Dark heiress, p.10
Dark Heiress, page 10
part #5 of Ema Marx Series
“Good,” I said. “But I still want to say goodbye.”
Maria nodded. “Of course. I’ll hang these up in your room.”
“Thank you,” I said. “For everything. Really.”
Maria looked at me. Her lips curved at the edges and she nodded.
In the hallway, my father was smooching the face off my mother. I quickly averted my gaze, my cheeks heated with embarrassment. “Get a room you two, there are literally hundreds!”
“Ema,” Mom gasped, though she seemed more breathless than concerned. I peeked at her from the corner of my vision. She ran her fingernails through a lock of her dark hair and smiled. “I didn’t see you there, sweetie.”
“We were just catching up.” Dad hooked an arm around her waist and drew her close.
Mom giggled. “You should have told me he was awake. Honestly, Ema, I don’t know where your behavior comes from.”
I rolled my eyes at Mom’s comment but was happy for them. “Yeah, that’s me. The atrocious daughter.” I scooched one door over and knocked.
“He’s not there,” said Dad. “He went downstairs.”
My gaze widened as I faced my father. “Anthony is wandering the castle alone?”
Dad scoffed. “Not alone, pumpkin. Sara’s with him.”
“Oh.” I nodded. “Okay. Thanks.” I hastened my steps along the velvet staircase and entered the dining hall. The princess stood near the far end of the table with her arms crossed loosely under her chest as she smiled. She watched Anthony the way one might admire a toddler. Anthony stood directly in front of the giant tapestries. His neck arched at an angle that was one centimeter away from his head rolling off his shoulders. My own mirth came forth in a small chortle as I joined Sara.
Anthony slowly lowered his gaze and released an appreciative whistle. “This place is like Hogwarts.”
“Is that a castle somewhere in America?” asked Sara.
Anthony looked at her, bug-eyed and slack-jawed. “Y-you’ve never heard of Hogwarts. Seriously?”
Sara shrugged.
My lips curved in the beginnings of a chuckle. “Okay, you two, what are you doing down here?”
“He asked for a tour of the castle,” said Sara.
“Is that so?” I looked at Anthony and upped my brows.
Anthony’s gaze went to the candelabras. The wicks hadn’t been lit as the sun was still high in the sky, but the hidden window I found earlier was so high up I realized belatedly how dim the room must seem to his human vision.
“Rick talked to me,” said Anthony. “Rick Gerson. You know, the thirty-something always-attached-to-his-briefcase guy?”
“I know who Rick is,” I told him.
“He said I’m leaving in a few hours and showed me the plane ticket. Said to pack but I don’t own anything other than what I’m wearing. Maria is supposed to accompany me to the airport. Guess I’m not Kool-aide drinking material.” He winked. “Anyway, it occurred to me I might leave without seeing this place, and how lame would that be?” He waved both hands, indicating the castle. “I mean, when’s the next time I’ll be in Europe, right?”
I probably should not have asked, but curiosity got the better of me. “What else did Rick say?”
“Oh, you know.” Anthony shrugged. “You’re a consultant for the FBI. Something about anthropology and terrorism. The usual coverup bullshit. I stopped listening after I realized the point was ‘go home and keep your mouth shut.’ They’re paying me a fortune never to contact you again.”
So, Rick ran with Maria’s excuse. I scoffed. “Not to make you paranoid or anything, but you should listen to Rick and forget everything that happened with Lilly.”
Anthony’s hazel eyes deadpanned and he swallowed. “Does that mean I have to forget about you?”
I pulled my lower lip between my teeth and nodded.
Anthony drew a breath and looked away. “Are you going to be okay here, Ema? I’ll stay if you’re not. I’ll tell them where they can shove their hush money.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “I’m fine. Really.”
He nodded reluctantly. “Then I guess this is goodbye.”
My heart faltered and I sucked a breath through my teeth. This really is goodbye. Forever this time. I jumped up and wrapped my arms around him, burying my face against his neck, just as I had done a hundred times before. He caught me in his strong arms and lifted me off my feet, just as he’d done a hundred times before. How often did I imagine doing exactly this after we broke up? I missed him while I was away at Jalmari’s castle in Inari. I mourned what we had, and I would miss and mourn him again after this. Seldom do we know the exact moment in time when a chapter in our lives comes to an end, but this was one of those rare times when we both knew. As always, it was too soon. I wasn’t ready.
I slid to my toes. Anthony’s arms were still tight against my spine. His wide puppy-dog pupils glimmered as he stared into my eyes. “This shouldn’t have happened to us.”
I peered up at him, not sure what to say. “Anthony ...”
“Ahem.” We broke away from each other and pivoted to face Sara. The princess looked positively pink with embarrassment. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt—”
“No,” I said a little too quickly. “I mean, you weren’t interrupting anything. I-I mean stay. Finish giving Anthony his tour.” I lowered my gaze as my cheeks warmed.
Sara cleared her throat. “Oh. Okay then.”
The three of us ambled through the many extensive corridors. Sara spoke proudly of the castle’s construction, giving anecdotes of things she remembered from her childhood. She showed us some of the more lavish rooms where the Council held court, and the schoolroom where she spent most of her days as a young girl. I decided not to tell her I had used the vent at the back of the classroom to occasionally spy on her late father. Despite her impressive excursion, Anthony was uncharacteristically quiet through it all, and I wasn’t much help. I had lost track of which wing of the castle we occupied when Maria found us.
“There you are,” she said, as though she had been searching for a while. “It’s time, dear.”
Anthony and I exchange a glance that made it clear neither of us wanted him to go, but he faced forward and followed Maria to the foyer without complaint. At the door, a man in a driving coat waited for them. Rick stood in the room as well.
“I’ll text you as soon as he boards,” Maria murmured to him. Rick nodded.
“I guess this is it.” Anthony faced Sara and me. To the princess he winced and said, “Sorry. I’m not allowed to contact you, either.”
She patted him on the head. “Be a good person. Do good things.”
Anthony arched his brow. “Yeah ... you too, I guess.”
He faced me, and I instantly hugged him. Tight.
His arms folded around my middle and he pressed a kiss to my forehead. His soft lips were like a static shock. I felt it all the way to my core—a ribbon of heat that I wasn’t ready to let go of. Anthony was part of my past, of who I was before I became a vampyre. He was everything I’d lost when Jalmari kidnapped me. Everything I thought I would never get back. And yet ...
If I was honest with myself, Anthony and I had been over long before I met Jalmari.
“Have a good life, Ema.” Anthony stepped back, breaking my hold. I reluctantly stayed rooted to the spot where I stood, not trusting myself to move or speak without coming unglued. He continued walking backward, his hazel gaze never leaving mine. The driver opened one side of the tall double doors and twilight poured into the room, dousing everything in bright orange light. My gaze squeezed shut as I winced to the side and raised my arm for protection. I forced my eyes open. Squinting through a tiny sliver of the edge of my vision, I watched as Anthony’s silhouette blurred away into the evening sun. The door shut, dousing me in darkness. I lowered my hand and sighed, feeling a weight press against my chest.
Anthony was gone.
Chapter 10
I trudged along the tower stairs to the guest wing, my heart heavy. Dad’s awake, Anthony’s gone. How long before my parents join him? As I ascended the final step into the lavish corridor of rooms, my gaze drifted to my father’s closed door. I could scent my mother’s Romani essence mixed in with my father’s musk and decided to shut my senses down before they went any further into my parents’ private business recalling their rather blush-worthy behavior form earlier. Instead, I went to my room and enjoyed the solitude by drawing a bath.
I tried not to think about Anthony while stripping my clothes and settling into the hot water. He will be okay. We’re both better off. I have more important things to focus on. Like Jesu’s latest premonition.
In this very tub not that long ago, I had first witnessed the physical toll his premonitions took. I remembered thinking he’d had a seizure, but that episode was nowhere near as intense as what happened today. When Jesu collapsed in front of the weapons room, it had been frightening to watch his muscles tense with the tremors. Even Maria asked once he came to if it had been a premonition, but Jesu didn’t confirm one way or the other—and I wasn’t positive I wanted to know what he had seen. I had other things on my mind. Rick, for one thing. The looming promise of a punishment selected by the R.E.D.—but also Elite training. My children. Dad’s prophecy.
The prophecy bothered me the most. I didn’t want to believe the possibility. Prophecies were problematic—purposely vague and conveniently open to interpretation. Even Jesu wasn’t perfect at interpreting his own premonitions. Otherwise I would not be in this situation.
But the ruby I trapped Apollyon in did glow when it touched my lower abdomen. I did see the flesh wound in Apollyon’s chest, and Jesu’s original premonition did say a human girl would fight Apollyon. With most of Apollyon’s essence trapped in the ruby, I saw no other way for him to rise again except ...
“The sins of the father seek to grow from the son as strangle weed grows from a tree.”
“The Prince is said to be the embodiment of evil. Only the Princess, his sister, can stop him.”
“You must kill all of him, Ema.”
Jalmari had suffered the same fate that my son now faced. He had the ruby and the jade in his possession, but only I could operate the ruby, thus rendering it harmless in anyone else’s hands. But where was Jalmari? Holding a Council meeting in his cryptic castle in Finland? Or planning his next attack? Sure, he killed Lilith and saved Jesu and me, but to what end? He had warned me that I was not safe from his desire for vengeance, merely lower on his list of priorities. Now that Apollyon was imprisoned and Lilith was dead, was I next?
I leaned against the tub, closed my eyes, held my breath, and then lowered until my head submerged and my spine lay flat. Underwater, I opened my mouth and screamed. The muffled sound released itself as air bubbles that floated to the surfaced. I screamed until my lungs burned. Then I came up, gasping as gulps of cold oxygen coated my throat. My lungs relaxed, but my troubled emotions did not. I fisted my fingers and trembled with the urge to scream again, loud and long and wretched—but I didn’t. Instead, I washed my face, unplugged the drain, dried, and dressed. Maria had arranged all the maternity pants in my closet by color and length, and my mouth teetered in an appreciative smile as I selected a pair along with a shirt and shoes to match. I combed my damp tresses with my fingers then went downstairs.
A day passed since saying goodbye to Anthony, and life went on.
Tonight’s meal consisted of venison cutlets—braised for me, with a side of steamed vegetables and a baked potato—raw for everyone else. Plenty of blood circulated the table in crystal pitchers and glass goblets, completing the high-protein menu. I focused on eating the vegetables first, taking small quick bites that tasted like cigarette butts going down but settled well in my stomach.
Other than Maria, the main bunch was all in attendance. Brinnon sat at the head of the long table with Tancred, Cecelia, and Rick to his right. To the king’s left, his sister Sara and I sat across from the Hand and the Queen Mother respectively. Jesu sat to my right, across from the R.E.D. investigator.
The princess had several expecting-mothers magazines laid out between us and kept pointing to details of interest. “Oh, we definitely have to get you a diaper genie.”
“What on earth is a diaper genie?” Cecelia demanded.
“It’s a machine that packs soiled diapers tightly together to save space and mask the smell.” Sara slid the magazine around to show her mother.
Cecelia snorted. “That’s not a genie, that’s a glorified trash can. In my day if you wanted to reduce waste, you washed the nappy.”
Sara rolled her eyes. “No one uses cloth diapers anymore, mother. It’s not sanitary.”
“Hmph. I suppose it is not for me to say. It’s not my grandchildren.”
“Mother,” Brinnon seethed through his fangs.
“We’ve managed to capture most of the escaped Rebels.” Tancred cleared his throat, as though changing the subject to defuse the tension between mother and son.
“Victor?” Jesu’s attention perked.
Tancred grimaced. “That man is probably on the other side of the world if he knows what’s good for him.”
“Hm.” Jesu shoved a forkful of venison into his mouth and chewed.
“Hey,” I whispered to him. “Can I borrow your cell phone?”
Jesu blinked at me, then swallowed. “Sure.” He rose a few inches from his seat and reached into his back pants pocket, producing his phone.
“You still have Shénshèng’s number?”
He nodded once; his brow furrowed in askance. “Under contacts. Everything all right?”
“Yeah. I’ll give this back after dinner.” I tucked the phone into my own pocket, placed a small piece of potato into my mouth, and then turned my attention back to the der Wölfe family.
“Who cares?” said Cecelia in response to a question I had missed. “I would rather coordinate fecal genies.”
I sucked in a sharp breath, and the potato flew down the wrong pipe. I coughed, dislodging it, then reached for my drink and took a gulp. The beverage went down like liquid silk, coating my insides in warmth and vigor. Energy buzzed from my center to my arms and legs, and I winced in realization at what I had done.
“Excuse me,” I said while rising from my seat.
Jesu put a hand on my lower arm. “Need some help?”
I shook my head. “Just going to go for a quick jog.”
Most of my food was gone anyway and a server swiftly cleared the rest for me as I exited the dining hall and headed to the training room.
I had just entered the armory when my attention went to a presence in the room. Snow stood at the opposite end near a glass table encasing a selection of short swords and daggers. The door to the training room stood just behind him.
“Snow?”
His attention lifted from the glass and found mine. He grinned. “Ema. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
I pulled my lower lip between my teeth. I hadn’t drunk more than a sip, yet the euphoria rose through my system like a slow burn warming my blood and clouding my thoughts. I needed to expel the excess energy any way my happy-go-lucky brain could conceive.
“Do you know how to use those?” I sauntered over to his side and faced the casing. The blades looked ancient, most of them dull, the edges dented from use. The handles, though dirty, were exquisitely crafted in what appeared to be gold and silver alloy with semi-precious stones and articulate sculpting. “They’re pretty.” I could feel his gaze on me, and I turned to grin at him. “Show me how to use one.”
“They’re under lock and key,” he said, scanning my features slowly.
I scoffed and faced the glass encasing. With minimal effort, I phased my right hand and dipped the veil of my invisible essence past the glass barrier to the space inside. I selected a spectacularly decorated dagger—gold with red rubies studding the handle—and phased it.
“Not that one,” said Snow. His gaze was on the weapons displayed inside the glass box. “The ivory one there, with the eye-shaped rune carved into the handle.”
My gaze gravitated to it. The blade was an inch longer than the gold knife and bone-white in color with a symbol carved into the flat side. The symbol looked exactly like the eye etched into the claror talisman that hung around my neck. Distrust spilled into me, tempering the euphoria from before. I pulled my arm out of the casing and let it solidify at my side.
“That symbol,” I said. “What does it mean?”
Snow narrowed his gaze. “Claror,” he said, his voice low and gravelly. “Latin for clarity.”
I pressed a hand against my sternum. The small wooden charm was hidden under my shirt, but I could feel the edges beneath the fibers as my palm flattened against it. My gaze went to the matching talisman on Snow’s wooden bead bracelet. “It warns us when succubae and incubi are near. Even when they are phased.”
Chayton touched the charm dangling from his wrist. His mouth curved with approval as he nodded. “Your father taught you well.”
My father taught me nothing. Not really. “Does this mean you found Valafar?”
“Unfortunately, no. Tracking an incubus is incredibly difficult when they are trying not to be found.”
I sighed in relief and hoped the Hunter mistook it as concern for the safety of everyone in the castle. “What’s the significance of the dagger then?”
“Same as the charm on my bracelet—and your necklace.”
My fingers went to the leather cord around my neck, visible over the low collar of my T-shirt.
“It belongs to the Brotherhood,” Snow continued. “I’d like to return it to our own armory.”
Makes sense. “You won’t tell anyone I phased to get it for you? I already have the R.E.D. here.”
The Hunter chuckled. “To be honest, nobody likes those meddling bastards.”
