Mark of Betrayal (26 page)

“
You know, this not speaking to you thing is for a reason. And it’s not what you think.”

“
Well, what is it?”

“
He…he dug up some info on your family, and it’s bad news. That’s all I know.” She raised her hands before I could jump in with an inquisition. “He’s worried that, with you catching his thoughts sometimes, especially when you get…” she cleared her throat, “—hot, that you might see something he's not ready to tell you.”

“
But shouldn’t I know? If he knows something about me, he should tell me—I have a right to know, too.”

“
No. Not until he's sure. He doesn’t want you to be upset for no reason if it turns out to be wrong.”

“
If what does? What does he know?”

“
I don't know, Amara. He wouldn’t tell me. Look—” she touched my shoulder, “—have faith in him, for once. Just
once
, don't go looking for trouble. He will come to you when he's ready—”

“
No, he won't, Morgaine. You know he won't tell me if it’s something that’ll upset me. Please?” My voice quivered with desperation. “Morg? Please?”

She rolled her eyes, at herself, I think, and exhaled. “Okay, look, all I can tell you is that…he took a DNA sample from you while you were sleeping and—”

“
He did?”

“
Yes.” She touched her thumb to her cheek. “Just a swab. But…he had it matched against your great grandmother—you remember that really old woman I discovered?”

“
Yeah, my mum’s grandmother.”

“
It wasn't a match. So, he fed her blood while she was sleeping—did that a few times and…nothing. She’s not Lilithian. And she’s not related to you—in any way.”

“
So…my mum wasn't really my mum?” I said quietly, already knowing that deep down inside.

Morgaine shook her head. “I'm sorry, Amara.”

“
Me too,” I muttered, more to myself than her. “So…what about my dad, then? Is he actually my dad?”

“
I don't know. David wouldn't tell me that much. He’s very guarded about all this, Princess.”

“
Okay.” I nodded, a little breathless. “So—”

“
So, for now—” she patted my shoulder, “—just know that he's checking in on you from time to time, and maybe you can leave him a note or something.”

“
No. Checking in on me is not good enough. He should have come to me. He should have told
me
all that.”

“
He will in his own time.” She turned me so I faced her, and held both my shoulders firmly. “Don't you bring this up with him, Amara. I told you that stuff in confidence. If you want him to trust me, he can't know I told you anything, or he will keep things from me, too. Got it?”

I nodded. “Fine. But I'm still allowed to be mad at him for sleep-stalking me and not telling me he’s been coming here.”

“
Yes, you have every right.” She smiled and shook her head. “But he has to stop coming here anyway. The vamp-rebellion arrives tomorrow and then it’ll be impossible for him to get past the guards.”

“
Why?”

“
We have some very skilled trackers. One of the guys was our top vampire Scout; he
will
smell David, and he
will
know he's alive. Had the Scout been Lilithian, we could’ve risked him knowing about David. But, if he's a mole, then we could lose this battle before it’s begun. So, David promised not to come after tomorrow.”

“
Then I need to get upstairs and write a note for him.”

“
Okay. I’ll go tell Mike you thought about what he said and decided to listen to him,” she said as I walked away.

“
He won’t believe you,” I called without turning back.

Dear spineless.
No, scratch that.
Dear annoying,
no, not that either.
Dear David.
That’s better.
Wake me when you come to spy on me. I need to speak to you. If you don't, I will file for divorce!
No, scratch that.
If you don't, I will cry myself to sleep for the next ten years. Love, Ara.

There. I left the note on my nightstand, folded in half so it stood up like a name card on a wedding table, and retraced the letters on the front so it said, in bold,
READ ME
, then changed into a soft cotton nightdress and crawled into bed.

Outside, the horizon turned darker over the ocean closer to the west, with a pale hint of the day to come seeping in from the east.

Though my body had dragged the exhaustion of the day to bed with it, I couldn't just slip off to sleep—not with the possibility that he’d come and wouldn’t wake me. If I didn't see him soon, I was sure I’d spontaneously combust, or at least do something incredibly stupid just to look into his eyes again.

I rolled over and puffed the pillows, then laid still for a moment, and since that didn't work, puffed the pillows again and rolled back the other way. My heart raced, my breath uneven. I listened carefully for the sound of silence, hoping the crickets would hush and give sign that he was out there somewhere. But they were even nosier than usual, almost like a chirpy slap in the face; the little buggers were probably dancing around a bonfire singing, “He doesn't love you. He's not coming. Ha-ha, ha-ha.”

“
Shut up!” I screamed at them, slamming a pillow over my face. But the pillow disappeared with a cool rush of air.

“
I didn't say anything yet.”

I jumped involuntarily, scuffling to the back of my bed when a body became apparent beside me, but as soon as the amazing green gaze of my husband registered in my sight, I rocketed forward and flung my arms around his neck. “You came!”

He wore two weeks worth of tears, loneliness, sorrow, regret, happiness and missing him, all over his face in a collection of probably very sloppy kisses.

“
Whoa, Ara.” He laughed, unfastening my wrists from around his neck, then laid me back on the pillow beside him. “You okay?”

“
Are you kidding me? I haven’t seen you in weeks, and you expect anything less than a smothering of kisses?”

He cleared his throat. “I kind of expected a slap first.”

“
That was the plan,” I huffed, folding my arms. “Damn you and your cute dimples.”

His half smile curved deeply into his cheek, showing just a little of his fang. “Hungry?”

“
What makes you think I'm hungry?”

He placed his hand over my heart. “Because this just picked up about ten beats and your temperature increased about three degrees.”

“
Maybe it’s not hunger,” I said, rocking my knees.

He jumped up, leaving the space beside me empty. “I didn’t come here for that.”

“
For what—to make love to your wife?” I rolled my legs over the side of the bed and sat up.

“
No,” he said, folding his arms, his solemn gaze on the dawn outside my window. “I came to give you a kiss, tell you I love you, then get back to work.”

“
Work? What are you working on?”

“
I'm hunting down Drake at the moment.”

“
And what about my family history?”

The ball of his throat shifted. “Another time, okay.”

“
Fine. But…have you had any good leads on Drake?”

“
No.”

“
Have you checked out Mu—er, Elysium?”

David smirked, angling his head to look down at me. “Elysium?”

“
Ur, yeah, we kind of got in a little trouble for calling it The Castle of the Dead.”

He rolled his head back, laughing. “Who was it? Who slipped up?”

“
Eric.”

He laughed harder. “Oh, I wish I’d been there.”

“
No, you don't. I told Arthur you always called it that, and he was not impressed.”

“
That’s okay, my resurrection from the dead will save me any trouble. And I only called it that around you to stop you Googling it to find out where I lived.”

“
Really?” I half laughed. “Because…I would never have actually thought of that.”

“
It wouldn't have surprised me if you had. I could just imagine waking up to tap on the shoulder from the castle butler saying there was a nice human girl at the door for me.”

“
Now I wish I had thought of looking it up.”

“
Wouldn’t have done you any good, anyway. Googling Le Chateau de la Mort wouldn’t have led you to Elysium.”

I wrapped one arm along his back, curving it around to sit on his waist. “Hey, David?”

“
Yes, my love.”

Those two last words ‘my love’ simmered through me like milky calm. “I'm sorry—about the fight we had the day I left for the mano—”

“
Ara.” He turned me to face him. “It’s in the past, sweetheart. And it is
I
who should be sorry. Not you. I took my stress out on you. I should not have behaved that way.”

“
Well, if you’re not mad at me, why haven’t you been taking my calls?”

He looked out the window again, his head moving slowly. “Can you…just this once, and I’ll never ask it of you again, can you just take my word that I wanted to, but had reasons why I didn't? And they were not because I don't love you, or because I don't care about you.”

“
If you cared about me, you wouldn’t have left me so long without any contact.”

He sighed, tucking me into his chest. “There are reasons for everything I do, Ara. One day, you will understand.”

“
Why not just tell me now?”

“
Because I shouldn’t even be here. My mere presence is risking everything that's already been….” He bit his teeth together. “Look, just be okay without me for a little longer. Please?”

“
Okay,” I said, sighing, then glanced up to his stern face. “So…you're not worried about Mike and the spirit bind, anymore?”

“
No. Morgaine told me it’s faded. Is that true?”

“
Mostly.” I nodded. “I still love him, but I think I can distinguish the two kinds of love now.”

His lips broke apart with a breath of laughter. “I'm very happy to hear that. And, has he stopped calling you ‘baby’?”

“
No. Did you ask him to?”

He groaned. “Ask—demand. Same things, really.”

I smiled to myself. “Well, he still calls me baby, but he doesn't mean anything by it.”

“
That’s not the point.”

“
Then what is?” I said harshly. “He’s had your back, you know? He always stands up for you—the baby thing isn't intentionally disrespectful.”

“
I know.” He nodded, running a hand through his dark, wavy hair. “And he’s been keeping me sane when it comes to you. Ha! I almost ruined it all the other day, when you fell over at training and hurt your ankle.”

“
Yeah, I remember.” My cheeks flushed with humiliation. “You saw that?”

He smiled. “Mike spotted me outside—managed to make me leave right before Blade carried you out.”

My gut sunk; he was right there. Right outside, and I didn't see him. “I can't keep this up much longer, David.”

“
Nor can I, sweetheart.” He held me into his chest and kissed the top of my head; I could feel the warmth of his breath and smell the way his orange-chocolate scent mixed with the heat, making me feel as if I was wrapped up tightly in naked-him. “I better get going.”

“
Wait.” I grabbed his sleeve as he pulled away. “Not yet.”

“
Ara, Blade’s on guard tonight, and he may not be immortal yet, but if he hears me in here—”

“
Please. Just lay with me for a bit? Help me get to sleep.”

He looked at the bed, then the rising day outside, and sighed. “Okay. Just for a while.”

“
Yay!” I clapped, and I didn’t even feel silly for my immature display of excitement. But the sudden jumping made that dull ache I’d come to know so well sear up on the side of my head; I cupped my hand over it, wincing.

“
What’s wrong?” David pulled my hand down, looking at the spot I covered.

“
It’s the headache. Every time Mike makes me use my electricity, I get them really bad.”

“
Why?”

“
I don't know. He seems to think it’ll pass when I'm fully transformed.”

David nodded as he pulled me into his chest again. “I'm sorry, Ara. I never wanted this life for you.”

“
It was never your choice to make.”

“
It was, once—before I gave you my blood.”

With a sigh, I shook my head. “Even if I was given a crystal ball back then, and saw our future—all the bad we’ve been through, I’d still take it, David, for all the good.”

He leaned in slowly, holding the tops of both my arms, and kissed my forehead. “And that is one of the reasons I love you so much.”

“
I love you, too.” I smiled, both inside and out, because I meant it. Despite everything I’d learned about him, I still meant it. “David?”

“
Mm?”

“
I need to tell you something.”

He leaned back a little, a guarded smile on his lips. “Why don't I like the sound of this?”

“
I—” I walked away and hugged myself across the room. “Morgaine said you saw a dream I had—about when you and Jason were young.”