“But…I know what he’s done. I know all about him. I’d always have loved him.”
Arthur laughed. “I’m sure you would, my dear, but I can tell you, right now, you know not even one percent of the things my nephew did in his time on the council—and you never will. Not as long as I live.”
“Why?”
“I will not see my words tarnish his memory or cause you to despise him.”
I folded my arms. “Wouldn’t that be a good a thing? Then I could move on in my heart.”
“Is that what you would want?” He leaned forward and looked around at my face. “So soon after losing him—you wish to forget, to hate?”
I shrunk a little. “Sometimes I wish I did hate him. I can handle hate easier than heartache.”
“Heartache,” he said to himself, nodding.
I wondered what he expected me to feel. Heartache seemed pretty natural, given that David was apparently dead.
“I’ve worried for you these past weeks,” he said, keeping his eyes forward, even when I looked up at him; his jaw was stiff, slightly covered in stubble, a bit like David’s, and he’d obviously not taken too much care to cut or tidy his hair in this time we’d been apart. I kind of laughed a little. He looked…messy.
“I’m fine, Arthur. Really. I…I guess I’m used to losing people I love.”
He looked at my smile, then down at his hands, frowning. “I’m not sure what to make of that, my lady.”
I shook my head and pulled my dress down over my knees where it rose up. “Don’t think into it at all. No one has ever figured me out, Arthur, and I guarantee you won’t be the one to do it.” When the silence lasted uncomfortably long, I turned my head, reluctantly, as I could feel his glittering grin in my direction. “What?” I said.
“Do not be so sure, Princess, that I cannot figure you out.” He looked away again. “I believe I may be closer to your inner truths than you would allow.”
Yikes. “And what makes you so sure?”
His lip quirked; he looked so young, like the thirty years his face portrayed, not the hundreds his mannerisms did. “I’ve been around a while. You’re not the first moody, complicated young girl I’ve had the pleasure of befriending.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.” He laughed, still not looking at me.
The orange glow all around us made his skin look tan and his eyes sparkle with a mix of blue and sunshine, looking almost green. I let myself picture David there, in his place, for just a second. “And you think that gives you greater insight into who I am and how I work?”
He turned to me then and took my hand delicately, the stiff, guarded Arthur gone, replaced by a guy with boyish charm. “You remind me very much of David’s aunt. Did he speak much of her?”
I nodded. “He told me how she died.”
Stiff Arthur reappeared, dropping my hand, a wave of darkness flooding his eyes. “It pains me to come back here. Her memory, and that of my nephews’, infects every corner of this place.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I am, too. But, despite that, I am here—for you, and if there is anything I can advise on or assist with, you need only ask it.”
“Well, there is one thing.” I hesitated.
“Speak it, my dear, and it shall be done.”
“I want to free the prisoners, but I don’t know much about your law system—how things worked or where the prisoners are.”
“Why would you wish to free them?”
“Because, I…I don’t believe those vampires were imprisoned fairly.”
“Amara—” He scratched his chin, sighing.
“Look, just tell me where they are.” I folded my arms, making myself taller beside him. “I don’t care if you agree with me or not, I mean, why would you—you’re probably the one who put them all away. But I’m in charge now—”
“Not yet. You have not taken your oath.”
“Well, I will soon. And freeing those prisoners will be the first thing I take care of—aside from disbanding the Sets.”
“Disbanding!” He sat taller. “Amara, you can’t—”
“It’s. Not. Open. For negotiation.” I put a hand up between us. “You’re here to advise, not tell me what I can and can’t do.”
He blinked a few extra times. “And I endeavour only to advise, Princess. It is not my wish to govern you.”
“Yes, it is. I can tell from your authorative stance—seat—that you want to make me do what you think I should do.”
He sat back a little, becoming smaller. “I’m sorry, my lady. I did not mean to come across that way.”
“Just…can you please just tell me where they keep the prisoners?”
He exhaled. “Most are held at le Chateau Elysium, the Lilithian First Order in Paris, a few are in New Zealand and some in China. But while Drake still rules the vampire domains, we can free only those in Paris and the ones held here.”
“Here? There are prisoners here?”
“Of course—in the cellblock.”
“We…we have a cellblock?”
“Yes.” His lips spread, giving in to the dimples in his cheeks—his nephew’s dimples.
“Well, that’s great, then.” I sat back and pushed my hair off my face, catching the slight hint of my vanilla honey hand cream as I did. “We’ll get started freeing them after dinner.”
“So soon?”
“Yes. Why wait?”
“Because you haven’t thought this through.”
My mouth popped open. “What would you know about what I have and have not thought through! I have thought about this—for a long time, Arthur. And I—”
“Amara, the prisoners held here are the most vile creatures—locked away for their inhumane behaviour. These are the worst kinds of vampires.”
I softened. “What did they do?”
“Mostly, they are ones who massacred humans without need, disgracefully disposed of them or tortured them. Some of them are ra**sts, some, worse than that.”
“Really?”
“Yes, did you think we allowed vampires to violate basic human rights?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head. “We had laws, Amara. We had respect among our community—honour, principles—brutal crimes were punished.”