Page 21 of Light Fae's Love
As Quinn flashes his fellow-well-met smile, tucking his pocket square away now that his burned hands have healed, it’s suddenly just him, Ariana, me, Arturos, and Eiseth in the hall. Nodding for everyone to fetch drinks and small bites from a spread of food and wine on a table nearby, Quinn’s dark eyes are fierce with pleasure.
“Eat, friends. Drink and discuss what you have seen,” he says, “I merely spark your imagination this night, at what we might do for all of Vampire and Fae-kind if we can tame Revenants.”
“Quinn, you’re talking about a far deeper power than you may know.” Arturos’ dark blue eyes flash as he fills a glass of red wine for himself, and one for the Mistress of Britain. “You’re talking about being able to control even the most powerful Royal Fae and Master Vampires… if you figure out how to use the Music right. You have already begun learning how to use it to master Revenants—some of the most powerful and dangerous members of our kind.”
“I am,” Quinn admits to his allies now. A flash of crimson-gold sears through his dark eyes as he glances at me. I have said nothing yet, my emotions moving from wary to disapproving, to strangely eager during this little show of Quinn’s.
I know a pensive scowl has taken my face where I stand beside Ariana, but I can’t help it. As she and I accept wines from Arturos, I’m still churning, not knowing how I feel about this new power and how it might be wrongly used to essentially enslave others to our will. Even I see how deeply helpful it could be to my Summer Fae revolution, though.
And Quinn’s agenda to bring his Vampires into a new egalitarian age, if we can figure out how to use it right.
“Fae power wielded by a Vampire.” Arturos glances back to Quinn as he sips his wine. “If even the slightest hint of you wielding the Music of the Spheres gets to the Council, Quinn, they will kill you. And quickly, for you would pose a massive threat to them. There are some who know you manifested the Music a week ago at the Bloodstone event, but that was a spontaneous occurrence of dire magics in a battle where you were fighting for your life. This… being able to wield the Music with focused intent to produce a desired result? This is far different.”
“Is it not valuable, though?” Lady Eiseth says with an eager glint in her grey eyes now. “If Quinn has an ability that might turn the ear of any Master on the Council to our aims, it would give us powerful alliances for our Dark Havens, resources, and more.”
“Strong value, yes, but even stronger danger,” Arturos argues back. “If the Vampire Council in Rome feels you are a threat, Quinn?—”
“Will any of us here alert them of this, Arturos? My Vampires are loyal to me, and will say nothing. Will you?” Quinn’s gaze is level as he gestures around calmly, no one in the hall now except his closest allies and friends.
I have to speak up now, however, as I pin Quinn with my gaze—and feel a dark wrath churn through me.
“You play with powers you don’t understand, Quinn,” I say, holding him in my gaze. “I don’t think we should be cavalier about it, not until we know more. Ancient Summer Fae history speaks of the Music as being able to bend minds, break them, or worse—often breaking the one who wields it, if done improperly. It’s a topic even I know very little about, and you know how extensively I’ve read through all the annals at the Palace of Light. This is a disastrously unstable power you play with. You’re playing not just with your own life and sanity doing it, but mine and Ariana’s as well. So have a care.”
“I do have a care, Lucca. Deeply,” Quinn says with subtle fury in his eyes now that I’ve berated him in front of his allies. As Arturos hands Quinn a wine, Quinn sips, watching me. “I am committed to finding out more about this power so we can wield it correctly, rather than unstably. I know it has risks. Those are risks I am willing to take, however, to achieve all our aims for Summer Fae, Dark Fae, and Vampires. Are you saying you’d rather let such a power go?”
“I’m saying we need to be careful, Quinn,” I say again as heat blazes through me and I set my wine down. “To have Ariana’s truth-telling Dark Fae ability, plus strong, ancient once-Revenants on our side is one thing; but using a power that can completely break minds is another. Royal Sirens and Master Vampires are already tremendous mesmers—but this? This is a whole other level. I don’t trust it.”
“I think the Fae Prince is right to have caution.” Arturos nods to me. “If even the tiniest rumor gets out about this before you can truly use it, you’re done for. Someone from the Council will come to kill you, or they will summon you to Rome for trials you cannot hope to beat under the guise of proving your worth to claim your seat among them. You know I’m right, Quinn, and either option is far from pretty.”
“I am willing to take those chances,” Quinn says. He is peaceable, though his dark eyes flash that Arturos is taking my side. Turning to Ariana, Quinn pins her with his gaze. “You have been silent, Ariana. What do you think?”
I feel an unsettled energy move through Ariana as she sips her wine, deliberating. I feel her fret that if she agrees with Quinn, she’d be against me; and if she agrees with me, she’d be against Quinn. I know it’s an impossible situation for her to choose sides between us, and it makes me even more pissed that Quinn put her in this position.
At last, she heaves a sigh, speaking her truth as a Dark Fae.
“I think the Music is dangerous, extremely so, from how it nearly killed Lucca the last time we all used it, when he used the Bloodsign to tune it between us. But just because it’s powerful, and powerfully risky, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use it. How many other Vampires throughout history have merged their power, even a little, with a Royal Fae and a Dark Fae? Because I’m willing to bet few—and the Music of the Spheres, if I’m hearing you all right, was previously thought to be only a Fae power. It’s a gift horse, and I don’t think we should look it in the mouth. We need to be wary, though, when it kicks and bites. And figure out how to train it so it doesn’t trample us.”
It’s a good answer, a halfway-point between Quinn’s and my contentious opposites.
And leaves us all thoughtful now, as we ponder what to do with this potent new power.
9
RAGE
Ariana, Lucca, and I linger in the Bloodstone hall after the Revenant demonstration with my allies, pondering what to do with our new Revenant-returning power. As we sip our wine, Eiseth chuckles. Her grey eyes flash as she swirls her libations; her energy is amused as she drains her glass, then sets it aside on the table.
I feel like she knows a secret she’s not telling me as she lifts an eyebrow and shakes her head at me. As she pins Ariana next with her gaze, deep approval sparkles in her grey eyes. The powerful Mistress of Britain appreciates the pragmatic answer Ariana just gave about our trio’s bound magic.
Approval I’ve never really seen Eiseth give anybody.
“You have a warrior’s way of putting things, Ariana.” Lady Eiseth chuckles as she regards Ariana. “A warrior Queen, dominating ill-behaved men.”
“I don’t want to dominate anyone, Eiseth.” Ariana turns towards the British Isles Vampiress now, speaking her truth in the way she always does, which I deeply appreciate. “I just believe in using what we have to make all truths come out. And the truth is that both Vampire and Fae society are damaged, and I think we can do something about that. I want to, so we can all live a better life. Even Dark Fae.”
I feel Ariana bite her tongue then. It’s all she can do to not spill the beans about what her parents told her—that there are still Dark Fae alive somewhere, hiding from King Bellari’s pogroms. Even though I know she trusts both Arturos and Eiseth, something protective rises inside her for her people now, and she shuts her mouth. As I frown, both Lucca and I watch her alertly, though neither he nor I say anything in our present company.
That’s Ariana’s business to wrestle with—and her secret to share or keep.