He offered it in the palm of his hand and I shook my head. ‘No way!’
‘Trust me, Violet,’ he sighed.
I frowned but leaned down. I did not even have to be close to catch the scent.
‘What does that smell like to you?’ he asked.
I scrunched up my nose. ‘Like rotting vegetables.’
He nodded. ‘But to me,’ he lifted the flower to his nose. ‘They smell almost as sweet as you.’
I snorted. ‘Is that some cheesy vampire pick-up line?’
He feigned surprise. ‘Damn! Is it that obvious?’ He tossed the flower into the pond, where it floated like it was sat atop a lily pad and wiped his hand on his white shirt below the waistcoat, leaving a black smear.
We started walking. ‘So if they are so deadly to humans and dhampirs, why is the whole place decorated with them?’
He slowly exhaled as though it were obvious. ‘There are only two humans at Ad Infinitum and they are being constantly watched, so why not? Besides, they are the flower of the Kingdom. It’s what you see on that.’ He pointed towards the rose part of the coat of arms on his jacket that I was wearing. ‘They represent everything we are about. They’re lethal to humans, yet to us they are a thing of beauty and value. They even make perfumes that contain the scent, which can’t be much fun for any humans who catch a whiff.’
I nodded. ‘So they are symbolic to vampires?’
‘No. They’re symbolic to the dark beings.’
I shut my eyes, reminding myself not to be exasperated at his answer. Considering I knew nothing about the dark beings, that hardly meant anything.
We had reached the fountain and Kaspar sat down on the edge, patting the stone rim beside him. I sat down, convincing myself to have the guts to get answers.
‘What are the Dark Heroines?’
He turned to me, back straight, eyes wide and mouth agape. His eyes burnt black for a split-second. ‘Who told you about that?’ he demanded.
My mind raced, trying to find a plausible excuse. I couldn’t tell him about the dreams; not if his father might find out. ‘No one. I heard some people talking inside about how the Athenea had found the first Sag-e-an girl or something.’ I sounded the word ‘Sagean’ out, barely remembering how the rogue had pronounced it in my dream.
He relaxed a little, but alertness and curiosity continued to burn in his eyes. ‘Sagean. Spelt with an A, pronounced with an E. Sage-en,’ he repeated, breaking it down into sounds.
‘Sage … en.’ I attempted to imitated him, but found it difficult to make the same sound he did when he pronounced the last two letters.
The corners of his lips upturned slightly. ‘Do you know who you overheard? Because no one but the council is supposed to know, let alone talk about it.’
I shook my head, lying through my teeth. ‘I don’t know. I didn’t recognize them.’
‘Ah.’
I sighed, letting my exasperation show this time. ‘You’re not going to tell me what the Dark Heroines are, are you? Or what the Prophecy of the Heroines is. Or why the vampires are so surprised. Or why the vampires are next.’
He cringed. ‘You heard all of that?’
‘Please tell me. What harm can it do? It’s not as though I’ll tell anyone I know what it is.’
He shook his head. ‘You do know that it’s been agreed by both the Vamperic council and an inter-dimensional council that you should have no knowledge of any other dimension but this one until you turn, right?’
‘That’s what that meeting was about when we went to London, wasn’t it? And that Fallon guy. Was he Sagean? He knew about this prophecy, didn’t he? How long ago did you find out that the girl had been found? Was it recently? I’ve not heard anybody mention this all before.’ I threw in the last couple of questions to test him; I knew the answer from my dream the night before, but I wanted to see how truthful he would be.
‘Slow down! I’ll tell you, okay?’ His eyes darted up and back down again, his hand running through his hair. My heart stopped, finally anticipating answers.
‘Right, where to begin?’ He took a deep breath, lowering his hand, and then launched into speech. ‘There are nine dimensions, parallel in almost every way; each is populated by humans as well as a much smaller number of dark beings, which I am not going to explain about.’ I was about to protest, but he cut in. ‘It’s worth more than my life, so no.’
He carried on. ‘The humans of each dimension have never really got on with the dark beings, other than in this dimension, where, with the exception of government officials, you are all pretty much oblivious to our existence. But about five thousand years ago, a Sagean scholar and prophet, yes, Sage-en,’ he said as I sounded it out once more. ‘A Sagean scholar claimed to know of a future age. Sure of his own abilities, he wrote what he had foreseen down in his scrolls.’ He raised his gaze to meet my own, his eyes flecked with grey at the edge. ‘He knew about the world wars and climate change and even about the invention of the atomic bomb. He knew that the treaties struck between the dark beings and the humans would fail and that war would be an ever-looming prospect. He knew of our world, Violet. He knew where we would go wrong.’
Enraptured, I remained silent and he took that as a sign to pause.
‘Sure you want me to carry on?’ I nodded and he let out a dry chuckle. ‘But he didn’t entirely leave us without hope. At the same time, he came up with the Prophecy of the Heroines, and in that he predicted that during this dark age, nine women would ascend to become kinds of … deities, I suppose. Above all Kings, they are meant to restore the balance with humanity we lost.’
I could imagine it. It was a fairytale, a hero’s tale, but this was real. This is real. My voice was quiet as I spoke; wrapped up in a story I was so intrigued by. The story of my world.
‘But you don’t believe it. At least, you didn’t.’
He shook his head. ‘Not many did, other than the Athenea – which is both the Sagean royal family and an actual place – and the Sagean people. It was disregarded as rubbish at the time anyway, because it placed women in power.’
I shifted closer, eyes wide with intrigue and slight disbelief, my voice no more than a whisper.
‘But now it’s coming true?’
‘Yes. I don’t want to believe it, but how can I not?’ His question was more directed at himself than at me, so I did not reply, memories of my dream last night still fresh. It’s true. It’s real.