Dark Awakening (37 page)

It was Lily’s turn to gasp. She hadn’t ever wanted to see Damien again. The memories brought back by seeing him were nothing she wanted to be reminded of. But she felt Ty pressing reassuringly into her leg, and she stilled, trying to focus on his warmth, the comfort he was trying to provide.

“Damien Tremaine, Your Majesty,” Damien said,
sweeping a mocking bow at her feet. “Hired by Nero of the Ptolemy to destroy the Seer before she ever got here, along with the hunter who brought her.” He paused with a mocking little smile. “Obviously, I had some difficulties.”

Arsinöe didn’t look convinced—she looked outraged. “How dare you bring this creature into my court and pay it to spout its lies!” she shrieked at Vlad. “I will never trust the word of a Cait over my own blood! Where is Nero? I demand he come up here and defend himself!”

There was an awkward moment of shuffling and muttering among those gathered. Damien raised one well-arched brow. “Hmm. Seems to have found something better to do all of a sudden.”

The queen curled her lip at Damien, who looked equally disgusted to be in her presence.

“You impugn Nero’s honor and the honor of my house.”

Very clearly, so that everyone could hear, Damien said, “Spare me. He’s probably filling the room with poison gas as we speak. Then he’ll take all our heads and wear them as accessories. He killed a Gypsy girl for the curse and then threw her away like so much garbage. And she was far from the first. He’d even decided to keep your Seer as a pet instead of killing her, hiding her from you so he could do Gods-know-what. You have no idea what he is.”

“If he’s tried to run, he won’t get far,” Vlad said, then inclined his head toward Lily. “And you, Arsinöe, are holding the heir to an ancient dynasty against her will. You’ll need to let her go now. She needs to be presented to the council.”

Arsinöe began to laugh, a throaty roll that would have been beautiful except for the edge of madness to it. “The
little human? She’s nothing. She needed my guidance for a simple vision. You’re mistaken, Vlad. And if you have been foolish enough to surround this house with your soldiers, then you’ll have war no matter who is responsible for the Mulo—this I promise you!”

“Arsinöe. He’s right.”

That voice was the most beautiful thing Lily had ever heard. Then he was beside her, tall and lanky and dark. He didn’t look at her—not yet—but kept focused on the queen. She stared at him as though he had just stabbed her in the heart, and Lily saw then that she did care for him. Not in a healthy way, certainly, but the sort of hurt written on her face was a good indicator that when it came to Ty, Arsinöe was not made of stone.

“You… you brought the Dracul here?” she asked hoarsely.

Ty looked at her a long moment and then nodded. “I did.”

“But…
why
?”

“Because I don’t want to see this destroy you,” Ty said. “And because I’m in love with the woman you’ve locked in here with you. Listen to the Dracul, please, Arsinöe. They are not your enemy.”

Lily couldn’t have moved if she’d wanted to. She felt glued to the spot, and all she could hear was that he was in love with her. Had he actually said that? She wanted to hear it again. And again after that.

“Tynan,” Arsinöe said softly. “You went to Vlad? You profess to be in love with this insignificant slip of a thing? A
human
? You betray me,” she said, her voice growing steadier as she looked at Ty accusingly, though no less full of pain. “You betray us all.”

“No,” Lily said. She stepped forward again. “You betrayed Lilith. And I am hers.”

Unafraid now, she bared her mark to Arsinöe, who went sheet-white. “Demon child,” she muttered, and incredibly, began to back away. “Seed of the demon,
abomination
!” she shouted, lifting her hand to point at Lily in horror.

It was eerily like watching her berate Lilith in her visions.

A column of smoke appeared by Lily then, slowly taking the form of a woman. A beautiful, dark-haired woman with luminous eyes as ancient as the stars.

“Hear me now, all of you,” Anura cried, and the cacophony of the crowd fell to silence at her rich voice. “Lilith, the Mother, was no demon, and neither was her child! It’s true, Lilith enlisted the aid of the demon to conceive,” Anura said. “But there is no demonic taint in her line. Those were lies told to destroy her, and all who followed her.”

Arsinöe looked aghast at Anura’s appearance.

“Have we been invaded by every gutterblood in the area?” she asked, sounding shell-shocked. “Anura, you’re a traitor to your own dynasty. You willingly tainted your blood with that of a man who was little better than an
animal
. And yet you expect me to believe this nonsense!”

“I do,” Anura said calmly. “Because I was there. I delivered the child that Lilith conceived by a human man, aided by her demon love, for a price she will pay for eternity. It may not have been a path many would have chosen, but it was her choice. And this is the descendant of that daughter, the child of her blood. She is no demon seed. She is half human, half vampire. The ritual saw to that.”

“You,” Lily said softly, suddenly understanding. “You were the one who took the baby from the temple.”

Anura’s smile was radiant. “Lilith was as my own sister. Our lines have ancient ties, little one. I promised to protect the babe. That was the promise given by the Empusae, to care for the human children of Lilith until the dynasty could be reawakened. But time and carelessness lost the carriers of her blood. Still, I believe that same blood brought you back to me.”

“Blood is destiny,” Lily murmured.

“For the love of Sekhmet,” Arsinöe snapped.

Her people were in an uproar, shouting epithets at Lily, at the Cait Sith, and threatening the Dracul with slow, deliberate dismemberment. Arsinöe shoved Vlad aside and strode to Lily, who held her ground. She wasn’t afraid anymore. Whatever happened, she knew these people had her back.

If blood was destiny, if it truly was, then it had brought her to the people she was meant to be surrounded with. But to reawaken an entire dynasty, to create something that important when she was only one human with a mark that was singular in all the world… how was she supposed to do
that
?

And yet, even as she asked herself the question, she understood.

Break his chains. Free our blood.

“No house can stand alone,” Lily said softly as Lilith’s voice whispered in her head. Blood might be destiny. But there were always choices.

Arsinöe tore Lily’s shirt down the front with a single swipe of her hand. Lily didn’t even have time to react before Arsinöe was inches from her, glaring at the mark that seemed oddly illuminated in the candlelight.

The queen bared her teeth. “She would have created chaos. She created a child with a demon, whether you share his blood or not. Where we seek to preserve our lines, she reveled in tainting hers. Lilith’s actions were worthy of death then. And I refuse to see her madness continue.” She looked to Ty, who moved to place himself in front of Lily.

Lily stayed him with her hand and a meaningful look. She saw all of his raw emotion, so close to the surface, stamped onto his beloved face.

“You don’t need to save me this time, Ty.”

“What if I want to?” he asked roughly.

“I’m going to kill you both,” Arsinöe hissed. “That should solve all of our problems.”

That was when Lily saw it, rising behind the vampire queen like the shadow of Death itself. It was a patch of pure darkness, only vaguely man-shaped, with red eyes that spoke of an ancient hunger. And no one could see it but her.

Nero had sent the Mulo. And in all the confusion, he intended to kill the queen.

Lily heard her own warning cry, even as Arsinöe drew the same glittering, curved blade she had seen in her dreams since she was a child. The Mulo opened a gaping maw filled with jagged, sharp teeth, a rotting hole still flecked with bits of blood and skin. And it gave a furious, ravenous wail a split second before it struck, its only warning, and far too late.

But it was not coming for her, Lily realized.

She didn’t think, didn’t even have to try. For the first time in her life, the power inside of her burst through her as naturally and easily as breathing. There was no struggle, nothing held back behind some invisible wall.

In that moment, she was all Lilim. And there were no voices, no alien sensations of another sharing her body. This was all her.

Her own scream filled her ears as she threw Arsinöe aside. There was a bright burst of pain as she did so, but Lily had no time to consider what it might mean. The Mulo was inches from her in all its vile fury, and denied of its target, it turned its attention to the next thing in its path: her.

It was as she wanted it. Lily didn’t shrink back as it lunged at her. She reached for it, though it had no visible substance, and caught the sides of its foul mouth with hands that thrummed with white-hot light. It screamed at her touch, thrashing from side to side as it tried to get away. But Lily, possessed of a strength that she had never known but always felt, just out of reach, hung on tighter. She pushed the energy into the Mulo, pulling to the sides as she did so, burning it even as she tore the shadow in two.

The ballroom was filled with horrified screaming; her ears were filled with it—it came from the dying creature that should never have had this second life.

With a final, deafening roar, it surrendered to the inevitable as Lily rent it in half. There was a flash, the stench of ozone, and she watched the tattered wisps of shadow that hung from her hands flutter rapidly in some unseen breeze before vanishing completely.

She had done it. She’d finally managed to use what was in her for something good, to harness what she’d never been able to. Even if it was only this once, Lily thought as pandemonium erupted around her, with Ptolemy fleeing for the exits and dozens of men and women she’d never
seen before pouring in through the windows, shoving through the doors, it had been a big once. She’d stopped a war. She’d saved the Ptolemy, though whether that was all so great was debatable. She understood what she was, how she had come to be. And she had a man who loved her. Who had announced he loved her in front of one of the scariest vampires in existence.

It really didn’t get more devoted than that. And all she wanted to do was wrap herself in his arms and go someplace quiet and dark, to tell him how she felt, how she wanted nothing to do with this dynasty business unless he was at her side.

Lily turned, finding it odd that the room seemed to spin with her. Everything seemed to be moving too slowly. She saw Jaden (
Jaden!
she thought with a burst of pleasure) hurl Nero to the floor, a feral snarl on his face, and raise his blade. She saw Vlad rush toward Arsinöe, who was staring at her own knife, which seemed to be dripping with blood. Damien watched her with something like pity in his eyes.

She stumbled as she turned and felt Ty catch her. She would know his touch even in the most impenetrable darkness, Lily thought, a faint smile on her lips. Why was it getting so dark all of a sudden?

“Lily,” she heard him say, and she looked up into his eyes. “Stay with me. Lily, please… please…”

His eyes were the stars, the moon in the sky.

Then she was gone.

H
E WATCHED HER DEEP,
even breaths as she slept. He monitored those carefully, half convinced that at any minute, her chest would cease to rise after a fall. That she would vanish from him as stealthily as the ghost that had once haunted her, never to return.

The door behind him opened, throwing a bit of light into a room that was furnished with an ornate canopy bed draped in taupe and cream linens, a carved bombe chest, a towering wardrobe carved with the faces of cherubs. It was all a bit much for Ty, but he knew antiques when he saw them, and this room was worth a fortune. He was hard-pressed to care at the moment. About anything, including the Very Important Person who moved quietly to his side to study Lily’s still face.

“She’s lucky. I don’t know how Arsinöe, of all people, managed to miss internal organs. It could have been over right then. Still, she lost a lot of blood. It’s lucky there was so much chaos, really. Not everyone would have been able to resist the scent.”

Ty glanced up at Vlad.

“Lily saved the woman’s life, and she still took off as if the hounds of Hell were nipping at her heels. Not a word. Just that odd expression.” He sighed, ran a hand through his hair. “At least no one batted an eye when every last Cait Sith stormed out of there. The Ptolemy will have to wait on themselves for a bit, I think. Might be good for them.”

Vlad eyed Lily speculatively. “You’re sure she’ll take them?”

Ty nodded. “You could do a lot worse than the Cait Sith as a foundation for a dynasty. I suppose you could do a lot better, too, but the woman seems to have a thing for strays,” he said. “No, they need her. And she wouldn’t turn them away. She has a big heart.”

His brothers and sisters were taken care of. That, at least, he had seen to. Things had indeed become bleak as Nero’s hold on Arsinöe had increased. He’d brought out the worst in her, but Ty could blame no one but the queen herself. The worst had always been there. He just hadn’t wanted to see it. How he could have so badly misjudged the queen, he didn’t know. She seemed so brittle to him now, so contrived. So unlike the warm little creature he had been alternately infuriated and infatuated with, the one lying here now. Too late, he understood the difference.