House of Ravens (9 page)

Maybe that’s why my desire to get to know
him was so strong. Because somehow, I just knew that I’d be getting
the chance eventually.

“
Why have you been hiding?”
I whisper into the lab.

I stand, setting the picture frame back on
the shelf, when I bump into it. And it shifts just slightly, in a
way that doesn’t line up with the wall.

I feel around the edge of the shelf, right
where it meets the wall, and find just a small crack in the surface
there. My fingers continue to follow it downward. It runs from the
floor to about six feet off the ground.

Smiling to myself, I start pressing, feeling
for the release. And just a moment later, it clicks, popping back
out at me, releasing the door.

Of course there’s a hidden door. It’s the
Conrath Estate. I’m sure I’ll never discover all its hidden
features and passages.

I pull the hidden doorway toward myself and
am instantly clouded with the scent of dirt and moisture. My eyes
take a moment to adjust.

Darkness lies behind the door, but as I step
through it, I find myself in a dark tunnel. The passageway is
narrow, only slightly wider than my body. I’m sure it was difficult
for Henry to fit through it. I squeeze between dirt walls, smelling
the moisture attempting to seep up through the ground. I walk about
a dozen feet before I squeeze through the narrowest part of the
passage yet, before suddenly breaking out into a wider tunnel.

A familiar one.

Wooden beams support the passageway, and I’m
on level ground. I look down one way, toward where I know it
eventually lets out to a hidden door at the edge of the property,
and the other way, which connects back into my house, to a doorway
directly into my room.

“
You sneaky bastard,” I say
with a smile on my face.

Of course Henry would have another way out
of his lab. He always had an escape route. And an alternate way to
get from his lab into the rest of his house, without opening up the
whole damn floor in the ballroom.

I look down at myself and see what a mess
I’ve made of my clothes, brushing up against the dirt walls in the
narrow passageway. Carefully, I make my way back to the lab door,
and pull it closed behind me, staying in the tunnel. I can’t go
back into my father’s sterile lab coated in dirt. Besides, I’m not
sure what else to look for in there. I have yet to find any
clues.

It’s kind of comforting, walking through
these underground tunnels. It’s easy to pretend that time doesn’t
exist. I could be in the twenty-first century, or the eighteenth
one, when Henry had them dug. I could be here before the world wars
or the Civil.

And as far as I know, I’m the only one who
knows of their existence. I have an escape if I need one. Some
place I can go to be alone where no one will find me.

Except maybe Henry.

Suddenly, I stop, looking back the direction
to the edge of the property.

My heart stills.

I’ve lived here at the Conrath Estate for
ten months. With this passageway, Henry could have easily gained
access to his lab.

Thinking of that picture,
the one of my boarding the plane, it had to have been placed in the
lab
after
Henry
“died.”
After
I
arrived here at the Conrath Estate.

We’ve been in this house at the same
time.

Henry
is
alive.

My heart races. Thunders. Blood rushes
through my ears.

I’m so close. So close to meeting my father.
To reconnecting with a piece of me that’s been missing my entire
life.

I look over my shoulder once more and
continue walking down the tunnel. I don’t have to go far before a
set of stone stairs begins ascending. Up the back of the house, and
finally, breaking out onto a small landing.

I pause behind the painting for at least a
minute, listening hard for sounds of life in my bedroom. When I
hear none, absolutely certain of it, I push one edge of the
painting forward, opening the doorway, and step into my room.

Not wasting any time, I cross into my
bathroom, stripping off my filthy clothes, and burying them beneath
other items of clothing so that Ian will not see them and question
me about how I got so filthy.

With a little smile, I start the hot water
and step into the shower.

I’m just a little closer to discovering
Henry’s secrets.

THE DAYS BEGIN TO MOVE FAST.

There’s so much work to be done.

Anna and Ian take control of security. She’s
tense about it, angry and hostile. This is her job. But she
recognizes Ian’s ability to hunt, and she doesn’t have much choice
but to accept it. And in the end, I think she recognizes we are
better for it.

Everyone goes out in shifts of three. Two to
constantly patrol town, one to always be checking the property for
signs of spies or intruders. With nineteen members, dividing them
into teams of three leaves no one too heavily burdened with
four-hour shifts. Every team gets one shift per twenty-four hour
period.

It makes the air feel tense. It sets us all
on edge. And the curse that still hangs in the air isn’t helping.
But it makes them ready. Prepared.

But to balance it out with some normalcy, at
least somewhat, is the rearrangement of the living situations.

It’s not an easy thing, balancing who will
live where. I don’t want anyone feeling as if they’re less
important because they have to live at the Institute, but while we
have thirteen bedrooms here at the Estate, it is not enough to
house everyone.

In the end, it works itself out quite
nicely.

It’s only natural to give Lillian
stewardship over the Institute. Even if she is not the House
leader, someone needs to be the head of the household because I
cannot be there all of the time. She’s given the master
bedroom.

I’m not surprised at all when Nial is torn.
He’s unfailingly loyal to me, my name, and this House. But it’s so
obvious and apparent that he and Lillian have some kind of budding
feelings for one another.

In the end, it’s very difficult for me, but
I tell him that I think he should go to the Institute. I have to
let the two of them take a chance at finding happiness
together.

It’s also not a shock when Trinity chooses
to live at the Institute. She may have volunteered to be my escort
to Court and my trial, but she still seems to hold some kind of
resentment toward me. I don’t think I’ll ever know the reason
why.

I stand next to Cameron as he watches her
pack up her things and walk out the door. He’s only wearing a pair
of boxers, the scars on his chest exposed. The one that reads
TRAITOR where Jasmine carved him up and the raven Cyrus branded
into his skin. I don’t think he even notices he’s hardly
clothed.

“
This isn’t fun,” he
admits. He never once looks away from Trinity. “But I’ve spent too
long hoping she’d see me.”

“
You’re amazing, Cameron,”
I say as I lay my head on his shoulder, sliding my hand into his.
“Someday, you’re going to find someone who’s going to be just as
fun and warm as you are, and it’s all going to be amazing. And
worth the wait.”

“
Thanks, Liv,” he says as
he lays his head on top of mine and watches the door swing
closed.

I have to admit, I’m kind of bummed when
Samuel decides to move out, as well. It sort of feels like he’s
abandoning me. But I’m pretty sure he’s far too interested in
Francesca; he’s being a total Kask. I have to remind myself that
they’re still individuals, and I have to not be a hypocrite. No
matter what House the members choose to reside in, they’re all
important and still part of my family.

As I stand out of the way five days later,
watching as everyone moves their stuff in or out of the Estate, I
track the bodies.

At the Institute, we have Lillian in charge,
with Nial at her side, and Samuel, Trinity, Francesca, Rowan,
Holland, May, and Obasi under her care. Here at the Estate, we have
Ian and Rath, of course, as well as Anna, Markov, Cameron,
Christian, Danny, Lexington, Smith, and Leigh. This leaves us with
three empty bedrooms here at the Estate, and one empty one at the
Institute. Amazing, with how many members we have, that we still
have room to grow, now that we have another House.

I think I have most of their names down now.
Leigh is the curvy beauty, brought to us through the King’s
recruiting game. Smith is the severe man with the sharp features
and the bleached blond hair. Holland could almost be Elle’s twin.
They’re both tiny and blonde and quiet. She was the young woman who
was volunteered by the House of Allaway. Rowan is the young,
twelve-year-old boy who was forced to Resurrect by Sebastian.

I have a lot of work to do to get to know
them all. But it will happen with time.

“
How are you feeling about
all of this?” I ask as Ian walks up behind me, sliding his hands to
my hips as if there was no other place for them to be.

“
I have to admit, I kind of
hoped Markov would choose to move to the Institute,” he says into
my hair as he presses a kiss to my head.

I laugh at this. “He’ll surprise you. He’s
unexpectedly…protective.”

Ian nods. “I can see that. But really, it’s
not been as bad as I anticipated it to be. I think after spending
time with good ol’ Cyrus, they all don’t seem nearly as bad as they
used to.”

I can agree. Compared to Cyrus, we’re all
just tame puppies.

“
I saw you talking to Danny
earlier,” I say. He technically has a room here at the Estate now,
but I’ve yet to see him spend much of any time in it. He still
spends most of his time outdoors with the aid of sun goggles. He
once agreed to join my House on the condition that I don’t ask
where he disappears to during the day.

There are so many secrets our kind
keeps.

“
Yeah,” Ian says as he lets
me go and stands at my side, his hands tucked into his pockets. “He
doesn’t say much, but I don’t know, he seems to kind of get it. We
both know we’re a part of this, but are just a little…”

“
Removed?” I fill in for
him. “You both still are fine standing on your own two feet.” I’d
asked Cameron to be Ian’s friend, and he sure is trying, but so far
it’s Danny that Ian seems to connect best with.

“
That’s a good way of
putting it, I guess,” Ian says. He rubs a hand over the back of his
head, looking a little uncomfortable. He’s trying, so, so hard, but
that doesn’t mean this is easy for him, or that he’s one hundred
percent on board with every aspect of House life.

“
Well, if Leigh doesn’t
stop looking at you like you’re a piece of candy, I’m going to have
to rip her heart from her chest,” I say as I raise an eyebrow,
remembering how she kept looking him up and down last night at
dinner.

“
So violent when you’re
jealous,” he teases, instantly turning on me. His arms fold around
my waist, backing me into a wall, and setting his lips to the
hollow at the base of my throat. All the electricity surges to my
lower belly, and I can’t seem to help it when my eyes slide closed
and my head falls back, letting him take control of me.

“
It’s a new thing I’ve
discovered about myself since you came into the picture,” I say
absentmindedly. He shifts his lips from my neck to my own lips,
growing more gentle and tender, considering we’re standing here,
just outside of the kitchen, for all to see.

“
I like it on you,” he
whispers, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear.

“
Alivia,” a voice from
behind Ian says, with the clearing of a throat.

I look over Ian’s shoulder to find Rath
standing there, looking rather uncomfortable.

“
Sorry,” I say, immediately
untangling myself from Ian, though I keep hold of one of his hands.
“I, uh-”

Rath shakes his head, clearly conveying he
has nothing to say to what we were doing. Awkward. “I just wanted
to let you know that the first deposit was made into your account
this morning. From King Cyrus.”

Just the mention of his name sends a drop of
ice into my stomach. Memories flood back. Of my punishment in the
strip club. Of him beheading Jasmine. Of him torturing and branding
those I love.

“
There was also a letter
from his treasury,” Rath says, extending it out for me to see. It’s
a yellowed piece of paper, folded and sealed with red wax with the
King’s crest on it. It says very little. Just that, with the
reestablishment of the House of Conrath, we will begin receiving
monthly deposits in the amount of one million dollars, in exchange
for our services of keeping the peace in our region.