The Key to Starveldt (31 page)

The blood was in her nostrils; a gagging, delicious scent.

‘Sweetie, please! Come on!’

‘Brother. Your brother.’ The little girl’s voice was faint. ‘He said to tell you. Come out. He said you could fix me. Make me like you.’ A whimper escaped her. ‘Solace? Is that my gift?’

Anguish was a sucker-punch. She remembered what she’d seen in the Castalian spring. The others had gone, but Mrs Plummer and Luci had been alone, unprotected since the lifting of Duchess’s wards. Only now did she understand. Salesian had been right: she’d seen what she’d needed to see. She should have known to go to them, to keep them safe. But Grief had got there first, using Luci as his messenger – Luci, whose innocence and need for sanctuary had seen her pass unharmed through the Rookery’s wards.

‘Help her,’ she said again, meeting Liluye’s gaze. ‘Whatever you have to do. Please. Help her.’

‘Only you can choose to do that,’ said the proprietor. Fierce compassion lit her face, and something darker, too.

‘What?’ Solace stared at her. ‘But I can’t –’

And then it hit her. The whole room seemed to vanish, flooding into darkness as the scent of blood engulfed her and she realised the awful truth of what Grief had done.
You’re a vampire. He wants you to make her the same
.

He wants you to turn a child.

‘Oh, God.’ The world returned. Frantic now, she sought Sharpsoft’s gaze. Her voice cracked. ‘I can’t. You have to. Please. Or take her, teleport her away, find a hospital –’

‘It is too late for that.’ He looked away from her.

Luci’s blood was trickling over his fingers. How long had she been like this? Grief must have attacked, then pushed her into the Rookery – but still, if Sharpsoft had acted at once, if he’d taken her away –

‘Your brother has started the change.’

‘What?’

‘He has begun to turn her.’ Sharpsoft’s voice was low, fast and full of fury. ‘He drank her blood, but gave her only a smear of his own. It’s all that’s keeping her alive. Human doctors aren’t an option. You know how Grief was made, what he has become. You know the consequences of feeding a child on mixed blood, the wrong blood. You are his sister. Only you might be able to finish this.’

Might.
It was a fragile word. Too fragile.

‘She’s so little.’ Evan was staring, his bruised hands clenched into fists. ‘She doesn’t deserve to die.’

‘But she’ll never grow up. She wasn’t born a vampire.’ Solace kept her eyes on Luci. The little girl’s breathing was shallower now, her eyes barely open. ‘A child forever, or dead forever. I can’t make that choice. I can’t!’

It felt like her heart was breaking. But there was no time, no space for thought – they’d waited too long already, wasted breath on words – and as Luci shuddered against the floor, as Duchess leapt to the floor and said,

, Solace accepted that she had no choice at all. The blood was calling.

She lifted Luci into her lap, brushed the hair away from her neck, and drank.

It was an instinctive action. Fire washed through her, and giddiness, and pure, savage hunger. She wanted more, but something in her knew that only a swallow was necessary to permit the magic. Blood for blood. Her lips felt swollen.
Now, to give.

With a low growl, Solace lifted her own wrist and bit down, feeling her teeth sharpen, scraping against flesh. It hurt, and after sampling Luci’s, her own blood tasted wrong, like coffee made with off milk. Hardly breathing, she placed the wound over Luci’s mouth, holding the girl’s head in place until, with an animal jerk, she started to feed on her own. Her giddiness increased, underwritten with a dangerous, predatory note. Once Luci had finished, Solace would need to feed – but then, there were several warm bodies nearby, soft-skinned, supple – she could taste their fear – the child’s teeth bruised against her blood, an almost maternal agony –

‘Chain me.’

The words rasped out of her, breaking the moment. Her eyes weren’t working properly. As had happened in the Bloodkin dungeon, even the air was scintillating, sliding sideways like a windblown waterfall. Somehow, she knew where Liluye was, and swung her head towards her.

‘Chain me,’ she said again. The prophecy came to her:
Daughter chained and hope unlocking.
Angry laughter bubbled through her throat. ‘Or I won’t be responsible for my actions.’

Luci’s strength was coming to an end. Distantly, Solace was aware of the proprietor speaking words of power. Behind her, Evan cried out in shock – at what, she didn’t know, until she felt the heavy weight of a manacle bind her free arm to the marble floor, iron summoned from the ether.

‘Good,’ she said – just as Luci pulled back. For a moment, the little girl lay sprawled in Solace’s lap, her head lolling to one side.

‘Did it work?’ asked Liluye, her voice unusually strained.

‘Wait,’ said Sharpsoft.

Luci looked up at Solace. The child was shivering, her thin bones rattling the boundaries of her skin.

‘No prince,’ she whispered. A smile trembled on her bloody lips. ‘Safe.’

Her body spasmed – a final kick – and lay still.

Solace stared at Luci. Not even the blood she’d drunk was strong enough to override her awareness of the child’s death, nor numb her to the obscenity of the role she’d been forced to play in bringing it about. But part of her still rebelled, unable to grasp the idea that her efforts had failed.
It’s not supposed to be like this.
Stupidly, she smoothed a clump of hair away from Luci’s forehead. The world around her rippled.
Maybe she dies, and then comes back. That must be it.
But when she looked at Sharpsoft, she saw in his face that the girl was gone. Numb, she let her guardian scoop Luci’s body gently into his arms, heedless of the bloodstains marring his pale coat.

Solace squeezed her eyes shut, fighting to keep control of herself. Without thinking, she pulled against the chain that bound her to the floor. It clanked loudly, like the cogs of some ancient machine. Laughter forced its way up her throat, but she choked it down, refusing to grin, refusing the madness that drinking even so small a quantity of blood had brought on. Her bitten wrist burned, but much less than her heart. She felt empty, and not just because of Luci. The blood she’d spent had taken something from her that went deeper than flesh, deeper than function. Even without the chain, she doubted her ability to rise. Part of herself had gone into trying to save the child, and now it was gone, too, carried away against Sharpsoft’s chest.

‘Eleuthera.’ Without opening her eyes, she knew that Liluye was crouched beside her. ‘Can you hear me? Are you whole?’

‘No.’ Solace shuddered. She remembered that Evan was watching. It was unbearable. ‘Please. Make him go.’

‘You tried,’ said Liluye. ‘This isn’t your –’

‘
Go
!’ Solace roared, frightening herself with the intensity in her voice. She was shaking, though whether with grief, withdrawal or shame, she couldn’t tell; most likely a combination of all three. She became aware of Anise trying to lead Evan away, of Sharpsoft departing with Luci’s body, of Duchess following him, and, finally, of being left alone.

Almost alone, that is. Liluye was still with her. For what felt like minutes, the two of them sat in silence, unmoving as statues.

When Liluye finally spoke, the proprietor’s voice was soft. ‘You’ll have to leave here, soon. Grief ’s seen to that. And when you do, you’ll need your full strength to fight him. Your magic failed, but it was still magic. The effort will have drained you.’ There was a sense of something being thrust under her nose. ‘Here. Drink from me.’

Solace’s eyes snapped open. ‘No.’

‘You can’t afford to be weak. Surely you see that? Drink. You need the blood.’

Almost, Solace laughed – it was that, or give in to tears. ‘I get it. You’ve done this for Sharpsoft, too, haven’t you? Fed him, I mean. That’s why you’re not squeamish. Did you find others for him, balance out his diet? Or has it always been just you?’

Liluye snatched her hand away, cheeks bright.

‘Huh. Who’d have guessed it?’ The voice was Evan’s. Solace whipped her head around, thinking she was mistaken. But sure enough, the empath was standing at the foot of the stairs, an unreadable expression on his face. ‘I guess Glide was telling the truth about something, after all.’

Solace stared at him. ‘You shouldn’t be here. Anise should have taken you –’

‘– away, I know,’ Evan said. ‘But I wanted to stay. I’m kind of persistent like that.’

Though she tried to ignore it, Solace felt the pull of her bond with Evan. This time, it was a gentle thing, full of compassion she surely didn’t deserve.
Loa
or
hounsi
?

What does it matter? I still couldn’t save Luci.
Anger welled up in her. She glared at Liluye, needing to be angry with someone and finding only the proprietor.

‘You let this happen. All this time, you’ve been keeping us here. It makes no sense! All you had to do was let us go, tell us where Starveldt was. But instead, you’ve had your guards take us on
tours
of the goddamn
markets
, and now Luci’s dead! You should’ve just let us –’

‘No.’

Solace blinked, completely derailed by this simple refusal.

‘What?’

Liluye sighed. ‘No, we are not having this conversation now. You are wounded, Eleuthera, in mind as well as magic. Your friends are elsewhere, awaiting our return and whatever explanation I can give. Anything you ask me then, I will answer – I swear by the years of my life – but only once you have recovered. Now:drink.’

‘No.’

This time, the objection came from Evan. Solace felt a rush of gratitude, which vanished as she saw him roll up his sleeve and approach her.

Horrified, she shook her head. ‘You can’t.’

‘You know,’ he said conversationally, crouching down beside her, ‘I’ve been hearing that a lot today. Kind of sick of it. You look like death, Lacey. It’s me or her, and something tells me you’re not being let out of that –’ he nodded at the chain, ‘– until you make a choice.’

His eyes were fixed on hers. The bond reverberated between them, but even so, she couldn’t understand why he would offer this much, or how he could sit there, wrist outstretched, after everything he’d witnessed. Her hands and clothes were still streaked with Luci’s blood.

‘Why?’ she asked. She hadn’t meant to, but somehow, she’d taken his hand. Dimly, she was aware of Liluye moving away, giving them room. Evan smiled at her. There was sadness in his gaze, and exhaustion, but also solidarity.

‘Because,’ he said, one corner of his mouth twisting, ‘you shouldn’t be alone in this. Go on.’ He lifted their hands to chin-height. Blood dripped sluggishly from the wound in her wrist.

Solace tried a final time to dissuade him. ‘You don’t know what you’re offering.’

‘Neither do you, really. When has that ever stopped either of us?’

‘It’ll hurt.’

‘You lived.’ His eyes indicated her bite. ‘I will, too.’

‘Evan –’

He kissed her, short and powerful. His free hand gripped the side of her jaw. Something in her woke. He pulled his mouth away just as fiercely, but kept hold of her, unwavering as she gripped his wrist. Solace didn’t think. She bit down hard near the heel of his palm, ignoring his sharp inhalation of breath as the blood hit her tongue. Instantly, she felt restored, but also euphoric, imbued with the madness of a hallucinogen. How easy would it be to just keep drinking? She was so hungry. Always hungry. Until now, it hadn’t seemed to matter. Evan’s grip on her jaw grew harder: a warning. She was losing herself, she had to pull away, but it was so hard –

‘Come on, Lacey.’ His breath was hot by her ear. Moving upwards, he pressed his lips to her temple. ‘Come back.’

With a cry, Solace pushed herself away from him. Her strength had returned, and with it came the dissolution of what little control she’d had. Her thoughts were swirled and foreign. What was she doing? For a moment, it had seemed so clear, but now, as she tugged at her manacled wrist, a strange fury rose in her. Her skin felt like ice, a sensation punctured only by the heat in her wrist. Straining against her shackle, she lifted her head, scenting blood. She saw Evan, sprawled backwards on the floor. He swore softly to himself, but then he caught her gaze, and everything seemed to freeze.

The bond roped between them, a lifeline to which her conscious mind frantically clung. As though he’d put a sleeper hold on the violence in her, she felt the singing in her blood diminish, dying down until not even a whisper was left. A moment of stillness took her, and then it was done. The manacle fell away, clattering briefly before vanishing altogether. Gasping, she fell forward onto her palms. Tears welled in her eyes.

‘Luci,’ she whispered.

‘C
ome,’ said Liluye, as Solace and Evan stood. There was an odd expression on her face as she glanced at the two of them, but if she was curious about what had just happened, she kept it to herself. ‘Your friends are waiting.’

Solace nodded, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘What have you done with Luci?’

‘She will be buried,’ said the proprietor shortly. ‘Beyond the satyrs’ grove.’

Turning away, she led them back through the corridors to their suite, where Solace flinched, remembering how abruptly they’d abandoned Laine, and wondering how she could explain what had happened. Instead, the door opened on an empty room.

‘Change,’ was Liluye’s curt command. ‘The child’s blood still covers you.’

‘Can I get a bandage or something?’ Evan gestured to his wrist.

Liluye pointed him towards another of the bedrooms. ‘Wash it, first. There are dressings beneath the sink. Bring enough for two.’

‘Right.’ He looked like he wanted to say more, but did as he was told. Solace watched him go, then went straight to her own room and surveyed herself in the mirror. The fact that her clothes were red and black had served to hide the worst of the blood, but she could still feel its stickiness against her skin, like old honey. With most of the damage to her shirt, she stripped to the waist and rinsed both her top half and the affected leather of her jacket with soap and cold water. The sink became streaked with pink lather. Her hands and arms required the most effort, but even so, the whole process took no more than five minutes. Shivering slightly, she put her bra back on, chose a fresh red top from the wardrobe and returned to the lounge, where Liluye was wrapping a length of gauze around Evan’s wound. Almost as an afterthought, she pulled her discarded jacket back on.