Page 69 of Light Fae's Love
It’s certainly not enough for that monster of a Revenant we caught, who I can still feel fighting against my wards, though it seems so calm right now in its Florentine Box. I glance at the box, sitting on its black velvet pillow on the table.
The Revenant is awake, watching us with its red, malevolent eyes. It is tiny now in its fist-sized enclosure, though the rage behind it is massive as it sends seeking tendrils repeatedly to the bars, testing the runes written upon them.
The runes are of my make; they are of my magic, and are fading now since I am so currently weak in my power of the Night. Not only that, but Arturos had to finish the containment on the box when I sacrificed myself to the Revenant; I designed this Florentine Box with both Vampire Bloodsigns and Faeanic sigils—and Arturos can only wield one of those magics.
Arturos sealed the box with only Bloodsigns when he closed it, making it weaker than it should be right now. That, plus my exhausted power keeping the sigils active, is a deep problem.
That’s not something I’m going to tell the rest of our audience today, however, as the others have far too much heaped upon them already.
“We present our Revenant tomorrow night, before the Council,” I say now, decided in which avenue I will take, though it kills me to put so many people in danger. “I’m not a man who runs from a fight; I will not run from this, even though everything seems bleak. For the Council must know they cannot threaten a Master of my stature who has technically done nothing wrong; there are no rules against Kissing a Dark Fae into one’s Dark Haven, nor are there rules against capturing Revenants and working magic upon them to restore their form and sanity. The Council are simply afraid of our power. Even though that power is weak right now, I will still make our stand, that they may not bully us. I will stand up for the egalitarian, modern society I believe can happen for Vampire culture. Running away loses us all of that, for any who might try in the future.”
“Very well,” Eiseth says, as I feel twin flows of strength pour into me from Lucca and Ariana, though none of us are currently at our best. “Tonight, we plan. And tomorrow, you and Ariana go to the Council. We shall all pray to any Ascendants who are listening to give us strength tomorrow night. And the power to make the change we wish to see in the world.”
I couldn’t have said it better, as I nod soberly to Eiseth and she nods back. Arturos’ gaze is troubled, though he nods to me as well. Alleno simply looks ready, as he crosses his arms and gives me the deepest nod, like I’m still Fae royalty.
As I consider it, I realize I very well might be—I don’t know what happens to a Fae Prince who becomes a Dark Fae, even though for centuries he thought he was a Vampire. Even stranger things may be in store for us as I feel my heart’s steady beats, my body wrapped in the embraces of the two people I care about most.
Their hearts beat with mine.
All of us one, with whatever happens next.
27
LOVE
Our Dark Fae group, plus Arturos, scheme late into the night about how we’re going to best the Vampire Council of Rome tomorrow evening. What we’ve come up with is a good plan; even I know, however, that it’s nearly impossible to pull off as I glance at Quinn and see the pensiveness in his dark onyx eyes. They still flow with Fae fire, brighter than the flames of the massive fireplace Arturos has lit in his villa’s main room downstairs to push back the chill of the late summer night. At last, Quinn sighs, and I feel exhaustion in him as Lucca’s and my sighs echo it.
“Friends. I must retire. Fatigue like I have not known in centuries takes me, and I must sleep for the oncoming day, to save what strength I have for tomorrow night.” Quinn rises from the tall armchair where he was holding court. Still dressed in his quilted maroon men’s dressing-gown, he looks like a Victorian gentleman as he finally heads to bed.
I second it, beat to my bones.
I rise with him from the settee where Lucca and I were cuddling, still in my long green silk robe from earlier. Lucca is in the grey trousers, white shirt, and grey vest he wore down to Rome; as I stand, he rises, as well.
The rest do, too; suddenly we’re all saying our goodnights. It’s brief, our plans set and the details worked out. Soon Quinn, Lucca, and I are heading back upstairs as the others find rooms as well, to rest for the oncoming day. As Lucca and I head into our shared suite, Quinn shuts the door behind us.
Then leans back on it—heaving a hard sigh as he plunks his head back on the door.
Quinn’s eyes are closed as I come to him, and I feel his sorrow as I press close and wrap my arms around him. He embraces me as a sad smile lifts his lips, though he does not open his eyes or kiss me. As Lucca steps to his shoulder, gripping it in support, Quinn heaves a barren laugh. Then something I’ve never felt from him seizes him.
Despair.
“We’re fucked. We’re so, so fucked.” Quinn is laughing now as that barrenness devours him. I feel it like a black hole, swallowing his energy.
Gone to the ancient universe.
“We’re not fucked, Quinn. We still have a chance at winning this,” Lucca says, brave, as he squeezes Quinn’s shoulder, shaking him as if to wake him from the dark place he’s fallen into.
“We don’t,” Quinn is short with Lucca now, though he’s not angry. “All three of us are exhausted by what’s happened in the past few days, Lucca, and every part of our new plan hinges on us finding some way to bolster and balance our energy as a trio. But the facts are this: I can’t take blood from either you or Ariana to bolster my Night. You both are too spent, and she’s lost far too much blood recently to survive another draining. You and Ariana could revel in each other to increase your Light, but that won’t do us any good because she can’t stabilize her Night without mine, and your combined Light would go ballistic before the Council without my power in the mix. Again, you will be too far away when we do our demonstration; though it’s not as far as you would have been, Ariana’s not holding enough of your Light inside her anymore to do our demonstration without you. And we dare not try again to store our magics inside her, because of how hers devoured yours last time. Please tell me you see another way around this… because I just don’t.”
I feel myself falling into despair as Quinn speaks, just like he is. As that empty void devours Quinn’s perpetual can-do attitude, I feel it draw me and Lucca in along with it. A terrible emptiness fills us all, and I feel how it could pull us down to something worse than the Night. I’ve nearly slipped over that edge of hopelessness when a detail about everything we’ve discussed in the past few hours hits me.
And everything inside me suddenly lights.
“Ariana? What went through you just now?” Quinn feels what just sparked inside me and opens his eyes, pausing as he glances down.
“There may be another way to build our trio’s power… before we go before the Council,” I say now as I come up with an idea to replace the plan my magic ruined.
Hope sparks inside Quinn, at last.