Chapter One
Life is nothing without pain. We cannot feel the warmth of the sun without knowing cold; we cannot feel the joy of a smile without knowing heartache. But sometimes I wonder how we could know joy without ever experiencing it, either.
My life would end today, when I hopped in the car at the end of the driveway and saw David in the rear-view, waving. It would be enough to crush me. But right now, in his arms, safe and protected from that fate, I could imagine this was what joy felt like.
“Don’t say it, Ara.” He stepped back from our embrace. “It’s only goodbye if you say it.”
“That’s not true, David. I’ve never said goodbye to anyone I’ve lost—doesn’t change the fact that they’re gone.”
He smiled softly, brushing his thumb over my cheek. “Well, who knows, maybe I’ll turn up some positive information on your bloodline—perhaps you were adopted after all, and you’ll be saying hello to a whole new family you never knew you had.”
I smiled. “Well, I’ll keep the dad I have, but I’d like a sister.”
He laughed a little. “Then, a sister I shall find you.”
We both looked up to the car when Mike cleared his throat for the tenth time, leaning on the hood, his arms folded, the passenger door sitting open.
“I think that’s your cue to go,” David said.
“No, the last four huffs before that were. He’s one grunt short of physically removing me.”
“Shall we run away then?” His eyes, as I looked up at him, offered only humour, not the proposition I hoped for.
“I wish we could. But then who’d catch the big bad vamp?”
He waved a dismissive hand. “Let the humans do it.”
I laughed and wrapped my arms all the way around his ribs, disappearing from the warmth of the near-summer sun against the shade of his towering height. “I’ll see you soon.”
“You will.” He kept one hand around my neck as I backed slightly away. “I’ll find Drake for you, Ara—and I’ll be at the manor by the end of summer.”
“Promise?”
He shook his head. “Too many promises have not been kept, my love. I won’t promise this, but I will promise not to rest until I find that son of a bitch.”
“It’s not his fault, you know.”
“Who?”
“Drake. It’s not his fault there’s a prophecy that states he’s going to be killed by a kid. I mean, we’d be hunting us down if we were Drake. I feel sorry for him.”
David let a breath out through his nose. “And this is why children should not take on adult responsibilities.”
“Who? Me? A child?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not a child.”
“Ara, you’re nineteen. You’re a child.”
“Then you are, too. You’re nineteen.”
“I’m over a hundred and twenty years old. My body is nineteen. But my mind is wise beyond that—far wiser than yours.”
“So, now I’m dumb.”
“Not dumb, my love, I’d never say that about you—you’re a very smart girl, but sometimes you just see things with the innocence of a child.”
“I disagree. I think I’m right about Drake.”
He half turned away, looking back at the house. “You’ll see, in time. Your decisions will directly affect others now, mon amour, and I can only warn you so far. There will come a point where you will have to see the damage you’ve done before my words finally sink in.”
I huffed, dropping my hands onto my hips. “Well, if you think you know so much, you go rule those people.”
“I will be ruling. Once we catch Drake.”
“Fine. Then you can do it alone. I quit. If I know nothing, why should I—”
“Ara.” Mike grabbed my arm from behind and tugged me away a little. “Stop arguing, baby. We gotta go; the Lilithians are rallying to meet their princess.”
“No.” I shrugged from his grasp. “I’m not going anywhere. How can I find one ounce of faith in myself, when no one else seems to have any?”
“We do, baby. We’re all just stressed, okay.”
“David?”
He looked up from his feet.
“Do you really believe I’m too young to do this?”
“Just say it,” Mike said; I looked at him, but he was looking at David.
“Say what?” I asked.
“Nothing,” David said, staring Mike down.
“Guys!” I stomped my foot. “Stop doing that. I know you’ve been talking about me when I can’t hear you. What’s going on?”
Mike took a breath. “He’s not worried about your abilities as queen, Ara.”
David stepped forward a little, his body language holding no bars back, warning Mike not to elaborate.
“I’m sorry, mate, she deserves to know.”
“Know what?” I said.
“He’s worried about the spirit bind.”
David sunk back, silently cursing.
“Really?”
“See, this is exactly why I was worried,” David said. “You swore you wouldn’t tell her. You just can’t do it, can you? You just can’t separate yourself from her.”
“I’m marrying Emily, David. There is nothing going on between Ara and I.”
“Doesn’t mean there won’t be.” He turned away and gave the picket fence a little kick with his toe, gentle enough not to knock it down.
“Oh, my God. You think because I’m bound to him I’m going to betray our wedding vows?” I stomped over to David. “How can you think that?”
“Because I know your heart, Ara.” He faced me again, hunching slightly, his hands in his pockets. “I know you’d follow it to your own detriment. I—” He looked at Mike for a second, his eyes narrowed, a thousand words not found in the dictionary being aimed at him across the lawn. “I love you, okay, but you’ve never loved just me. And I’m sending you away for God knows how long, to live in a place without me, without my touch. If you get lonely or scared or—” He shook his head. “You’re gonna go to him for comfort.”
My mouth wouldn’t close. I looked at Mike, then David, and back again a few times, unsure what to say. And Mike didn’t say anything either, maybe because he’d already had this argument with David, or maybe because he believed I was incapable of fidelity.