Chapter 21
Chapter
Twenty-One
THE FIRST FACE I SEE when my eyes flutter open is Rath’s.
He’s sitting in a chair beside my bed. His forearms are resting on his knees and he spins the ring with the Conrath crest on his finger. His lips are pursed together, concern and maybe anger heavily present there.
A quiet beeping sound draws my attention and at the head of the bed, I notice a monitor and bags with tubes extending from it into my hand.
“You’re awake,” Rath states as I rip the needles out of the back of my hand. Slowly, I sit up, and Rath must know better than to fight me because he simply slips a pillow behind my back to help me up. “Easy.”
My head swims and the room tilts just slightly. I go to rub my eyes when I notice the blood on the back of my hand, caused from my not so gentle removal of the tubes leading into me.
“Not how I recommend removing them,” Nial says. I look to see him pulling something from the drawer of a medical cart that’s magically appeared in my room. He turns toward me and crosses to my bedside. I notice Samuel in the corner, looking miserable.
Nial places gauze on the back of my hand and tapes it to my skin. “You lost a lot of blood.”
“How long was I out for?” I ask as my body gets its bearings. I feel better with every second.
“About six hours,” Rath responds. I look over at him, and realize he won’t look me in the eye. And that makes my stomach feel sick.
“Are you alright, Samuel?” I ask as I tilt my head just slightly and offer him a small smile.
His face is stark white and he looks sick, too. But he nods his head, just a small thing. “I’m so sorry. I swear, it will never, ever happen again.”
I smile at him again. “I know it won’t. You’re forgiven.”
Something seems to lift from his chest and he stands just a little straighter.
“Is she awake?”
The hesitant, sweet voice from my doorway draws my eye. The owner of it stays just out of view, but I recognize it.
“Elle?” I ask, confusion taking over.
She steps into my bedroom, her eyes scared and unsure looking. They dart from Nial to Rath to Samuel and then back to mine. “Hi, Alivia.”
“What are you doing here?” I ask as I sit up a little straighter in the bed. “Boys, I’m fine. Can we have a little privacy?”
Without a word, all three of them clear out of the room, closing the door behind them. Elle watches them go, but she looks only slightly less nervous when she looks back at me.
I pat the bed beside me and she crosses to sit stiffly on the edge of it.
“Ian doesn’t know you’re here, does he?” I ask, even though it’s more of a statement.
Elle shakes her head. “I should be at school. I’m guessing he’s sleeping right now. Or at least, trying to sleep. He had a long night.”
I swallow hard, feeling the ice around my heart attempting to thaw. But I just can’t let it. “How is Lula handling what’s happened?”
Elle takes a moment to answer, her eyes dropping to the bed. “She didn’t seem surprised at all, actually. He finally came home after your party, and he had to tell us the truth. Don’t get me wrong, Lula didn’t seem happy. But she wasn’t surprised either.”
“She knew about the affair?” I ask, and it’s more than one question.
Elle nods, giving a little sniff before looking back up at me. “She did. Lula wouldn’t tell us much about it, just that Mom was hanging with people she shouldn’t have. She wanted things that weren’t right.”
She pauses, her gaze turning inward. I can feel the weight of this young girl’s world, so heavy on her shoulders.
“Elle, is what happened to Ian ever going to happen to you?” I ask.
Once more she meets my eyes. “No,” she responds simply. “Our dad was my biological father. If you saw pictures of him, you’d know without a doubt. The blond hair. Same nose. You really can’t question it.”
I reach out and take her hand. I feel for this girl, so much. She’s lost so much, had too much darkness in her young life.
It’s then that I see the bandage wrapped around her forearm.
“What happened?” I ask, my brow furrowing. My hand reaches up and as my fingertips barely brush it, the tape peals back, revealing a horrific wound.
It’s really not that deep. But it’s so brutal and stark.
There’s the shape of a cross cut into Elle’s flesh.
“Don’t,” she says quietly as she quickly replaces the bandage. And she won’t look back up at me. “It’s fine.
“Elle, that does not look fine,” I gasp in horror. “Who did that?”
“It’s nothing,” she says. “Some kid at school was just pulling a prank.”
“By cutting into your skin?” I’m horrified. Luke said things had gotten bad for the Wards, but this…I never could have imagined this.
“It’s fine,” she says, and she practically yells it, staring into my eyes coldly. “We’re taking care of things.”
I’ve never wanted to take so many things back so badly. This poor girl, so sweet and innocent, stuck in the middle of this war that is so much stronger than she is.
Elle clears her throat and once again doesn’t meet my eyes. “I came here to ask you a favor.”
“Anything,” I promise her.
“Ian wants us to leave. He’s been trying the last few days to get Lula and me to pack up and leave Silent Bend. I think he means for forever. But Lula won’t go. She’s been rather…unpleasant about it.”
I can just imagine…
“And I don’t want to go. My whole life I’ve lived here. I have school. And my friends,” her voice grows quieter, making me question the friend aspect. “And I don’t want to run.”
Her eyes rise up to mine, and I see strength there. Determination.
“I know this King is supposed to be bad and scary, I’m not questioning that,” she says. The conviction in her eyes grows stronger. “But I’m asking you to not say anything about Ian. Please don’t mention anything about our family. We’re just another citizen of Silent Bend. Please.”
Her desperation, her plead, it breaks my heart.
For just a moment, I’m reminded of myself, months ago. Desperate to hold on to normalcy. To protect those I held dearest. From the impending threat and danger.
Now, most of those dangerous threats reside under my own roof.
“I promise,” I breathe. I take her hand again, squeezing tightly to show her how much I mean it.
She lets out a big breath. “Thank you. It really means a lot to me. And,” she reaches into her purse and digs around. “I brought you something I thought might be useful.”
From her bag she produces a rag. Carefully, she shakes out a dozen tiny glass vials.
My eyes rise up to hers and she places a single finger over her lips, commanding silence.
I understand it.
I live in a house full of vampires who have incredibly enhanced hearing. They’ve surely heard every word of our conversation thus far. They don’t need to know what Elle has just brought me.
A dozen doses of the vampire toxin.
I take them in my hand, wrapping my fingers tightly around them. “Thank you,” I say quietly. “I really appreciate it.”
Elle nods and climbs to her feet, indicating she’s ready to leave. Carefully, I slip the toxins into my pillowcase, determined to find a better hiding place later. I stand and we stall at my bedroom door.
“I really am sorry that things didn’t work out between you and my brother,” she says.
“He…well. Ian always had a darkness about him, ever since our parents died, so that’s basically my whole life.
He’s always been angry. But…he was different with you.
I’ve never really seen him happy until he was with you. ”
Crack.
Splinter.
“Thank you,” I say, my voice strained. “I’m sorry, too.”
She offers a little, sad smile. Hesitantly, she wraps her arms around me, taking me in a measured embrace. She steps away, tucking a strand of nearly white hair behind her ear. “Thank you, Alivia. I’ll let myself out.”
“Bye,” I say.
I lean my shoulder in the doorway and watch her go down the stairs.
“She’s a brave little waif, isn’t she?”
Raheem walks out his own bedroom door. I’m taken aback by his appearance at first. He wears a red beanie hat, a black leather jacket, and a pair of jeans. He looks so…normal. So…current century.
He must catch me staring, because a coy grin spreads on his face.
“She’s no one,” I say as the front door closes behind Elle. “No one at all.”
Raheem holds my eyes for a long moment, that smile lingering as understanding and knowledge plays through his expression. “Of course not.”
I stare at him, trying to puzzle him out. One moment he’s flirting and dangerous, the next I’m sure he’ll kill me because I’ve said the wrong thing.
“It’s for the best, you know,” he finally says when I don’t. “A broken heart is never an easy thing, but King Cyrus would not have taken kindly to a lover in the way of finding his Queen.”
“Then it’s a good thing he never could have accepted who I am,” I say. The hollow monster inside of me grows larger.
“A fault that is all his own and quite the shame,” Raheem says as his eyes do not leave me. They study me. The whole me. “You are a most extraordinary being, Alivia Ryan. And I say that having lived nearly a thousand years and having met princesses and assassins. You are a treasure.”
And his intensity and sincerity, it’s something that has impact. Something that catches me in a moment where I feel like I am freefalling.
“Thank you,” I say quietly. “If you’ll excuse me, I have things to take care of.”
I turn from him, ducking back into my room, ignoring the intense feelings running inside of me.
I dress in jeans and a sweater. I twist my hair up on top of my head and pull on thick socks and my boots. Descending the stairs, the small puddles of moisture on the floor draw my attention.
Opening the door, I wonder at the falling snow.
I did some research about a week ago. Mississippi’s annual snowfall is at most, half an inch. And here outside, it is a winter wonderland. I step out into it, off my front porch, out into the driveway. There’s at least four inches and thick, heavy flakes are still falling.
The fact that Elle drove here is impressive.
Just as surprising as the falling snow, is the sky.