Desire: #4 Brightest Kind of Darkness (26 page)

A clock ticking quietly somewhere in Nara’s living room brings me back to the present. The repetitiveness sounds fast, but it’s taking forever. The morning can’t get here soon enough. I really don’t like the idea of Drystan being able to pop into her head whenever he wants, but right now I’m more worried about the Corvus.

I fold my arms behind my head and try to figure out the Corvus’ angle. What does he want? Did he talk to Nara just to freak me out? Or is there more to it?

A sudden flash of memory ricochets around in my skull and the pain is so fierce I grip my head. When the aching stops, and I’m finally able to unclench my jaw, a sheen of sweat coats my entire body. Blowing out a quiet breath, I fist my hands in my hair and whisper, “Fucking hell.”

Nara

Forty minutes before sunrise I crouch beside Ethan and hold my steaming mug of coffee close to his nose. When his eyes fly open and he starts to say something, I quickly press my finger to his lips and shake my head. I glance at my dad, who’s snoring lightly on the couch, then lift my finger and curl it toward me as I stand.

Ethan follows me up the stairs, and then sits facing me once we reach a place—three steps from the top—where the stairwell wall comes down and will block us from my dad’s view.

Ethan looks so devastatingly handsome, with mussed hair and an overnight beard on his jaw, I set my phone on the stairs and twine my yoga-panted legs with his jean-covered ones, just to be close to him. Leaning toward him, I say in a quiet voice, “Merry Christmas. I didn’t make you a cup of coffee since you claim not to like it.”

Ethan tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear, his act so tender I want to kiss him. “If it only tasted as good as it smelled, I’m sure I’d love it.”

I hug the cup between my hands and take a sip, letting its warmth chase the morning chill away. “I thought you might like to talk before everyone gets up.”

Nodding, he reaches for one of my hands and turns me around on the stairs until my body’s tucked between his legs. “This is much better,” he says in a husky tone, bending down to kiss me on the cheek.

I lean fully into his hard chest and the warm circle of his arms, snuggling close. “I agree.”

Just when I start to take another sip of my coffee, he steals the cup and swallows a big gulp, then hands it back to me. “Hmmm, Nara-coffee tastes like manna from heaven.”

My stomach flutters. He always finds a way to make me feel special. Holding the warm cup with both hands once more, I glance up at him. “Tell me what’s bothering you.”

He’s quiet for a second, like he’s choosing his words carefully, then he says, “The Corvus told me Drystan was in your head while he was talking to you about the library. He heard Drystan in your dream.”

My eyes widen. “Your Corvus is talking to you now?” I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. “What did he say?”

Ethan frowns down at me. “That you named him Rave.”

“Oh, that.” My face flames, and I shrug. “I thought giving him a name might help him open up.”

“He doesn’t need to open up,” Ethan grates. “I don’t like the idea of anyone talking to you in your head, Nara. Not Drystan, nor that stupid bird, spirit…whatever the hell it is.”

“So this is where that ‘territorial’ comment came from last night.”

He scowls. “It’s not because I’m jealous.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Oh, really?”

Shrugging, he grunts. “I guess that’s part of it, but I’m more worried about how having someone in your head can affect and influence you. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about.”

“If you know what you’re talking about—I’m assuming you mean your Corvus—then you also know that you can still stay true to yourself no matter how strong the mental influence. You did.”

He opens his mouth like he’s going to say something else, then closes it. A muscle jumps along his jawline for a few seconds. Then he finally speaks. “I believe you now.”

“Believe me about what?”

“That I’m the Master Corvus.”

Relief flows through me and I turn sideways, hooking my elbow around his thigh. “That’s good news. Things will be so much easier now that the Master Corvus is back on track—why are you shaking your head?”

Ethan points to his chest. “I said,
I
now believe that I’m carrying around the Master Corvus. The spirit hasn’t accepted that truth about himself yet.”

“Oh.” My shoulders slump, and I drop my chin on his bent knee. “He’s very stubborn.” Tilting my head slightly, I glance back at him, curious what changed. “What made you finally accept what I’ve been telling you?”

Ethan runs his hand from the top of my head to the ends of my hair, then he traces his finger along my slouchy sweatshirt’s collar. “This.”

I glance down as he tugs the sweatshirt off my shoulder to reveal the feather tattoo on my shoulder blade. “My feather?”

But Ethan’s gaze snaps to mine, his brow furrowed. “When did it turn white again?”

“It did?” I crane to see the tattoo, then give up. I can only see it in the mirror. “I have no idea. And what does the Master Corvus have to do with it?”

Ethan shakes his head, a mystified look on his face as he slides his fingers across my tattoo. “He’s the only one who can see it, Nara.”

“What?” I turn to face him so fast I almost spill my coffee. “What do you mean? I see it just fine and so do you. Also, pretty important question. How do you know that you’re the Master Corvus, yet he doesn’t?”

Ethan shrugs. “I know things he doesn’t because part of my thoughts are sectioned off from him. I don’t know how it works, but it just does. He hates that my mind is strong enough that I can keep some things from him if I want to. For once the tables are turned though. I apparently got a flash of one of his memories last night.”

My heart pounds double time. “What did you see?”

“It’s not what I saw, it’s more like information came through.” His fingers trace my tattoo. “This is how the angels mark those worthy of being Corvus, Nara. It’s invisible to everyone but the Master Corvus. Once the Master Corvus chooses who to give a part of himself to, a feather surfaces as an outline on the new Corvus’ shoulder blade, then it changes to a black feather—”

“Before morphing into a sword,” I finish for him. “I know I’m not Corvus, and apparently you aren’t responsible for this feather on my shoulder, so why is it visible?”

Ethan slides his thumb down my tattoo, a possessive look reflected in his eyes. “We weren’t wrong in our assumption about your tattoo, Nara. When we connected in that coach’s closet and I wished with all my heart to claim you as mine, the Corvus heard my thoughts.” His blue eyes snap to mine. “Your feather would only have risen to the surface if he claimed you, but he didn’t give you a part of his Corvus self.”

I swallow and grip the coffee cup tight. “What does that mean? Was he claiming me for you then?”

Ethan sets his mouth in a grim line. “I doubt he was being charitable to me. It would be a first. That’s the extent of what I got from the memory. It was enough to tell me for sure that he’s the Master Corvus, but not why he raised your feather.”

I might not know why I have it, but since the feather surfaced because of the Master Corvus…. “Maybe that’s why I knew where all the Corvus are in the world. It was never me. It was the feather.”

Ethan leans back against the railing and sighs. “If he didn’t give you a part of himself, then how can that be?”

He has a point. I chew my lip and ponder. As we sit there in silence, lost in our thoughts, the rising sun slowly snakes its rays through the banister and up the stairwell. The beams hit the lights on the Christmas tree just right, reflecting blue, red, teal, and purple colors along the wall across from us.

“Look, a Christmas rainbow,” I say quietly, pointing to the spray of color.

As Ethan nods, our heat kicks on and some of the tree limbs move with the vent pushing warm air up through them. The colors on the wall bounce and jostle around. When I see the red color juddering back and forth on top of the purple, the two colors together make me think about the map Ethan and I burned.

I grab Ethan’s thigh and squeeze. “I just had an idea. I think I might know what I was supposed to see on that map with the purple and red marks.”

“You do? What?”

“Well, remember that the purple marks I put on the map represented areas around the world where unusual phenomena had happened not long after a natural disaster event had occurred—which we know might have been possible tears in the veil. And the red dots that my
feather
plotted on the map are supposed to be the Corvus all over the world, right?”

He nods. “So how are they connected?”

“What if, by putting these two together, we could possibly create a resource of information to help the Corvus narrow down an area where a possible Inferi might take over a human?”

Ethan looks intrigued. “So instead of hunting a wide range and hoping to run across a human inhabited by a demon, now a Corvus could be more proactive and precise in how he or she hunts?”

“Exactly. It would take computer resources or a group of dedicated people to track events and such like I did…” I pause while my brain flies through the possibilities of this new technique. “All the data crunching could possibly be centralized at the Order—I know they have computer skills, since they tracked me through mine. Then the Order could send out alerts for potential demon activity in specific areas for the Corvus to keep under surveillance.” I grin in my excitement. “It’s not foolproof, but something like this could cut down on the amount of time demons can hide inside people before they’re discovered by a Corvus.”

When I take a breath, Ethan’s eyes are shining with pride. “That’s just brilliant, Nara! Why has no one else thought of this?”

I spread my hands wide. “I only thought of it because I saw the veil tearing. Seeing that happen more than once, and then talking to Madeline about what causes the veil to thin, made me wonder about the correlation. I didn’t know what to do with the information I had compiled until just now.”

“You are truly amazing,” Ethan says, shaking his head. “Though I’d like you to wait and see what Drystan thinks about the Order before you present this idea to them.”

“So you trust Drystan’s opinion now?”

He snorts. “No, but I believe he wouldn’t let you be involved with something untrustworthy. And the fact that he’s not pro-Order right now works in his favor as far as I’m concerned.”

When I start to question why he thinks I should wait, he holds up a finger. “Once Drystan gives a thumbs up about the Order and you decide to present this idea to them, you must insist that the potential breakthrough information only be provided to the Corvus manually, not electronically.”

“Why not? Electronic is faster and more efficient.”

“For the same reason we had to destroy the map; demons would love to find out where every Corvus lives. Any electronic information leaving the Order can be traced. My suggestion would be to add messenger duties to the Paladin’s current ones with the Corvus. I’m pretty sure the Paladins would agree. I doubt I’m wrong in assuming they’re honor bound to keep their Corvus’ locations secret.”

“Ah, good point. I wouldn’t have thought of that part. Only a Corvus can think like a Corvus.”

Ethan grins. “We’re definitely better together, Sunshine.”

I smile back. “And now that you have an inside track into the Master Corvus’ mind, maybe together we can convince him who he really is and help him remember what happened.”

“Actually, I think it’s going to be even harder to convince him now,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Why?”

He slowly twists a strand of my hair around his finger. “Because, like me, he doesn’t want to let you go. He thinks he can protect you better than I can. I’m worried what he might do.”

“He’s spirit. What can he do?”

Ethan grips my waist and slides me closer to kiss my cheekbone. “While I still had amnesia I understood exactly what it felt like to walk around with power surging through me that I didn’t understand or know how to control,” he says in a low voice. “The Master Corvus is dangerous in his own invincibility. In his blind arrogance, he puts others at risk.”

Ethan’s somber mood worries me. I turn and meet his gaze. “What has your Corvus done that you aren’t telling me?”

“Nothing yet. It’s what he could do without knowing the extent of his strength and power that I care about.”

I start to ask Ethan more about his relationship with the Corvus when my dad grabs the banister at the bottom of the stairs, then starts up the staircase at a brisk pace, an angry, determined look on his face.

He stops halfway up the stairs when he sees us.

“Merry Christmas, Dad. Where are you going in such a hurry?” I say, then take a sip of my coffee to keep from smiling. I knew he thought Ethan was upstairs with me and was racing to catch us together.

“I uh…” He rubs his hand through his dark, messy bedhead hair. “I thought the bathroom was occupied downstairs.”

I lean over to peer around him. “Nope, bathroom’s all clear. Oh, the pancake mix is in the far right cabinet when you’re ready to make them.”