Dark Heart Rising (22 page)

‘Soren deeply regrets what he did,’ I told Dalya, hoping that this was true, that I was doing the right thing. ‘And he is concerned for Lila.’

She swallowed, absorbing what she was hearing. ‘You believe him,’ she said to me. ‘And I trust you, so …’

‘Yes, Dalya. I do believe him. I know he loved his family … He lives his sister.’ I waited, hoping she would understand.

She was silent for a minute before finally taking a deep breath.

‘Jane, I want you and my brother to be together more than anyone,’ she said at last. ‘But I don’t know …’ She looked very warily at Soren, who was not the most reassuring of presences.

‘You know that your brother does not truly love her,’ he said suddenly, almost abruptly. ‘And I believe she deserves to be loved. She has no family left … No childhood companions – but for me.’ His voice softened as he went on. ‘Imagine your life without your brothers?’

Dalya sucked in her breath. ‘Poor Lila.’ She sighed heavily. ‘She won’t sleep in the dark. And she talks all the time about the full moon and how she has to hide herself. She’s like a little girl sometimes. She can never be alone.’

I looked at Soren. His face was taut. It must have been painful to hear what Dalya was saying.

‘So that’s why her family are so keen to marry her off. Because she is not really theirs either …’ Dalya shook her head. ‘Poor Lila. Nobody truly wants her.’

‘I do,’ Soren said quietly. ‘And I will never leave her again.’

‘And she needs to know the truth, Dalya,’ I said. ‘She needs to know she has a brother who loves her.’

‘Yes … I see.’ Dalya looked thoughtful. ‘But she might not believe you … I mean, she has been lied to herself. And she wouldn’t understand.’

‘I know. The truth is I don’t know if she will believe me. And telling her might cause more harm than good. But it will haunt me for ever if I don’t try.’ Soren rubbed at his temples anxiously.

‘Well Luca must know too.’ Dalya’s eyes grew big. ‘And he can help us.’

‘No,’ I said quickly. ‘Not yet. He will think—’

‘He’ll think that this is just a ruse to get him back.’ Her look seemed to pierce me, as though she thought that too. But then she smiled. ‘At first. But he respects you, Jane. That will count for something.’

‘Thank you.’ I smiled back, glad to have her trust. ‘So you understand. We must talk to Lila alone.’

‘
I
must talk to her alone,’ Soren corrected me.

‘OK.’ I shrugged, turning to Dalya. ‘So, can you somehow persuade her to meet Soren alone? Tonight?’

Dalya puffed out her cheeks. ‘I’ll try. But it will be difficult. She is always surrounded.’

We looked imploringly at her.

‘Leave it with me,’ she said, thinking. Then to Soren: ‘Be in the gardens behind the palace kitchens, after the great banquet. I will think of something. But now I must go.’ She squeezed my hand.

‘Thank you, Dalya. You’re a good girl,’ I told her.

‘Yes, thank you.’ Soren took her hand and kissed it.

‘Ugh.’ She withdrew it, though with a good-natured smile on her face.

D
own below, the noise was giving Raphael a headache. He ran a hand through his hair, staring at the piles of paperwork in front of him. Stacks of paperwork, recording the history of the Celestial family. Births, marriages, deaths.

Deaths.

His father’s ‘death’ certificate looked up at him, the first on the pile in front of him; underneath it was a scribbled note, difficult to decipher, but written by Milo. It detailed the description of his father when Milo had discovered him. But the detail was in itself vague. It talked of a ‘loss of presence’, of a ‘physical disappearance’. Milo wrote that he felt his master’s soul becoming at peace.

Raphael’s lip curled.
What about my peace?
he thought. The peace of those he left behind. Heaving a sigh, he felt as close to tears as he’d been in a long time. Emotions swirled: anger, hurt, sorrow. But not peace.

Nissilum was made of a desire for peace. What an irony. What hypocrites his family were.

On the back of Milo’s note was a couple of lines on his feelings of loss. And sadness that he must leave the place that had been his home. But there was no mention of where he was going. His father’s loyal servant had simply disappeared.

A sound on the staircase brought him out of his thoughts. Quickly he gathered up the papers and hid them underneath the quilt on his bed. He stood, waiting for whoever it was to make themselves known, but it must have been a servant, because the footsteps began treading down the stairs.

The noise was fading, which meant the banquet was about to begin. He was expected at the head of the vast table in the Great Room, to take his seat next to Celeste and Cadmium. Raphael looked into the full-length mirror opposite his bed. He saw a handsome figure. A head of blond curls, his body honed and fit from riding … but a little thin, from lack of food. He had barely eaten the past few days. Still, in his Celestial uniform, he looked the part.

As he came out of his room, he glimpsed the figure of an older man at the foot of the stairs. His great-father, Cadmium. An elusive presence for weeks now. He looked terrible. Gaunt, haunted.

Cadmium nodded, a weak smile on his face.

‘Boy.’ He stepped forward with the help of a cane. ‘Your great-mother is expecting us.’

Raphael held out his arm and together the two of them descended the great staircase. He was shocked at how his great-father was. Stooped and wincing with every step.

‘Perhaps you should lie down?’ he ventured. ‘Celeste and I can host the banquet …’

‘No!’ The old man snapped, his arms shaking. ‘We must be dutiful. We have an example to set these people.’

Raphael gritted his teeth, suppressing the bile that rose in his throat. He had a sudden urge to let go of Cadmium’s arm, leave him to fall.

‘Of course,’ he said instead, ‘I was only thinking of you.’

‘You understand,’ said Cadmium, his youthful-looking face at odds with his demeanour, ‘you understand what it means to preside over Nissilum? That all selfish concerns must be sacrificed? We are in a position of great privilege. It is unacceptable to abuse it.’

‘I understand.’ Raphael turned his face away, but not before he saw the critical expression on his great-father’s face.

‘There is to be no repetition of your past behaviour.’ Cadmium’s tone was icy. ‘Pure sefishness.’

Raphael didn’t trust himself to respond. A surge of pure hatred hit him. He wanted to confront Cadmium about his father, Gabriel. About the lies that had been told. He felt disgusted and on some level deeply disappointed in his family.

But he knew nothing would be achieved by speaking out.

‘Come,’ he said, taking another step down, ‘they are waiting for us.’

I
t had to be the biggest table I’d ever seen. It took up the whole of the Great Room. And seated around it was a motley selection of Nissilum’s immortals. The witches shrieking and gossiping, their pinched little faces sharp and animated. And then there were the vampires. Vanya and Valdar alongside of course, but a whole row of similarly elegant and brooding men and women observing everyone else through narrowed eyes. And of course the werewolves. My eyes slid tentatively over to where Henora and Ulfred were sitting. Henora looked disapproving, fiddling nervously with her glass, while Ulfred was helping himself to bread and butter. With a smile I saw Henora reprimand him, slapping his hand away from the basket. Poor Ulfred.

My gaze roamed, searching for the others: Dalya, Luca and Lila, but they weren’t here yet.

Behind me I heard Soren sigh heavily.

‘Good grief, I am not sure I can endure this …’ he muttered. ‘There are no seats left anyway.’

I looked and saw two places vacant at the end of the table furthest from where Celeste was seated. Raphael and an older man who must have been Cadmium were setting themselves either side of her.

‘Quickly,’ I said, ‘there are two places there.’

Nodding at a pair of striking vampire twin girls next to me, I sat, confident that having touched up my make-up in the palace bathrooms, I was safe from recognition.

‘Fabulous eyes,’ said one of the twins, gawping at my face. ‘Did you do that yourself?’

Her identical sister rolled her eyes. ‘That’s Vanya Borgia’s handiwork, if I’m not mistaken.

I opened my mouth, thinking they were like an evil version of Emma and Ashley.

‘Natalia, Sofi.’ Soren greeted them, picking up his napkin to dab at his forehead.

They preened coquettishly at him and I stopped myself from laughing.

‘You’re Vanya Borgia’s guest, aren’t you?’ One of the twins held out her hand. So thin it was like a twig with nail polish on it. ‘My name is Sofi.’

‘And I am Natalia,’ said her sister. ‘You are?’

‘Jane,’ I whispered.

‘I love your look,’ Sofi drawled, sniffing elaborately. Alarmed, I turned from her. I had forgotten how vampires can sniff out human blood.

‘Vanya has told the vampire community that you are amongst them,’ Soren whispered. ‘They are under pain of torture to leave you alone.’

I relaxed, but snuck a look back at the twins, who were whispering together, casting intrigued glances in my direction.

So I was safe from their advances – for the time being at least, but I needed to be alert to Lila’s entrance, I couldn’t afford to be caught up in conversation with Natalia and Sofi.

As if on cue the door opened and Dalya appeared, followed by a robotic-looking Luca, Lila attached to his arm like a blonde limpet.

‘Do you think she dyes her hair?’ murmured Natalia unsubtly scrutinising Lila. ‘It’s a little brassy for my taste.’

‘Agreed,’ replied Sofi. The two of them regarded her like a couple of hawks.

Under the table I felt Soren’s thigh knock against mine, and though I couldn’t be sure if it had been intentional or not, I felt something stir inside me. But I blocked it out, keeping my eyes trained on the new arrivals taking their places next to Henora and Ulfred.

Luca seemed too preoccupied to notice anything around him and, though I certainly didn’t want to draw attention to myself, I would have been lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed that he hadn’t noticed me. I looked down for a moment at my hands, realising I had clasped them together nervously, not knowing what the night had in store.

The sound of someone clinking metal against glass silenced the chattering in the big room and we all turned our attention to the figure of Raphael at the head of the table.

‘Welcome,’ he said, nodding around the vast table. ‘Welcome all of you to the seasonal palace banquet. On behalf of Mother Celeste and Father Cadmium, I extend full hospitality to you tonight.’ He cleared his throat, lifting his chin. ‘Presently we will be serving the first in a five-course dinner, followed by music and dancing from the Vampire Jazz Quartet, and further refreshment if you require it.’ He smiled for the first time, years of training making it appear genuine and full of warmth. ‘This is your night. Enjoy it.’

He picked up his glass and held it aloft, and there was a cheer around the table before he sat back down again. I saw Celeste beam approvingly at him. Cadmium, I noticed, looked a little sour – ill even. He didn’t even glance at his great-son.

‘He’s rather a dish, isn’t he?’ I heard Natalia tell Sofi. ‘For an angel.’

‘There just has to be a vampire-angel alliance one day,’ said Sofi. ‘Why not start now?’

They laughed throatily and, catching my eye, Natalia arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow. ‘Unless you want him?’

I shook my head.
Been there, done that
, I thought.

‘That’s considerate of you,’ I told her, ‘but I’ll pass.’

Beside me I felt Soren’s body twitch a little with suppressed laughter.

Hours later, or so it seemed, the final course was cleared away. Soren hadn’t eaten a thing. Nor had Natalia and Sofi, who had pushed each plate away as though it were poison. I, on the other hand, had wolfed down practically everything.

I swallowed my last mouthful of pudding and finally put my spoon down. ‘I’m stuffed,’ I said, forgetting who I was with.

Soren and the twins looked bemused.

‘Extraordinary,’ said Sofi. ‘Eating.’

‘
Vive la difference!
’ Soren murmured softly, and this time there was no mistaking the feel of his muscular thigh against mine. I moved my leg, colour creeping into my face.

The twins stared suspiciously at the two of us.

‘Are you two … together?’ said Natalia eventually.

‘God, no!’ I snorted, a little too emphatically.

‘Why thank you, miss,’ Soren muttered feigning hurt, but he shook his head at the twins. ‘We’re friends,’ he told the twins. ‘Is this a problem for you?’

‘If there’s one thing I can detect from a thousand miles away it is mutual attraction between a male and a female.’ Sofi sniffed. ‘I am never wrong.’