House of Ravens (23 page)

“
You could turn Cyrus back
human?” I say, very quietly, because this is indeed incredibly
dangerous, and the King has ears everywhere.

“
Yes,” Henry says. “And
when he is human-”

“
You could kill him.” I
whisper the words. The emotions are running through my body with
the power of a stampede of jungle animals.

Victory. Fear. Anticipation. Dread.

“
Yes,” my father says once
more. “This is where my research began, what lead to all the other
discoveries. Because a man who cannot be killed is bound to take
things too far at one point. You’ve seen it; he is a maniac. And
should he tip over the edge of sanity and control, our kind now has
options.”

“
But how did you know that
he was truly immortal?” I breathe. “When that Bitten staked him,
even Cyrus’ court members were shocked he recovered.”

“
Another story for another
time,” he says, closing everything up, getting across the message
that we are done with the history and revelations for tonight. “For
now, I think it is time to check on the others and prepare for
war.”

My head is spinning. There are so many
implications to this. A cure. Henry said for all vampires.

Including those who hate what they’ve
become.

SO MUCH IS GOING ON, but nothing is
moving.

We’re hunting. Searching. Killing the Bitten
as we find them. We find seven more. But the real war? We’re still
waiting for the trigger to be pulled. I’ve done all I can do. I
called Noriko, explained everything. She’s sending soldiers;
they’ll arrive in two days.

I can only hope things stay under control
for that much longer.

But for now, Ian and I sit on the grass
between the graveyard and the river. The stars shine brilliantly,
the moon three-quarters full. A light breeze brushes my hair over
my shoulder, bringing with it the scent of so many things I still
do not recognize or know in Silent Bend.

“
How was Lula today?” I ask
him.

He sits beside me, his arms wrapped around
his knees, mirroring my position.

“
About the same,” he says.
“Her lungs still aren’t good, but they aren’t terrible. Her vision
seems to be fading fast, though.”

“
I feel terrible for not
going to see her, to thank her for the diamond,” I say, looking
down at my beautiful ring once more. “But I have a feeling my visit
wouldn’t be received well.”

Ian laughs. “Probably not. You just might
send her into a heart attack and finish her off.”

“
Jerk,” I say, taking a
swing at his shoulder and knocking him over onto the
grass.

“
Hey, I speak nothing but
the truth,” he defends as he rights himself.

I smile, shaking my head at him. But he’s
right. Lula hates me. I think back to the days where she literally
cussed me out of the house, hands flying, her dentures falling out
and everything.

“
Someone left her some nice
flowers, though,” Ian says. “I forgot to ask Elle if she was the
one who visited her. She knows she’s not supposed to leave the
house.”

“
You can’t treat her like a
child, though, Ian,” I say. “She’s a woman. A strong one, at that.
For her very human status, she’s pretty good at taking care of
herself.”

“
I know,” he shrugs. “I
just kind of forget sometimes. To me, she’s still that little
toddler I went running through the woods with, getting away from
our kind. That big brother instinct doesn’t die easy.”

I shift positions, laying my head in his lap
and curling up into a ball on my side. The grass feels good, cool
and soft after such a hot and humid day.

“
I’m really happy for you,
Liv,” Ian says. He runs his fingers through my hair, and it’s one
of the best feelings in the world. “That you and Henry found each
other again. He’s not what I remember him to be. He’s different
when he’s around you.”

I nod. “That’s what everyone who knew him
from before has said.”

“
It’s kind of hard to
imagine, people finding happiness in these dark times, but I think
he’s happy.”

I press my lips together, knotting my
fingers. I don’t want to say the words I have to say next, but if
Ian and I are going to start this relationship on the right foot, I
have to tell him the truth.

“
Ian,” I say, unable to
look him in the eye. “I have to tell you something about what is
down in the lab. Something that could change…things.”

“
What is it?” he asks. He
takes one of my hands in his, rubbing a calming thumb over my
knuckles.

My heart races and my palms prickle with
uncertainty. What if this changes everything? What if I lose him
because of this?

I can’t be selfish, though.

“
Henry made a cure,” I say,
still unable to look at him. “A cure for the Bitten. But also…” I
take a deep breath, knowing once the words are spoken that I cannot
take them back. “But also a cure for all vampirism. It can turn a
Born back into a human.”

Every muscle in my body tenses, as if I can
fold my body in on itself and disappear. A defense mechanism,
bracing for the very worst possibility.

Ian doesn’t say anything for a long, long
moment, and every second he doesn’t say any word is death, my heart
shattering into a thousand tiny pieces. I slip away into a safe
place of oblivion, because I’m sure that in just a moment, my world
is going to end.

“
That’s amazing,” Ian
finally breathes. “He really thinks he can reverse the
Resurrection?”

It’s so utterly painful, every movement of
it, when I nod yes.

“
That’s…” he says
breathlessly. “Incredible.”

Emotion pricks in my eyes. Here we are once
again. With me unable to fight my destiny, and that threatening to
tear us apart.

“
This could change a lot of
lives, Liv,” he says excitedly. “I mean, just think of how many of
your House members didn’t know what they were. They just woke up
and found out they were this entirely different species. Lillian,
Cameron, Nial.”

I nod, biting my lower lip. “But we have to
keep this quiet. As many people as it might help, we can’t tell
anyone. It’s the main reason Henry first went into hiding.”

“
So Cyrus wasn’t just
messing with you when he said he would have killed him,” Ian
says.

I shake my head, curling into myself a
little tighter.

“
Hey,” Ian says, bending
over me, brushing my hair back from my face. “What’s
wrong?”

I shake my head. I don’t want to talk about
it. I want to go back inside and curl up in my bed and pretend this
isn’t my life. But here we are, and I can’t pretend it all
away.

“
You’ve hated everything
you are for the last six months,” I say quietly, pressing my cheek
into Ian’s jeans. “Here’s your chance to reverse it all. To go back
to what you were.”

Ian grows quiet and it’s impossible to tell
what he’s thinking. He’s stopped breathing. He doesn’t move. And
it’s all just torture.

“
Liv,” he finally breathes.
“Liv, please look at me.”

A tear breaks free from my eyes. I move to
quickly wipe it away, but Ian catches my hands and pulls me to a
sitting position, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “Hey,” he
says, his brows furrowing. He almost looks angry. “Liv, me taking
whatever concoction your father thinks he has did not even cross my
mind.”

“
What?” I breathe in
disbelief.

Ian shakes his head. He
takes my left hand in his and raises it up to eyelevel between the
two of us, my diamond sparkling. “You see this here? This means I’m
in
this
. You and
me. Forever. Yeah, I was an asshole in the past and I said some
stupid stuff, but, Liv, I’m different now. Don’t you see
that?”

Another tear breaks free onto my cheek and I
take a big sniff before wiping it away. “Yeah, but-”

“
No but,” Ian says, shaking
his head. “My status as human or Born doesn’t really matter
anymore. I finally realized I can
still
be Ian. And I want to be Ian,
who’s married to Alivia. Who gets a complicated, but together,
happily ever after. Got it?”

My eyes, so full of moisture, rise up to
meet Ian’s. “You really mean it?” And my heart begins to dare to
hope. It swells, timid and unsure.

Ian lets out a breathy laugh and places his
hand on the side of my neck, pulling my face closer to his. “You’re
kind of a blind idiot sometimes,” he says, shaking his head. “Don’t
you realize I’ve been done for since the moment you tried to
wrestle me to the floor in my cabin?”

A relieved laugh escapes my chest as I
recall the day. The morning after I’d gone to hide away in his
cabin, when we thought Jasmine was going to come after me. I’d
woken him with a start and he attacked, thinking I was an enemy.
He’d taken me down in about three seconds flat.

I let out a sigh of acceptance as I settle
back onto my heels, fanning my face. All the emotions roll back out
to sea with a rip of relief. “I’m sorry,” I say, shaking my head.
“I just really thought that you’d want to go back to the way things
were before.”

“
I told you once,” Ian
says, leaning toward me, forcing me to sit back on the grass. He
shifts, placing a knee on either side of my hips. Slowly, he forces
me to lie back flat on the grass. “Even forever isn’t going to be
enough.”

A pure, huge, genuine smile forms on my
lips, just before he kisses me into the beginning of our promised
forever.

TWENTY-FOUR HOURS PASS, AND THEY’RE intense,
white-knuckled ones. We’re all just in a state of waiting.
Searching. The trigger will be pulled, but not by us.

And I hate feeling at a disadvantage.

Anna bursts into the library, where I’m
sitting with Henry and Rath, her eyes glowing and ready for a
fight. “Luke just called; there’s a report that sounds an awful lot
like a nest of vampires, about ten miles outside of town. I’m
taking Danny and Leigh with me to go take care of it.”

“
Is that enough bodies?” I
ask, my brows furrowing in concern. “How many Bitten?”

“
Sounds like it’s only a
few.” She spins a thin, silver vial, one I know to contain a razor,
needle-like saber. There’s a handgun strapped to her leg and four
stakes strapped to the other one.

“
Be careful out there,” I
say with a nod.

Leigh appears in the doorway, and the two of
them head out into the daylight with their shades.

“
I do not understand how
they are waging warfare in this way,” Rath says. He sits with his
ankle crossed over his knee, his fingertips pressed together. “It’s
almost as if they are letting their soldiers fall on
purpose.”

“
It doesn’t make sense,” I
agree. “They’ve been so smart and careful, up until the last few
weeks.”

“
It has to mean their
numbers are amassing,” Henry says as he stands. He slowly begins
pacing the room. I smile at that because I’m fighting the very same
urge. “They have too many numbers to tactfully stay hidden
anymore.”

The phone in the foyer rings. Rath stands to
go answer it, but I jump to my feet, too agitated, ready to do
something. “I got it.”

I pick the handset up and hold it to my ear.
“Hello?”

“
Alivia.” I instantly
recognize the sheriff’s voice. There’s a massive amount of noise in
the background. “There’s been an attack. The woman got away, but
she said three vampires tried to bite her. On the far north end of
Silent Bend, just off of Catawa Road.”