by Dane, Lauren
“I’m dead?”
“No. You’re alive. Even now, your friends and loved ones are working feverishly to tend to your wounds and set you to rights. Tages’s blood courses through you again, though in far greater volume with this attack. The other old ones have given you blood, too. The human you call Dina, the kitchen witch, she has given you medicine that put you in this place so your body can heal. I’m helping, as well. I will keep you here, deeply unconscious from your physical form, for many more hours.”
“I saw her. Enyo. The last thing I remember, really. I hit her with the tree limb. Hard for a one-hander.” Rowan was proud of it as she remembered. “She bounced off the wall of the orangerie, and I got my thumb back in her eye socket. Dug in deep. Did I snap her neck?”
“She is still alive. On the run.”
That pissed her off. “Really? All these damned Vampires in the Keep, and none of them killed her for me?”
“Tages could have, but he chose you instead. If he hadn’t, you would have died. His Five are looking for her, but they had to go to ground when the sun rose. When you awaken, you will have to find her yourself. Or she will find you.”
“When she hit the glass and it broke, she came at me one last time. I felt myself slipping, and then her blood, some of it dripped from her face into my mouth and I saw. I saw how she was made.”
“In that moment, the two of you shared something. She didn’t mean for it to happen. But now you know.”
Casta had been nineteen years old and had been married off three years before to a powerful man who ran a city-state. She’d hated him. Hated his old, disgusting hands that never seemed to stop touching her. Hated his slobbery kisses and the mockery of lovemaking he gave her.
But she had quite enjoyed the life she had. The servants. All the jewels and luxury she’d ever imagined. She’d dabbled in magic and, like her mother, had a considerable gift, though not well trained.
She’d had to hide what she had or risk scaring others. And in that secrecy, her power grew in intensity but also grew darker. There had been no guiding hand. No one to teach her the ways of her magic and the responsibility that came with it.
She’d wanted more power of her own and had wanted her husband dead. Preferably on the battlefield. She’d recently taken a lover. A man she’d met when she’d been at a party. She’d had much wine and he’d been skillful, though rough. Rough enough to make her bleed a few times.
She researched and decided to call to the goddess Enyo to bring down ruin on her husband’s head, but victory to his men. She liked her life, after all; she just didn’t want her husband in it.
But something had gone dreadfully wrong. As she’d been in the middle of her spell, the goddess had indeed begun to manifest, but her lover had come in. Seeing her naked, with her arm sliced open for a blood offering, he set upon her and sank his long fangs into her, draining her.
The spell, though, had called powerful magic, and that magic intertwined with the change the Vampire she’d thought of as a human lover, had started.
Casta was not a Vessel. Nor was she made like most Vampires. She was a Vampire made with the aid of magic. The spell completed her transformation into a Vampire, but she had no maker in the traditional sense, and her spell to manifest the goddess had been interrupted before it was completed. Enyo was part of her, like an echo. Her bloodlust and need for battle, yes, a part of her power, yes. The need to take blood and shelter from the sun like any other Vampire.
Like Theo, like Rowan, she was Other.
And now that Rowan knew just what Enyo was, she could maybe begin to find a way to kill her true.
Brigid placed a kiss to Rowan’s forehead. “Yes. Knowledge is power. Rest. Let your body and my power do their work. When you are ready, you have a task that will take all your strength to get complete.”
* * *
Everything hurt.
“I can hear you,” she mumbled.
“Rowan?”
She struggled to open her eyes, and it was some time before she managed to do it.
“What?”
“Rowan!”
A door opened, and voices sounded, excited. More doors opened. Footsteps sounded. It made her very tired just listening to it.
“Tha fuck’s going on?”
“There’s my sweet, delicate flower.” Clive looked at her, smiling. But worry lived in his gaze.
“Do I have cancer?”
He looked confused. “What? Darling, you’ve taken a nasty thumping. But cancer has nothing to do with it.” He looked away, still smiling. “Still a bit muzzy, I’m afraid. Just asked me if she had cancer.”
“The amendment still stands, right?”
Clive groaned. “You’re like a dog with a bone. Yes, darling Hunter, the amendment is in place.”
“Why are you looking at me like that, then?”
“Like what? Like I’m happy to see you conscious and using profanities? The F word never sounded sweeter.”
She might have laughed, but her ribs hurt too much so she winced.
“Petal, here I come into a room where you’re recuperating from being beaten nearly to death. For the second time in less than six months. Do pace yourself.”
Theo’s face came into focus, and she managed a smile, though her face ached.
“Your jaw was dislocated. It might still be sore awhile.”
“Rowan Summerwaite!”
Rowan recognized that voice. “Susan?”
“Who else?” Susan swam into view and gave her a gentle hug. “I’ve been here three days, and thanks to the cook I’ve gained five pounds even with all the pacing. Did I not tell you not to get yourself killed? I distinctly remember telling you not to get yourself killed. And Rex didn’t stop it! Celesse didn’t stop it! I can’t let you out of my sight, clearly. You’re like a toddler near a stove when it comes to these old Vampires. You can’t resist goading them into a killing rage? Just the once?”
Clive laughed. “I had the same discussion with her. I think she has a DNA mandate to poke at ancient Vampires until they try to kill her.”
“I didn’t get killed. This wasn’t even my fault. And anyway, I told you, I didn’t poke at her and she came after me. Casta, that faker, that fucked-up pseudo-witch, she came after me. From behind. When I was not armed.”
An echo of Crazy Carl’s warning about watching her back hit her. Damned sage had been right. Again.
She tried to sit, to move more than an inch or two, and pain punched her in every part of her body.
“She’s not sporting, that’s clear.”
“Are you being flip?”
Clive gave her the brow. “Me? I would never.”
She narrowed her gaze, but he didn’t confess his sins.
“I have to get working.”
“You will do no such thing, Rowan!” Theo said this in his most intimidating, thunderous master Vampire voice, and her muscles froze. She hated that he had so much power over her—and everyone else as they’d responded to his tone, as well.
He was unmoved by her facial expression. “You will remain here for another week. I will allow you to be moved to your bed in your rooms. You will eat everything Cook brings you. You will allow her, the doctor and Cataline to tend to your wounds, and you will most assuredly not get working until you are recovered. I will not be argued with. Do you hear me, young lady?”
He narrowed his gaze at her, snagging her in his thrall, and she nodded. “Yes, Vater. But she’s getting away.”
“Rowan, have a heart. Do you have no fear in you at all? If not, your daily actions give me enough for the two of us. You are not ready to confront her, not in the shape you’re in now. You had broken ribs. Your lungs were damaged, yet again. Your Goddess healed that much, lucky for you. Your limbs are broken and still weak.
You’re no match for her. Not yet.
“She got away already. So you take the time to get better. And then, once you’re ready, you will hunt her and kill her. Marcilius has...confessed to his part in the magical tampering by Enyo. I’ve relayed that information to the leadership in the Nation. Recht has already volunteered to go with you when it’s time. He can accompany us both. I will be along with you.”
“Oh well, I think I can handle it. I’ll have my blade this time and everything. Plus Recht is plenty old and powerful...”
He just looked at her. “Do you think you can sway me from this? She nearly stole you from me. While you were in my home. In your home. You are my protected. I warned her. She will pay for what she has done.”
“I poked her eye out.”
Everyone paused, but Clive grinned a moment, the worry chased from his features briefly.
“When we were fighting. I poked it out, and then I got her again with my thumb good and hard. I think I did permanent damage.”
Theo smiled at her, proud. “I wondered about that. I saw she’d had some damage to her face. It probably won’t grow back.”
“When you were on the ground when we found you, you told me you’d done it. You were so pleased with yourself.” Clive’s smile was still not quite solid at the edges.
“Stop looking at me like that.” She blushed.
“You hush. I’ll look at you however I like, and you’ll damn well be quiet about it and let me.”
Despite her better judgment, she let him see the tenderness she felt toward him. He nodded, kissing the fingertips of her less damaged hand.
“She’s the one who used magic to mess with this meeting.”
Theo nodded.
“Can you prove it?” Susan, ever practical.
“I’m going to execute her, so I really don’t have to. I know it was her. We all know it was her. But I don’t have to take it to trial at this point.” She wanted to yawn but knew it would probably hurt her jaw to do so.
“We’re working on an execution order now. You don’t need it just yet, anyway. The First is correct. You will recover before you go rushing out to take on ancient Vampires.”
Celesse came to stand next to Susan with Rex at her other side, backing Susan up. She sighed and then winced. Clive gave her the brow, and she redoubled her promise to get that tic going again.
“Your rooms are ready.” David appeared at the foot of her bed. “When you’re ready, we can move you up and get you settled, and then you need to eat and rest.”
“I was unconscious for three days. I’ve been resting.”
“You’re moving your lips, Déesse, but I can’t hear your words.”
“Everyone is talking back now? This is a thing?”
* * *
She’d been picked up and carried by Clive, who smelled quite good. “I have seriously supercharged senses right now. It’s pretty amazing,” she murmured against his neck.
“You’ve got the blood of your father, Paola, Takahiro and Tahar in your veins. I expect you’ll feel quite good for a long time.”
A whole group of people came up with them. Heaven knew when she’d be alone with him.
“Why so many? I mean, Theo’s blood should have been enough.”
“Rowan, it’s a miracle you didn’t die. The only reason you weren’t airlifted out to a hospital in Switzerland is because you were so fragile they didn’t know if you’d make it. And then, how to explain your injuries? When we got to you.” He licked his lips as he put her down on the bed in her room. “You technically died twice as they worked on you back here.”
Nope, not something she wanted to think on just then, so she changed the subject. “Can I bathe? I’m bloody and sticky.”
Cataline showed up with a tray of food. “After you’ve eaten, the doctor said you could have a sponge bath. You can’t get your cast wet. And the sutures on your arm will come out tomorrow if you continue to heal well. But you can’t get any of it wet just now.”
Clive settled in next to the bed. Enzo brought the tea cart in and served them all as Cataline set out the tray and pulled the lid from the soup.
“Cook put some little dumplings in it. Go slow.”
She ate, realizing just how hungry she truly was. All around her, the conversation flowed. Vampire business, house business, Hunter business. All the while, Clive would reach out to touch her here and there, as if to remind himself she was alive.
She wanted to cry, and that made her angry. She wanted to sleep, and that made her angry too. She wanted a lot of things, and she couldn’t have any of them just then.
“Everyone out. She needs to rest. You seem to tolerate morphine well so the doctor says for you to take some of these every four to six hours.” Cataline brought a bottle of pills into the room.
Rowan eyed them suspiciously, and Clive made a sound she’d only heard when he was dealing with his own people. Probably because if he made it to her in her presence she’d punch him in the throat.
Irritation and impatience.
“We’re all at the end of our collective rope with you nearly dying, Hunter. So take the pills.”
“I was told I could have a sponge bath.”
He narrowed his gaze at her, and she smiled, feeling better. He caught it and shook his head. “You must be feeling better if you’re pleased by making me so annoyed.”
“I’d feel even better if you were the one to give me the sponge bath.” Once she said it out loud, she realized that she’d spoken instead of thought and that they weren’t alone. Embarrassment burned her cheeks.
Susan chuckled. “Take the pills and we’ll clear out so your Scion can get to work.”
Rowan assented, swallowing two, and the dishes were cleared away. A wave of exhaustion hit her, and she leaned back into the pillows. Theo kissed her forehead and threatened her if she didn’t go to sleep.
Celesse left, along with nearly everyone else. Rowan looked up at Susan, who’d bent to brush the hair from Rowan’s eyes.
“I’m sorry you had to come all the way out here.”
“It makes me so angry when you can’t see how much you’re loved.” Susan looked to Clive. “Go and have Dina help you get the basics ready for Rowan’s bath.”
To Rowan’s surprise, the powerful Vampire nodded, rising from his chair. He kissed Rowan’s knuckles and left the room.
“I could really slap your foster father’s face for letting this happen to you.”
Rowan cringed. “Please don’t. You don’t have a goddess inside you. Also, it’s really not his fault. I knew she’d be coming after me, but to attack me while I was unarmed the way she did? It’s not what Vampires do. She’s only estranged herself from all Nation-affiliated Vampires at this point. She’s a coward.”
“She nearly killed you. Rowan, she did kill you. I got here about an hour before you died the second time. There was so much damage. They gave you all their powerful blood, which helped. And Brigid, well, you had this aura around you the whole time, but sometimes it got so dim. I don’t want you to go after Enyo.”
“I have a job to do, Susan. I needed to get the amendment passed and I did. Now my job will be to track and murder this bitch extra-hard. Sometimes the job sucks, and it’s dangerous. But it’s what I do. I know everyone had to give up a few more days to be here, and I’m sorry for messing up everyone’s schedule.”
“You make me so mad! I love you like you’re my own. Rex too. Even your horrid foster father is drowning in guilt over what happened to you. You don’t even see it. You don’t see how many people gathered here? Not because of duty. But because we know what you give up for us all. I hate it when you make light of what you do every day. Rex told me a long time ago to stop nagging you over it, but I’m going to right now because I’m scared to death. Yes, the job is dangerous,
and yes, we all know it going in. But you have borne such a heavy price from such an early age it breaks my heart. So you will not apologize because you are loved. You will take your pills and you will let everyone fuss and you will not tear off after this monster until you are in tip-top shape once more. And then you will track her and kill her and we will move forward.”
With a sniffle, Susan kissed Rowan’s cheek gently. “Now, I’m sure your Clive is outside feeling badly because he’s eavesdropping. Let him love you and let yourself deserve it or I will be so mad at you.”
She swept to the door, opening it.
“Susan?”
She looked over her shoulder at Rowan.
“I love you too. And thank you. For being here and for the pep talk and stuff.”
“That’s better, sweetheart.”
Clive moved past her into the room. “And you—” Susan pointed at Clive, “—don’t get her worked up.”
It was Clive’s turn to blush as Rowan did her best not to laugh but failed.
“One sponge bath, minus the working up.”
“If you’ll help me up, I can stand in the tub.”
He looked at her like she was insane.
“I didn’t do it on purpose, you know! I had every intention of living. The note said it was you. To meet you in the Orangerie. I was probably even going to let you have sex with me out there. Maybe.”
“We found the card in your clothes when we had to cut them off you as you lay on a table downstairs, bleeding out. I’m sorry. Gods, I’m so sorry.”
He unbuttoned the gown she wore, helping her sit forward to get a towel behind her and the gown away from her body so it wouldn’t get wet. She was one massive bruise only interrupted by stitched-up wounds.
“Sorry for what? That I’m totally not hot right now? I look like a bunch of crayons melting in the sun.”
He carefully rinsed her skin, drying afterward.
“I don’t want to talk about your injuries right now, and your joking about that makes me really angry. I’m sorry because you went out there because of me.”