Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
A QUESTION OF BALANCE
‘Why are we even bothering to do this!’
‘Your project still has promise, Emelia. Do not let one thing—’
‘One thing? It was the North Wind banner! You warned me, even when I trusted them, and now I’ve been betrayed again.’
My father’s brows lower over his golden gaze as he paces the length of the coach, his arms folded.
‘What do you want to do?’ My mother’s voice is quiet, threaded with concern. For me. Because this is my mess, and now I have to clean it up.
I feel like an idiot. Andrew cut the tour short as soon as we saw the banner, taking us back to the quayside.
The film crew were taken inside, after my parents and I gave them a few quotes about how pleased we were to see the project going well.
We all lie so expertly for the cameras. Afterwards, Andrew came to us.
‘This will be dealt with,’ he said, his voice hard.
‘How? This was the deal I made with you, that the North Wind ends.’ My voice shook a little, which made me even angrier. ‘I trusted you!’
‘And we will not betray that trust, or our deal. The rebellion … it took everything from me. And it is over.’ He gritted the words out. ‘We have our own methods of dealing with this. Please. Don’t take this place from us.’ His voice caught, desperation in his eyes.
We left him on the quay, returning to the coach to discuss things.
And now I’m sitting on the sofa while my father paces like an angry lion, my mother frets, Varin a watchful presence in the shadows.
‘What do I want to do?’ I shake my head.
‘Go home. What’s the point? Why the hell did either of you think I could do this?
’ My words curl through the room like a lash.
I regret them almost immediately. My mother flinches.
My father stops dead, then flashes over to me.
‘You do not give up,’ he growls. ‘And we are not going home! You have a job to do, and you need to do it. Make your decision. You can end this settlement now, move everyone into their own Safe Zone where they can cause no more trouble. Or you clear the place out. Execute everyone.’ His lip curls.
‘Or let them stay, and work through their mistakes. What kind of ruler do you want to be?’
Not the kind of ruler who executes an entire community. I know that. But I also know something else.
It’s not going to work.
I had an idea, of a world where humans could be free to choose their path.
But the banner incident aside, this whole thing feels like a joke.
No different to a Safe Zone, apart from the lack of vampires.
What in darkness was I thinking, putting a group of humans on undefended islands?
Yes, there are Raven boats patrolling the seas, but they cannot be everywhere.
I was a fool to trust the North Wind. So long as the inequality between humans and vampires exists, there can never be true peace. I need to think of something else.
‘It’s a disaster,’ I mutter, dropping onto the sofa.
‘It’s not a disaster.’ My mother sits with me, her hand covering mine. ‘It was … it’s a beautiful idea.’
‘But we all know why it won’t work. And now this. I should just shut it down.’
‘Are you sure that’s what you want to do?’ My father’s voice softens, and he sits on the other side of me.
I think of children playing in the sunshine.
Of freshly painted houses, seedlings growing, people walking on the beach.
All the hard work I’ve done. And for what?
To be betrayed? I’m sick of betrayal. But I’m also sick of things being the way they are.
Shutting the project down feels like admitting I can’t change anything.
‘No. Not yet. I’ll give them one more chance. But the place needs to be monitored. Any other signs of rebellion and it’s over.’ I’m exhausted, heartsore.
‘We need to talk about what happens next.’ My mother, still quiet.
‘What’s there to talk about? I know what I’m supposed to do when we get to Jennie’s.
Win everyone over with how amazing I am, so they don’t want to challenge my right to rule and fight father.
Except, I’m not amazing, and I doubt anyone will think that!
’ Tears come to my eyes. ‘Just because you say I deserve the crown, it doesn’t mean I actually do. ’
‘Correct.’ My father’s voice is grave. ‘And it’s important you understand that.
Vampires honour the ancient bloodlines, but they still hold their rulers accountable.
It’s why things like the Challenge exist, why we anoint our heirs at eighteen, passing the crown on even though we are still able to rule.
It is to guard against tyranny, against weakness, against a ruler who stays too long. ’
‘And each heir has to learn how to rule,’ my mother says.
‘I do not want to spend the next twenty years making mistakes while you watch over my shoulder!’ I hiss. ‘There are five families who think I’m not fit to rule. Maybe they’re right!’
I get up, unable to take any more, heading to my room and closing the door.
I sit on the bed, pulling my knees to my chest. I want to go home.
More than that, I want to go back to the Safe Zone, to my little white house with Michael and Laurel.
But Laurel is dead and the house is empty.
And Michael, no matter how I want it to be different, is gone. Giving up is not an option.
There’s a knock on my door. I ignore it. It’s probably my mother. But the door opens to reveal Varin, holding a steaming mug of tea. He crosses my room, light on his feet, placing the tea next to me.
‘May I?’ He gestures to the end of my bed.
‘Yes.’ Sophie will die when I tell her about this. The thought cheers me a little. The bed shifts as Varin sits down, his raven-dark hair in waves around his handsome face.
‘Did my parents send you up here to talk to me?’
‘Your parents are worried about you,’ he says, his voice gentle. ‘We all are.’
‘I shouldn’t have shouted at you earlier. I’m sorry.’
‘No, you should have. There’s nothing wrong in standing up for what you believe.’
‘It doesn’t matter, anyway. Nothing’s going to change. My project is a disaster. The families don’t think I’m fit to rule.’ I rub the ache in my chest, my throat raw. ‘I can’t even do the Morningstar properly!’
‘Firstly, being able to do the Morningstar at the speed of myself, or your father, requires years of practice. We’re both impressed by how well you’ve picked things up.
You’re coming along quickly but can’t expect to master it in a matter of weeks.
I knew humans who could do it, though, and none of them had vampire blood like you.
As for the rest of it … yes, what you saw tonight is a setback for your project.
It doesn’t mean it’s a disaster, though.
You will respond, and they will regret what they did.
But what you’ve done out there, what you’ve created, is very much as things were.
It’s a shame, I think, how much has been lost in the intervening years. ’
‘What was it like, before the Red Rising?’
‘In the old world?’ Varin smiles a little, his gaze distant.
‘It worked, for a long time, until it didn’t.
Vampires were legend to most people, and we were happy to remain separate, hunting near battlefields, in the darkness of forests and tangled city streets, generations of human families content to work for us and with us, while keeping our secrets. ’
‘If you were so happy, why did the Rising happen? Vampires already ruled the night.’
Varin’s dark brows come together. ‘It was…’ His frown deepens and, in one fluid motion, he stands and draws his sword.
I tense. But Varin simply balances the blade across one finger, light catching the ribbon of steel. ‘You see this, how the sword is balanced. Everything equal, held at a point of equilibrium.’
I nod.
‘That’s how it was, for centuries upon centuries. Vampires ruled the night, as you say; their world mostly separate from that of humans, who ruled the day.’
‘Why take over, then?’
‘Night was being taken from us. We can take a little light, as you know, like the gleam of that candle lamp.’ He nods to the one on the nearby table.
‘But as the human population grew in both volume and technology, all of a sudden, lights were everywhere, polluting the night sky so we could no longer see the stars, their beams becoming more and more powerful, spreading across the globe. We were pushed into the shadows, relegated to pop-culture villains. It became almost impossible for vampires to hunt, our people starving. So, we took action. We took back the night.’
‘But you took the days as well,’ I say. ‘You took everything.’
‘I agree.’ Varin moves his hand, and his sword drops to one side. He catches it by the hilt, sheathing it, utterly lethal, utterly beautiful. ‘The balance was too far gone one way. Now it is too far gone the other.’
‘All because there was too much light?’ This seems hard to believe.
‘Light is lethal to us. Blood is what we need to survive. It seemed logical, at the time.’
‘Do you still think it’s logical?’
Varin shakes his head. ‘No.’
‘My parents seem to think I just want to help humans. But I want something that works for both sides.’ I get up and walk over to the window.
The night sky is soft with clouds, a glimmer of pale moon visible.
‘A world where humans are free isn’t going to work.
But things can’t stay as they are. Not while I’m the Raven.
There has to be a reason I was born this way, that my mother fought to keep me alive.
I represent both sides, vampire and human.
I can move freely in both worlds. If I can’t fix this, then who can? ’
‘There are many who think there is nothing to be fixed.’
‘I know.’ Below us, Raven guards run through drills, flashing across the paved expanse of the quay, wielding weapons with perfect precision.
I remember another dark practice ground, guards with pikes and swords.
Punishment from my father, for the lie I told.
I’ve come a long way since then. ‘But it’s not going to stop me trying. ’
Varin is silent for a moment. Then he speaks.
‘I have trained with many warriors,’ he says.
‘Men, women, human, vampire. Each of them with their own story to tell, their own goals. Some achieved what they wanted to do. Others did not. But what was important was that they tried. They gave themselves to the dance with their whole hearts, and they believed in themselves. It wasn’t anything I could teach them; they already had to hold it, here.
’ He puts his palm flat on his chest. ‘You said, when you saw your father do the Morningstar, that you heard the steel sing. Which is true, in a way. But what you also felt, what also resounded within you, was intention. A call to the song you carry that is unique to you. Hold on to that, Emelia. The dance may become difficult at times, the steps harder to learn. But as long as it calls to you, don’t stop. ’
I blink back tears, obscurely comforted. From the moment we met, Varin has always treated me as a whole person. Never pandered to my humanity, never made me feel as though we were different in any way. ‘Thank you.’ My voice is husky.
He nods once, smiling. ‘I am always here for you, Emelia.’ Then he’s gone, soft and silent as a shadow, the door clicking shut behind him.
I go back to bed and sip my tea, thinking about my intentions and what I want to achieve, as night turns to day and the coach starts moving once more.
I came back for a reason, and now I’m following through, growing my fangs, claiming my power.
I dream of a world where humans and vampires live side by side as equals, like the society in the old documents my father found.
I imagine being a warrior, strong and capable, mastering the Morningstar.
And later, as I drift off to sleep, the warrior becomes Michael, beautiful as the sun, his muscles shifting as he moves through the dance.
When I wake the sun is setting, and the coach is no longer moving.
Through my window I see the bulk of a huge building, the ornate twists of an iron fence against a sky that shimmers gold and ice-blue; the clouds rumpled as though someone dragged a stick through them.
Versailles. Ancient home of French nobility.
Built by humans, now home to the De Corbeau family.
And the place where I will fight for my crown.