The Darkest Night

by Emma V. Leech

  “Of course not,” she said with a huff, a crease between her brows as she followed where he led.

  “If Devil had been an ordinary man, even as beautiful as he is, you would have admitted to yourself that you were attracted to him, you may even have fantasized about going to bed with him, but in the end, your conscience, common sense ... call it what you will, would have allowed you to walk away. Devil takes that away from you, the instinct that protects you from making dangerous decisions falls away in his presence, and that is his power. He can see what you desire in your darkest, most desperate moments, and he offers to give it to you.”

  She looked at him long and hard, but finally shook her head. “I hear what you are saying,” she said, and he heard the desire to believe him in her voice. “But … but you weren’t there, you can’t possibly understand...”

  “Oh, but I can.” His voice was hard and she frowned as understanding dawned.

  “You?” She gaped at him, obviously astonished. “I don’t believe it.”

  He laughed, but it was a bitter sound. “You flatter me.”

  “But … but … are you? I mean, I thought ...” Corin looked at her with impatience and she flushed, hard, the colour vivid against her pallid cheeks.

  “Gods, Ameena,” he muttered. “When we met, I admired your plain-speaking, do, please, say what you mean.”

  “I never took you for bisexual,” she said in rush.

  Corin laughed, shaking his head. “Have you even listened to a word I said?” he demanded, feeling his patience fray. “You know I can never understand why you humans feel the need to label everyone, anyway. You do like people to be nice and tidy and fit in their little boxes, don’t you?” He made out like he was ticking names of a list. “Ah, yes, this person is gay, and this one is straight, and as long as you stay in your little box, we all know where we stand, is that it?” She blanched in the face of his anger and he let out a breath. “Forgive me, it’s been a long night.”

  “I never thought of it like that,” she admitted, looking awkward. “And it’s not like I’m judging or anything, it’s just that your reputation is, well, that of a successful womaniser. It just never occurred to me ...” Her flush deepened as she trailed off, and Corin watched her, biting back a smile.

  He laughed, finding her discomfort somewhat amusing. “I like women, but …” He frowned, shaking his head and wondering why the hell he should explain himself. “Damn it, Ameena, I was sixteen, I didn’t know what I was or wasn’t. Why should I? Why should it even matter?”

  “No!” She shook her head, obviously worried that she’d offended him. “No, of course not, but … what happened?”

  “As I’ve been trying to tell you,” Corin said with a sigh. “With Devil, it doesn’t matter. You could be perfectly secure in your sexuality, and Devil would prove you wrong. Anyone would want him, no matter their usual desires. He can transcend any such predilections, no matter how engrained you might believe them to be.” There must have been something in his voice that made her study him more closely as she leaned into him and put her hand on his arm.

  “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

  He shrugged, dragging a hand through his hair. “I don’t want to, if truth be told,” he admitted, grimacing. “I never want to think of it, not ever … but … but you need to know that you are not the only one. Maybe if you know what happened to me, you will understand, finally, that it was not your fault.”

  “Then you’d best get it over with,” she said, her tone dry.

  He gave her a weary smile and nodded. “Very well, then. I was very unhappy. It was the night of a grand ball at my home in Alfheim. All the most important people were there, and because the land was mine, they were well aware of my state of mind, as they had been frozen and rained upon for months without cease.”

  “Why were you so unhappy?” she asked, concern in her voice.

  Corin hesitated and then shook his head. He wasn’t about to share his life’s history, and he doubted Laen would appreciate it either. “If you don’t mind, that part of the story I will keep to myself.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said in a rush. “I didn’t mean to pry.”

  “I know you didn’t.” He looked up and glanced around the room, hoping against hope that there was a decanter or a bottle stashed somewhere. “Is there anything to drink?”

  She shook her head. “No, sorry … Oh, wait!” She jumped off the bed and hauled her rucksack out of the wardrobe, fishing around in the depths for a moment. She withdrew her hand with a cry of triumph and brandished a small bottle of Jack Daniels at him.

  “Thank the gods,” he said with a sigh, grinning at her.

  “I don’t have any glasses, though,” she said, giving him a sceptical look. Clearly, she didn’t know him very well if she though him too high in the instep to drink from a bottle.

  “I’m sure we will manage,” he said with a grave smile as she handed him the bottle. He unscrewed the top and took a deep drink before wiping the top on his sleeve and handing it to Ameena.

  She took a swig and then gasped as the whiskey burned down her throat. “Bugger me,” she said, coughing as her eyes watered a little. “I usually drink it with coke.”

  Corin grimaced at the admission. “Really? What sacrilege.” He tutted at her and took the bottle back. He gave her a questioning look and she shook her head, smiling at him.

  “No, go on, you finish it.”

  He turned the bottle in his hands, trying to summon the will to tell his sorry tale. “I was only sixteen.” He glanced up at her with a rueful smile. “But before you pity me too hard for the loss of my innocence, I have to tell you that I was … well, far from innocent,” he said, with a snort.

  Ameena rolled her eyes at him. “I never doubted it.”

  He nodded and carried on. “Like I said, I was miserable, everyone knew I was miserable, and why, and it was … humiliating. Then La … the person who was the cause of my pain and embarrassment arrived at the ball, and I ran. I had never felt more pathetic or desperate, and so I fled and went to hide away in my father’s study. I was intending to drink myself into a stupor and hope I could drown it all away.” He lifted the whiskey to her in salute and took a drink. “Old habits,” he muttered, looking at the bottle. “Looking back now, I think Devil planned it, or at least that he thought it likely the opportunity would arise.” He fell silent and Ameena reached out and took his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Devil blamed me for something terrible that happened to his brother, but that night he was so kind, so understanding, and I was so bloody lonely. I thought he was my friend, I thought he’d forgiven me.”

  Corin hauled in a breath, trying, as he had tried a thousand times, to make sense of his fractured memories. “He called me angel,” he said, his voice catching at the one memory that was all too clear, and holding onto Ameena’s hand. “But … but even now, it is all such a muddle, the memories are so jumbled.” He shook his head as if trying to shake them free in his mind. “I don’t think he meant to take it all the way,” he said, letting out a breath. “I have to believe that, at least. He just meant to humiliate me, to show me how he could have me if he wanted to. That I was an easy conquest. But I still don’t know … what I … what I did, what I volunteered.” He shuddered, believing that not knowing was far worse than knowing. He could accept if he knew, he could let it go, but his imagination ran with the possibilities of not knowing, and it tormented him. “I had my own knight in shining armour, though.” He looked up and gave her a mocking smile. “Laen came looking for me. He found me. He says I wasn’t gone long … he says that nothing happened. He swears that it’s just Devil’s magic playing tricks with my mind … but ...”

  Ameena sat closer to him, her eyes intent. “You think he lied?”

  “On your knees, angel, it’s time for you to fall,” he whispered, feeling his stomach roil and his skin prickle with anxiety. “He said that, I didn’t imagine it, I ...” He shook his head again w
ith a curse.

  “You think Laen lied to make you feel better?” she asked, her voice uncertain.

  Corin shrugged. “No. Yes … I don’t know. I don’t think so, but …” He gave a mirthless laugh and threw up his hands. “This is Devil’s work, Ameena. Do you understand now?”

  She nodded, looking at him with sympathy now. “Did you never ask him? Laen, I mean.”

  “Yes.” Corin nodded, remembering every single time he’d confronted Laen and made him swear to it. “I made him swear on his honour, and he did, but …” He put his head in his hands and Ameena put her arm around him.

  “Are you alright?” she asked, her voice soft.

  “Yes ...” A bitter laugh escaped him. “No.” When he spoke again, she had to strain to hear his voice. She leaned closer to him. “Devil always implies there was far more to it but then he would, wouldn’t he?” He looked up at her and knew she could see the fear in his eyes, the shame of allowing himself to be used in such a way. “Wouldn’t he?” he demanded.

  “Yes,” she nodded, her voice fierce now, and strangely he found that he believed her. She knew what it felt like to be in Devil’s toils, after all. “Of course he would. He is trying to hurt you still, don’t you see?”

  “Yes … yes.” He let out a breath, finding it a little easier to breath. “He still calls me angel,” he said, quite unable to keep the rage from his voice. “I want to kill him.”

  “I can understand that.”

  “No,” he said, his voice hard as he looked up at her. “No, you don’t. Not yet.” He sat up straighter and took hold of her hand again. “You don’t know the worst of it yet.” Her eyes widened with fear and he covered the hand he held, clasping it between both of his. “It doesn’t leave you,” he said, his voice soft, hating that he had to explain this to her. “His magic will always call to you. You must stay far from him, Ameena, for if you hear his voice, look in his eyes, you will be lost all over again. You will want to run to him, do anything for him … and there will be nothing you can do to fight it.”

  Ameena sat with her heart beating in her throat. “No.” She shook her head, deathly pale and looking like she might throw up. “No!”

  “You must keep to your room until after the celebrations,” Corin said, wishing he could do more for her than this. “Then I can find a reason to make him leave the palace but, politically, I cannot banish him, not yet. No matter how I want to. It would cause the most almighty scandal, and that, I’m afraid, is the last thing I need. I will have guards keep watch outside and Bram will not leave your side.” She nodded, mute with horror, and he squeezed her hand. “Don’t look so afraid, Ameena, he has had his fun, caused the upset he hoped for. I doubt he will take it further. He is inherently lazy, and I doubt he will be bothered to retread old ground, if you will forgive the expression.”

  They sat together in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

  “Corin?”

  “Yes?”

  She looked up at him, a query in her eyes. “What you said, that his magic never leaves you ... Is that what it’s like for you?”

  He let go of her hands, reaching for the whisky bottle again and getting to his feet. “I am King of the Fae Lands,” he said in fury. “The first to rule all three kingdoms in thousands of years. I have more power than Devil can ever dream of!” His voice was full of suppressed anger, knowing that for all his power he could not simply rid himself of Devil as he longed to do.

  “You didn’t answer the question,” she said, her eyes soft and sympathetic.

  He offered her the whiskey bottle and she shook her head, watching as he drained it and threw the empty bottle on the bed. “No,” he replied. “I didn’t.” Ameena kept her eyes on him, waiting, and he sighed. “I am too powerful for him to be able to pull me to him anymore. There were a few years, just after it happened, where I had to fight the temptation, but no, not for a very long time, but … but that he can even make the thought enter my head…” He closed his eyes. “I despise him for that and I hate myself.”

  “But it’s not your fault,” she said, her voice angry on his behalf.

  “No, it’s not my fault,” he said, satisfied that she finally understood. “And it wasn’t yours.”

  Ameena nodded and then burst into tears. Corin sat beside her again and put an arm around her, letting her cry, and he didn’t speak again until her sobs had begun to subside. “You must forgive yourself, Ameena, and you must forgive Bram. He knows he did wrong by you.” He lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him and giving her a rueful smile. “To be truthful, I suspect he will give you many more occasions to be cross with him. He has a dreadfully romantic heart, you see, the kind that real life is bound to disappoint, but he is honest and true and he is in love with you.”

  She stared at him, eyes wide, tears sparkling at her lashes. “Why?” she asked, sounding so utterly perplexed that he couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Possibly because you are perfectly wonderful,” he said, amusement in his words as she gave a startled sound of surprise. “But I think you should ask him that, don’t you?”

  He went to get up, but she stopped him, holding onto his hand and leaning forward to kiss his cheek. “Thank you,” she said, her voice so full of sincerity that he found he was glad he’d come after all. Perhaps Laen had been right. Perhaps it had helped him, too. “Thank you, so much. You didn’t have to come, but you did. I can see why everyone falls for you so hard. You are a good man.”

  Corin snorted, giving her a crooked smile. “I occasionally chance to do a good deed, perhaps, I’m not sure it is entirely the same thing.”

  Ameena’s eyes grew serious and she shook her head. “You can make jokes,” she said, her voice so fierce that he was touched by her sincerity. “But I can see it’s true. You deserve to be king. The people here don’t know how lucky they are to have you.”

  Corin looked at her, knowing she meant what she said. He could only pray she was right. “Thank you,” he said, smiling. “And now I must go, before Claudette suspects I am up to no good.”

  Ameena chuckled, and nodded at him. “I’ll admit, if you were mine, I wouldn’t let you out of my sight,” she said with a grin.

  Corin snorted and gave her a wink. “I do keep telling her not to,” he said, walking to the door. She got up with him and watched as he open the door. “Look,” he said, gesturing for her to come closer. Ameena peered around the door to see Bram asleep on the floor.

  “Oh.” She put her hand to her mouth, her face softening as she looked at the figure curled on the cold floor.

  “Look after him, Ameena,” Corin said, pleased at the loving look he could see in her eyes. “He needs you,” he added. He watched with a smile as she knelt beside the sleeping figure, brushing the hair from his face.

  “I will,” Ameena replied, her voice certain now as she looked up at him, her grey eyes brimming with tears. “I will. I promise.”

  Corin nodded, satisfied, and left them alone.

  Chapter 41

  Inés sighed as she made her way back to her room. It was a dull way to end what had looked like such a promising evening. The news of Claudette’s child changed things, though. She may have taken any opportunity to steal Corin from his future wife, but she would not estrange a father from his child. Strange to discover she did have some limits after all. She pouted as she remembered how easily Corin had trapped her. She knew she was powerful herself, way beyond what most witches could ever dream of, but he wielded magic like it was less than nothing, like he could bend the world as he desired with no more than a thought.

  It was an incredible turn on.

  For a moment, she considered finding Jean-Pierre, but quickly dismissed the idea. This was an itch no human boy could scratch. She sighed heavily, there was a heavy ache to her skin that was making her irritable and likely to lash out. She needed someone to vent her anger and frustration on.

  She turned the corner of the corridor and looked up to see the Duke of Ravendel
l walking towards her. He paused when he saw her, his head to one side, the flicker of a smile playing over that cruel mouth.

  “Well, well. Inés Corbeaux,” he said, his beautiful face stealing her breath as his smile grew. “It has been a long time.” He looked her over with approval, his silver eyes cool and full of wickedness. “You are looking as delectable as ever, a rose with such deliciously sharp thorns.”

  “Devil!” Inés said with a surge of triumph. The night was looking up, after all. “Just the man I was looking for.” She looked him over, at the broad shoulders, the muscular, yet lithe frame that seemed barely contained by the exquisite cut of his coat.

  “Oh?” he drawled, moving towards her, as sinuous as a cat prowling. “Rumour has it that you have no one less than our esteemed king in your sights,” he said, amusement in his voice.

  “Well, that makes two of us, then,” she returned with a quirk of one eyebrow. “But it seems we are both to remain disappointed.”

  Devil pursed his lips, and she shivered at the look in his eyes. “Giving up already, Inés?” he exclaimed, tutting at her. “How disappointing. I am made of sterner stuff than that.” He winked, then, leaning against the wall with such nonchalant grace that she sighed. Devil was like a living work of art, and it almost hurt your heart to look at him. Desire moved under her skin and she knew it was the danger of his lure at work, but did nothing to counter it. She enjoyed the sensation of his magic, his power, it was a heady thing.

  Shrugging, she shook her head. “Your opportunity has been lost, I fear,” she said, keeping her words light and sympathetic, knowing it would anger him if she appeared to gloat. “The king has finally lost his heart and no longer wishes to play with the likes of us. His love of danger and decadence seems to have died the moment his heart was engaged.”

  There was a flash of something in Devil’s eyes that was hard to interpret, impatience perhaps, or had it been jealousy? It was quickly gone, however, and he shrugged. “So I have heard,” he said, sounding disinterested at best. “It is tragic to see such a man tamed, don’t you think?”