Lies in Blood

by A. M. Hudson

  I sat back down again, tears streaming my cheeks, pooling and dripping under my chin. “What will happen to my baby if you take me away from her when she’s born?”

  Drake sat slowly. “She will be raised by her father, who will know nothing of what I’ve told you here today.”

  My eyes flicked onto his. “Why?”

  “I’ve gone to great lengths to protect this one truth all these centuries, Amara, twisting and reshaping the stories until no one remembered anything about a contract. If anyone were to find out, they would use Anandene against me—possibly kill her.”

  I gasped.

  “It serves you well not to tell a soul, because you will be putting your own daughter in great danger.”

  I looked down at my hands on my belly, drawing my top up just a little to see the way the sunlight made my hands so golden against my pale white stomach. “She needs a mother.”

  “She will have Lilith in her life.”

  “But that’s not her mother.”

  “And what would you have me do? Break the agreement I made with my sister?”

  “Yes.”

  “I can’t do that,” he started.

  “Then don’t break it. Just. . .” I thought hard, trying to find some medium ground. “Give me time. Give Lilith back her soul, but let me keep it—just until the child is old enough to cope without a mother.”

  “How old?”

  I looked down at the belly again. “Eighteen. Maybe.”

  “Eighteen?” He nearly leaped out of his seat. “You want me to delay my promise to my sister for eighteen years?”

  “It’s in the child’s best interests, Drake. She can’t grow up without a mother. She’ll never feel complete.”

  “She has a mother. Safia is her mother.”

  My head rolled forward, my jaw nearly touching my chest. “The witch is Anandene’s mother?”

  “Why do you think she’s helped me all these years?”

  I wanted to throw my hands up and shake my head. Nothing surprised me anymore. “Well, the baby won’t know that until she gets her memories back. She needs her birth mother until then.”

  “Very well,” he said with a nod. “I will give you eighteen years with the child, but you must let me see her in that time. She must know me.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Fine. But, once I’m gone, David stays on the throne, and everyone I love remains free and unharmed.”

  He laid a hand to his heart. “I give you my word.”

  “Including Arthur.”

  His smile changed. “I will not promise him immunity. He betrayed me, Amara, he must pay.”

  “Then the deal’s off.” I folded my arms and sat back.

  “Very well.” He stood. “Send word when the child is born and, the next time we meet, you will be my sister once more.” He bowed and turned on his heel, walking away. Just leaving it at that.

  “Okay. Wait.” I jumped up and ran after him, grabbing the edge of his cloak. “Just . . . what do you want with Arthur? You won’t hurt him, will you?”

  He smiled and cupped my shoulder. “Sweet niece, you must never ask me such things—for your own good. I do not wish to upset you and, in turn, upset the baby. I will come for Arthur soon, and you can either take our previous agreement, or you can die the day your child is born.”

  “Okay.” I stepped back, nodding. “I’ll take the agreement.”

  “A wise choice.” He leaned over and kissed my brow. “Take care, Amara. You will hear from me soon.”

  “Drake?” I called.

  He stopped and turned to face me.

  “Can I ask you something else?”

  “Anything.”

  “Where’s Vampirie? You said he stole the child, endlessly ruined your plans. How do we know he won’t try to kill the baby now I’m carrying it?”

  He moved toward me again, graceful as water over sand, and slid his knuckles softly down my cheek. “Because he loves you. He would never do anything to hurt you.”

  “He loves me?”

  “He does.”

  “Well, who is he? I mean, do I know him?”

  “He will reveal himself in time.” He turned away. “But do not fear for the child, unless you share anything we’ve talked about here today.”

  “I won’t. But . . . can I at least tell David he doesn’t have to die?”

  “Of course. Providing you leave out as much detail as possible,” he said without turning around, and the wind brushed softly across my cheeks then, blowing dust into my eyes. I rubbed them, blinking rapidly, but when I opened them again, Drake was gone and the buzz of life in the garden had come out of hiding. I stood for a while, listening to it all and, despite knowing my life would end in eighteen years, I felt strangely happy and, for the first time since I met David . . . safe.

  But I just couldn’t believe David and Jason were a plan all along—the result of a spell—two lives I was never intended to be a part of. Drake said it was unfair and that luck had not befallen him, but it had for me. I was lucky to have been born, and so lucky to have been the one to love David, even if it had all fallen apart. I had a lot to think about right now, yet I shoved it all down and let the single moment of joy that David didn’t have to die consume me, running for the door. Pretty much none of what Drake said was good news, but that one bit was enough to stop me falling to the ground and crying my eyes out right now.

  ***

  “Falcon.” I marched toward him quickly, checking the manor entranceway for other ears. “Call a meeting.”

  “Meeting?”

  “Yes, with the private council, but—” I grabbed his arm, “—don’t let Morgaine know.”

  “Why?”

  I checked over my shoulder. “She’s fired.”

  His eyes went wide. “Is this because of—”

  “It’s because I don’t trust her anymore, Falcon. And I don’t have to give a reason.”

  “Of course.” He bowed his head. “I’ll organise the meeting for twenty minutes’ time, yeah?”

  “Great. Thanks.”

  Falcon disappeared beyond the archway to the east of the manor, and I stood in the middle of the entranceway with my eyes closed, searching for that feeling—the little buzz I always got around Jason. And when it tingled deep within me, I sent a thought out. “Jase?”

  The energy changed.

  “Jase? Meet me in the—”

  “Ara?” He grabbed my arm gently, snapping me aware. “What’s wrong?”

  “I need you.”

  “What for? And how did you know how to reach me like that?”

  I shrugged. “I can always feel you, so . . . I just searched for that feeling—aimed my thoughts in that direction.”

  He smiled, his eyes wide with wonder. “You are amazing. Can you do that with anyone else?”

  “Feel them? Yeah. But not call to them.”

  “Wow. Tell me where. . .” he looked around, “—tell me where Arthur is right now.”

  I groaned. “Jase, I don’t have time for circus tricks.”

  “Please.” He sunk lower into his knees, closing his hands in prayer. “Come on. This is cool.”

  I groaned again, rolling my eyes, and then closed them, picturing Arthur, feeling him. “He’s . . . in his room.”

  “That is amazing.”

  “It can be amazing later.” I tugged his sleeve until his thoughtful gaze came back down to earth. “Right now, I want to offer you a job.”

  “Job?”

  “A position on my council just opened up.”

  “What?” His tone rose, half with shock, the other half with joy.

  “I’m just about to fire Morgaine, and I need a new member that I trust implicitly. I couldn’t think of anyone else in the world.”

  “Aw, Ara.” He shook his head. “I . . . I can’t, sweet girl. David will—”

  “I’m dividing the councils, now, Jase. David is no longer on this council. Being king doesn't give him right to advise me—never has. I gave hi
m a position on my council because I trusted him. But, now, well, he can get his own council, and he has no say over who is on mine.”

  “What did he do to you?” he asked, his eyes shrinking.

  “Nothing. I’m fine. But . . . if you’re on my council, he can’t do anything to you. It gives you protection, gets you off stable duties, and. . .” I grinned suggestively.

  “I get a new room.” He nodded, catching on.

  “Yup. You’ll be right next to me.”

  “I bet that’ll piss David off.”

  I shrugged. “I’m not really sure I care right now, Jase.”

  “He’s being cruel, isn’t he?” he asked, sweeping my hair back behind my ear.

  I nodded, but before I even looked up, my face was against Jason’s shirt, his arms around me tightly.

  “You need to tell me, Ara. Every time he does or says anything that hurts you, you need to tell me.”

  “There’s no point, Jase. I know he’s hurt and just doing anything he can to make me suffer. It’ll pass.”

  He clicked his tongue. “I’m not so sure about that, sweet girl. He’s—”

  “Ara?” Falcon cut in, leaning around the wall. “Council’s in session.”

  “Oh, already?” I flipped Jason’s hand over and looked at his watch. “We’ll be there in two minutes.”

  “We?” Falcon looked at Jason.

  “Yeah.” I thrust my shoulders back. “We.”

  “As in. . .?” He motioned between Jason and I.

  “Yes. I just hired Jason.”

  “Okay.” He groaned, standing off the wall. “I’ll prepare the others.”

  “Thank you,” I called, then smiled up at Jase. “Ready?”

  He slipped his hand into mine. “As long as I’ve got you, I can face anything.”

  “Amara?” Arthur called from the top of the stairs, his voice sharp with a sense of urgency.

  Jase and I stopped walking. “What’s wrong?”

  “Where’s David?

  “I—” I looked around. “I don’t know. Why?”

  “The dagger.” He appeared beside me. “It’s gone. I’m afraid he’s—”

  “It’s not gone.” Jason said, and we smiled at each other.

  “Drake took it,” I cut in.

  They both looked at me in shock.

  “What? Since when?” Jase said.

  “That’s why I was calling the meeting. I wanted to inform my council first that I met with Drake, and—”

  “When?” Arthur asked.

  “Just now. He—”

  “Amara, what were you thinking? He—”

  “It’s all right, Arthur. Everything is fine,” I assured him, patting his arm. “And we have a plan.”

  “We?”

  “Drake and I. We came to an agreement.”

  Jason closed his feet, making himself a little taller. “And you’re happy with the terms?”

  I nodded. “As much as I can be, yeah.”

  “And he has the dagger?” Arthur asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Amara, how will we—”

  “We can’t kill him, Arthur. That’s not what the dagger does.”

  He stopped the protest short of his lips and just stood there frowning. “What does it do?”

  “We need to talk.”

  “Then you’d better start at the beginning,” David said from behind us.

  I groaned loudly, more annoyed than shocked that he was there, and slowly turned around. “We need to call a House meeting. I—”

  “No, you need to tell me, right now, what you’ve done.” He walked coolly over and stood before me like a towering lighthouse with angry green lanterns for eyes.

  “Well, for one, you don’t have to die now.”

  His mouth came open, his tongue moving to the inside of his cheek. “Where’s the dagger?”

  “Drake has it.”

  David looked at Arthur accusingly. “You gave it to him?”

  “I would do no such thing.”

  “Uncle, the lengths you’ve gone to to keep it from me all this time, I wouldn’t be surprised if you set that meeting up for her and Drake.”

  “He didn’t, okay?” I took a step closer, kind of moving between David and Arthur. “I called him on the phone and I arranged the meeting.”

  “Did you know about this?” David looked at Jason.

  “I knew she’d arranged it, but didn’t know it was today.”

  David stepped back and ran his hands through his hair. “So what now? You’re just gonna hand your child over to him and let him rule our people again?”

  “No.”

  “Then what did you agree to, Ara?” He reached out and grabbed both my arms; it hurt a little but I was, in a really sick way, just happy he’d touched me again.

  “I can’t fight the contract, David. We never could. When he told me that the dagger has no use—” I said, leaving off the bit about it resurrecting Lilith, “—I was given little choice but to agree to uphold the original deal.”

  “You did what?” David yelled. “Ara, how could you be so stupid? Do you realise what you’ve done?”

  “Yes. I made an agreement to keep our monarchy safe for eternity, David.”

  “In exchange for a living being?”

  “Not entirely.”

  “And what does that mean?” He held out an upturned palm, offering me the floor. “Don’t be cryptic with me, Ara. Get to the point.”

  I blinked a few extra times, trying to keep my cool. “I would get to the point if you’d shut up and let me speak.”

  “Then speak!”

  Grrr. “Instead of Drake coming for my baby when she’s born, raising her in that hell hole, he’s agreed to let me keep her until she’s eighteen.”

  “And what then?” David asked sarcastically. “He’s gonna take her away from us?”

  “Us?” I said, half laughing with incredulity. “There is no us, David. You said it yourself, she’s not your daughter.”

  Arthur looked at David quickly. “You said that to her?”

  David looked away. “So, he’s gone? Drake? He’s gonna leave us alone until she’s eighteen?”

  “Yes, David, we get eighteen years of safety and. . .”

  “And then we lose our daughter, Ara! Do you think you’ve fixed this? Did you think that by swearing over your own flesh and blood it’d make you a good queen?”

  “No,” I said through my teeth, stepping into him with fists tight. “It makes me a great queen, David. Because I am willing to put the safety of my people before my own flesh and blood—as every great leader before me, in the human and the supernatural world has or should do. What does a president do if his daughter is kidnapped and held for ransom?”

  “He does not negotiate!” David yelled.

  “And I did not negotiate, either. I could run. I could take the child away, but our people will die—my family, my friends, and for what?”

  “For her life.”

  “One life,” I yelled. “One life that will likely grow up and seek him out anyway, David.”

  “And why on earth would she do that?”

  “Because she is the reincarnated soul of Anandene.”

  David stumbled back a few steps, staring down at my belly. “No.”

  “Yes,” I said. “Don’t you see? I was given a choice to keep my people safe at the expense of myself, and I chose that road. I could not put our blood, our hopes or dreams before my people. And if I had it to do over, I’d do it all the same.”

  He turned away and looked out through the windows above the door.

  “At least, this way, there is still hope. We can train her to be a fighter. We can spend the next eighteen years searching for a way to kill Drake—”

  “There is no way to kill Drake!” He spun around. “He’s a monster. A godforsaken immortal demon, Ara. And you promised him our—” He broke then, holding his fist to his mouth.

  In the silence that lingered, the staff hurried past, bu
sying themselves in the Great Hall, setting up for the ball tonight. We all stood there lost in our own thoughts, trying to find reason among the grey of uncertainty. None of what I’d just told David could go any further than the four of us standing here right now, yet all of it had been exposed in open quarters. I worried then for the concealment of this secret.

  “You’d have done the same, son,” Arthur said, and all eyes turned to him. “You know that.”

  David didn’t say anything. He just looked at me, then back at his uncle, and turned away, walking swiftly off toward the west wing.

  When he disappeared, finally out of earshot, I lowered my voice and muttered, “It gets worse.”

  “What does?” Arthur moved in a step, obviously catching on that whatever I was about to add wasn’t for all ears.

  “Drake told me that the dagger had been stolen once before—”

  “Yes, many decades ago.”

  “He said it was a woman he trusted—that she brought it here.”

  “Yes,” Arthur said, nodding once, though he didn’t seem to be following me.

  “Arthur, there is only one girl I can think of that’s linked both to Drake and to the Lilithians.”

  “Morgaine,” Jase said.

  “Yes. And you said she knew about the dagger early on, that she changed the contract and made it look like a prophecy. I think she’s been plotting against us this whole time.”

  “We’ve all had our suspicions about Morgaine at one point, Amara, but we’ve no proof she’s against us—or a motive. She may have taken the dagger to protect you.”

  “Protect me?” I scoffed. “From what? The dagger is useless,” I lied. “What I want to know is, if she took the dagger from Drake, did she know all along that it wouldn’t kill him? And if she did, why did she let us believe it would? What the hell is she playing at?”

  “Ask her,” Jase said simply.

  “Ask her?” I looked all the way up at him. “What, just storm in there and ask her what the deal is?”

  He shrugged. “Why not? I could come with you, read her mind—”

  “No.” I touched his arm. “I need to take care of this myself.”

  “Okay.” He took a step back, offering the stairs. “I’ll see you at the meeting. Want me to fill everyone in?”