by Rae Else
‘I could have died in the Elysium–’
‘I never meant for you to be there tonight,’ he said. ‘What I told you – to take your time getting through arenas one and two I meant. You were only ever supposed to compete in them. Even if you’d got through the Asphodel this weekend, we were always going to attack the final arena next weekend. We’d have been there for the beginning of your match and you’d never have been in danger. Janos was going to ensure that he and the others were present then. That part was never on you.’ He frowned. ‘But the rumour of your full power worked a little too well. The other graeae were spooked by the influx of arete on the first night, and when they insisted on bringing your final match forward, there was nothing Janos could do. We got there tonight as soon as we could.’
El felt a pang of disgust. To think of all the things she’d been willing to do to help the Opposition get into the Olympia. She’d wounded Luke, burned Carras’ face and even tried to kill Pallis tonight. The Opposition … no, Dan had put her in these situations.
‘I could have died tonight, trying to kill Louisa with my “full power”,’ she said. ‘My grandma died while I was trying to summon a power I didn’t have. Did you ever think of that? Did you care about the danger you put me in?’
‘I did,’ he said. ‘But I knew how much you hated the idea of using it. Besides, I didn’t expect you to go running after Louisa yourself.’
Anger flashed across El’s face. She couldn’t believe he was reproaching her for that. ‘That’s what you do when you love someone!’
He came closer, drawing to the mantelpiece. ‘I know,’ he said gently. ‘That’s what your mum said.’
El narrowed her eyes. ‘I don’t want to hear about her.’
‘Whatever Anna did, however much you hate her right now because of what you’ve found out, she still sacrificed herself for you.’ His eyes glowed fiercely. ‘When she left me with her instructions that night, I didn’t want her to go. I didn’t want her to save you.’
Tears stung El’s eyes. She didn’t think that he could cut her more than he already had but he’d found a way. He admitted that he’d wanted to leave her to die. She remembered the blame and anger that had been in his eyes that night.
‘El,’ he said. ‘It didn’t take me more than a day to see that your mum was right, that saving you was the best thing she ever did. Not because of the plan, not because we got into the Olympia, but because I care about you – in a way I thought I was too broken to.’
He was close now and El inhaled his smoky fragrance. She cast her eyes to the floor. She was distracted by the thought of the Gymnasium, remembering the feel of his mouth on hers, the wave of heat his lips aroused in her. She shook away the thought and fixed her eyes on him.
He looked at her gently. ‘For the first few days I kept the truth from you because of the plan, but then I kept it from you because I knew that when you learnt of it … any chance I had with you was … over.’
Her eyes fell to the hearth, a film of tears forming.
‘I had to come to the Olympia yesterday and risk being seen,’ he said slowly, ‘I had to have the chance to kiss you before you stopped looking at me the way you do.’
El looked up to see the tawny hues of his eyes, bright and earnest. He was waiting for her but it was as though the cold house was snuffing out the warmth in her. She could feel the hardness forming in her and apprehension as she realised that she didn’t trust him. Couldn’t trust him.
He was right. The truth had brought them somewhere else. She thought of the hallway in the penthouse, where they’d explored the treasures of the bookcase, that she’d thought were hers as well as his. Valued by him, by her mum and then by her. Now, it was as though he’d taken all those moments from her. Each one she’d have to reanalyse and wonder what he’d truly been thinking. She’d opened up to him but he hadn’t cared enough about her to tell her the truth. He said he cared about her, but it was a pale sort of affection if he hadn’t been able to place her above his precious plan against the Order.
She closed her eyes and exhaled. Dan took her hand. She tried to pull it from his grasp but felt the electric sensation again – his skin on hers. She laid her other hand on his chest and looked up at him, determined to say what she had to. ‘I can’t anymore–’
‘Don’t, El, please.’ He put a finger on her lips.
She wanted to kiss him again. Even now with all the anger she felt, to have his lips obliterate everything was exactly what she desired – to have the whole world fall away and be in that place where there was only him. But touch wouldn’t take them back to that time that had been meant for them, that might, with different actions and words, have led them to be standing here together, instead of alone.
There was a firm knock at the door and, when neither of them answered, someone came in. It was Janos.
‘You’re needed in the kitchen,’ he said. ‘There are decisions that can’t wait any longer.’ As he withdrew, El followed.
- Chapter Twenty-Nine -
Bloodlines
The early morning light spilled into the library, illuminating the huge roll of paper that Janos had spread out on the coffee table. The mellow fragrance of wax candles scented the air, a few wicks still smouldering in the stubs on the mantelpiece and hearth. They’d all spent the night around the roll of wallpaper, the only paper El had found in the house big enough for Janos’s purpose: to sketch out the family lines of the most powerful and influential arete. A couple of metres lay stretched out, crammed full of names in a flourishing, cursive script.
When Janos had disturbed El and Dan last night, it was to say that the Order was rallying. It wouldn’t be long before they headed this way. Even the Opposition members they had gathered wouldn’t be able to keep them at bay. El, as Anna’s daughter, was being held as the instigator of the attack on the Order. She hadn’t expected to get off scot-free but was surprised that she was being held responsible. Dan was the most shocked, having assumed they would come after him. He had led the attack. He and Janos. The graeae said one thing was certain: none of them would be safe here for much longer. They had to leave, and they needed a plan.
El drew her eyes away from the names on the paper, those they had been contemplating for the last hour. She went over to the window, kneeling in the deep recess, amidst an array of plush cushions. Outside, the silhouette of the chicken and peahen coop was emerging as dawn broke. A few hens were starting to stir and claw at the dirt in which insects scurried.
Dan let out a sigh. He’d settled himself in the armchair almost an hour ago – the first to abandon studying the paper. He’d already made his opinion clear. He believed that El should go into hiding for the time being. With Janos’ blood, she could disappear. At least until the Opposition had taken more ground. Janos was no safer than she was, now that his connection to the Opposition was known. With Katia and Julia – the other two Triad members – dead, news of his disappearance would spread through the arete world, and he would be branded a traitor. El could hide with the aid of his blood but there was nothing that could shield him from the view of other graeae. If Janos were to stay safe, they needed another plan.
El looked at Dan in the pale light. The same questioning gleam he’d had last night radiated from his eyes – asking for her forgiveness. When he’d first spoken about her going into hiding, for a weak moment she’d imagined the two of them vanishing together. She’d thought of their brief date in Covent Garden, veiled by the kerykeion, and fantasies of travelling around Europe traipsed through her mind. There’d be a new city every couple of days; they’d live on street food and collect shared souvenirs like the others on the bookcase. But the haunting images that he’d saved were instantly before her: the graffiti art in streets and alleys, the huge eyes, tensed bodies and ephemeral images would be waiting around every corner. That was the real passion in Dan’s life. The only love he had in his heart was for the battle against the Order.
The t
ruth was, it wasn’t just Dan who possessed the need to fight. El had lost so much to the Order too. They’d taken her mum and her grandma despite her best efforts. She’d almost lost her own life to the fight. She was afraid of what choosing to fight on would mean. Perhaps next time, she wouldn’t get away with her life. Yet she was more afraid of what it would mean not to fight. She didn’t want to cower in the shadows. She thought of her grandma, living blind all these years, leading a half-life. She thought of her own childhood, locked away from the world. Someone had once said that it was better to die on your feet than live a lifetime on your knees and she thought that she understood that now.
Was this her destiny she wondered – to fight even though she didn’t want to? She thought of her mum and smiled softly. Bloody hero. She thought of the ancient arete, Achilles who fought even when he knew that he was going to die, even when his mother begged him not to, even when he knew that he would lead a long life if he didn’t.
She’d already made her decision. She fixed her eyes on Janos. The graeae looked up from his contemplation. His foggy gaze darkened as though storm clouds were rolling in and obscuring the light. He’d been elsewhere again. Looking back or forwards, who knew? It was clear in the way he’d spoken about all the different arete documented on the paper that he’d been there too, known them. He’d allied with some and executed others. He’d been witness to countless generations coming and going. The information he’d shared showed that he’d been around for at least the last three hundred years.
‘So,’ El said. It wasn’t until the graeae’s eyes had returned to their normal, slate grey that she could meet his gaze. ‘If we attempt to align ourselves with a branch of the Carras’, who would be the best to reach out to?’
Janos’ stance on what to do was the opposite of Dan’s. He proposed that El seek an alliance with some of the more dominant and influential members of the Carras family. El’s relatives had graeae blood within their line but that wasn’t all. The real trump card was that the Carras’ were one of the handful of arete families to possess a source of empousa blood. By securing the high volume of empousa blood in El’s body, the Opposition had been able to infiltrate the Olympia in London, but if they could gain access to a source of empousa blood, they would be able to infiltrate Olympias worldwide.
‘Damn it, El,’ Dan said, leaving the room.
El ignored his departure and watched Janos scanning the document. His finger found a name near the top.
‘Helena Carras, your great, great grandmother,’ Janos said.
El frowned. ‘But you only sketched that far back to explain where the allegiances and hostilities in the family come from. She can’t still be alive? That would make her at least – I don’t know – a hundred and twenty or something–’
‘One hundred and forty, I believe,’ Janos said. ‘There are more personal advantages to having a supply of empousa blood than just enabling one to be an elite Order member.’
El had known that the blood rejuvenated damaged cells but had forgotten the repercussions. If this woman had an indefinite supply of empousa blood, her lifespan was without limit.
Janos had also explained that with so many elite Order members being killed in the attack, especially two members of the Triad, there would soon be a reshuffling of power. A new Triad would need to be chosen. Katia, the graeae who had fed El the empousa blood in the catacombs, had come from an influential family. She had been the only Triad member to have access to a source of empousa blood. The other handful of similarly well connected arete lines would also be vying to get their own into one of the top spots. It was an opportune moment to be reaching out to relatives and forming new alliances.
Silence hung over them for a few minutes. El chanced a glance at Luke. His bright eyes were still focussed on the same spot of paper that they had been pinned on for a while: his family tree. Luke’s family, Janos said, could also come in useful. The Laukas’ – although not one of the families with direct links to empousa blood – was a strong one. If Luke could persuade his father and their relatives to ally with the Carras’ it would strengthen their position. A force to be reckoned with. Perhaps one, after securing a source of empousa blood, capable of toppling the Order for good.
The ghost of a smile played on Luke’s lips. ‘I’ll talk to him.’ He regarded Janos soberly. ‘How much time do I have?’
Luke was going to meet his brother, Josh and try to get him on board with their plan. If Josh could speak to their father on their behalf, there might be a chance of getting the Laukas’ to ally with them.
‘Not long,’ Janos said. He passed Luke his car keys. ‘Take mine. We’ve already lingered here longer than we should. Meet your brother and tell him our intentions. Once you’re through, don’t stop for anything. Meet us directly at Braintree Airfield.’
Janos strode out of the room, his mobile immediately in hand. As Luke and El passed him in the hallway, they heard him speaking to an arete on the phone, arranging a plane to Greece. She smiled at Luke as she heard the graeae’s conversation. It must be a siren on the other end as he had given her instructions to call the Airfield and get their flight plan approved to Naxos ASAP. There really were no boundaries for arete.
El wavered at the door and then proceeded out with Luke. He hesitated for a moment and El seized the opportunity to hug him close. She was aware of her blush as his feather-soft gaze lingered on her and that, when they drew apart, her heart had quickened.
‘Stay safe,’ she said.
‘Don’t worry.’ He opened the door of Janos’ car. ‘I won’t do anything you wouldn’t.’ He climbed in and shut the door before rolling down the window. ‘Although, perhaps someone who’s taken on the Elysium shouldn’t be my role model.’
El smiled and batted her hand at him. ‘Just come back.’
He grinned. She watched the car power down the driveway. Luke was sure that he could trust his brother but leaving now, with the Order regrouping, was still a risk. She frowned, wondering if he’d be okay and hoping that he’d come back safely.
Near the peahen coop, Dan was kicking the dirt angrily and she knew he’d overheard their conversation. Although their exchange was harmless, he’d no doubt detected the flare in her emotions. El wondered dryly if a short break in Greece was exactly what she needed – to sort out her disappointed feelings towards Dan and work out if she wanted Luke not just to come back, but to come back to her.
When El came into the library, Janos was off the phone and staring out the window. Alex was still at the coffee table, lost in study. She recalled the first impression she had of him at the lab, in his tweed jacket and brogues: a professor. He definitely looked scholarly now but in a more slovenly student style – his shirt creased, sleeves rolled up and hair tussled. His hands swept through his hair again.
‘You and I are going to have to present a united front, El,’ Janos said. ‘Your relatives will think little of me – a graeae who has betrayed his own kind and has no connections worth mentioning.’
Janos had explained to them that a graeae became a member of the Triad ordinarily, not just for the power of their sight, but for the power of their family line too. Janos was an oddity. He’d been voted in purely for the strength of his gift and came from a line of little consequence.
El thought she saw where Janos was going with this statement but didn’t have the chance to say anything as Alex chipped in.
‘You really think it best for El to keep up this charade?’
‘Yes,’ she answered swiftly.
Alex stared at her.
She kneeled at the coffee table opposite him. ‘It’s all we’ve got – the ability to bluff. The only reason any of the Carras’ will align themselves with us is if they believe they can attain more power. Accordingly, the rumour that Janos has foreseen me attaining the full power is still our best bet.’
Alex frowned, but there was nothing she could say to make him worry less. It might not be okay this time and she
wouldn’t tell him otherwise. The fact that her grandma, her mum and Dan had all lied to her weighed on her still. In a way, it seemed to her that manipulation of the truth was the real power and legacy that she’d inherited from her family.
Alex had had a hand in keeping her in the dark too, but he’d also tried to get Dan to tell her the truth. She remembered his irritation at Dan the morning after the catacombs, and now realised that Alex had been trying to get him to open up about the empousa blood. When she’d asked him if he’d done any work with it on human disease, he’d seemed sad. Now she knew why. There had only ever been enough for the Opposition to infiltrate Olympia. She wondered if their quest to secure a source might, this time, lead to something greater than just securing the Opposition’s purpose. Perhaps Alex’s dream of finding a cure for human disease might be answered too.
El had spent a long time studying the short line on the paper that contained the names of her immediate family. Most of the Carras lines interconnected with one another, the same names reappearing frequently over the generations. Her grandma’s name, joined with that of Devereux was an anomaly. It repeated in her mum’s name and then in hers. Janos had shown that her grandma, after blinding herself and changing her name to her husband’s, had found safety from the Order through obscurity. Anna’s cover had held so well and for so long because of that unknown name. But the anonymity they’d possessed was long gone. It was time for her to stop hiding.
El looked at Janos framed in the light of the window. The Burne-Jones painting of Perseus and the Graeae, with its muted greys and blues, hung in the corner to his left. The grey robes and mountains reflected the shade of Janos’ eyes. All the other graeae she’d met had the same shade too. The tints of the painting seemed too precise to be mere coincidence. El made a mental note to research whether the artist had been an arete.
In the picture, the three graeae were crouched down, looking for the one eye they shared. Perseus stood in the centre, holding their eye; trying to exchange it for information. El was about to go off on her own trip with a graeae, guided by his knowledge and sight. She wondered how much she could trust him to light the way. This man who had saved her but only having seen an opportunity in doing so. He’d used her as a vessel to smuggle out empousa blood and murder the other Triad members. A moment ago, he’d spoken of their united front, or at least of their presenting a united front. She was aware that she knew little about him. She would have to be watchful. She couldn’t afford to accept anything at face value.