House of Ravens (The Nightfall Chronicles Book 2) (25 page)

After I finish explaining, Corinne is silent, but a war rages on her face. How could it not?

Her best friend is Nephilim.

And now, she is as well.

I don't know what the future holds for us, but I hope for the best. I hold out my hand. "Let me show you something."

She turns away. "Does anyone else know?"

"Only the one who turned me."

A moment passes.

I remember Zorin's words. It's much harder to fight a friend. I pray I don't have to fight Corrine.

Another moment.

I consider what to do if she decides to turn me in. Do I make her forget this conversation? Do I expose her as Nephilim first?

I tremble, unable to think any further.

Another moment.

Corrine turns back, fire in her purple eyes.

She takes my hand. "Show me. Show me everything."

***

We drive to the Cathedral, and she watches me change into Nightfall before we approach the gates. I hand her my old black mask and an EZ-Dye pack. "You can't go in looking like the Princess of Ravens."

She nods, dons the mask and dyes her hair black like mine. Then she pulls a cloak over her head. "Good enough?"

"Your eyes," I say. "They give you away." I hand her an EZ-Eye.

When she looks up, her eyes are golden. I nod in approval and begin the tour.

First, I show her the houses and where the recruits train on a field with Zorin. I show her where the ground opens up and the Night Raven emerges. The whole time, she doesn't speak.

As we walk down the path, Allen bows at my side and holds out his hand. "A blessing, Darkness."

I touch his palm, and he returns to practicing swordsmanship.

Corrine frowns.

"It's to inspire them," I say.

She doesn't respond.

When we arrive at the Cathedral, she enters first. I start to follow, when Zorin grabs my shoulder. He whispers in my ear, "If she is not with us, she will not leave this place."

"I know."

I follow Corrine inside. She stands before the golden cross. Her hands are clasped in prayer.

"You have heard my story," I say. And I ask her the question Wytt asked me so long ago. The question I have never stopped pondering. "Am I the hero, chosen to save my people, or the monster, destined to destroy them?"

I don't look at her.

For if I look at her, and she rejects me, I will collapse. A part of me will break. Tears build in my eyes.

I do not look.

Corrine touches my hand.  "You're my friend, Scarlett. You're my friend." And she holds me.

And we both let the tears flow.

***

"Are you ready to meet the other Dark Templar leaders?" I ask, after our tears have dried and we have sat in silence for some time, lost in our own thoughts. Our own sorrows.

She nods. "I am."

I lead her to our War Room where Trix, TR and Zorin sit around the War Table while Carter serves snacks and Life Force to everyone. "I want you all to meet someone." I gesture for Corinne to come in, and I introduce everyone at the table. "And this is… a friend," I tell everyone. "A new Nephilim."

TR looks up from his powdered donut, and a bit of cherry filling drops from his lips. "New Nephilim? As in just recently found, or made?"

"Made," I say. "To save her life."

"So this is a thing we're doing now?" he asks. "Making Nephilim?" TR looks over at Zorin. "Did you put her up to this?"

I bring my palm down on the table and the sound shuts everyone up. "He didn't put me up to anything, and this does not mean we have a new policy of making Nephilim. It was an isolated situation that required an immediate action. I made the choice alone, and I alone take full responsibility for her."

"Does she have a name?" Trix asks.

I look over at Corinne. We haven't discussed code names yet.

"Raven," she says, surprising me. "You can call me Raven."

"Nice to meet you, Raven," Trix says, smiling.

TR isn't smiling though. "So another person with a secret identity you can't even share with the group?"

Zorin stands and stares down TR. "Nightfall has to keep her identity a secret from everyone, if she is to accomplish the mission we all share. She is not a known rebel like you and Trix. She is not someone who has long since been forgotten by history like me and Carter. She and Raven have identities outside these walls that help us all with our mission, and thus need to be protected from everyone. Even you."

TR sneers at Zorin. "But you know, don't you? What makes you so special?"

"He saved my life," I say. "He turned me. That is what makes him so special. And I'm done arguing about this, TR. You can stay and accept that some of us have to maintain a secret identity from even our most trusted allies, or you can leave. It's your choice."

I want him to stay. I hope he hears it in my voice. But I will not continue to defend my need to wear a mask.

He sinks back into his chair, exhaling all his rage. "You know I'm in, Nightfall. I don't like the masks, but I'll shut up about it if I have to."

"Thank you, TR." I sit at the table, Zorin to my right, Corinne to my left.

"Do we have any news on Crixus since the Tournament?" I ask, getting down to business.

Corinne flinches next to me. Her throat has healed with only the faintest scar, but the other wounds inflicted that day by the Red Eagles, those won't heal so fast, if they ever do at all.

"Still no word," Trix says. "He's like smoke, vanishing without a trace."

"Have you tracked his money?" Corinne asks. "Rumor has it he's funded by a few underground criminal groups. Dig enough you might find something that could help flush him out."

TR nods, a growing look of respect on his face. "That's not a bad idea. I'll get my people on it."

Corinne nods. "He has to be held accountable for his crimes. And the Dark Templars should publicly disavow any knowledge of what the Red Eagles did that day. You have to set yourself up as something more than just a rebel group."

I smile at her. I've seen Corinne the Healer, Corinne the Friend/Sister/Daughter/Niece. I've seen her as the Student. But I've never seen her as the Heir to the Throne. As the Queen I'm seeing now.

Trix looks at Corinne more closely. "So are you in now? Part of the Dark Templars?"

Corinne looks at everyone in the room, then looks at me. "I'm here for Nightfall. And I'm here to help catch Crixus. What my role is after that will be determined later."

We discuss a few more options for tracking down Crixus, then Carter offers to give Corrine a longer tour and introduce her to others. She looks to me, and I nod. "I'll catch up with you later," I say.

"Okay." She hugs me, then whispers in my ear. "I meant what I said. I'm here for you. Whatever happens, I'm on your side. No matter what."

***

Zorin and I walk alone through the long halls to his room. We don't talk, but there is much to be said. I settle into a comfortable chair in front of his fire and Nox meows and leaps onto my lap. I smile and pet him, enjoying the purring warmth under my hand. "Corinne's going to want to see you," I tell the cat. "She's missed you."

Zorin sits next to me and runs his hand over the cat. Our fingers touch, our eyes lock. "Nox missed you," he says softly.

"Just Nox?" Our parallel conversation lacks the light teasing it had once upon a time in New York.

"Not just Nox," he says.

We both continue petting the cat and staring into the fire.

"You created a new Nephilim," he says.

"Yes."

"Does that mean you agree with me?" He looks at me again, his blue eyes so full of… something.

"I don't know. But I agree there are times it is the right and just thing," I say.

"Scarlett, what happened at the arena?"

He's not asking about the politics. Or Crixus. He knows all that. He's asking a far more personal question. One I find hard to answer.

"She would have died. They killed her and Kai. I had to choose." It hurts to speak the words. To acknowledge out loud to another person what I did.

"Why her?" he asks, his voice so quiet I can barely hear him. "Why not Kai? You loved him, did you not?"

Is there pain in his voice? "Yes, I did. I love her, too. He would have wanted her to live. If I'd saved him, he would never have forgiven me, or himself. He once said she was the best of them. She will make a great Queen someday."

Zorin nods. "She will. She has what every truly great ruler should have. Compassion. Empathy. Intelligence. And courage."

"I thought you didn't like the Ravens? I thought you'd be glad Kai is dead."

He grabs my hand and looks into my eyes. "I never wanted this, Scarlett. I never wanted you hurt. I know the pain of losing someone you love. Of feeling responsible for their death. I would never want that for you."

"Your wife, Danika?"

He nods. "What do you want now?" he asks.

"I want to find Crixus. And kill him."

***

I pick up Nox, holding him against my chest, as I go in search of Trix. I find her in the North wing, in her bedroom reading. Her door is open and I knock, then step in. "Am I interrupting you?"

She sits up on her bed and puts her book on the bedside table. "Not at all. Come on in." She pats the end of her bed, and I sit down next to her. Nox squirms out of my hands in order to walk back and forth between the two of us, head nudging us for body rubs.

Trix laughs. "He loves attention, this one. Everyone here dotes on him. I think half the Nephilytes worship him."

I roll my eyes. "Like he needs to be worshipped. He already has a god complex just by being a cat."

"No kidding. They haven't forgotten their former Egyptian glory."

I look around her room. It's the first time I've really been in here. It's spacious, with bookshelves, a bed, a dresser, a desk, a reading chair and a fireplace. There are a few personal touches to brighten up the dark wood furniture: a painting of an Italian landscape, some stacks of books, her laptop. But it's the picture on the dresser that catches my attention. Three happy people with arms around each other lean against a tractor. Trix is in the middle, and TR is to her right. The other man is looking at Trix with a smile. "Is that him?" I ask, pointing to the picture.

She picks up the framed photograph. "That's my Max." She runs her fingers over the image. "Before everything."

Before the war. Before he died. Before life changed for everyone. "He looks a lot like TR," I say.

She nods, still staring at the picture.

"Do you love TR?" I ask.

She looks up, holding the picture to her chest. "Of course. I always have."

"Are you
in love
with him?"

Her breath hitches. "I… It's complicated."

"Because of Max?"

She nods.

"I understand. I just… I recently lost someone I loved. And I didn't let myself love him for a long time, because of someone else. Someone I could never be with, but who still ruled my heart. I wish… I guess I just wish that I'd lived more in the present, with the person who loved me and was there, instead of living in the past with the ghost of someone I once loved but could never have."

A tear falls down her cheek and she looks back at the picture. I put a hand on her knee. "Word of advice from someone who probably shouldn't give advice on love?" I ask.

Trix chuckles, nodding.

"Don't let memories from the past destroy what you have right in front of you."

It's raining the day of Kai's funeral, and I send up a prayer of thanks. Had the sun shone on a day so void of happiness, I would have cursed the sky for its cruelty. But even Mother Nature knows today is a day for grief.

I was initially surprised his funeral pyre wasn't set in his own country, with his people, but it makes sense. All his family is here, as are the most powerful Order leaders in the world. There will be a public memorial for him in Sapientia. Today is more private. Or as private as something for the Prince of Ravens can be.

I still can't believe he's gone. I dreamed about him last night. His smile, his kiss, the way he always held my hand just to show me he cared, that he was close. For that brilliant moment between breaths, when I was awake but not, I could forget he was dead. But then reality crashed down on me the moment consciousness firmly took hold, and it broke me all over again.

It's hard to let go of the man who knew me inside and out, knew all my secrets, and still loved me. It's impossible to say goodbye. 

Everyone is dressed in black and gold, the Raven house colors, as we walk in solemn silence to the arena. His pyre will burn all night until his mortal shell has been reduced to ash.

I walk behind the royal family, alone in my grief. Jax is there, but he is with the Knights. Corinne and Wytt with their father and uncle. We are in the center of the arena, close to the pyre that's already set up with his body.

Others fill the stadium seating, like this is a show.

But those of us here, on the ground level, we know. We feel the grief. The loss. The world is poorer without Kai's soul in it. I am poorer without him in my life.

Rain pelts down in its rage as musicians play a mournful dirge.

Varian speaks about his son in tones of monotone sadness. I don't hear his words. I'm just staring at Kai. At his body. His profile, hard to see through the wood and cloth. But there. His strong jaw, the lock of hair that always falls into his eyes, even in death. He could be sleeping. I want to reach for him, to beg him to come back.

I've gone over that night in my mind countless times. Could I have saved them both? Could I have done something different? But I never see another way out.

Except one.

I realized it after.

The horrible truth that will forever haunt me.

I killed Kai when I saved Jax.

If I had let Crixus win, his rebel group wouldn't have needed to revolt, and Kai and Corinne wouldn't have been caught in the crossfires.

A life for lives.

Choices that bleed crimson consequences.

It's silent now as Varian sets fire to the pyre. The heat whooshes around me like a living thing, burning not my skin, but my soul. The smell is spicy and smoky, incense covering the smell of burnt flesh.

The rain beats down harder, but the fire is fueled with a fast burning chemical. No matter how hard the rain—or my heart—rails against this, Kai's body will be dust by morning.

And I will not leave until the flames have died out.

I will hold vigil through it all.

The crowd in the stadium leaves after the initial ceremony, once the fire has burned its first blast.

But others stay longer. Kai's family. Jax. Kira. Thane. My grandfather and the Order Council Members.

Me.

I don't know how long I've been standing here, my legs cramping and body shivering with cold, when Ragathon walks over, his face a mask of grief and pain. The moment he steps close enough I hold up my hand, palm facing him as water streams down my face. "Please, not today. I know you hate me. I get it. But not today. Not right now. Not here." I'm pleading, begging, my voice cracked with pain and tears. I have no fight in me right now, only sadness. Only loss.

He shakes his head. "I didn't come here to fight you, Miss Night. For this night, let us call a truce. We both lost someone we loved deeply. I came here to offer my condolences, such as they are. He loved you. And I could see you loved him. You brought him more joy in these last few months than I think he's ever had in his life. I wanted to thank you for that."

Before I can say a word in reply, he walks away, his back straight, spine stiff. Something in me cracks and tears pour of out my eyes. I thought I'd used them all up. How many tears can one person produce in such a short time?

His momentary kindness has stung me more than his hatred ever could.

The long night of standing vigil feels timeless. Once night cloaks us in its blanket, the flames seem to burn brighter, stronger, filling the sky and all around me with its fierce hot light.

But as the first rays of morning sun casts its fingers over the arena, the fire dies down to almost nothing.

Only Varian, Ragathon, Corinne, Wytt, Jax and myself remain.

My eyes blur with yet more tears as the final embers fade in the pile of ash.

And then a sob escapes, clenching my chest and gripping my body with the finality of this moment.

He's gone and he's never coming back.

My Prince is gone forever.

Small crowds return to the pyre, hoping to catch a last glimpse before his remains are packaged and returned to his country. Thane and the Council Members also join the royal family. Even Ragathon's wife returns, daughter tugging at her hand, to stand by her husband.

I still stand alone in my grief, in my bitter goodbye to a great man.

I wipe my tears away when Corinne walks over to me holding Kai's sword, her own face red with evidence of her pain.

She hands me the sword, and I take it, confused.

"He left it for you, in his will. He wanted you to have it."

"But… why did he have a will?" He couldn't have known.

She gives a small, sad smile. "We are royalty. We always have instructions for the eventuality of our deaths. We updated them before the Trial, and I believe he amended his even after, to add this."

She hands me a thick cream envelope with the Ravens seal on it and my name scrawled on the front in Kai's script.

"Thank you," I say, through tears.

She nods. "He loved you. He said you're family."

It's too much. This is just too much. "I loved him, too."

Then she hugs me and walks back to her brother and father, leaving me alone with these last words from Kai.

I open the letter, letting the rain fall on the paper, smearing the ink with the tears of heaven as I read.

Dear Scarlett,

If you're reading this, I died a lot sooner than I imagined. That's unfortunate, because I had plans. Plans that involved convincing you to run off into the great world with me. I know you wouldn't have agreed. Not with your other responsibilities. But I would have tried.

Failing that, I would have stayed in this messed up political quagmire. I would have stayed, and done my best to protect you—all the parts of you. I would have tried to help you in your cause.

I would also have tried to convince you to marry me, eventually. We could have been happy, you know. I loved you enough. We could have made it work—despite everything.

But alas, like Romeo and Juliet (I told you we should have gone as them), we were never meant to be. But Scarlett, what we had, it was real. And I regret nothing.

I don't know what happened to me, but if there's any chance it involved your other life, then don't do what I know you'll do. Don't blame yourself. Don't take on my death with everything else, regardless of what happened.

I knew the risks in loving you, and I took them. I'd do it again in a heartbeat, if I still had a heart that beat.

So, now what's left? Take my sword and kick some butt with it. Make the world a better place. And know that wherever my soul is now, I'm rooting for you.

Yours forever,

The Prince of Ravens

When I look up from the letter, I can barely see through the tears. I tuck it into my cloak and hold the sword close to my chest. "I
will
make the world better, Kai," I say to his spirit, wherever it is. "I swear it."

I stand there longer, my legs already cramped, my body tired, but I can't leave just yet, so I walk over to Corinne and Wytt, who are talking softly as Varian talks to Thane. The Cardinal hadn't stayed for everything, but he'd come back this morning, apparently.

I'm about to say something to Corinne when Thane's movement catches my eye.

I turn to look at him.

He's limping, a hand on his right side.

The same spot where Jax wounded Crixus during the fight.

I freeze as the pieces fall together. Kai was going to tell me something during the tournament. He recognized the Black Knight.

Thane was the Black Night.

Thane is Crixus.

And he murdered Kai.