Heiress of Lies (26 page)

     Connor stepped inside and closed the door over his head. He saw a light flare several feet down. Angeline had found a lantern.

     He reached the bottom of the stairs and found himself in a small stone room. It was really just big enough for him and Angeline to sit down facing each other with several feet between them, as they both leaned up against opposite walls.

     Angeline closed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair. Even in the dim light of the lantern, after running for miles and no doubt being scared out of her mind, she looked lovely.

     “What happens now?” she asked.

     “I don’t know,” Connor said. He needed a few minutes to think and plot their best course of action.

     “Connor.” She said his name carefully, as if she tasted each letter. Her eyes opened and she looked at him intently. “You can’t lie to me anymore.”

     Her eyes pleaded with him, but he could see by the set of her jaw that she wasn’t asking him. She was telling him. And while that should have upset him, it didn’t. He had spent too much time obeying the foolish laws of an old master in a life that he despised.

     “I won’t ever lie to you again, Princess,” he said. He scooted closer to her. “I am your loyal servant, for now and always. I am yours to command.”

     “Then tell me why you kidnapped me,” she said.

     It was the question that he had been dreading. “I did it so that I could win the Master’s game,” he said.

     “What would you win?” she asked. She didn’t seem to be judging him. Just curious.

     “Any wish that my heart desired,” he said. He looked down at his hands. He felt foolish saying the words out loud.

     “What would you have asked for?”

     “To know the place of the Clan, so that I could ask for a pardon from this life,” he said, hanging his head. Suddenly the weight of all of his past transgressions seemed too much to bear. He was deeply ashamed.

     Then he felt a gentle touch on his head. He looked up and her hand glided down his cheek. It felt warm and soft.

     “If you serve me faithfully, Connor, I will help you get your wish,” Angeline said. Her violet eyes flashed in the light and he could see that she was weighing a very important decision. “I will help you because in getting your wish, I hope to get mine as well. Let’s find a cure for this disease.”

     Connor took her hand in his and felt like her eyes had him frozen in place. “I will serve you faithfully, Princess, no matter what.” Her eyes started to water and he could see that she was struggling with her emotions. Wraith or no, as he watched her lips move silently, the smell that filled his nose was intoxicating. His lips crossed the distance between them and he stopped just short of her mouth.

     He could taste her breath in those few short inches. Then her eyes closed and her lips met his. He groaned deep in his throat as he felt her press closer to him and his arms wrapped around her to pull her tight. He had lived over a hundred years, but nothing in his experience had ever prepared him for the swirl of desire that pulled him into its grip.

     He was almost too distracted to feel the niggling at the edge of his mind, and he realized what it was just before the door above them swung open. He shoved Angeline away from him and slid quickly back against the wall. Her eyes were wide with shock and her breath was coming in quick gasps. He ran his hand through his hair and tried to straighten his collar as the heavy footsteps trudged down the steps.

     Searon stepped into the small space and smiled at Angeline, although the corner of his mouth curled. “Well now cousin, wasn’t that exciting? Did you miss me?”

     Angeline’s head was spinning. The dark thing inside her was screaming for more; more Connor, more stolen kisses, and maybe even something more. She was having a hard time focusing, but knew that what she did next may very well decide her fate. Keeping her back to the cool wall, she put her feet beneath her and slid up so that she stood facing Searon. Then she put a hand to her throat and put on her best face of concern.

     “Searon, thank the gods you made it. I fear that I would not have been so lucky if Connor had not been so quick-footed. You made an excellent choice in assigning him to watch over me until we reach your father’s coven. He assured me that as long as we waited here, you would find us.”

     She watched his eyes narrow. She didn’t dare risk looking at Connor. If she did, she felt sure that Searon would see the truth in her eyes. There was much more going on between them than a man who had been sent to retrieve her for his Master; at least, she hoped now there was more.

     “I am delighted to find you escaped unscathed, Cousin. That is more than I can say for my men,” Searon said slowly. His eyes cut over to Connor, who hadn’t moved yet from the floor. “Caspian and I barely made it up the cliff as it was.”

     He held out his arms and Angeline gasped. Deep red gashes cut into his pale skin, and several were puffed and swollen. She could see blood still weeping from several of them.

     “How is that possible?” she asked. “Why haven’t you healed?”

     “Poisonous pestilence,” Searon spat. “Caspian is gathering herbs now to help. I am sure my father had no idea that if given the right incentive, those spirits actually do have the ability to harm us. They are a menace.”

     “They were after me,” Angeline said. “I am sure that other vampires would be safe.” She couldn’t believe that there was a part of her that even cared if the vampires were at risk. But then again, a very large part of her seemed to care about one vampire in particular and that was equally confusing.

     Her eyes cut over to Connor, who finally seemed to be absorbing what was going on around him. Connor stood and leaned over to examine Searon’s wounds. Then he shook his head. “I’ve traveled the Amaron Forest for years without any sign that this type of thing was possible. I fear times are changing.”

     Angeline heard the heaviness in his voice. Had the fact that they had kissed filled him with regret? She hated the little voice that was now babbling in her head that she wasn’t even worthy of a vampire’s affections in her current state.

     Then the door opened again and Caspian all but fell down the stairs in his rush to get in. Angeline could see the first rays of dawn just as the door closed behind him. Caspian slid down the rest of the stairs and landed on the bottom step with a heavy thud. In his arms were several brown plants that looked like they had already been sickly even before he pulled them out by their roots.

     “Oh good, you are all here,” Caspian said as he looked at each of them. With Caspian there as well, the cellar walls felt like they were closing in. “Because when the sun falls we are going to have to make a run for it. The spirits have left the forest in search of the princess.”

     Angeline hadn’t thought it was possible for things to get any worse.

     “What do you propose we do?” Connor said. Angeline wasn’t sure if he was aware of it or not, but he had taken a few small steps closer to her. As Searon and Caspian came further into the cellar, he had maneuvered it so it seemed natural for him to be next to her facing them.

     Caspian started pulling the leaves off of the plants in his arms and handing them to Searon. “First things first. Searon and I need to tend to these scratches. I think they would be fatal if left unattended.”

     “Think?” Searon said shrilly.

     Angeline wanted to cover her ears as his words bounced off the walls.

     Caspian glared at him. “You are lucky that you are alive at all. Those spirits had every intention of annihilating everything in that clearing.”

     “How did you escape?” Connor asked.

     “Simple distraction,” Searon said, gesturing at Caspian to look at his arms. “I gave them my men.”

     Connor arched an eyebrow but said nothing else.

     Caspian pulled off a few leaves and squeezed fluid out of the bottom where the leaves had been attached to the stalk. Then he rubbed the liquid over the gashes on his arms. Angeline could see rips in his pants and matching slashes on his legs. Searon quickly followed suit, but winced as the liquid met his skin.

     “That burns!” he said through clenched teeth.

     “Better than the alternative,” Caspian replied coolly.

     As the men continued to bicker, Angeline felt a light touch against her hand. She didn’t look down, but knew Connor’s fingers had brushed her skin as her hand rested on the wall.

     “Are there any other supplies here, Caspian?” Connor asked.

     Caspian shook his head. “This was nothing but an occasional way station for my travels. We are less than a night’s travel from the bogs. If we can make it there, I don’t think the spirits will follow.”

     “The Mangalore bogs?” Angeline whispered. It was like every bad dream from her childhood fairytales was coming true.

     Caspian sniffed. “It is the quickest way to cut across the mountains. The bogs go right through them. If we had been able to leave the Amaron, it would have taken us several days to go around the mountains on the Altera side to reach the Master’s compound. This way, we can be there in two days.”

     “So besides spirits, we have to worry about the wolves?” Angeline said. She had no idea where the words came from, but suddenly all three of the vampires in the room were staring at her.

     “What do you know of wolves, Cousin?” Searon finally said. “I can assure you my father has a treaty with the wolf pack leader just as he does with the humans.”

     “The wolves are the protectors of the Clan,” Connor said quietly. “If we do happen to encounter them, then it is certain the Clan is nearby. But as Searon said, they do keep to themselves.”

     “As in, the Clan that made Mamette the first blood-drinking vampire so that she would kill her brother? The same Clan that made the Gods give them control of Altera, and created humans to go to war with vampires? The Clan that forced my great-great-great-grandfather to hand over his daughter to form a blood truce with the vampires? For what? What is this great Clan doing now? Hiding away like thieves in the night?” Angeline hadn’t realized how loud her voice had gotten until she felt Connor’s touch on her arm.

     “The Clan holds all of Altera’s secrets,” Connor said. “But it would be best to try not to catch their attention. We will pass through the bogs as quickly as we can.”

     Connor was scared of the Clan, even though those people held the secret he had been trying to find. Angeline wondered how his wish would have been granted if he had been able to deliver her to his Master unharmed. If there was a cure for being a vampire, surely there was a cure for being a wraith.

     Caspian’s nose was buried in his notebook again. He stepped closer to Searon and started taking notes as he had Searon turn his arms over to display the gashes, which were now little more than shallow scratches. He nodded in approval. “We also don’t want the Clan thinking that our dear princess may be the One they have been searching for given the recent turn of events.”

     “The One?” Angeline vaguely remembered Caspian saying something similar right after she awoke from the hybridization process. “The One that what?”

     “That isn’t possible,” Connor said. “There is no such thing. That is an old legend.”

     Angeline felt her stomach clenching. Too many legends were coming true, and too many things that weren’t supposed to even exist had crossed her path in the last several days. “The One that what?” she shouted.

     Caspian sighed and set his pen back inside his notebook. “The One. The One that Mamette was supposed to be. Her ceremony only got them part of the way there. Control over Altera was one thing, but complete freedom from the Gods entirely is what they desire, to become Gods themselves. The One will give that to them..”