of what it meant for me, to be under his control. He could literally command me to do anything he wanted; I’d be powerless to stop him. How could I have been so careless? I knew he was a tricky bastard but I’d thought ... I’d thought ... I cursed myself as I realised I’d actually come to believe he cared for me.

  “The thing you must understand about the fae, my dear, is we are never to be trusted, because we are the most accomplished liars.”

  “No shit,” I snapped at him but he just chuckled and shook his head.

  “Before you decide to condemn me, you might take a moment to realise that I can lie through my teeth to your beloved vampire and he won’t have any idea.”

  I looked up at him as a tiny seed of hope began to stir in my heart. “How can that help though? He need only ask me, he can command me to tell him the truth and I’ll have to ...”

  “To tell him what you believe to be the truth, which is whatever I tell you to believe.”

  I backed up against the wall of the building with my heart beating in my throat. “And what is it you’re going to make me believe?”

  He gave me a sad smile and looked away. “That everything that happened between us was forced upon you, that I forced you.”

  I felt my heart turn as his words took hold. He was going to make himself out to be the most despicable kind of man, so that I could live with an easy lie. “If you are going to lie why not just say that nothing has happened, we were both tricked, that’s the truth of the matter, Corin. Tell him we discovered the truth before anything happened. That’s near enough isn’t it?”

  He gave a short bark of laughter. “Forgive me but I am afraid my reputation precedes me. I may well be able to lie but there are some things your vampire simply will not believe. Like the fact that I was alone with you and didn’t make a move. Seriously, Jéhenne? You think he would swallow that?” He turned his back on me, shaking his head.

  “Well, no, perhaps not but ...” I grabbed hold of his arm and made him turn to face me. “Corin, do you know what you are saying? I can’t let you do that, it’s ... It’s noble and generous but it isn’t fair.”

  He snorted and gave me a furious look. “And what is there in any of this that is fair, tell me? What do I get out of this, whichever way it falls? The best I can hope for is to come out of it alive and with my hold on you intact. With your powers you may well be in a position to repay me for my efforts in the future so please reserve any observations about my noble sacrifice until I decide what form that help will take!”

  I smiled at him and the smile turned into a laugh.<
br />
  “What in the name of the gods is funny?” he demanded.

  “You, trying to make out you’re a villain. I don’t buy it, Corin, not any more. I know you too well. You’re a tricky bastard for sure but I think you’re an honorable one ...aren’t you?”

  He stiffened and the gold eyes gave me a look that made my stomach flip. Before I could move or make a noise he had pinned me to the wall. “You think so, do you? Well, Jéhenne, I command you to kiss me, kiss me like you kiss him, like you mean it.”

  Without thought or hesitation I did as he asked. I felt the heat and the magic coil between us and his body press hard against mine as I held him close and kissed him. Except it wasn’t him, it was Corvus I kissed and the weight of two thousand years of history, of love, and loss and longing coloured every sensation. When he finally released me from his command I opened my mouth to rage at him, but caught the look on his face and changed my mind. There was such longing in his eyes, not for me specifically but for what Corvus and I had together. He wanted that, far more than he had ever realised.

  “Well,” he said softly. “Now I understand why he fights so hard to keep you.”

  "I'm sorry."

  "You have nothing to be sorry for." His voice was dull, and I felt wretched knowing what he was about to risk for me, knowing deep down he wanted to be loved, even if he hadn't really accepted that himself.

  "Corin?"

  He turned to look at me and I took hold of his hand. "If ... If things had been different, if I’d never had Corvus in my life, I could have loved you."

  "Now she tells me," he muttered, giving me a wry smile. He kissed my hand gently and took a breath and when he looked up at me his expression was implacable. “Go and face him, Jéhenne. Go and face him and know that your conscience is clear. You have done nothing wrong, nothing! You have been tricked and manipulated by the gods. It appears your brother will be able to explain more but just know that it was this man, this god that speaks to your mind who has created this situation, and I used it to my advantage. You fought me at every turn, Jéhenne. I tried to trick you and take you to my realm. I tried to make you mine against your will but you love Corvus and you would have none of it. It is very close to the truth in any case, but now for you ...it is how it was. You never wanted me, never desired me ...” He paused, his eyes sorrowful. “Not for a moment.” He pressed his thumb to my forehead. “Goodbye, my dear, and good luck.”