23. Dark

23

DARK

S unrise came too soon, and I’ve been pacing the halls of the Florence Hotel all day, since I left my Livingtree at dawn. After feeling Quinn get stabbed by a Devilswood blade, I got to the Hotel too late and missed my opportunity to meet with the Lady Eiseth Pendragon, asleep to replenish herself for the day. I don’t see anything around me now as I check in with Quinn and Ariana for the hundredth time through our bond, and feel they’re still sleeping, far away.

I can’t sleep, though, as I pace a Hotel making ready for war. The energy here bristles with battle and defiance as Devi and Curio Silverfrost marshal their Dark Haven Vampires like true war generals.

To ready everything for an attack.

I’m left alone as I pace the halls and under-passages, and finally wind up near Quinn’s rooms. The wards on his doors know me and open; night is setting now as I stare up at the wide sky beyond Quinn’s cathedral-like crystal ceiling. I feel Quinn and Ariana wake, preparing for a fight as they make ready to trap a Revenant this evening. Everything inside me wants to be there as I wait anxiously for Lady Eiseth Pendragon to wake and come to me .

As I pace the main floor beside Quinn’s dining table, I hear a whirring of wings far above. I know it’s Alleno returning with Altenni after I sent them off on an errand today. Making my way up Quinn’s wrought-iron staircase and waving my hand over the hidden Fae sigil that makes the second staircase appear, I head up and unlock the roof hatch. Alleno pushes inside, coming back down the stairs with me.

As we arrive at Quinn’s bedroom loft, Alleno delivers me the news. “Everything is set for your sojourn to Rome, Lucca. I’ve notified your independent Brightwatch that I’ll be heading them up while you are away, and the governing council for your rebellion is aware you’re needed in Rome for a sudden emergency. The only tricky part was telling your father what you’re up to. I told him you’re bedridden, having contracted the blue mushroom plague after visiting so many farms this week and doling out aid. He doesn’t know it’s not contractable by people and animals; our Royal Physician backed me up, saying he’s tending you at your country manor. It appeased your father. He sends his condolences for a speedy recovery, though he is irate you and Ariana aren’t out talking him up right now amongst his exceedingly restless Fae.”

“Condolences.” I snort as something utterly dark churns inside me. “You’d think my father would have more care for his only legitimate son. I suppose I should know better, after everything we’ve been through.”

“You remind him too much of Lauria,” Alleno says as he watches me. “Your mother was everything good that you are also, which Archivolio hates. I never knew what she saw in him, or why they married.”

“Strong bloodlines,” I say, having heard it from both my mother and father separately, before he killed her. “Both their families had strong Royal magic, and they wanted a son who could combine those magics and rule. My father realized, though, that I was not controllable the way he wanted me to be; that I would not betray Quinn or his father, the old King, and put myself in that high seat. I would not be a puppet for Archivolio, so he took the throne instead. It was a moot point then, however, since Quinn’s father was already dead in the war and Quinn was Sired to the Vampires.”

“And here you are, bound yet again to Valerio and all his schemes and problems,” Alleno says with a snort, though something in his green eyes sparkles. Though he gives me hell about Quinn, Alleno has always liked him, despite everything. My cousin has always been comfortable among Quinn’s Vampires, though he’s alert around them.

I eye Alleno now, knowing he’s been holding out on me.

“Tell me, when did you and Devina Scarlotti become a thing?” I ask him now, since I didn’t miss that detail during the phone call earlier.

“Since ages ago.” It’s Devi’s brisk alto that answers, however, as she pushes in through Quinn’s ebony doors and enters his apartment. Dressed in one of her tight little black dresses with lipstick-red stiletto heels, perfectly coiffed, she doesn’t look like she’s been marshaling an army for days as she waves a dismissive hand. “You’re just too self-involved with your entire situation to notice, Fae Prince.”

“Devi and I have… been acquainted a while, Lucca. We just kept it exceptionally quiet. And we’re not, by any means, exclusive.” Though Alleno gives it to me straight, two spots of color bloom on his cheeks like he’s been caught with his pants down.

“It comes in handy when either of us needs to pass information along about the other’s domain, or learn information,” Devi says as she arrives at the foot of the staircase and Alleno and I come down from the loft. “Right now, we all need to figure out what the hell is happening in Rome, and if Ariana and Quinn are likely to survive it.”

Just then, the Lady Eiseth Pendragon pushes into Quinn’s suite, closing the tall doors behind her. Dressed in a grey silk Arthurian gown with a long skirt and draping sleeves, she wears her silver breastplate and gauntlets, her boots tall and functional for fighting. Her silver-white hair is braided half back in an ancient British warrior fashion. An aura of mist like the lost Autumn Fae isles of Britannia seethes all around her. Her pearl-grey eyes are dire as she arrives, pinning us .

Then they dig into me, as if reading my very soul with her power.

“Summer Fae Prince Lucca Bellari. You are needed in Rome. Be damned what the Vampire Council says.”

Lady Eiseth doesn’t mince words as she confirms what I already know, what I’ve felt happening with Quinn and Ariana these past twenty-four hours. I should have gone to Rome with them in the first place, but I let the threat from their Vampire Council sway me.

Not anymore.

“I’m going to Rome as soon as I can get there. I need information from you, though, milady, on what I might encounter when I arrive,” I say now, readiness firming in my heart to save Ariana and Quinn from what is shaping up to be certain death if they face it alone.

“You’re not going by yourself.” She lifts an eyebrow at me as the strangest smile curls her lips. “I’m going with you. Because you and your liege-man will never be able to help in time, if I don’t.”

“You don’t need to—” I begin, but she cuts me off.

“I know Rome,” she says, as her mist-grey eyes sear me to my bones. “I know the best ways into the inner citadel now that it’s under Vampire rule, and you don’t. I have the right papers to get us past the outer guards and into a place where we can access the city’s underways, and get to the Council hall where Quinn and Ariana are likely to face their doom once the Council truly test them. The city has changed since your people lost it to ours six hundred years ago, bright Fae. I will be your roadmap and your guide, and you will bring all the magic you have to save our friends. Are we agreed?”

“We are.” I nod now. Everything she said fills my heart with a sudden hope, though I’m still wary of fully making her my ally, not knowing her motives. “Why help us, though, and put yourself so much at risk?”

“Because…” Something comes into her eyes now as she pins me with her gaze, then takes a brief look around our comrades. “It is time to tell him, I think.”

“Be my guest,” Alleno says, languid as he gives a welcoming gesture, as if he’s had a long association with the Vampiress that I know nothing about. “Lucca likes to dig into things. He’ll find out about it someday. Better now, then to be going into the Vampire’s den unprepared.”

“What do you know that I don’t?” I glare at Alleno now, wondering what the fuck he’s talking about.

“I know about Dark Fae, Lucca,” Alleno says as his emerald eyes stare me down, “because I am one.”

Everything I’ve ever known drops out from underneath me as Alleno makes his sudden admission. My world spins too fast, as I’m suddenly fighting for breath like my cousin sucker-punched me.

“ What?! ”

“We’re all Dark Fae, like Ariana.” Alleno lifts his chin as he nods to those standing with us. “Me, Devi, Eiseth, and Curio, even though he’s busy elsewhere. You. And Quinn.”

“ Excuse me? ” My mouth is hanging open and I can’t shut it, as something horribly dark whirls through my aura. “This isn’t the time to fuck with me, Alleno. That isn’t funny.”

“It’s not a joke.” He is restrained as he steps towards me now. His green eyes are cautious, like I’m an untrained horse who might bite or kick him. “You’re a Dark Fae, Lucca. I am, too. It’s why I was assigned to be your Darkwatch protector way back when. Because the Darkwatch’s former Tempest Adicus Briarwick knew you and Quinn were looking for the Dark Fae to try to become one. He thought it was possible you’d succeed, so he assigned me to protect you. That we were already cousins and knew each other as family was a bonus.”

“You’re a Dark Fae.” My mind is broken as I stare at Alleno, shocked, then gaze around the group. “Everyone here is a Dark Fae. How is that possible? Two of you are definitely Vampires… and Alleno is Summer Fae, through and through.”

“Listen closely, and listen well, Fae Prince, for we have little time to discuss this before we need to move into action tonight.” Lady Eiseth cuts in now as I feel her pearl-grey mist ease around me, her smooth grey eyes mesmerizing me lightly so I’ll understand. “The Dark Fae are far more prominent in our modern era than anyone would ever believe—but we keep ourselves hidden in plain sight because of your father’s pogroms against us. And how he nearly destroyed every one of our beloved citadels, along with most of our kin.”

“Dark Fae come in three varieties, Lucca.” Alleno cuts in again as his serious green eyes pierce me, truth shining in them. “ Cuorante , Mentale , and Animante. The first kind, Cuorante , has a majority of the Light within them; if they are careful, they may pass among Fae society and be one of them. I am this kind of Dark Fae.”

“The second kind, Mentale , has a majority of the Night inside them, and may pass as Vampire if they are careful enough,” Eiseth says, frank now as she gestures to Devi. “Myself, Devi, and Curio are of this variety. We work hard to control the small amount of Fae Light we still have within us, so we may be considered among Vampire society as nothing but slightly odd in our magics, thanks to our old Fae bloodlines.”

“The third kind, Animante , are balanced in their Light and Night,” Devi says as her dark chocolate gaze flicks to me. “They are by far the most powerful kind of Dark Fae, the ones who give our kind the reputation of being able to sway minds and hearts and topple tyrants. This is Ariana’s type. She is stronger than all of us, though she has yet to understand what her magic can truly do, or balance it properly. She is well on her way to getting there, however, now that she has bonded you and Quinn by the ancient Dark Fae ritual Eiseth gave you. Because an Animante is balanced in her opening powers by bonding two of her own kind from opposite ends of the power. One a Mentale of the Night—Quinn—and the other a Cuorante of the Light. You.”

I take a moment.

And then I get it.

“I’m Dark Fae. And Quinn is, too.”

Though it’s a shocking admission, something about it seems so right as the words drop from my mouth. Like an explosion of power in the night, a bolt of energy sears through me; though I had been feeling drained all day after I helped Quinn recover from his near-assassination, not to mention everything I surrendered to Ariana to take to Rome, I suddenly feel hale.

A sensation like dark suns explodes inside me—a bright-darkness so powerful it’s like suns going supernova. Those suns create black holes that make me rock now, as a diamond-bright wave of magic surges through me.

Bright—and oh, so decadently dark.

That massive wave of light is tinged with a darkness I’ve somehow always had, I know now. Ever since Quinn and I went hunting Dark Fae, my energy has been dark around the edges in a way I thought was simply from my ancient bond to him, before he was turned Vampire.

What I’m feeling right now, however, is not Quinn’s power flowing through me, or Ariana’s. Though I’m still bound to them, it’s my own magic flooding me.

As everything suddenly makes sense—for the first time in my life.

“That strange sickness that took me after I was rescued from the Revenant catacomb,” I say now as I turn to Alleno, emotions cascading through me. “The way my magic seemed darker, as if I had a new element to it I could never quite shake. The way I was suddenly able to use Vampire Bloodsigns and make sense of their magic, to some extent. How I became more powerful, more convincing, more well-spoken in the Court when I was simply just a good fighter before. I thought it was Quinn’s influence effecting me, through our bond…”

“It was your own magic, Lucca,” Alleno says, his voice quiet as he sets a hand on my shoulder. “It was your Dark Fae power, making you so much more than you were before. It is time to learn what you are now. Because Quinn and Ariana need your help—all our help—if they are going to survive the next few days. With everything the Vampire Council has stacked against them.”

“Quinn thinks he’s a Vampire.” A horrible feeling takes me now as I blink. “He thinks he’s beholden to the Vampire Council, if he wants to keep his Dark Haven and win a seat among them.”

“Quinn is in a precarious position and it puts all of us Dark Fae at risk if he is not successful in Rome,” Eiseth says. She is careful now as her mist-grey eyes pin me. “Not just his Dark Haven, or his aims to be on the Council.”

“Untrained Dark Fae have a problem with their power going wild when it’s not tethered to anything stable.” Devi fills me in, serious now as worry comes into her eyes. “Quinn has released his bond to the Dark Haven of Florence, which was stabilizing his Dark Fae energy from exposing too much of his Light and running amok. You are tethered to Alleno through the blood-ties you share, and the ancient magic that flows through the Darkwatch. Quinn doesn’t have that, though. Curio and I have helped balance him over the years via our bonds to him—but we are not nearly as strong a Royal Dark Fae as you are, Ariana is, and Quinn himself is. It puts him in danger now, to have none of those bonds holding him—except yours and Ariana’s.”

“Which are weak at the moment, since Quinn and I placed so much of our power in Ariana to use in Rome.” I understand as I feel Quinn and Ariana enter some dark catacomb beneath the city, far away. But though I know they’re hunting a Revenant, I can’t focus on that now as I try to digest this insane revelation.

That Quinn and I are both Dark Fae—and have been for centuries.

“But…” I scowl now, rubbing a hand over my stubble as I try to process it all. I glance at Devi. “How are you Dark Fae?”

“Quinn Sired me,” she says as a small smile lifts her lips. “He doesn’t know it, but he actually can make Dark Fae. I never quite died when I went through the Siring process with him. And when I woke, I knew I still had far too much of my old Scarlet Fae power within me to be entirely Vampire. I knew Curio was the same; when we talked about it, he told me about Eiseth. I recognized Alleno as Dark Fae the moment we first met. You as well.”

“What about Curio?” I frown, then glance at Alleno. “And you?”

“I was born a Dark Fae, Lucca,” Alleno says, watching me. “There are far more of us in the Summer Fae than you think, because both Fae and Vampire magics can pass through family blood. It is a great secret of our kind that Dark Fae can be born holding both life and death inside our magic. With no Vampire ever touching us, at all.”

“Curio is the same,” Devina says now. “He was born a Dark Winter Fae. He was sent to infiltrate Emiliana’s Dark Haven on purpose, putting himself in her way and making her infatuated with him so she’d Sire him, so he could protect Quinn. Curio’s Siring never took, of course, because he already carried an ancient Master’s Vampire bloodline within him. But Emiliana, in her arrogance, never knew the difference. She couldn’t make Dark Fae.”

“So Quinn and I were both bitten by someone the day we went seeking the Dark Fae and got trapped in that catacomb with those Revenants.” I understand now, as my entire world continues to shift beneath me. I glance at Alleno. “You found me that day. Do you know who turned Quinn and me Dark?”

“No.” Alleno shakes his head, a dangerous light coming into his eyes now. “I swear to you I found you in that copse of trees, Lucca. You had already been turned Dark by an unknown Vampire assailant, so I did my best protecting you and balancing your power as you healed back at the palace. Your Vampire Maker is unknown, but you and Quinn received powerful magic from that Vampire. Far more powerful than anyone here in this room. Power you don’t know how to wield yet—exponentially stronger now because of your bonds to Ariana.”

“You were the one who gave us that ceremony, though.” I glance at Eiseth.

“To save Ariana,” she says. “She is a wondrously powerful Animante Dark Fae. It would have torn her apart to remain unbalanced in her power as it opened. You and Quinn had the right strength in your magics to save her, though neither of you knew what you really were. Coincidence? Or fate?”

“Why did none of you ever tell us?” I say now, glaring around the group.

“We couldn’t, Lucca.” Alleno’s voice is soft as his gaze pins me. “If your father ever found out you were Dark Fae, he would have killed you. And if Quinn’s Vampire Council had found out about him, they would have come for him immediately, to kill him and take his Dark Haven. Dark Fae have led both Fae and Vampires in the past, though, on countless occasions. For we are One, the Light and the Night. So many think we are diametric opposites, different in a way that can never be bridged. But it can. And it’s strong Dark Fae like you, Quinn, and Ariana who can do it. Which is why we all need to head to Rome right now and save Quinn. He’s going to expose himself as Dark Fae before the Council if he goes to them as weak as he is and loses control of his Light. Or if worse happens, thanks to his connection to Ariana and you.”

“Worse?” I lift an eyebrow. “How could it possibly get any worse?”

“Oh, it can get worse,” Lady Eiseth says, dark with warning as she pins me with her gaze, then gestures to the doors. “Come. We have said too much, and the hour is late. We must get to Rome and rendezvous with Quinn and Ariana, and Arturos. We must figure out how to stop this shitshow that’s about to take place. Before the last remaining Dark Fae are exposed—and both the Vampire Council and the Summer Fae King go on rampage against us rather than become usurped.”

Even as Eiseth’s words pierce me, worse suddenly happens. Because far away in Rome, I feel Quinn and Ariana suddenly battle for their lives against a Revenant that’s far too strong for them.

As Ariana screams all through her being for me to help, that dark starlight suddenly explodes inside me. I don’t think, I don’t hesitate; suddenly, everything I have is going to them as I flood all that light-dark power, everything I am, down my connection to them.

Even as I explode with magic, sunlight so strong it scorches from me like true day as my diamond rainbows blister Quinn’s rooms, I feel how it’s not enough. Quinn is being drained by the Revenant that devours him, as he drowns in the most horrible memories of Emiliana DiClario.

He’s going Revenant now, as I feel another scream from Ariana thundering through me to give her everything I’ve got left. I do, blazing with power like ten thousand suns exploding.

And then that power’s gone as I pass out.

Alleno’s fast hands barely keeping me from crashing to the floor.