59. I Hate Surprise Parties
59
I Hate Surprise Parties
Idris
N ever, in all my years, had I suffered humiliation on this scale, clinging to the back of a vampire to infiltrate a castle that was, by all the laws of inheritance, mine. Magic crackled in my veins, eager to obliterate the threat to my pride. It took every ounce of grit I possessed to keep myself from striking the tower to smithereens, just to spare myself this ordeal. It didn’t help that I was easily a head taller than my undead mount, and twice as broad. I looked ridiculous.
I didn’t need to look down to see Anwir’s gloating grin. It would be his turn soon enough, and his ego made my own fade into insignificance. He wouldn’t be smirking for long.
Jacques showed none of the care he’d given Aliza, and scuttled up the tower with unnerving speed. Perhaps he was as eager to be rid of me as I was him, or maybe he hoped his speed would have my grip faltering, sending me to a gruesome fate on the cobbles, far below. He certainly flirted with Aliza enough to have a motive, beyond the centuries-long feud between our kinds.
Nevertheless, he delivered me safely to the top of the tower, disappearing the moment I’d dislodged myself from his back. Aliza, pale-faced and white-knuckled, perched beside a misshapen hole in the enormous dome. She gave me a wan smile that had my magic stirring again. Maelgwyn was, once again, the cause of her suffering. He was the reason her usually vibrant smile had faded into a ghost of its former glory.
“They’re not here,” she said, her voice small and barely discernible over the wind.
It was gusty up here, but not on the level of flying, where the rushing air stripped tears from your eyes and attempted to drag you from the saddle.
I edged along the wall, close to the melted hole. Heat still radiated from the glass, but I leaned close enough to examine the observatory. There was no sign of life within its shadowy depths. Few places a prisoner or two might hide.
“Where else could they be?”
The circular room encompassed the entire breadth of the tower, but for the cupboards, shelves and sconces built into the walls. Those sconces had once housed marble statues of the winged angels—long ago guardians of the Evermore, and the souls who resided there—lit by candles glowing at their pedestals. I’d loved them as a boy, almost as much as I’d loved the view of the sky the observatory offered. Now, the arched hollows stood dark and empty. Fitting, considering the fate of the angels at the hands of the gods.
Their bloody rise to power had come in the early days of recorded history, and angels had not been glimpsed since the days of Queen Claudia, but the records lived on. If my uncle truly was foolish enough to believe the gods his allies, then he might well have been affronted by the beautiful sculptures. What else had he erased ?
“There are more rooms lower in the tower,” I replied, keeping the doubt from my voice. I looked up, meeting Aliza’s eyes. “If they’re here, we’ll find them. We won’t leave without them.”
Jacques chose the moment to reappear, this time carrying Pansy. The witch trembled violently as she slithered from his back. He lingered slightly longer than he had with me, ensuring his latest delivery had her balance before he departed. Prick. Next came Sage, and finally Anwir. After ridding himself of my brother, the vampire edged sideways around the walls, bypassing us all, only to climb up on Aliza’s far side. He shot me a toothy grin over her shoulder. Had she not been between us, the temptation to plant my boot in his chest and send him toppling into the night might have overwhelmed me. His grin grew, as though he knew full well what I was thinking.
“Let’s get this debacle over with, shall we?” Anwir said.
I held my hand out to hover over the glass. The heat baking my palm was surprising, considering the cool air this high above the city. Surprising, and concerning. There was no way we’d squeeze through the hole without burning.
“It’s still too hot.” I shot my brother a glance. “Can you cool it?”
For years before the curse, we’d both suppressed our magic, afraid that we’d be caught out. Identified. Even now, Anwir refused to use it, but I could see no other choice. His glowering eyes darted between Pansy and Jacques, potential new witnesses to this little revelation. Electricity hummed over my skin, preparing to strike should he attempt to push the witch to her death in an effort to protect our secret. Jacques… I could deal with his loss.
“Oh, come along, Anwir,” Sage snapped. “Pansy won’t say a word, will you? ”
“About what?” The witch’s voice was an octave higher than usual, tinged by panic. “I mean, no. Of course not.”
“And what of him?” he jerked his head at the vampire.
“Whatever this is about, fée, I assure you, I do not care.”
Anwir gave me one last lingering glare, and had it not been for the obscurity of the laws surrounding murdering kin, I knew it would have been me taking an unfortunate tumble. While there was still a chance for him to inherit the throne, however slim, his ambition could do me no harm, unless he figured out a way to cast a curse and be rid of me, just like our dear old uncle.
A rain-kissed scent filled the air a moment before shimmering water encased the dome with a hiss, shifting and rippling in the wind. Steam curled from the edges of Aliza’s work, the water bubbling and spitting until—
A crack speared through the glass, almost lightning-like in its formation.
“Stop!” But Anwir’s power had already retreated, and the damage was already done.
The world seemed to hold its breath along with us as we waited for the crack to grow, for the structure to collapse in a cascade of shards, alerting the castle to our presence, but the seconds dragged by, and the dome held.
I blew out a long breath, relief softening my muscles.
Aliza pressed a hand to the glass. “Still hot, but not enough to burn.”
Nothing else blocked our path. It was time.
I held Aliza’s gaze. When she’d woken me from the cursed sleep, it had been the hair I’d noticed first, so beautiful and vibrant after centuries of darkness, but her eyes came a close second. As clear and bright as a winter sky. The late hour veiled their colour, but I’d see that blue again. Tomorrow.
There would be a tomorrow. We would both make it out of this alive, and perhaps tomorrow I’d finally answer her. It hadn’t been a question, what she’d said earlier, but it required a reply all the same.
Don’t tell me you don’t feel it.
I did. I felt it, and I would tell her so, just as soon as we had her parents safely ensconced at Nairsgarth. Just as soon as I could get her alone. We would have that opportunity.
For now, I lowered my eyes, sweeping the observatory one final time, then jumped through the melted glass, landing lightly.
Nothing sprang forth. No alarms blared. Nobody cried out for help. The room was silent and still. I eased to my full height, searching the shadows. Nothing lurked in the dark alcoves, or under the desk. We were alone. The dry, dusty scent of old paper mingled with the fresh night air wafting through the new opening in the glass, and a potted trailing plant’s vines swayed from its place atop the bookshelf, disturbed by the night breeze.
I looked up, searching for eerie, pale eyes among the silhouettes staring down at me. My jaw clenched involuntarily, but against my better judgement, I said, “Jacques. Welcome to Serensedd Palace. Come in.”
The vampire flashed his teeth, and my skin iced over. What exactly had I done by inviting such a creature into my childhood home?
Aliza dropped slowly from above, dangling from Jacques’ hands. I caught her waist and lowered her to the floor. The vampire hopped down beside her, as silent as a shadow, his eyes over-bright in the gloom. The witches followed, first Pansy, then Sage, lowered by Anwir, who eased through the hole and slipped into the room, his boots thudding slightly on impact.
“Be wary of shades,” Sage whispered, drawing her sword, for all the good it would do her against those demonic creatures. If they found us, only my lightning would hold them at bay, one of the many reasons my uncle had been so keen to dispose of me, no doubt.
I reached over my shoulders. The tips of my fingers had barely brushed the hilts of my swords when a reedy, amused voice rang out behind us.
“What a lovely night for a family reunion.”