“If you kill her you'll have broken the law. Vampires get executed for that.”
I saw a flicker of doubt in his eyes before he snorted, his scorn only too apparent. “What is she to you?” he demanded. “You don't know her. Why should you care?”
I shrugged, walking closer to him. “Perhaps I don't. But she is someone's daughter, sister, mother perhaps. There will be people who will mourn her. It is not for you to take her life. You do not have that right.”
“I have that power,” he sneered, his anger stinging my skin. “Vampires exist on human blood. That makes it my right.”
“To feed perhaps.” I nodded. “But you don't need to kill her. You gain nothing more from it. It's only your desires that demand it, not your requirements. You have existed a very long time without killing to do it.” I gave a heavy sigh and looked up at him from under my lashes. “You were always so ... in control.” I allowed a smile to flicker over my lips. “It was very attractive.”
He wasn't a fool, he knew what I was doing, but he was male enough to want me to see him that way. From what Kai had said earlier, he wanted that badly.
“Why should I go hungry?” he growled, though I knew I'd got him.
“You're not hungry, you're just annoyed,” I said, laughing and trying not to let my concern for the woman show as her pulse slowed further. “Perhaps I'll make it up to you, if you do as I ask.”
I had his attention now.
I held out my wrist to him in invitation. “Let her go, Corvus.”
He did exactly as I asked with cool deliberation, and I watched as the woman's body fell roughly in a heap on the floor.
“Decimus.” The vampire appeared immediately and I turned to him. “Take her straight to Inés.” He nodded and grabbed the woman, gone in a blur of motion. I prayed it wasn't too late.
Corvus watched me. I knew I should renege on our agreement. He should be punished for what he'd done. He would be. But I would still do as I'd offered. I refused to allow myself to think too much about why that was. He pushed himself off of the wall he'd been leaning on and walked around me, looking me up and down. I could feel the path his eyes took over my skin like a touch. I shivered and he smiled. A very masculine smile. He moved behind me, and I felt him lift my hair and drape it over one shoulder. I spun around.
“No.”
He tilted his head, looking at me with knowing in his eyes. “Why not.”
Because it was too intimate, because it wouldn't stop there. He knew damn well why not.
I held out my wrist to him and he pursed his lips, taking a step back. There was a look in his eyes I couldn't read. Angry of course but ... concerned perhaps?
“Kai says you will fight that creature, that ... god, tomorrow night.” He stopped, watching me and I stood very still. “You will risk everything. Your life and the lives of everyone you love, the very existence of the family - to stand against a god?” He seemed incredulous, as though he was daring me to lie to him.
I felt frozen. I had no idea that Kai had told him that. I'd told Decimus to give him a story about needing to protect ourselves, to defend ourselves against a possible attack. Corvus would not be here for the battle after all. I was intending to lock him up. I couldn't ask him to fight for me when he didn't even know who I was, and he didn't have his full powers. He would be a distraction. Dis Pater would be bound to target him and use him against me. In the circumstances it would be safer for all of us if he was far from the scene.
He walked up to me, towering over me as he often did when he was trying to get a point across, trying to use his imposing size against me. It was familiar, and I wondered if it was just in his stubborn nature or if it just showed me how much he had forgotten. It had never worked before after all.
“What in the name of the gods are you playing at?” he demanded and I could hear the fury restrained in his voice. “You're Master of this family, you are honour bound to protect them. Not lead them all to their deaths.”
I closed my eyes wishing it was that simple.
“You don't understand,” I said, sounding weary, but I jumped as he shouted back at me.
“Then explain, dammit!” He glared at me, the force of his anger prickling against my skin. “It is your duty to protect them. It is what it means to be a Master. They are your legacy.”
I smiled at the passion in his voice even though my heart was bleeding. It wasn't my legacy it was his, and I was fighting to protect it. He just couldn't see it.
He stared at me, his gaze so intense I wanted to look away. “Kai said ...” He paused and took a breath as though the words were hard to get out. “Kai said it's because of me. That you are fighting Dis Pater, because of what he did ... to me.” There was disbelief in his voice, and I couldn't tell if he was hoping it was true or not. I slammed every defence I had in place so that he wouldn't feel the shock that rippled through me. Why? Why had Kai told him that?
His hand reached out and cupped my face, sliding down my neck and he stepped closer so that our bodies were almost touching. “Is it true?”
I was trembling, and I didn't know what to say. My brain ran in frantic circles around lies, and reasons and explanations ... and the truth. “Yes.”
He sucked in a breath and dropped his hand, and I realised that he hadn't believed it. Not at all.
“Why?” he said, his voice strained. “Why would you do that?”
“Because he took me from you and you from me,” I shouted, the fragile hold I had on my temper shattering as I allowed the truth to surface. “He has destroyed so much that I love and he will keep on destroying it. There will never be peace, not for you or for me or for any that we care for while he still exists. I swore that I would make him pay,” I said, as he received the full force of my anger and frustration. “And I intend to keep that promise.”
He looked stunned, unable to accept what I was telling him. “Thousands of them will die,” he said, his voice quiet. “Maybe all.” He took a step towards me, his expression as bleak as his voice. “He is a god, Jéhenne. You cannot hope to beat him.”
I hit him, my fist smashing against his chest like it was pounding a rock. “You would have fought him!” I screamed, knowing it wasn't entirely true or fair. Corvus would have fought anyone at his own risk, but he wouldn't have risked the rest of us if he could help it. He would sacrifice himself to save us. He had. But I couldn't live with that sacrifice. So now I was betting the lives of all of us against Dis Pater. He grasped my wrists to make me stop, and I could see the pain in his eyes.
“I will do what you command, Jéhenne, I swear it. If you are set on this path then I will stand beside you but ... But for the good of the family, you must reconsider. It is suicide. You may as well command us all to go and stand in the sunlight.”
I shook my head, feeling tears slide down my face. Wishing he could understand just what we were up against. That there was no other way. “It is too late.”
He was silent, watching the path of the tears roll down my face. He let go of my wrists and raised his hand, touching a finger to the wet trail down my cheek. He frowned. “I don't like to see you cry.” He sounded so perplexed that I didn't know whether to laugh or cry harder. Instead I just closed my eyes.
“Jéhenne.” I looked back at him, feeling my heart lurch at having him so close and without that cool, disdainful expression I'd come to expect. “If it is me he wants to punish then ... Then give me to him. If it will save the family, if it will ... stop this insanity. Then do it. Hand me back to him.”
I choked, shaking my head and trembling as my knees gave out. He reached out and grabbed me as I tumbled to the ground, and I clutched at him as we sank down to the damp earth of the cellar floor. I was crying too hard to explain. That he would sacrifice himself all over again when he didn't even remember any of us, that the family was so very important that it must be protected against all threats no matter the personal cost. It was everything that he had been. It was the essence of the man I loved. It was
every principle he had ever lived his life by. To protect what he loved at all costs. No matter what.
“No.” I forced the words out. “No! Never. Never again.”
He looked at me in frustration, his hands gripping my shoulders. “What does it matter, Jéhenne? We both know I am not the man you loved, and I am tired of feeling adrift. I have no place here, no purpose. I am lost among people who think they know me. They don't know me!” His eyes were cold and angry now. “You don't know me!” he shouted. “If this god will put an end to me then let him.”
I reached up and put my hands to his head, pulling his mouth down to mine and kissing him in desperation. His arms tightened against me, and I grabbed at him, wanting to get closer. With impatience he shifted, kneeling down as I sat astride his thighs. I pressed closer, moving to rub myself against him, feeling him hard and ready and wanting to rip the clothes from him here and now despite the wretchedness of our surroundings and circumstances. He groaned and the sound thrilled through me as his hands fell to my hips, pulling me closer still as he moved against me. I released his mouth, looking down at him. “This is all you need to remember, Corvus,” I said, my voice rough. “This is what you need to know.”
His fingers touched my mouth, his expression almost reverent. “Gods but you're beautiful,” he whispered, the words anguished, as though he wished it wasn't true.
I nipped at the pads of his fingers, and he gasped. Pressing his thumb against my lips I opened my mouth, allowing it inside and sucking gently. He closed his eyes, his breathing ragged. I let his hand go, and he looked back at me, those blue eyes swallowed up by the black of his pupil. I tilted my head a fraction, and he didn't wait for any further invitation.
I cried out as he struck, overwhelmed with the force of emotion, of pleasure and pain and memories. Our lives had always been this way, the two of us snatching at happiness before circumstances tore us apart again. I held him close, my hands in his hair, savouring the feeling of him, the familiar, midnight scent of him, the cool touch of his skin against mine. I closed my eyes and smiled as a memory hit, as fresh as if it had been yesterday and not thousands of years ago. The day he had kissed me for the first time. We were sitting on a rock, one of many large boulders that edged the bottom of a waterfall not so very far from here. The water rushed past us like our futures, tumbling out of control, pushing us on towards its conclusion. Were we now, finally, to reach the end?
He drew back, away from me, staring at me wild-eyed, and I suddenly realised he had seen my memories.
“You!” he exclaimed, his voice full of fear. “You were there. You were there from the first!”
I reached out, trying to calm him. “Corvus ... Let me explain.”
A second later and I was sitting on the cold floor of the cellar, alone.
Chapter 35
I ran back up the stairs to the Château, calling for Lucas mentally and ended up ploughing into him as he appeared in front of me.
“Find Corvus!” I said, trying not to give in to the wave of panic that threatened like a storm hovering on the horizon. The last thing I needed right now was something else to worry about. I needed to know he was safe and out of the way before sunrise. There would be no time once darkness fell tomorrow night.
“What's wrong?” Lucas demanded, his eyes dark. “Did he hurt you?”
I shook my head. I didn't feel like explaining this right now. “Just find him please and then get him to the safe house. Make sure you take Inés to get the ward in place once he's there.”
I made it a command so he couldn't question me further. He just gave me a curious look but nodded and took himself off. I made my way back to the study and paced until there was a knock on the door. Lucas came in looking anxious.
“We can't find him.”
I blinked and looked back at him. “That's not possible.” Corvus was trapped within the boundaries I'd set, he couldn't possibly breach them, and the family were bound by blood. They should be able to find each other with no problem.
There was something in Lucas' expression that made my unease grow. “What? What are you thinking?”
He sat on the edge of the large desk that dominated the room, his expression grave. “A Master vampire could mask his position from his kin.”
My heart seemed to drop in my chest. “You think he knows?” I asked, the words tumbling out as terror struck.
Lucas got up and came to me, rubbing my arms with his hands to stop the chills that were making me shiver. “It could just be instinctive, Jéhenne. It doesn't mean he knows.”
His touch calmed me a little and I took a breath, nodding. “I hope you're right, but Corvus isn't stupid. He's going to figure it out sooner or later.”
Lucas didn't say anything. He didn't have to. We both knew it was true. Fear was pulsed under my skin, my heart beating erratically, but it felt strange. I was afraid but this was unreasonable, it felt like I was reacting to being attacked, to dying - like it wasn't me who was afraid. I put my hand to my throat, gasping for air and went to walk away from him and then stopped in my tracks as a blinding pain split my head in two. I cried out, clutching at my head, my eyes squeezed shut. I heard Lucas talking to me, demanding what was wrong, but for a moment the pain was all encompassing, and I couldn't do anything but ride it out. I began to shiver in earnest as it subsided, so cold I felt like I was being swallowed in the depths of a fathomless ocean. It was dark and cold and utterly terrifying, the water filling my lungs, and I fought it with desperation. I clawed at the ice overhead as the dead dragged me down and down, into the dark. I didn't want to die. I didn't want to die ... I choked, gasping for air as I realised these really weren't my thoughts.
I heard Rodney's panicked voice and then Inés was in front of me, her and Lucas holding me up between them, their faces stricken as they looked at me and the tears coursing down my face.
“What is it?” Inés cried, watching me in horror.
“Corin,” I gasped as memories flooded back. I had spent so much of my time hating him, despising him for what what he'd done to me. Believing that he'd hurt me, tried to force himself upon me, and yet I had known at heart there was something wrong, something that didn't add up. I remembered now- the headaches whenever I tried to make sense of it. He'd tricked me into taking a third gift from his hand, a little blue square of silk had tied me under his power. I was under his control if he chose. He could have done anything, taken me as his wife as he'd wanted, used my power as he wished ... but he had chosen to help me. He had risked his life, risked Corvus' fury, all to keep me from hurt. I remembered his desperate fight against Corvus, how badly Corvus had wanted to kill him ... I sobbed, a hand covering my mouth as Inés shook me, her eyes wide with alarm.
“What about Corin?” she demanded.
“I--I think ... I think he's dying,” I forced the words out, weeping for the loss of him. The world would not be the same without him. He was everything vibrant, pulsing with life and power and vitality. It seemed impossible. The sense of loss was appalling, overwhelming. He'd been my friend. He was tricky and powerful and wickedly seductive but he had stood by me no matter the risk. He had allowed me to despise him, to believe him capable of the worst of attacks on me so that I could lie to Corvus about what had happened between us. I owed him so much. I had hated him and all the time he'd been looking out for me, protecting me. I couldn't believe it. Neither, it appeared, could Inés.
“Non!” she scoffed. “Corin is so powerful now, more than even you realise. What could possibly harm him? You are mistaken, chérie. You must be.”
I willed her to be right. “Then why can I remember now?” I demanded. “He changed my memories didn't he?”
She nodded and I choked with misery. “Well now that spell has broken,” I cried and then frowned as something else occurred to me and I stared at Inés wide eyed. “You've seen him.” My eyes widened further as I remembered the familiar scent I'd detected at her cottage, in her bedroom.
Inés smiled a littl
e awkwardly and shrugged. “Oui, I've seen him and he was very much alive,” she said. Rodney was looking uncomfortable too, and I turned on him.
“You both knew didn't you? You knew what he'd done for me.” My voice was thick and Rodney nodded but there was something else, I could tell. “What?” I demanded. “What else don't I know?”
Rodney looked anxious. “I didn't want to worry you, like, but ... he's taken Claudette.”
I took a sharp breath and gaped at him, grabbing at his arm. Claudette hadn't listened to me. I should have gone to see her. I should have intervened. “What do you mean, taken her?” I asked, hardly daring to hear the answer.
“He's taken her through the gates. He's going to marry 'er, luv. She's to be the next queen of Alfheim.”
I let him go and rubbed at my chest, the ache pulling at my heart. So he was still up to his old tricks, or at least he had been. I remembered with anguish the fear and the hopelessness I had just felt, and I shook my head. “No ... she isn't,” I said. I sobbed, remembering the desperation and pain I had just experienced.
Inés swore. “You can't be right, Jéhenne. When I was with him ...” She took a breath and closed her eyes. “Gods, the power, you can't imagine.” Her eyes glittered when she opened them again. “You have to be mistaken.”
“I hope so,” I whispered, badly wanting her to be right. I looked back at Rodney. “She loves him?”
Rodney snorted and gave me an incredulous look. “What d' you think, luv?”
I smiled. Corin was impossible not to love.
“But did she understand what she was getting into?” I asked, feeling sick at heart at what my friend may have unwittingly become involved in.
“Well she knows now,” Rodney said with a sigh. “I tried to warn her, Jéhenne, truly I did. She wouldn't listen.”
The Fires of Tartarus Page 28