Page 40 of Light Fae's Love
“It’s far easier to get to Rome by car or airplane in the human world—highways in the Twilight Realm are few and far between. I’m too tired from donating most of my energy to you, plus cutting myself off from my Dark Haven today, to portal us over such a distance. If it’s even possible anymore.” I’m pragmatic as I check my mirrors, veering off the small highway onto a larger one now, heading south. “Besides, getting around by car in a Vampire-run city is less conspicuous. You’ll see.”
“Vampires do seem to love their Maseratis.” Ariana quips, running her hands over the lusciously dark, blood-red synthetic seats of the car now, admiring them. It’s my favorite car of the dozens I own; a gift from Arturos, the sleek Maserati Alfieri isn’t my most expensive car, but it is stylish and comfortable for a long trip.
Practical, if we need to get the fuck out of Rome in a hurry.
“Yes, we do. Part of why Arturos is as wealthy as he is, since he owns the company,” I say, and chuckle as I give Ariana an amused glance before returning to driving.
I feel anything but amused, however, as we drive towards the lion’s den.
“Any chance we could stop for gelato?” Ariana says now. She jests, but I can feel through our bond how many things she misses in the human world. The past weeks have been such a whirlwind, I’ve not had a moment to think about her human life. I feel terrible about that as I consider it now, seeing the human world all around us.
And feeling her missing it.
“I’m afraid we have no time tonight,” I say, though I wish we could do anything rather than go to this summons. As a tremor suddenly wracks me, I frown at it, flexing my hands and gripping them more securely on the wheel. I feel Ariana open the connection between us wide, then.
And find out I am not okay right now.
“Quinn, your energy!” she says in astonishment as she glances at me. “Are you alright?”
“I’ll be fine.” I glance over at her before looking back to the road, flicking a smile her way. “Just a case of magical exhaustion from everything we did, and from storing my power inside you.”
“You feel like you have the flu. Do Vampires even get the flu?” She reaches out now, setting the backs of her knuckles to my cheek. I take her fingers down, however, setting them on my thigh as I drive. “I’ve never felt you this drained before.”
“Because I always had reserves, before.” She sees me glance at her seriously, lit by the dim dash lights of the Maserati. “This entire time you’ve known me, I was bound to the Dark Haven of Florence, Ariana. I’ve cut that bond off now, so my people will not be in danger when we go before the Council. I can weather it. Believe me, I’ve been through far worse.”
A brief glimpse of memory flashes through me then; of being locked in an iron safe, not even a coffin, thoroughly etched with magical sigils to drain my energy so I can’t escape. Emiliana kept me in there a year.
Starving me until I was a shadow of myself, complacent to her once more.
“Oh, Quinn…” Ariana releases a breath as she shudders, receiving the memory through our bond. I raise my inner walls high and lock my doors tight against those memories.
Only surfacing because I’m so drained right now.
“She was a cruel Mistress.” I nod as Ariana discovers my memory. Even though I’ve shut that recollection down, and the countless others like it, it’s a struggle for me right now, so drained and weak in my power. “Emiliana never cared for anyone; she only wanted to prove she was right, over and over. Some of the Masters you will meet in Rome are worse—far worse. They make what she did seem like child’s play. Which is why I left everyone we care about in Florence, cut off from me and protected from being metaphysically taken by any of the Council Masters. If they want my Dark Haven, they’ll have to go there and bust the doors down; protected from invasion by not only extensive magical sigildry but also by Hotel laws. Which are dire in the extreme. And something not even the Council Masters can escape.”
“You did everything you could for your people, even though it places you at tremendous risk now, going to Rome without backup. That’s why Devi was so upset with you.” Ariana understands as she strokes my thigh.
“She thinks it’s a suicide mission.” My smile is fleeting as sadness devours me. “Perhaps we will fail in Rome. I have done all I can, however, storing my energy inside you so it can balance Lucca’s and be maintained until we need it. If we do fail, though… I’m certain Arturos and Eiseth will fight for the Dark Haven of Florence. Even if one of them ends up annexing it, I would not be disappointed. Arturos would make Florence his home, and Eiseth is strong enough to protect two loci of power, though the Council thinks very little of her and her origins up in Britain.”
“What happens if we prove our power, and actually return a Revenant before the Council?” Ariana asks now. I understand her question.
Even I’m unsure whether us winning will give us a get-out-of-Rome-free card.
“Maybe worse.” I darken now, even as something deep inside me hardens with intent. “For if we manage to return a Revenant to their sanity and flesh before the Council, they may see us as too deep a threat, and try to kill us anyway. Be on your guard, Ariana. For everything we do from here on out is a game—of politics, positioning, and power. Even if we do well in Rome, many there are not my allies, and some are outright enemies. They see Florence as a jewel for their taking, now that Emiliana is gone. I am no deterrent in their minds. Not even a small one to be reckoned with.”
“But you are.” She is firm with me now, gripping my thigh to impress her point. “You are. Especially now, with me and Lucca behind you.”
“Let us hope so. For all our sakes,” I say as a terrible darkness takes me.
Ariana reaches up, stroking my cheek with her fingertips.
I take her hand, pressing it to my lips in a kiss as we drive.
We say nothing more as I rev the engine and throw up a small glamour around the Maserati, pushing our speed while avoiding the attention of the human-world police. Though the normal drive is over three hours, we make it in one and a half. As we arrive at Arturos’ manor on the outskirts of Rome, I flash my ring at a lamppost in the city, and Ariana and I screech through Realms again, back into the Twilight world.
We’re on Arturos’ street, an opulent avenue of towering villas and outright mansions on the outskirts of the city. Lit from stem to stern with tasteful spotlights, Arturos’ classical Italian villa is large enough to house thirty rooms in numerous wings, built in a modern, luxury stucco, stone, and red clay roof style. Though Arturos told me he was having a soiree and I expected a few people here tonight, his wide, semicircular cobblestone drive is packed with sports cars of the finest variety.
Not Arturos’ usual crowd of close allies and friends.