Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
HOMEWARD BOUND
Less than a night later we’re on our way home.
Sophie is resting in my bed, one of the Raven guards driving. I leave her and head downstairs, the coach swaying as we turn out of the huge palace gates. My parents are on the sofa while Varin reclines on a chaise, reading, a faint candle lamp the only light.
‘How is she?’ My mother reaches out to me. I go and sit next to her.
‘She’s okay. Deryck healed her wounds, when he took her out of the room. Mentally, though…’
I’m still furious about the incident with Stefan. He finally left the room, perhaps encouraged by Selene returning with several more of Joaquin’s people, none of whom seemed particularly impressed by what he’d done. None of his friends left with him.
I went straight to Sophie as soon as he was gone, Joaquin at my side. ‘I’m so sorry,’ I sobbed, over and over, finally giving into the emotion I’d been holding back.
Bertrand, meanwhile, went to find my parents. They returned a few minutes later in a flash of colour and cool air, Varin and Jennie close behind. Stefan’s father, a tall vampire with the same dark hair and sneering expression as his son, arrived not long after.
‘Why was she outside, Emelia?’ My mother touches my hand. ‘Has she told you any more of what she was doing?’
This is the part I don’t quite understand. Versailles is bound by deep forest, only the roads leading to the palace cleared. Yet Stefan, when interrogated by his furious and embarrassed father, insisted he’d found her near the front gates.
‘I just wanted to see, Emelia,’ she sobbed, as we clung together in the aftermath. ‘It was my fault.’
‘It wasn’t your fault! Nothing about this is your fault. You should be able to go where you want without being attacked!’
It was my decision to go home. I’d had enough. We could have stayed longer, but it seemed better to me that we leave. Prolonging a battle is never necessary. Another of my father’s lessons. As far as I could see, we achieved almost everything we wanted.
Vindhof repledged to us, after the ball.
And, following Stefan’s actions, his father also vowed Ravenko’s support, kissing my ring again.
He also surprised me as we were leaving, bowing deeply before grabbing my shoulders and kissing me on both cheeks, in front of the hastily assembled crowd of nobles.
‘Ravenko honour Raven, as it has always been,’ he’d said, his voice loud enough to carry.
Joaquin also kissed me in front of everyone.
On the hand, thank darkness. ‘Until we meet again,’ he said, all dark promise.
‘Which will be soon.’ I invited him, and his entourage, to the Gathering.
Yes, as a power move, but also because I want to see him again.
It doesn’t feel like love; we barely know each other, after all. But it feels like … something.
I also spoke privately with both Deryck and Joaquin before we left, thanking them for their support.
Joaquin and I may have done more than just talk, if I’m honest. Heat curls in the base of my stomach at the memory of his mouth, his hands on me.
I might be choosing with my head, but it seems my body has something to say about it as well.
‘She hasn’t said much,’ I reply. ‘And I don’t want to push her. I’m just glad Joaquin was there.’
‘Yes.’ My father looks thoughtful. ‘The Jaguar prince seems taken with you. A good thing, I think, though we know so little about them. Him being here, and so obviously allied with you, has strengthened your position immensely.’
‘I like him,’ I say. ‘I hope he comes to the Gathering.’ I curl up on the sofa, yawning.
‘Go and rest. You can use our bed.’ My mother leans in, kissing my brow.
Rest sounds good, actually. I get up, heading into the other ground floor room.
My parents’ bedroom is draped in red velvet, the bed piled high with soft pillows, the huge ebony headboard inlaid with gleaming mother of pearl feathers.
It smells of violets, but also of them: comforting.
I flop down on the bed, pulling the blanket around me.
Despite the success of our visit, I’m still shaken by what happened to Sophie.
If Joaquin and I hadn’t been in the room, she most likely would have been killed.
There’s a knock at the door. ‘Emelia?’ My mother comes in and perches on the bed, her skirts settling around her.
‘What is it? I thought you wanted me to rest.’ I sit up against the pillows.
‘I do.’ She looks down, sighing. ‘But … I need to talk to you about Joaquin, and Jaguar.’ She seems serious.
‘What about him?’ I hug my knees, frowning.
‘I think it important you know our history. All of it.’
‘All of it?’ I’d learned plenty during my lessons, or so I thought.
‘You know Raven took North America from Jaguar.’
I nod, wondering where she’s going with this.
‘It wasn’t that long ago, in the aftermath of the Red Rising. We were all grappling to secure our territories, and Jaguar … well, let’s just say that Joaquin’s father was trying to reinstate the old ways.’
‘The old ways?’
‘His blood temples. Bastardisation of human religion, and utterly, utterly cruel. Children, the elderly. No one was safe.’
‘I thought the Red Rising was a bloodbath everywhere.’ I feel a bit sick.
‘Only because people fought back.’
‘What the hell did you expect them to do? Lie down and take it?’
My mother’s brow creases. ‘I know that Varin spoke to you of the reasons for the Rising. We wanted balance, for the night to belong to us once more. But it became … more complicated, and so the current system was instated. Things settled down. Humans began breeding once more, their numbers rising. And it felt as though balance was returning.’
The Famine and the Blood Agreement. I knew about those.
Humans refused to cede control to vampires and were therefore hunted almost to extinction, until vampires realised that they needed to protect their food.
The Blood Agreement was brought into place, Safe Zones set up and, at least as I’ve been taught, human numbers began to rebound once they were able to live safe, settled lives.
Of course, the reality of that idyllic vision became abundantly clear when I visited an actual Safe Zone and saw the harvesting plant, the hopelessness of human lives.
‘Really?’ I don’t bother to hide my scorn. There was nothing balanced about it.
‘I know it wasn’t perfect. But it was peaceful, at least. Then humans began disappearing. Entire Safe Zones cleared out in a single night.’
‘Entire Safe Zones?’ I never learned about this in my lessons.
My mother nods. ‘It became clear quite quickly who was responsible. The one person who refused to set up proper Safe Zones. Whose human population continued to decline.’
‘Jaguar.’
‘Jaguar. Sending his ships, landing at sunset, overwhelming any guards and simply stealing the humans away.’
‘Overwhelming the guards?’
‘Jaguar are fierce warriors. But we weren’t going to take it lying down and wanted to protect our humans. So, Raven went to war.’
God. This is awful. Those poor people. ‘Why just Raven? Why not Lion or Scorpion?’
‘Scorpion was dealing with a rebellion already – oh, yes, the North Wind is not the only time humans have tried to take things back – while Lion were happy to stay where they were. So, it was up to us. We drove Jaguar south, to central America, where we had our final standoff. We had the numbers, his forces decimated due to a lack of blood, thanks to the very thing we were fighting for. His poor policies were what undermined him in the end. But we also had no more stomach for fighting. We wanted to return home to our families, to our lives. So, we struck an agreement.’
‘You let him keep South America.’
‘We did. Out of respect for the family line. A line was drawn at the Panama Canal, with Raven holding everything north of it. Jaguar got to keep everything south. He wasn’t happy about it; Prince Joaquin’s father is a …
complicated man, at best. But he knew he had no choice.
He set up Safe Zones, not long after, though I hear they’re not as well-regulated as they should be. ’
‘You hear?’
‘You have to understand, the great families… We’re close with Lion, but Scorpion and Jaguar went their own way, millennia ago. We know little about their courts or their customs. That’s why it was a surprise to see Joaquin at Versailles. Especially when he offered you his support.’
‘He told me he had a sister like me. Perhaps that’s why he’s open to change.’
My mother’s brows draw together. ‘I see,’ she says. ‘That might explain things.’
‘He said I didn’t want to know what his people did to children like me.’
My mother blinks. ‘I was there, Emelia. I saw the temples, the blood running down the steps, the broken bodies. No humans were safe, no matter their age. It was all so wasteful.’
‘Wasteful? They were people, not sandwiches!’
My mother’s eyes widen. ‘Emelia, I didn’t mean—’
‘Don’t you see that humans had no choice but to sign the Blood Agreement?
They wanted their children to be safe, the same way you want me to be safe.
But did you ever wonder, when you fought for my life, about the world I’d be ruling?
If I can’t even make small changes, like moving the guards from live food to blood pouches, then how am I ever supposed to achieve anything bigger?
You tell me that things take time for vampires, but I don’t have time! ’
My mother is silent, red lining her eyes.
‘Maybe I should have stayed in the Safe Zone, pretending I was living a lovely human life, even though I didn’t have to bleed into a bag once a month. My reign will be a novelty, because humans, like me, are seen as food and nothing more.’
‘They are food!’ My mother’s voice is sharp.
I recoil, cold shock running through me.
‘But they are so much more,’ my mother continues. A red tear slides down the porcelain curve of her cheek. ‘You are so much more. We ignore what humans are because it’s easier that way, not to face the reality of what we’ve done.’
‘Then help me change it. Help me make it so that humans like Sophie can go for a walk and not be food for idiots like Stefan. You all lived together in harmony, once. I know we can’t go back to how it was before the Rising. But surely there’s a way for us to make it safer for humans, too.’
My mother is silent, her dark gaze turned down.
‘You’re right,’ she says. ‘Of course you are.’ Echoes of words spoken in a jewelled chamber. But this time, I think she means it.
‘I did what I needed to do here,’ I say.
‘I showed them all who I was, and we managed to get two families back on our side. I also realise I couldn’t have done it alone.
That without you, and father, and Joaquin, things might have been different.
But that’s the whole point. I can’t do this alone.
You and Father say you support me; now we need to show the world that it’s not just me wanting to change things. ’
My mother nods. ‘I did wonder,’ she says.
‘When you were born. You were so small, so fragile. So inexpressibly beautiful. I knew the path wouldn’t be easy, but even then …
I felt it could be something wonderful. The biggest mistake your father and I made was bringing you up as one of us, in the darkness.
And not realising that things needed to change. ’
‘You didn’t know any different. And I like the darkness.’ It’s like our roles are reversed: she is the child, and I am the mother, reassuring her. ‘I needed to have that experience, so I could appreciate the light.’
My mother comes to sit next to me, pulling me into her arms. I relax against her as she strokes my hair. ‘So, what now?’ she says.
‘I don’t know. I can’t replicate the Channel Islands, so I need to think of something else. I can’t stop blood donations, but I don’t want humans to be trapped anymore.’
‘We can keep working on it. Look at what you’ve achieved in just a few months.’
‘Do you think Joaquin is a bad choice for me? Because of what happened with his father?’
‘What? As a consort?’ She pauses. ‘I don’t think it’s a bad thing, necessarily. Though you’re young to be thinking of this.’
‘It’s symbolic of what I want to achieve. A human and a vampire, living together.’
‘Yes. But do not sacrifice your own heart for what you think others want to see. It’s one of the few choices you, as a ruler, can make selfishly. Don’t give it up if you don’t have to.’
‘He likes what I want to do. I think, even if we don’t … I think he could be a friend, if nothing else.’
My mother nods. ‘Of course. He wasn’t the only one interested in you, though.’
I don’t say anything.
‘The Vindhof boy.’ My mother smiles. ‘And Corinna Eligor, if that’s your preference. Both would also be very capable lieutenants.’
‘Oh.’ It’s no surprise that Deryck was interested in me. And Corinna, I later discovered, was the girl holding Stefan back when he tried to attack me. ‘They both seemed … nice.’
‘Yes, they did. You certainly have options, if you want them. I just wanted you to know a little more about what you might be choosing.’
‘What about the rest of it?’
Her expression becomes serious once more. ‘It is time for change. Let’s get you crowned, and we can work out what happens next.’ She kisses me on the forehead then leaves the room, a gliding, silken glimmer. I sit there, thinking.
I will do what it takes, to hold the realm.
Mistral’s Challenge might have collapsed, but it won’t be the last I’ll face in my reign.
As I said to my mother, I can’t do this alone.
I need someone strong at my side. Combining our territories, our strengths, is a smart way to do that.
There’s also a kind of poetry to it, a healing of old wounds.
I know I’m young, but I don’t have forever.
I ignore the small tendril of doubt in my stomach. Kyle is gone. Michael is gone.
Joaquin is just what I need.