Dark Heiress, page 2
part #5 of Ema Marx Series
I took the foyer stairs to the second landing and then opened the door to the spiral tower, climbing the stone steps to the guest wing. So much had happened in such a short time, and it was only now hitting me. I paused somewhere in the middle of the tower and pressed my spine flat against the curvature of the stone wall. My ribs constricted against my lungs as images assaulted my memory. Of all the things to agonize over, the recollection of Jesu lying on the dirty floor of the dimly lit gallery room held my mind hostage. The beam of the projector light flickered through the mental image like the ominous haze of a bad 1980s horror film. I drew a deep breath and closed my eyes.
I couldn’t recall much about the room itself; couldn’t remember the faces of the twenty or thirty other people who were killed by proxy; couldn’t even conjure Jalmari’s expression or hear the words he spoke. All I remembered was Jesu.
He lay on his back, too still. Too quiet. Too breathless. A beam of green light had hit him square in the chest. A hole the size of a fist burned through his shirt, welting the smooth muscle beneath. He was dead. The man I loved was gone in an instant, his body nothing more than a husk. The truth of it hit me like a freight train—too real and visceral to wrap my mind around.
I clutched the jutted rock behind me as if I could physically keep myself from falling apart at the memory. He’s downstairs, I reasoned with myself. He is alive and fine and none the wiser. It’s just all this stress ... too many near deaths.
Jalmari had revived Jesu using Apollyon’s philosopher’s stone and my blood, but I hadn’t had time to consider what that meant. I didn’t even have time to question how Jalmari knew where we would be or that we would need him. I was just so relieved that Jesu was okay.
But what difference does it make?
I had thought, for a fleeting moment, that it might be better to throw caution to the wind; hang the contract, and hang my insecurities. Just love Jesu for however long I could. Wasn’t I lucky to get a second chance?
The truth, though, was that nothing had changed. I still signed the contract with Brinnon, selling my soul to the entire Alpan royal family.
Congratulations. You got everything you wanted.
I was leaving in a year to become an assassin. One year. How would loving him now be fair to either of us?
Besides, Jesu had a contract of his own.
Jesu
A small voice whispered in the back of my mind; the words more comparable to the sensation of a light breeze than sound, the command like a photograph that had lost its color to the passage of time: “Keep her alive.”
I closed my eyes a moment, letting the sensation pass. Opening them, I peered into the cup I had prepared for Ema. Red liquid life stared back. “It is not like her,” I murmured. “To not gorge herself.”
“Hm?” Maria stared to the side, likely more preoccupied with the goings-on behind the infirmary door than my musings. I listened as well, one ear acutely aware of every breath Logan and the Hunter summoned.
“The blood,” I explained before taking a sip for emphasis. “She walked away without drinking it.”
“Can you blame her for not having an appetite?”
I could not. Except Ema was with child. Two of them, to be exact. I tried to recall how other vampyresses behaved while pregnant; what was considered normal? But I had never paid attention to such things before.
If Maria is not concerned, then there must not be cause for alarm.
Across the hall, the door to the king’s office opened and Brinnon approached along with his Second in Command, Tancred. Maria and I straightened our postures, acknowledging the presence of a sovereign as custom demanded.
“Tancred tells me the Huntsman has arrived,” said Brinnon.
“He’s inside,” said Maria. “He gave strict orders not to be disturbed, for Logan’s sake, until he completes his assessment. I would like to request the help of a guard.”
Brinnon nodded. “Tancred, station someone for them. And see that Mr. Chayton is given comfortable accommodations should he need to stay longer.”
Tancred nodded, then stalked off, presumably to complete the request.
My gaze narrowed, following the Alpan’s back until he disappeared beyond the corridor. Tancred might have regained the trust of his king, but he had lost mine completely the moment he endangered Ema with that scheme to end Lilith. I had verbally threatened him in Shanghai, but my fangs itched to do worse.
“If that is all, I’ll be on my way.” Brinnon nodded and then left at a slower pace than his Hand.
“You know,” said Maria once Brinnon was out of sight, “you haven’t given me the finer details regarding what happened in China.”
“Ask my brother,” I said, turning my thoughts away from Tancred. “He was there.”
I wasn’t sure how Jalmari managed it, but my suspicions were on the matriarch standing before me. Her dark gaze narrowed.
“I’m more curious about the Ch’ing Shih, Shénshèng. What did she tell you?”
“Nothing,” I lied. I smoothed a hand down the front of my shirt, thinking of the claror necklaces from earlier. Thank goodness Ema had hers. The blasted incubus responsible for Logan’s current state was still out there. He could be listening to our conversation right this very moment and we would be none the wiser. “There is nothing to be done for the boy.”
Maria’s brow lifted. “Boy?”
“Fraternal twins,” I said. “A boy and a girl. That was all we got from the alchemist.”
Maria gave me a sidelong glance and crossed her arms; a sign that meant she knew I was lying. I smirked in response. She had known me all of my very long life. Since birth, I suspected, though I couldn’t remember that far back. Of course, that meant I knew her just as well, and I knew she would drop the topic. For now.
Not wanting to wait around for the guard, I turned and walked away without an excuse. Maria stayed behind. As I crossed the ballroom, I thought about the truth. Shénshèng wasn’t just an alchemist, but a Seer as well. From what I could tell, she peered into the future at will, the way Mother used to. And like Mother, she guarded her knowledge, giving Ema just enough information to make her worry.
The sins of the father seek to grow from the son as strangle weed grows from a tree.
Apollyon cheated death once already by possessing Jalmari’s body like a parasite. Now he was doing it again, using the body of my yet unborn baby brother.
I paused in the foyer and blinked in realization.
Baby brother.
I had thought the twins were conceived through Jalmari, but Shénshèng suggested a far more repulsive reality. Apollyon used Jalmari to deposit his own seed. I hadn’t forgiven myself for not realizing it sooner; for not saving him or Ema from our father’s corruption. Thank goodness Ema was able to exact her revenge and entrap Apollyon in her own version of a philosopher’s stone. But where is the ruby now?
I entered the foyer while pulling my cell phone from my pocket and paused before the banisters. My gaze rose to the set of doors along the second landing. Ema’s scent left a fresh trail leading to the tower. She had said she needed air but went to her room instead.
All the better. It was stupid, but I was never comfortable with her leaving the safety of the castle walls. Bad things tended to happen when she went outside. I worked my jaw, still hesitating at the bottom of the steps, as her confession came to mind.
They’re calling it the Alpan-Marx Protection Act.
I knew she would sign the bloody document. Didn’t make it any less hurtful.
She did not do it to hurt you, mate. She did it for her kids.
I sighed and turned away, facing the castle doors. Too many times I wanted to shake her. Too many times I wanted to tell her to get over herself. Just let me love you. But I couldn’t deny that she was right to keep her distance. I wasn’t hers, and she wasn’t mine. Our paths might’ve crossed, but they were not meant to stay together, and the fork in the road loomed ever closer.
I dialed Jalmari’s number then cradled the device between my chin and shoulder while pulling my sunglasses from another pocket and placing them over my eyes. The line trilled as I opened one side of the castle’s large double doors. The morning light bathed my senses in the humid heat of summer. I drew a deep breath, inhaling the scent of maple saplings and dandelion pollen as a weight lifted from my shoulders. Despite the annoyance of the sun’s harsh rays, nothing soothed the spirit quite like nature.
Voicemail answered the call.
I hung up without leaving a message and tucked the phone into my pants pocket, knowing Jalmari would call back when he felt like it. The sun’s uncomfortable heat against the pallid skin of my bare arms prompted my steps. I stuck close to the cobblestone wall, using its shadow as protection, and rounded the castle’s exterior to the small wooden gate at the back of the stone fence. Past the gate, a footpath led downhill to what would become a creek if ever the summer rains came, but I knew of a wider, deeper river that ran through the woods not too far from here. To the right of the divot was an abandoned barn. On the other side was the forest. Her emerald beauty beckoned like a woman on the prowl.
Something triggered my senses as I followed the decline—a shifting of the air, a presence—and I paused to examine it. Vampyres, I realized as the familiar scent hit home. Brinnon’s soldiers. They patrolled the castle grounds in their beast forms, but I was a guest of the king. I could roam where I wished.
I climbed the grassy knoll to the first line of tall shrubs and then shrank down to the size of a house cat. My clothes fell in a puddle of cotton and I padded over them, feeling the cool earth between my claws. Picking up the scent of freshwater and the sound of a current running over smooth pebbles, I trotted through the woods under the shade of large oaks and tall pines. I reached the riverbank quickly and admired the rushing rapids. Some men used cold showers to work through their frustrations. I preferred to swim until my brain went numb.
I started to shift back into my vampire form when the murmur of gruff voices gave me pause. They grew louder and more urgent, and I realized they only sounded faint at first because they were far away. As they neared, the rapid slap of footsteps joined what was becoming shouts of hysteria, and I realized a group of civilian vampires was running through the woods as though their lives depended on it. Soldiers ran after them. The military’s shouts for them to stop suggested that perhaps the vampires were running for their lives.
What a quandary. Stay and enjoy the lavish rapids, or join in the chase? I did not know what the civilians had done to trigger the king’s men—only that running and catching them would definitely take my mind off other matters. I could always return to the brook after.
The decision made, I rose to my full height, and the sky darkened.
Chapter 2
Damp tresses framed my face as I glanced sideways at my reflection in the full-length mirror. The button of my jeans fastened, but barely. The buttonhole stretched taut as the waistband squeezed my bloated belly, and I sighed. A knock at the bedroom door drew my attention, and my acute senses zeroed in on the scent that lingered just behind the threshold. My mind put an identity to the familiar perfume.
“Come on in, Sara,” I called out while pulling a T-shirt over my bra. The claror necklace rested against my skin, hidden under the shirt. The door swung open as I added a silver rose bracelet, a gift from Jesu. It once held my philosopher’s stone in a small charm, but I didn’t have time to ponder the stone’s whereabouts before my nasal cavity was caressed by the buttery-sweet scent of oatmeal, toast, and sausage links.
“I hope you’re hungry,” the princess sang as she lowered two serving trays onto the nightstand near the bed.
I released a wistful sigh. If only human food still tasted the way it used to. The improved menu options must have been Mom and Anthony’s doing while Dad and I were away. All the items still came pre-cooked, needing only heating and maybe a little extra butter, but it beat eating canned soup three times a day.
“Starving,” I said while poking a sausage link with a fork. I wanted to pop the entire thing in my mouth but settled on a cautious nibble. Human food tasted like licking an ashtray ever since I became a vampyre. “Mom’s taking a shower.” An unfortunate truth, since my mother’s natural Romani scent stunk up the entire room. I was getting used to the rancid scent of her essence, but it always worsened after she took a shower, like soap and shampoo somehow amplified the scent instead of masking it.
Sara nodded. “I brought something else, too.”
“Oh yeah?” I sat on the edge of the bed and took another small bite. The princess dipped a hand into her pocket while I side-eyed the toast. She produced a few folded magazine pages and opened them while sitting beside me.
“I wanted your thoughts. I know the color is a little presumptuous, but everything comes in blue too. Or if you like, we can go for something gender-neutral like yellow or green.” The glossy image at the top of the pile depicted a baby nursery that looked as though the Easter Bunny had chugged a bottle of Pepto and then projectile-vomited it all over the display room. I winced.
“What’s the opposite of pastel?” I said, hopeful. “Maybe a toffee color?”
Sara’s golden gaze widened. “I have just the thing.” She shuffled the pages and then pointed. “I saved the best for last. Look.”
A simple matching nursery set made of natural oak wood surrounded by coffee-colored teddy bears with black-and-white checkered bowties graced the page. My heart warmed at the image, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“I knew it,” said Sara. “That’s the one.”
I nodded in agreement. “We’ll order two of everything and call it a day.”
“Two?” Sara arched her brow.
“Didn’t Brinnon tell you?” I reached for a slice of toast and bit into the buttery wheat only to be disappointed that it didn’t taste like either. “I’m expecting twins. A boy and a girl.”
“What?” Sara jumped from the bed and squealed before wrapping her arms around me. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack,” I said while leaning over her shoulder to take another bite. A few crumbs landed in her hair. Oops.
“Oh Ema, that’s fantastic news.”
“What’s fantastic news?” The privacy curtain that divided the bedroom and bathroom opened, and Mom stepped into the room wearing jeans and a cotton blouse, her hair hidden under a towel coiled on top of her head. Steam from the shower wafted into the room with her, releasing a mushroom cloud of sour stench. I wrinkled my nose.
“Oh, um ...” Sara looked at me and upped her brow in askance.
I laughed and waved a hand. “Sara just found out I’m having twins.”
Mom scoffed. “Does this mean I can talk about them now?”
“Might as well. Turns out everyone knew all along.”
Sara winced. “Would you like to help with the nursery?” She grabbed the magazine cut-out of the oak wood crib and changing table set and offered it to my mother.
Mom upped her brow. “Oh, honey. Brown? Why not pink? Or I guess blue if they’re boys.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, look at that, Mom, there’s food. Better eat up.”
“That reminds me,” said Sara. “Now that the secret is out, you can join us in the dining hall again. Rudo even prepared a special meal for you. You know ... one that will give you all the special nutrients an expecting mother needs.”
My brow rose. “Wait. If Rudo made a meal for me, then whose food have I been eating?” I pointed to the extra serving tray that was now half devoured.
Sara stifled a laugh. “Anthony’s.”
The clatter of utensils and the humdrum of polite conversation rose as Sara and I descended the red velvet stairs leading from the guest wing to the dining hall. The majestic room had been stripped of the grandeur that had graced the high walls the day of the king’s coronation, but it still appeared just as impressive with its extra-long table seating fourteen guests. The dark wood chairs gleamed in the soft candlelight, and the mighty tapestries depicting the Alpan crest of two wolves poised for battle over a chalice in royal blue and gray threads hung from the ceiling. The guests in attendance that night were also gone leaving only Brinnon, Tancred, Cecelia, and Maria—in addition to a handful of Alpan warriors who came and went as they pleased.
Conversation paused as Sara and I joined the table. Two servants in coattails pulled out chairs for us and no sooner had I sat down when a silver platter appeared in front of me. A third server lifted the lid from the plate to reveal a T-bone steak, three chicken livers, and collard greens. All of it raw. All of it drenched in blood. Including the vegetables. A crystal glass appeared, and someone filled it with a scarlet liquid, completing the picture. My stomach gurgled in anticipation, and I lifted my fork but hesitated as I considered the options. Since becoming pregnant, blood had the off-putting effect of triggering morning sickness, and even before then I couldn’t seem to ingest the stuff without becoming inebriated on the pure energy high.
Maria watched me from across the table, and I worried she would ask if everything was okay. Her lips moved, but she was interrupted as two figures entered the hall from the ballroom corridor. Everyone stared as a soldier escorted Snow Chayton to a chair at the table. Brinnon waved a hand to dismiss the Alpan. “Mr. Chayton, please join us for—”
“Is Dad okay?” I said, speaking over the king.
Chayton blinked in my direction then took his seat and watched in some amazement as a plate of toast and cooked breakfast sausage was placed before him. “Yes. I mean no. I mean ... I should be able to wake him in a day or two.”
“A day or two?” Maria said as though she found this astounding. “Why not now?”
He frowned at her. “What I meant is that it will take a couple days’ worth of effort on my part before he rouses. I will have to work carefully. The human brain is a sensitive organ no one fully understands. One’s subconscious even less so. My estimate of two days accounts for bathroom breaks, meals, and sleep. I will work diligently, needing complete solitude with the patient, but I must also rest and keep up with my own health if I am to be successful.”
