“He has no choice.”
“I know.” I sunk down, tearing away from Blade’s arms, and sat on the ground with my head in my hands. “I know. But I have no control. None. And I hate it!”
“Ara?” David’s smooth voice came past Blade’s shoulder; he squatted down in front of me and, as his eyes met mine, I saw them flicker—felt him reach into my mind and see everything that just happened.
He sat down beside me, the hall empty around us, free of guards, maids, friends, even Blade was gone. “I’m sorry, Ara.”
I hiccupped into my palms, rolling down to rest my head in David’s lap.
“Nothing’s ever going to make this okay, is it?” he said, his hand hovering above my hair as if he didn’t want to break me down further by touching me.
The only answer I could give was a shake of my head, keeping my face hidden. And we sat there alone, our backs against Arthur’s door, watching the sun turn the walls orange then black as the night consumed us.
Living things watched me pass—the all-seeing eyes of nature following me as I ran fast through the Enchanted Forest. My feet barely touched the floor, the speed of this immortal body taking me from the tree line outside the Garden of Lilith to the endless valley of trees beyond the Stone.
I stopped on the face of a cliff, my palm against a trunk, folding over to catch my breath. The life of Nature ran violently through my veins, charging them with energy, while the exertion of my run simultaneously drained me. This body was an engine that could not be idle—could not run far enough away from the problems to fall down and care only about the physical pain. I couldn’t walk through the fields or the trees without the Spirits of Nature making my heart ache, magnifying every emotion. Nothing would make this better. It was like dreaming while awake, and no matter how hard I pinched myself, I just couldn’t get back to the world where none of this was happening.
I slid down the tree and let both legs dangle into the mouth of the valley. I knew this place was unnatural. I knew that if I flew a plane over this side of Loslilian Island, there’d be no valley. But beyond the Stone of Truth, it seemed the world went on forever. It felt like a parallel world out here, a secret parallel world, because I was, from what I’d gathered, the only one who’d seen it—almost as if it were a gift only for those connected to the Stone.
The cuts and bruises on my bare feet healed as I sat, and the scrapes and gashes on my arms, hands, and cheeks tingled as they sealed themselves shut. My hair was frizzy, I could actually feel it, and I was sure my face was covered in dirt and blood because, when I wiped my tears away, my hands came back brown.
“I couldn’t save him, Eve,” I said, feeling her spirit beside me.
“Don’t cry,” she said.
“I’m trying not to.” I wiped my face again and held my hands out, showing them to the forest. “But I can’t stop them from coming. How do I do that?”
My heart jumped then, when her small, almost transparent hand landed in mine. “The apple holds the key,” she said.
I looked up from our locked fingertips and into her bright blue eyes; they were just like mine—her face heart-shaped and so youthful it hurt to look at her, knowing she was dead—almost as if my soul quivered, bleeding inside. “What does that mean, Eve?”
She reached out slowly with her other hand and placed it flat across my belly. “The apple holds the key.”
“Do you mean the child?” I said, cupping my hand over hers, but the tiny, cold touch of Eve was gone. I looked up to the place beside me where she sat a second ago, hearing the birds sing louder as the pink light across the trees turned bright yellow under the late morning sun. I knew I’d sat here longer than I thought. I knew David would be looking for me, worried. I knew I’d get a lecture from him and everyone else who treated me like a baby when I returned, but I didn’t care. I hugged my knees to my chest and laid my cheek against them, thinking about the keyhole in the golden apple.
“Mike?” I called to the lone figure heading toward the lower west wing.
He stopped in the darkened entranceway just below the stairs, watching me descend. “What you doin’ up so late, b-Ara?”
“Bara?” I laughed.
“Yeah, sorry.” He shook his head at himself. “I gotta quit calling you baby.”
I stepped off the stair and stood beside him, feeling suddenly so much smaller at the base of his bulk and height. “David threaten to tear your arm off, huh?”
Mike slowly folded one arm into his body, then the other. “I dunno what’s gotten into him lately. He’s, to put it bluntly, he’s scary.”
“No, he’s the same David he’s always been. We’re just meeting the councillor.”
“Well, I’m not sure I like King David.”
I smiled, pushing his arms down from their fold. “Give it time. He’s been through a lot the last few months.”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Fine. So, what did you want?”
“Oh, um.” I looked back up the stairs then at Mike again. “David ran off the other day because you had a problem with the Damned. Just wondering—”
“It’s okay.” He touched my shoulder. “It was just Harrison. He wet his bed and wanted King David.”
I covered my mouth slowly. “Poor baby.”
“He’s all right. He didn’t want you to know, though.”
“Me? Why?”
Mike’s sideways smile warmed his whole face. “Duh! You’re a girl.”
“Oh.” I nodded, but my face still wrinkled with confusion. “But—”
“Never mind it, Ara.” He turned slightly and started walking away. “It’s all sorted now.”
“Okay,” I called to the back of his head. “Well, thanks for the chat. Nice to see you. Hope we can do it again sometime in the next century.”
I heard him laugh softly, throwing his hand up in a gentle wave goodbye. He must have been really busy. But I meant those words as more than just a joke. Since I’d fallen off the lighthouse, he and I had spent less and less time chatting casually. He really had stepped into the role of employee and not so much friend.
“Miss you,” I added quietly and turned to walk back up the stairs.
The whole manor was quiet, almost desolate. The Lilithian people finally at rest. They had their queen, the possibility of an heir—one they still believed was foretold to transform vampires into humans—and they would soon be rid of their immortal enemy, even though this meant losing their king, it was, to them, a worthy death. And a king could always be replaced. It was replacing the love of my life that I had a problem with. But, all that aside, those living in the manor were finally free. Morgaine had achieved nearly everything she set out to do centuries ago, yet her success made me feel hollow. My life so far had been lived around fulfilling this prophecy and freeing my people from the darkness of Drake’s reign. Now that had been achieved, what was next? Day-to-day, right? Just ruling, eating and sleeping. Wake up, rinse and repeat. Over and over again for the rest of forever, alone.