The Heart's Ashes (89 page)

“
Ha-ha. No. The coronation.”

“
I didn’t realise we were talking about the
coronation.”

“
We weren’t. I was thinking about it. I’m just used to you
being a part of my thoughts, is all. I forget to tell you exactly
what I was thinking.” I smiled.

“
Yes. It’s certainly a new experience for me—to have no clue
what you’re talking about.”

I shuffled
over and sat by his hips. “Well, I was just thinking that it sucks,
because my knight, who was really a king all along—” he looked up
and smiled at me, “—won’t even be there for my coronation—the most
important day of my vampire life.”

“
I know. It hurts me, too, Ara. But I’m so proud of you.” He
sat up, pulling the sleeves of his black shirt over his forearms,
then took my hand. “I want nothing more than to be there when you
finally make your oath.”

“
Really? I didn’t think you really cared either
way.”

“
That’s because you don’t know how much this means to
me
; to be the one
married to the queen.” His eyes sparkled with admiration. “Royalty
is something which has always been of great importance, not only to
myself as a human, but also to my vampire self. I’ve worked for a
hundred years to protect and serve my king, and now, I will
serve
alongside
the queen—for all time. I want to be there when you rise to
power, Ara, but sometimes we have to accept things we can’t
change.”

“
So, what you’re saying is…” I looked at the sky. “Life
sucks—get used to it.”

“
I’m saying; life changes. We don’t always like the things we
must endure, but being a part of the world means walking anyway,
even when it would be easier to give up.”

As David’s
eyes met mine and the warmth of the summer sun was stolen by the
shimmer behind his smile, my heart fluttered. “You’re right. I
don’t like it, but you’re right.”

He sat back
against the rock, smiling, his eyes closed. “I’m always right.”

“
Not always.”

His brow
arched, his eyes staying shut. “Is that a challenge I hear in your
voice, mon amour?”

“
Frankly, I don’t think I have the energy to challenge you
today.” I laid down, my arms under my head.

“
You look exhausted.”

“
I didn’t sleep last night.”

“
I know.”

“
How do you know?”

“
Because I laid awake, too.”

“
Why?”

He recrossed
his ankles the other way. “Arthur.”

“
What about him?” I rolled over and laid on my side to look at
my husband.

“
I don’t feel as though you took me seriously when I asked you
to think before you act when around him.”

“
I did, David. I know I didn’t make a point of confirming it,
but, you know him better than anyone. If you tell me not to trust
him, I won’t.”

“
I’m not saying that, sweetheart. You can trust him, just be
careful before you do.”

“
Okay.” I frowned. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The memory of
Arthur, his letters, the things he told me about Jason, filled my
mind for a while. David just sat with me, so good at remaining
silent when I’d get lost on the train of thought. Part of me
wondered if he was reading them, but when I looked at him and he
smiled, watching me, I knew he was just letting me follow them
myself, see where they’d take me. But the train didn’t go in the
right direction this time; it stopped in front of a dark, windy
platform, and pushed an uninvited passenger onto my lips in the
form of a question.

“
David?”

“
Yes, my love?”

“
I. Uh.”
Hm, how to word this?
“When Jason took me to the—um, when he was tying
me to the chair.” I took a breath. “He told me that the
skeleton—the baby—was your
handy
work
. What did he mean by
that?”

David sat
taller, inhaling through his teeth. “So you know about that,
huh?”

“
No. I don’t know anything—because you never tell me
anything.”

“
And I’m not about to start.” He looked away.

“
Hey! Don’t do that. I have a right to know if my husband is a
baby killer.”

“
Ara, please. I don’t want to talk about this.”

My lip
quivered and I sat still, unable to see through my tears. “David.
If you don’t tell me, I’ll…”

“
Okay.” He leaped forward and grabbed my arm, his finger
pointing right in my face. “Just don’t. Finish. That
sentence.”

I nodded,
sniffling. “How’d you know what I was going to say?”

“
I don’t.” He sat back down. “Nor do I want to
know.”

“
Then tell me what happened to that baby. And don’t just give
me half the story, making it sound like you told me the whole
thing.”

He sighed,
rolling his head back onto the rock. “I never wanted you to learn
of this.”

“
Why?”

“
Because, I…because it was the most heinous task ever
requested of me.” He hung his head low. “And I did something that
day that I am most ashamed of.”

I swallowed
hard.

“
After Drake killed Lilith, he believed his Warriors had wiped
out her entire blood-line. But they were wrong.”

My heart
picked up and my pulse suddenly became present in my stomach.

“
Lilith’s granddaughter, Evangeline, bore a child. She hid the
infant before they came to destroy her after Lilith’s
death.”

“
And they found it?”

“
No. That child survived, but never triggered immortality. And
her bloodline went on.”

“
So, this was centuries ago?”

“
Yes, and then, in nineteen-forty-five, when I applied for my
position as a council member for my Set, Arthur pulled some
strings. They accepted me on the provision that I carry out a task;
to kill a child they believed to be Lilithian.”

My eyes closed
as my breath deepened.

“
She was barely two days old,” he continued. “I laid her on
the stone steps of the torture chamber and watched her for a moment
while she cried.” David closed his eyes and clenched his fists.
“What happened after has been my greatest shame as a vampire for a
hundred years.”

“
David?” I covered my mouth, trying to stop the
tears.

“
Ara, please?” He grabbed my hand; I pushed him away. “Please
listen. I—my career as a vampire, my position as a council member
was based on what I did in that moment.” He sat back and stared
forward as if he watched the memory like a projection on the grass
by the lake. “I placed the knife to her throat, and she stopped
crying—staring at me with her inquisitive blue eyes.”

Tears streamed
then as I envisioned David taking the life of that innocent
baby.

“
The blade clinked as it hit the floor.” David looked at his
hands, and I looked up at him. “I lifted her into my arms and
touched my fingers to her tiny mouth—feeling the softness of her
breath through her cherry lips, and that of her skin; a softness
I’d never felt before—except the day I held my little cousin—the
day I lost my aunt.”

The sound of
the coming summer around the lake faded as David recalled his tale.
My chest shook with sobs.

“
She was as perfect a child as I had ever seen, and I fell
instantly in love with her. So…I ran,” David said.

“
What?” I looked up, confused.

“
I ran,” he repeated. “I stole the child and fled the castle.
She slept in my arms while I carried her—trusting me implicitly, as
if I were human. And when I placed her on the steps of an old
church, she watched me with those sapphire eyes; watched me back
away like she knew something I didn’t. And I never saw her again.”
David’s chin dropped to his chest; “But it is what I did next that
haunts my dreams to this day.”

“
What?” I reached for him. “What did you do?”

“
I walked—wandered until I reached Arietta’s grave, then
dropped to my knees, weeping like a fool; nothing of the hardened
council member I was supposed to be. My career was in ruins, my
reputation, and that of my uncle’s.” David nodded to himself then.
“So, I started digging.”

“
Hu!” I gasped.

“
I dug until I reached the casket of my aunt and her infant
child. Then, I stole the bones—charred them to wash off the stench
of aged flesh, and presented them to my king.”

“
You didn’t kill the baby? You left her alive?” My eyes
widened as I marvelled at my husband.

“
Yes.” He dropped his head.

“
David?” I leaned closer, touching his arm. “Why would you be
so ashamed of that?”

“
Because I lied—to my own king, and I desecrated the remains
of my dead aunt’s child.”

“
But you did the right thing, even without compassion for my
kind, you still did what was right.”

“
Yeah, according to
your
kind.”

“
But that’s what matters.
Life
. You protected that which was
sacred, David—before you even had the heart to. That was a very
noble and brave thing to do—the act of a true king.”

David looked
at me then.

“
You don’t get it, do you?” I touched his face, cupping my
hand over his cheek. “I owe you my life. You saved my ancestor.
It’s because of you that I exist.”

David’s eyes
sparkled. “I—I hadn’t realised that.”

“
Our destinies were tied, even over fifty years
ago.”

I watched his
face as a smile crept into the corners of his mouth and he sat
slowly taller, thought growing in his eyes. “Your name-sake—your
father’s mother. That was her.”

“
No.” My brow pulled low and I shook my head. “No, it had to
have been my mother’s mother—only females are born to Lilithian
pure bloods.”

“
No.” David shook his head, his eyes wide. “I looked for
her—for the baby. They told me she’d been adopted, that her name
was Amara. I just never made the connection until now.”

“
But—” tiny bumps of cold ran over my arms, “—then my
mum—wasn’t my mum?”

“
Ara, if Amara was your father’s mother, and Lilithian blood
is only passed down through females, then your dad isn’t your dad
either.”

“
No.” My mouth dropped. “How can that be? I look like my mum.
I have her hair.” I held up a long, silky-brown strand.

“
And you look like your father, too, Ara—too much not to be of
that blood.”

My body
flooded with heat then cold as the world stopped, and my heart
pounded in my chest, thumping, beating to the rhythm of betrayal.
How could he? My hands burned, tingling with the static charge as
waves of electricity lashed over my clenched fists.

“
Ara? Calm down.” David rose to his knees, his hand
extended.

“
He lied to me.” My teeth bit together. “My birth story.
Telling me endlessly how much I look like my mother—lies.” I
slammed my fist down. “All lies.”

“
Ara, you’re scaring me. Please, just—”

A shot of
adrenaline burst out through my shoulder as David touched me; he
flew back, cracking the black rock with his spine, and I watched
for a breathless second as he fell to the floor. “David?” The
electricity receded, and my hands turned ice-cold—going stiff.

My vampire,
unconscious on the picnic rug, lay motionless, pale.

“
David.” I shook him. “David?”

“
Now
there’s
something I haven’t felt for a while.” He rolled his face to
one side, rubbing his head.

“
What? What happened?” My hand hovered over him—afraid to
touch.

“
I think—I think my heart might have started beating for a
second.” He sat up, clutching his chest.

“
Are you serious?”

He nodded,
staring at the ground.

“
David, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened.
I—”

“
No, don’t be sorry. You are amazing.” He smiled and touched
my shoulder, cautiously. “I’ve never seen a vampire with that kind
of power before, Ara. That was phenomenal.”

“
Really? And you’re not hurt?”

“
Uh—” He rubbed the place where his heart would be. “I am, but
I’ll be okay.”

I fell onto
his chest, my face against his pain, my arms around his back. “I
can’t believe it, David. My dad lied to me. All these years.”

“
I’m sure—” David lifted my face. “I’m sure he had good reason
to, sweetheart.”

“
I have to know.” I jumped up. “I have to ask him.”

“
Ara, wait.” David stood up slowly, as if he were human, and
chased after me. “Ara. Don’t do this now.”

“
I have to know,” I stated, walking faster.

“
Ara?” He grabbed my hand. “He’s kept this from you for a
reason.”

I stared into
his eyes, trying to see his point.

“
You can’t just go charging in there, demanding the truth,
when you’re supposed to be in Paris—on your
honeymoon
.”