The Tragedy of Knowledge (13 page)

I hurried to take advantage of the lull. “Vivienne couldn’t help us. Gérard killed her. We found her dead when we got back to earth. But she sent me a message through a link. You need to turn Dali and Akim human again, immediately.” Shifting to pull the Book of the Ancients from my watertight bag, I held it in front of her with pleading eyes. “The wolves are the key to defeating your husband, and I need to speak to them, to find out what they know. The Book of the Ancients has been revealing these things to me … and this is our only chance. You have to believe me.”

Samira scanned the faces of the resistance before parting her lips to speak, her eyes narrowing into threatening slits. “That is utterly absurd. I will do no such thing. How are you able to … read my emotion? Are you working with the original conjurers again? Are you working against me again? What have you done?”

“Mother,” Arianna spat, “we don’t know why Camille can read you. We don’t have time to mull this over, so cut the bullshit!”

Realizing Samira was one second away from lashing out, I spoke calmly. “When I read you … the pain is intense. I’m not sure what it means, but look,” I flipped open the Book of the Ancients and cautiously approached her throne, showing her the last illustrated page, where the map and the rowboat were drawn to lead Gavin and me to Clea. “The witches are helping us, their book is leading us … to something.” I gestured to the hordes of vampires behind me. “The only way we were even able to cross through the portal and get here is because of what the witches did. I don’t know how they did it, but they turned against Gérard, protected us so we could pass through. Said something about taking back what was theirs.”

“Yes, Mother,” Arianna said. “They showed up with Father at the bayou, they ambushed us, but something happened and they attacked him.”

No one moved. The fireplace’s crackling bounced off the stone walls into desolate echoes, fueling the escalating tension in the room.

“If this is in fact correct,” Samira finally said, “that Dali and Akim are the key to defeating my husband, then he has designed the perfect failsafe.”

“Come again?” Gavin asked.

“It is the perfect failsafe because he knows I shall never restore the wolves’ humanity.” Her chin lifted and her shoulders set, as if to make it clear this conversation was over.

I sure as hell wasn’t giving up that easily.

“Your Majesty, this is no time for stubbornness or harboring grudges. When Gavin suggested an alliance to you, something in you told you it was the right thing to do.” I shifted my gaze to Arianna, and Samira noticed; she glanced at her daughter before training her eyes back on mine. “You want to destroy him,” I said when our gazes met again. “You want freedom just as much as we do, and I know you want to apologize to Arianna for all you’ve done, and this is the closest shot you’re ever going to get.” I winced when the stinging pain attacked my temples for a moment, thankful when it ebbed, shifting to a low, hot simmer.

Samira’s eyes were shut, her lips bunched tight as she focused to control her fear. As painful as it was to feel the effects of her fluctuating emotion, I was grateful for the confirmation it gave: my assumptions were correct. She was afraid I might be right.

Her gaze curious at the Book of the Ancients I held before her, she moved down the throne steps for a closer look. Raising her eyes to scan the resistance again, she shook her head. “Absolutely not. I do want a chance to earn your forgiveness, my daughter,” she looked to Arianna, “more than you’ll ever know. However, this is out of the question. I refuse to entertain this foolish idea!”

I turned to Gavin, knowing we didn’t have one more second to lose. “How about you go find Josh and check on the Amaranthians? Send the resistance to man the portal entry for Gérard’s arrival. It can buy us a few minutes.” Twisting around to include Arianna, I channeled every ounce of determination I could muster into my expression. “I need to speak to your mother alone.”

“Absolutely not,” Gavin jolted forward, body rigid as a rail. “Camille, this is not happening, do you hear me?”

“Gav,” I lowered my voice, leaning into him, keeping a viselike grip on the Book of the Ancients. “If you’re going to trust me, you have to trust me all the way, do you understand?” I had to get her alone. It was the only way I could try to convince her to do this. She wouldn’t let some puny frozen soul order her around in front of such an audience and risk further hurting her pride.

“She’s right, Gav,” Arianna said, eyes shifting to her mother’s throne. “Let her go.”

His jaw clenched, his eyes giving away his mind’s internal struggle. Swallowing hard, he leaned in and grasped the sides of my face. “I don’t like that you can read her …
feel
her so strongly. Whatever you have to say to her, you can say it in front of me.”

“No. Leave.
Now
.”

“Perhaps you should listen to your wife.” Samira’s voice carried down the granite stairway, causing Gavin to flinch. His anger was palpable, rolling off him in stifling waves. He turned to pin her with eyes like daggers, and a smug smile painted her face in return.

“Gav, come on.” Arianna tugged his shirtsleeve, glancing at Gabe and Audrey and the slew of vampires behind us, waiting for direction.

Gavin pried his hands from my face. “I want to see my mother,” he demanded, finally facing Samira.

“She is in the main village, staying with your friend … Josh, I believe. Victor will escort you, and my guards will accompany the rest of you to the portal door.” Samira raised her voice, lifting her chin to address the army behind us. “I do believe Camille and I have business to attend to.” On cue, Victor appeared from the rear doors, politely extending his long, bony hands to encourage Gavin to follow him.

Gavin shut his eyes in defeat, reopening them to burn me with his gaze. “I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this.”

“Believe it, because it’s happening. Now
go
.”

Drawing a sharp breath, he nodded once and stalked toward Victor, while Arianna, Gabe, Audrey, and the frozen souls all followed the guards out the front doors, the sounds of their shuffling footsteps bringing life to the room. I suddenly felt I could breathe again.

The last few guards filtered out behind the resistance, and Samira and I deadpanned one another, locking gazes at lightning-fast speed. I spoke first. “Return Dali and Akim to their human form.”

“Tell me everything you know.”

“I’ve already told you, we don’t have time for that. I’ve heard the story, Samira. When Gérard betrayed you, you went into a rage and turned them. You have to let that grudge go.”

“A grudge.” She let out a dry laugh, began to float down the steps toward me. “You were a resilient mortal, and clearly, are even more resilient as a frozen soul. Which is why I am surprised that a being as strong, as clever as you, has failed to realize there is always more to a story than century-old gossip.”

“It doesn’t matter! Don’t you understand? Look, I understand you’re worried they’ll … retaliate somehow. They have to be pretty angry with you after what you’ve done to them, but if you’ll just let me talk to them—”

“Clearly, my pet,
you
are the one who does not understand. Dali and Akim represent much more to me than a simple grudge. Yes, I wanted my husband to pay for what he had done, so I chose to punish his closest friends. Only … it backfired. To return them to their human form is not only to admit failure, but to relive every shred of dignity I lost that day.”

When she reached me at the bottom of the stairway, we came head to head, her arctic eyes cutting mine like glass. The stinging pricked at my temples, but I could feel its low hum begin to vibrate as Samira fought to manage her anxiety at the discussion of her husband. Whatever she was revealing to me terrified her, made her feel vulnerable, at her precise weakest.

Without thinking, I stretched out my free hand and gripped her wrist to console her, encourage her to continue.

Her eyes widened in disbelief, and then something happened that nearly floored me. The tight creases around her eyes softened and her rigid lips fell at their corners, tears forming in her ducts.

I said, “I know he betrayed you, but Arianna is
alive
, Samira. She’s here, right now. And all she wants is for you to make this right. He might have held you captive here, forced you to overlook his kingdom, but you don’t have to be a slave to him anymore.”

“I will always be a slave to him.” Her shoulders sagged, and then the tears came. She gripped my hand, allowed me to latch on harder to her wrist. “Can you not see? As a woman? As a wife? As a former mortal yourself?”

I couldn’t see. My own tears blinded me now, my frame caving under the weight of her overwhelming anxiety; it was beyond nerve-wracking for her to reveal this level of vulnerability. Despite the tears, I couldn’t pry my gaze from the broken woman before me, this exotic, exquisite queen who had nothing left to hang onto other than fury and spite. It must be an exhausting burden to carry, even for our kind.

“No, I can’t imagine that level of betrayal. I’m so sorry for your loss, I truly, truly am. Which is why I want—no, I
need
you to fight, to face those demons. If you do, there might be a chance for us
all
to be free from this.”

“My pet, even if I am free from this realm, my will to carry on is depleted. Arianna will never, ever forgive me for the monster I’ve become. Do you not see the hatred in her eyes when she looks at me? Without her, I have nothing. I’ve had nothing since she left with the uprising. All that will remain are the memories I have of this wretched place and the day Gérard abandoned me for
her
.”

I wiped at my tears, watching her turn to resume her seat on the throne while my mind clicked. “What? He didn’t abandon you for Arianna. Wait, what does this have to do with Dali and Akim?”

“They were the fools to relay the message to me. Nothing is worth the pain I will surely endure if I bring them back.”

“Message?”

“Of the affair. The one your husband has yet to reveal to you, I presume.”

Now it was my turn to approach her. I drifted carefully, step by step, up the stairs to stand at her feet.

“His ex-lover,” she said, her voice grave. “The worthless fool you have to thank for the loss of your humanity.”

My arms dropped limp to my sides, the Book of the Ancients leaving my grip for the first time since we’d arrived in Amaranth, plunking straight to the granite floor with a thud.

“Your husband … had an affair … with
Scarlet?
”

She nodded, tapping her red nails as she did, her sadness slipping away into some far-off void, where it was swiftly replaced with that emotionless, cold expression I’d grown so used to. “She seduced your husband and enticed him into a relationship, only to use him for his connection with mine. Knowing his father, Sean, and Gérard were friends at the time, she convinced Gavin to have Sean introduce her to Gérard, and then she did what she does best: reach out and take whatever she wants.”

Her words crushed me, forcing the images into clear view, images I didn’t want to imagine: Scarlet seducing Gavin, Gavin being deceived and discarded after she obtained her goal, and then … oh, God. The mere thought that Gavin and the sinister conjure king who’d just touched me had shared the same woman brought bile to my throat.

The revelation cut to the bone, and Gavin’s betrayal cut deeper. What I couldn’t accept was that Gavin hadn’t told me this. No one had. And here I was, finding it out from the vampire queen herself. Even more inconceivable was the fact that he had greeted Scarlet as a long-lost friend, lied to Vivienne and me about Scarlet’s knowledge of Arianna, and had allowed her with open arms into the resistance, putting our entire mission at stake. A million questions begged for answers, but I couldn’t think about them now.

In that instant, I knew what I’d felt in the beginning was correct, and the epiphany was beyond enlightening: Samira
was
a victim in all this. She never asked for any of it.

Clarity struck hard and swift, and I reached out to take her hand again. “All the more reason to bring the bastard down.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when the Book of the Ancients lit up at our feet, its cover slamming open and pages flapping frantically before us. Our gazes shot downward; the blank page next to the rowboat map demanded our attention as it filled up with bursts of golden sketches. Samira’s eyes flew wide, and the images took shape to reveal an illustration of us, grasping hands as if we were reaching out desperately for one another.

I let go of Samira’s hand and took a step back, gasping at the illustration’s final touch.

A stream of fire burned between the image of our fingertips, extending from my hand to hers, a fiery torch passing its light. My eyes rolled upward to meet Samira’s, and Clea’s words burned embers in the pit of my stomach:
Your firestarter is by your side.

8

DUST TO DUST

The book’s glow faded, the cover slammed shut, and I scooped it up as if I were capturing a rabid animal that needed to be detained.