by Hati Bell
Drake slowly rose to his knees while Matteo unchained him. When his hands were finally free he pulled her against him. “I have no regrets and neither should you,” he said.
Her heart broke a little bit more when she was reminded about the moment she had whispered those exact same word to him. The moment she had believed she would die. In a way she had died. She looked around, frantically searching for an escape route. Unfortunately she didn’t have a clue of their whereabouts. For all she knew Matteo could have traced them to the other side of the world. “Don’t worry,” she said softly. “I’m not leaving you. We are leaving this place together.”
Matteo spread his hands in a placating gesture and pointed at the man in the grey suit. “I will take you wherever you want to go, but perhaps you would want to meet Crassus first?”
Where had she heard that name before? His dark eyes were void of emotion and sent shivers down her spine. “No, I don’t think I do.”
Crassus clasped his hands behind his back. “I’m your father,” he declared, dropping a bomb on her.
Her stomach dropped as it began to dawn on her. This man, no, this monster that had tortured Drake, was her biological father? “I already have a father.”
“But I don’t have a daughter yet,” he countered. He sounded as if he wanted to add her to his collection.
Drake groaned while he straightened up. His broken bones and other wounds must have been killing him. “Where are we?” she asked.
“Tuscany,” Matteo answered. “I think you should give Crassus a chance. He moved Heaven and Earth to free you from the clutches of a Kincaid.”
She refused to look at the older phoenix. “Drake would have never hurt me, so you could have saved the torture. You promised us a ride back home. I want to leave.”
A frown marred Matteo’s forehead. “Speaking of your home, I don’t think–”
“Take us to Somerset,” Drake cut him off as he put his arm around her waist.
“Until we meet again, daughter,” she heard Crassus say.
“Don’t hold your breath.”
A flame flickered in his eyes and she knew that, despite his cold façade, her words had hit their mark.
“Rudeness towards the head of your family, who is also your king, has consequences, daughter. You are not familiar with our customs yet, so you are forgiven. This time.”
The threatening undertone of his voice couldn’t be missed. She opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind, but reconsidered. What was the point? He didn’t exactly seem the empathetic kind. She just wanted to leave this place.
***
It was the same feeling as the first time Matteo had traced her away. Like she was covered by a soothing, warm blanket for an entire second. The next moment they were inside Meg’s cottage.
Her grandmother’s living room was redecorated. The white walls and chocolate-brown carpet were changed into a wine red wallpaper and teak furniture. She had apparently also expanded her art collection because Amber noticed a few famous reproductions of paintings. She recognized a Gustav Klimt and Edvard Munch’s The Scream.
Drake sank down on a couch by the fireplace, his face glistening with drops of sweat. She could see that his injuries had already began to heal, including his left eye. Even battered, he looked gorgeous. He was made of hard, delicious muscles. Very naked muscles. She blushed when he caught her staring at him.
Stop staring.
She cleared her throat and gave Matteo a pointed look.
He traced away and returned with sweat pants and a white tee. He threw them in Drake’s lap. “We need to discuss your accommodation, promesi. Aside from my staff, two other phoenixes live here: my sister Faey and my brother-in-law Benedict. I suggest you avoid Faey. Your room has been readied and is on the first floor next to–”
“Stop. Rewind.” She sank down next to Drake who was putting on the clothes. “I said to take me home, not to my grandmother’s. Where is Meg anyway? And since when does she live with phoenixes?” Matteo exchanged a look with Drake and dread filled her stomach. “Did something happen to her?”
“You knew Meg, draconi, so I am leaving this to you.” Matteo leaned his back against the wall near the fireplace.
Drake’s eye looked better and his face wasn’t as ashen. However, the blood on his skin soaked through the white tee, making it look like a bizarre canvas. “Meg left for the Highlands out of fear for Crassus. Matteo has bought her house.”
Amber could breathe again. Her relationship with her egocentric grandmother wasn’t exactly a loving one, but she was still family. “That’s a relief. For a moment there I thought someone had died.”
There fell an awkward silence. Drake lifted her and put her in his lap. “I have to tell you something, love.”
“Something bad happened.” She buried her face against his neck.
He gently stroked her back. “It’s been over a year ago that you ended up in a coma.”
Her head shot up. “A year?”
“Three hundred and seventy-five hellish days to be exact,” Drake said, sounding grim.
“I lost a whole year of my life.” Maybe she shouldn’t complain. After all, any other human wouldn’t have survived burning alive to tell the tale another day. But she wasn’t entirely human. She was a dryad. Then again, apparently she wasn’t even a full-blood dryad anymore. “I just want to go home.” She needed to be with her family.
“I’m sorry I have to be the bearer of bad news, but you can’t go home.”
Another unwelcome message. “Why not?”
“I… This isn’t how I wanted to tell you.”
Dread filled her once more, her heart leaping in her chest. “Something happened,” she repeated, afraid of the answer.
He took her in his arms, embracing her tightly. “Your father and Bryan passed away six months ago,” he said softly. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
She felt as if the floor had dropped out from under her. It took a full minute for her to compose herself without feeling she could break down any second. “How?” she croaked out.
“A car accident.”
She untangled from his embrace and surged from the couch. “Ian! I have to get to him. He must be devastated. Ian tries to hide it, but he’s not as tough as he lets on.” She dropped back onto the couch, cradling a cushion to her stomach as if it would protect her. Blood was pounding in her ears. Just like that, she’d lost half her family. Never again would her father make tea for her. Never again would she see the laugh lines around his eyes when he told a story about her mom. And Bryan, her rock. She couldn’t even think about him without feeling her heart breaking. A ringing started in her ears and her hands started to shake like crazy.
“She’s going into shock. Do something!” Drake yelled.
“What do you expect me to do, draconi? Grief is a human emotion. A phoenix stands above that.”
His harsh words were like a bucket of iced water. She blinked when she saw the living room was covered in a white mist. The charred pieces of the cushion lay at her feet. Matteo was holding a fire extinguisher. She started to shake when she realized that she was the cause of the wrecked room.
Drake cursed. “Yeah. You keep standing above it, you icicle. We are leaving.”
Matteo appeared next to him in a blink, like the Grim Reaper, all in black. “It is not safe for her to be outside. She has only just inflamed for the first time. The fire inside her will only grow and rise with her emotions making her unpredictable at times. She needs guidance from her own kind so she can learn our ways. As soon as she is over the death of the mortals, she will–”
“Shut up!” Drake growled. “Pull your tongue out of the freezer and look at her. Those mortals you so casually cast aside were her father and brother. You don’t just get over that. Now step aside or I’m walking right through you.”
Amber took a deep breath, but she couldn’t control the river of tears that were flowing freely from her eyes. “I’m so tired.”
“I’m taki
ng you to my stepmom for the night,” Drake said. “We’ll figure out something else tomorrow. I hate having to keep being the one giving you shitty news but after your father’s death, your house was sold. Ian lives in an apartment with Seth Croft now.”
And the blows kept coming. “I’m homeless.”
This earned her a frown. “You will never be homeless. I’d rather take you to the Dome with me, but you know how my relationship with Kincaid is. I wouldn’t take a goldfish there, let alone you.”
She nodded when more memories rushed back to her. Grandfather and grandson couldn’t stand each other. Also, Alec Kincaid thought a dryad wasn’t good enough for his grandson.
Matteo kept silent, but his eyes were telling a whole different story.
“I can’t stay at your stepmom’s,” Amber said begrudgingly. “I’m not… I don’t feel…” Her voice broke down. I just want to crawl into a corner and forget about the world.
“You are not feeling stable,” Matteo added pointedly.
Drake looked as if he was about to protest, but eventually nodded. “Fine. I’ll go get your stuff. I’ve had it stored.”
“Do not bother,” Matteo said. “She has a walk-in closet full of new clothes upstairs. Whatever she is missing, she can buy new.”
“She needs her own stuff,” Drake argued. “Memories of her parents and brother.”
Matteo looked bored. “She can make new memories.”
The two men went toe-to-toe. Drake’s hand turned into claws.
“Stop it,” Amber said, sounding hoarse.
Drake poked a clawed finger onto Matteo’s tie. “If I find out you’ve been keeping her from her stuff, her family, or her friends, I will end you. Even phoenixes have an Achilles’ heel.”
Matteo pulled his tie from under Drake’s claw. His mouth tightened when he saw the rip on it. “Do not make promises you can not keep, draconi. And if you touch me again, I will stab out your eyes–yes, both of them this time.”
“Stop it!” Her hands and knees were shaking, fatigue nearly overwhelming her. “I just want to sleep. I don’t care where.”
After a last scowl at Matteo, Drake gently scooped her up in his arms.
“You don’t need to do that. I can walk,” she protested.
“Yeah well, I do need to hold you,” he said walking towards the stairs.
“The second room on the right,” Matteo called after them.
Amber closed her eyes and prayed it was all a dream.
This isn’t my life. It’s a nightmare. It’s not real.
ELEVEN
Drake slammed the door of the Dome shut behind him with a bang. The housekeeper, who was dusting a salon table, shrieked when she saw him.
“Where is he?”
She clamped the feather duster in her hands, her eyes as big as saucers. “Do you want me to call a doctor?”
Right. He forgot about his blood-soaked tee. He probably looked like he came from a slaughterhouse. “No, I don’t need a doctor. Where’s Gregor?”
Her duster pointed upstairs. “In the library.”
Drake took the stairs two at a time. When he threw open the door to the library, fire was burning in his eyes. Gregor sat on a leather couch across Kincaid’s desk, reading Machiavelli’s The Prince. “You have a lot of explaining to do,” he spat at the older dragon.
Gregor put away the book. His eyes slid over Drake’s battered look. “I see you’ve met El Diablo.” His chin jutted towards a stack of clothes on top of the coffee table.
“How bloody considerate of you.” Drake took off his clothes and threw them into the fire place. He grabbed a pair of jeans and a tee from the table.
“You must be hungry,” Gregor said as he walked over to the large table in the back, grabbing a plate and a cup of tea.
Drake could smell the prepared lunch. His stomach made a growling sound. “You’ve planned this,” he said, while he sat across from Gregor.
He merely shrugged and filled his whiskey glass. “You are not the first Kincaid returning from a visit to Crassus looking like that. Though I’m sure you fared better than your cousin Henry would have. That boy can’t even stand to sit through Elizabeth and Malcolm arguing without going queasy, let alone a torture session. So, where has His Royal Obscenely Richness taken his residence this time? Castle Borgo in Italy? Or perhaps Castle Peles in Romania? They say it was Crassus who had taught Vlad the Impaler how to handle his prisoners. Only Tepes didn’t crucify, but impaled them on a pole.” Gregor’s eyes took him in. “You don’t look as if you were impaled.”
Drake grabbed a butter knife. “I wasn’t impaled,” he said through gritted teeth.” He pointed at his left eye. “Except for my eye.” That had grown back, but it still hurt like someone was having a rock concert inside his eye socket as it continued healing.
“Ah,” said Gregor as he took a sip from his drink. “El Diablo’s infamous eye treatment.”
“Enough!” Drake slammed his fist onto the table. “You have made your point. It wasn’t smart to go after Crassus like that. There, I admitted it. Happy now?”
Gregor looked arctic. “I will be happy when it finally dawns on you that the path you have chosen to take is the wrong one. You have no idea who you’re dealing with and what has yet to come. It’s time to get your priorities straight.”
He grabbed a piece of bread and pointed it at Gregor. “You sent me after Benedict without mentioning he lives with Matteo Lancaster.” Amber’s promesi. The thought alone that the phoenix believed he had a claim on her made his stomach churn. Even worse was the thought that he had left her behind, with him.
“Would it have mattered, had you known?”
“I could have taken better precautions.”
Gregor snorted. “There are no precautions against eminent death, which is how you’re going to end up if you keep poking your claws into the wrong phoenix nest.”
He didn’t like to admit it, but Gregor had a point. He had been completely thrown when the phoenixes had surrounded and then snatched him up near the White Shark. Still, it didn’t mean there wasn’t a way to defeat them. “Tell me how to kill a phoenix,” he demanded.
“I don’t have the answer to that.” Gregor pushed his glass away and leaned back. “There’s a reason they are referred to as the immortal ones. If Kincaid had found a way to kill them, he would have done so already.”
That wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “Tell me about Crassus’ son, Hector. Or are you going to tell me you don’t know about him either?”
“You are not going to like my story.”
“Don’t care.” Knowledge was power and he really needed some about now.
A deep sigh was his answer until a resigned expression crossed Gregor’s face. “You still think you can go up against Crassus and live to have a story to tell. The hostilities between Crassus and Kincaid run deep. You must know that there are several clans in the phoenix world. Five noteworthy ones, actually across the globe. One of them is Crassus’. Three of them, amongst which Crassus’, are part of their Millennium Council. Which would be the closest equivalent to a human government system. The leaders of the other two clans are locked up in a titanium vault in the Catacombs. Unfortunately, the maximum titanium lock-down sentence for a phoenix is five centuries. Give or take every five hundred years, there’s a new power play, dubbed the Demillennium. The three victors from that war form the Millennium Council once again. Crassus hasn’t been beaten for millennia, if ever. Our records don’t go back that far into phoenix history. One of the reasons for his continued success is that some of the dragons, or draconis as they refer to us, fight by his side. Every clan has its own support of supernatural beings. For example, the dragons and ghouls in the far East are loyal to the Oriental Queen. Who, by the way, is part of their council and one of Crassus’ allies. The dryads are like Switzerland, never really taking a side. The goblins are loyal to the Sovereign, the Eastern European phoenix king.”
This gave Drake a whole new take on the
ease with which Kincaid had banished the goblins from Somerset. “Let me guess: the Sovereign is wasting away in the Catacombs?”
“Very good. Choosing the right clan to swear your allegiance to is like dancing on the sharp edge of a sword. If you choose the wrong side, you have a problem. Such as the extinction of your kin. Choose the winning side and you gain riches.”
“Why is this the first time I’m hearing about this?”
“The last Demillennium was during the middle ages. Even the oldest dragons have forgotten about it. A Kincaid is traditionally a general of Crassus and this title is passed on to the next generation. Which is why the Kincaids will never forget about the most dangerous time for supes.”
That made sense. It also meant more bodies would pile up in Somerset. “Wait a minute. If the Kincaids have sworn their allegiance to Crassus, then why has Kincaid kidnapped his son Hector?”
Gregor grabbed his whiskey glass, and his knuckles turned white. “Nineteen years ago a group of phoenixes tried to take Crassus out when he was visiting Somerset. Crassus got hurt and took refuge in the O’Neill’s family cabin. Amber’s mother, Emily O’Neill, found him. You know what happened next. What you don’t know is that Crassus returned for Emily, fifteen years ago. His enemies followed him and during that fight Emily died. Four years ago, Crassus returned once again, this time for his daughter. Again, he was followed, which was no surprise since we were on the brink of the Demillennium. A huge fight erupted, forcing Kincaid to run to Crassus’ aid. This time it was your grandmother Ariana who died in the crossfire between phoenixes. We never found her body. Didn’t even have a body to bury at the funeral.” The glass in his hands shattered to a million pieces. “That phoenix carries Death with him. A concept that has no meaning to an immortal.”
“In return Kincaid kidnapped Crassus’ son,” Drake guessed.
“Hector the Sword,” Gregor confirmed. “No one knows how Kincaid did it. Let’s say he didn’t have anything to lose anymore after he lost Ariana. They were dark times and for a moment I feared losing your grandfather to madness in his grief for the love of his life. However, he rose above it. He made Crassus vow never to kill a Kincaid again in exchange for promising not to hand Hector over to Crassus’ enemies. I’ll have you know that a phoenix doesn’t use the word ‘never’ lightly, since never in their case is literally forever. Now do you understand why any kind of future with the phoenix girl is impossible? There is bad blood between Kincaid and Crassus. Forever.”