Page 66 of Light Fae's Love
I feel it then, as something inside Quinn locks home like a bell being rung. As he realizes his truth, I feel the Music sing inside us both, my dark rainbows rushing out now, cascading into the surrounding air like a maelstrom. Quinn’s eyes brighten with power then, in a way I’ve never seen them do before. He reaches out, setting a hand to my face.
And speaks the deepest truth of his life.
“Ariana, I’m… Dark Fae.”
Power explodes inside my chest as I feel the truth hit home. Rainbows of unprecedented colors surge from me and Quinn both now as the Music careens between us.
And I know his words are right.
Because what Quinn realized just now is something he’s known all along. That somehow, way back when he and Lucca sought the Dark Fae and met only Revenants, trying to become one but succumbing to the other, he wasn’t Sired into becoming a Vampire.
He was bitten by a Vampire and left to survive or die, just like I was. Emiliana DiClario found him and Kissed him to her, making him hers. She wasn’t truly his Master, however, and never could be.
Because she never Sired him in the first place.
“She never Sired me. Emiliana lied. She never was my Sire.” Quinn murmurs with deep understanding now, as the truth comes crashing home for him. His eyes flare so brightly the darkness in them is all but banished as they blaze a hot red-gold. “All this time, I thought I was her Vampire. She lied to me. She found me under a bridge, brought out of that Revenant catacomb merely bitten by someone and left to live or die. I must have been so close to death she thought I was a Vampire. She Kissed me to her, which is why I never recall her Siring me. One drop of blood is all it takes to Kiss someone, and I was bound to her forevermore. But it wasn’t truly her magic running through my veins. It was someone else’s… who never finished the job of turning me into a Vampire. Making me Dark Fae instead.”
“Emiliana’s magic, her bond to you and to the entire Dark Haven of Florence must have been masking your Summer Fae power this entire time,” I say now, shocked that all this might be true, yet feeling deep inside me it is. “Your old bond to Lucca was the only thing causing it to survive as so much potent Vampire power surrounded you. You matured as a Vampire, thinking you had simply kept certain traits of your Summer Fae power because of your magic’s strength.”
“I was a Dark Fae, living under Emiliana’s roof and calling myself Vampire.” Quinn takes a breath now as the most horrible look comes into his eyes. “Perhaps she knew. Perhaps she sensed what I was… and kept me beside her all those years, punishing me into serving her because of how my magic could sway others to her abominable will. It was me. I made them stay. I made them all stay… when so many wanted to leave her reign of horror.”
Something dies inside Quinn, then. I feel it, as a terrible scream goes off inside my very soul from his realization. This scream is not mine but Quinn’s, as he realizes what his power did to all those who wished to escape Emiliana’s cruelty. It was him, though, who finally got the drop on her and staked her one dark night after the abuses had been too many.
Him, who had freed all the others.
Though he blames himself now for all the centuries they stayed.
“It is not your fault, Quinn,” I say as I take his hand, cradling it in mine. “Emiliana was a powerful Master and made you stay by her side. She made you stay when you would have gone; when you would have escaped and freed so many others, trapped by her cruel, indomitable power. And you did. You killed her… and set everyone free.”
“When so many others had failed at doing just that.” Quinn looks down at his hands now, as if remembering the Devilswood stake he used on her that night, just like the knife that was thrust into him two nights ago. “I thought my hands were just stronger than the rest, my power calmer, so she didn’t feel me and wake. I thought I was just a more powerful Vampire than the rest who had tried and failed, more trusted by her to make her sleep beside me. Perhaps, though, it was my Dark Fae energy, working its wiles on her even back then… to make her love me the way she did, and hate me, and succumb when we made love together. To sleep so soundly afterwards beside me, wrapped in my arms…”
“She was a monster, Quinn. Never forget that. Don’t blame yourself for things she did.” I am reassuring, though I feel him slip back towards that unfathomable void he went into when he became a Revenant. I don’t know how it’s possible for a Dark Fae to become a Revenant.
But I feel that deep pull inside me, too, as I realize now that Quinn and I are the same.
I have half a moment to wonder if Lucca is, too—when someone pounds on the doors of our suite.
As Quinn rises from the bed, throwing on a quilted maroon dressing-robe and heading for the doors, I am quick to wrap up in my long emerald lace negligee left hanging on the bedpost last night after our bath. But I needn’t have wrapped up, as Quinn opens the doors and someone I know heaves inside.
Lucca falling into Quinn’s arms—kissing him like mad as the two embrace.
26
DECISIONS
As Lucca arrives in Rome, a wave of relief fills my heart. He kisses me, and I never knew so much emotion could possess me as I kiss him back like mad, feeling something deep inside me become whole. Ariana joins us at the doors and Lucca and I corral her into our arms, kissing her lips, then each other’s again. Light blazes into my world, and strength as I revel in my bound lovers. I remember suddenly that I am Dark Fae rather than just Vampire, and something impossibly bright sings inside me.
The Music of the Spheres rising between us with a joyful sound now, in a way it’s never quite done before.
“Quinn!” Lucca heaves a deep breath, as relieved as I am in this moment. “Thank all the gods you’re okay. I thought we had lost you!”
“I’m here. I’m alright, Lucca,” I say to him, though I say it as much to myself as I pull him close, not kissing any longer but simply embracing him. I cup my hand behind his head, cradling him to me. As Lucca’s heart beats against my chest, so strong and fast to be with us once more, mine does as well.
Ariana’s echoing it, as the third and most important part of our trio curls around us both.
“Lucca! Are you all right?” Ariana asks as she glances up at him, none of us relinquishing our embrace by the doors. “I felt how much power you gave us to return Quinn when he went Revenant… but then I couldn’t feel you, couldn’t connect to you after that. What happened?”
“I passed out.” Lucca gives a wry chuckle as he pulls back from my embrace, nuzzling his lips over Ariana’s. “I gave so much to you and Quinn during that surge, I passed out and had to be revived by Alleno, Devi, and Lady Eiseth. Fortunately, they were there with me and could help. Just as they’re here now, downstairs talking with Arturos. We’re all ready to help with whatever you want to do, Quinn. All except Devi, of course. She’s back in Florence protecting the Dark Haven with Curio, as you asked. Your answer is going to affect us all, however, so we need to talk and figure things out—what we’re going to do next.”