Reaper's Dark Kiss (24 page)

The tension held a moment, then dissolved into mute restraint on the part of Kraeyl and badly concealed amusement on the part of Oracle.

“Forgive me,” Oracle said with courtly hypocrisy, “Mid-Year tires me. I sometimes forget myself.”

Kraeyl was silent. Vandar knew this was not forgiveness. His counselor was merely delaying Oracle’s death to a more opportune time.

Vandar had to eliminate Oracle’s presence and find out Kraeyl’s news of the debauched museum. They could afford no delay in the contract.

“If you will excuse us,” Vandar said, “my counselor and I have matters to discuss.”

He was turning away, drawing Maggie with him, when Oracle said, “You mean the burglary the prince committed just before dawn?”

Vandar spun on his heel and faced Oracle. “What do you know of that?”

“Little,” Oracle admitted, “but I keep up with where my consults lead.”

“You will tell Lord Vandar what you said to the reaper.” Kraeyl was fairly seething with rage.

With a low bow of his head, Oracle said, “That is impossible, of course. All counsels are between myself and those counseled.”

“From the beginning of our time in this world, you have plagued us,” Kraeyl said, “moving among us, wraithlike, a traitor with no—”

“Enough,” Vandar said. It was a command, not a request. They had no time for this. “Walk the circles with me, counselor.”

Vandar turned, keeping Maggie with him with a light arm about her waist. Kraeyl would follow. Oracle would stay or creep behind them. It didn’t matter which.

Walking quickly but slowly enough for a young vampire like Maggie to keep up, Vandar moved through the deserted village. Soon their path tended downward. The rough stone walls became so close, they were forced to go single file. Checking to make sure Maggie was close enough to follow without losing her way, Vandar entered the place the young had named the Broken Paths. It was a labyrinth of concentric circles. They were quickly walled in. Torches high on the twenty-foot walls cast a confusion of shadows.

The maze had been under the city for longer than Vandar could remember. His younglings had added to it, building new walls, blocking old entrances, making new ones.

In what was roughly the center of the labyrinth, deadly sunlight poured down from above. The scent of Maggie’s fear penetrated the web of anger and hunger and frustration growing in Vandar’s mind. Instead of lingering in the safety of the darkness between boulders, she was following him, moving along the sharp edge of the circle of light. “What are you doing so close to the sun, Margaret?”

Her voice, when she answered, was hesitant. “I wanted to be near you, my lord.”

Vandar barely knew what to make of that. No one had ever endangered themselves simply to be close to him. Then it hit him as suddenly as a blow from an assassin: Maggie, who had seen him from afar for nearly two years now, was in love with him. Impossible. It had to be mere infatuation. He pressed his fingers to his temples and rubbed briefly before scrutinizing her silhouette.

Maggie stood at the very edge of the circle. The brilliant sunlight must have been causing her pain by now. He thought back to their hours together in his room and felt a wave of disgust at his behavior with her. Had he not caused her enough pain for one day? “Wait in the paths,” he said, making his voice harsh, an unquestionable demand. “You’re too young to be so near the light.”

Quick footfalls told Vandar she was obeying him. He let that be enough for now. Later he would do what he could with the fear he felt radiating from her.

Kraeyl, who had no patience for the labyrinth, had followed from overhead, jumping from one wall to the next. Now he landed beside Vandar.

“Let me propel him into the light,” his counselor said, speaking in the gravelly voice of his beast. “Then we shall see if oracles burn.”

“It may do him no harm,” Vandar said evenly.

“More of his lies, his legend that he is not one of us. He—”

“The robbery, Kraeyl.”

With obvious effort, Kraeyl brought his temper under control. “A museum of the sea was broken into. It was the reaper, Viper, the traitor Harli, and the female.”

“What was in this place?”

Vandar listened to Kraeyl’s inventory carefully.

“What was taken?”

“Unknown at this time, my lord,” Kraeyl said.

“What does this have to do with the contract?” Vandar asked.

From the look on his face, it caused Kraeyl almost physical pain to be caught without an answer. “The contract remains pristinely enforceable,” he said. “I can find no reason for this senseless act.”

“A desperate creature will be driven to do strange things,” said Oracle from the opposite side of the circle of light. He walked the outside of the circle, his cloak’s edge sweeping through the light.

At this distance, Oracle was safe from a direct strike from Kraeyl. The circle was perhaps a quarter of a mile in diameter. The sunlight made an impassable barrier. Mortals speaking to one another across it would have been forced to shout. But for the three immortals, they might as well have been standing beside one another.

The facts as Vandar knew them made as much sense as the Broken Paths. Julian had violated a law of the mortal world, something spectacularly forbidden to reapers. He wouldn’t do such a thing unless there was tactical advantage to be gained.

Oracle whispered through the light. “Are you ready to ask your three questions, my lord?”

In a rare break of protocol, Kraeyl shouted at Vandar. “Heed me! He is a charlatan. He offers
magic
.” He spat the last word with contempt.

If the draining didn’t stop, Julian would hunt Vandar across continents and stake him in sunlight as bright and glaring as the noon circle. He would spend the last moments of his eternity screaming as he burned. He had to have red gold. And to survive getting it, he had to have the contract. It would be his only protection against Julian fighting him to the death over SkyLynne.

“Perhaps only magic will do, old friend. Nothing else has worked.” Vandar lifted his head and spoke across the circle. “I seek your wisdom.”

“And it will be freely given,” Oracle said.

Motes of dust fell through the solid beams of sunlight before him. Vandar waited for them to swirl against the stone ground, allowing questions to take form in his mind. “Did the prince take something from the museum that could harm me?” Kraeyl stirred beside Vandar, but said nothing. Although he had already asked, Vandar asked again, hoping for an answer he could use. “What can I do to end this blood curse that has fallen upon me?” He heard a frightened gasp from the rocks behind him. Vandar had forgotten about Maggie. To her ears, “blood curse” would mean only one thing. She would know Vandar had the draining sickness, a secret that could bring down the Dominion. He brought his mind back to the third question. “How do I win against the prince before noon?”

“Here are your answers, in no order,” Oracle said. “You must look to your heart. Victory comes to those who have the wits to behold it. The only harm coming to you will rise from a serpent nestled in the bosom of your trust.”

Kraeyl let out a disgusted sigh. “Shall we leave our offering of fruit in the sun, or lay it at your feet?”

“In the sun, if you please.” Oracle made a sound that was surprisingly close to a laugh.

Kraeyl moved to lunge past Vandar, which would have landed him in searing sunlight. Vandar grabbed Kraeyl’s shoulders and brutally hurled him into the forest of rock behind them.

Standing over him, Vandar said, “We are going to Night Crypt. We will wait out the contract there. When you have regained your senses, make things ready.”

Vandar turned to give Oracle the ritual thanks, but where he had stood, there was only the glare of light.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

“We’ve been trying to housebreak him for centuries.” Viper landed on the ledge just beyond Julian. “Don’t let your fangs hang out like that, brother. It’s not a good look for you.”

It was time, Julian supposed, to do what Viper had done. He would throw off the Creed and strike out on his own. “You were right,” he said. “I’ll do it. I’ll take care of Vandar.”

“When did you get stupid?” Viper clasped both hands behind his back and stood up erect, regal. Doing a passably good imitation of Marek, he intoned, “You have left me no choice, brother. Your exile commences with the setting of the sun.” He shut up a second before he said in his own voice, “And what would you do with Sky? Take her with you to the Arctic Circle?”

That Viper was right only made Julian angrier, more desperate. The plans he’d made to go after Vandar collapsed, blew apart like matchsticks in a hurricane. “What am I supposed to do?” he shouted. “Wait for noon and deliver her to Vandar?”

“You’re getting your mind in a fever for nothing,” Viper said. “Stop. Just ask her.”

The storm that was Sky came at Julian, questions flying. “The stone makes me poison,” she said. “But it poisons you too. Does Oracle want you dead? Is there an antidote?” Both palms on his chest, she pushed hard. “You better start answering me.”

“I can’t,” Julian said, giving her a half smile. “You keep talking.”

She barreled on, bad temper making her cheeks red. Gods, he loved her. “What’s the Dark Kiss?”

“You’re not poison anymore,” Julian said, answering one of her questions. “Only a little of the stone got in your blood when you cut yourself. It was short acting.”

“Oracle doesn’t take sides,” Viper said. “He wouldn’t sabotage Julian.”

Silence spun out, the air grew tight with tension until even Julian felt it was hard to breathe.

Sky said, “Can’t you understand, Julian?” She took his face in her hands. “The way you make me feel—like I found the kind of love I thought I’d never find—it only happens once in a lifetime. I’ll do whatever it takes.” She kissed him with heartbreaking desperation.

Julian made himself think past the haeze. He took Sky’s cool hands from his face and said, “The Dark Kiss is an ancient ritual.”

“You’d have to die first and then come into our world,” Viper said.

Sky pursed her lips and blew out air. “Doesn’t that happen to every revenant?”

“Not like the Dark Kiss,” Viper said. “Julian would have to—”

“What am I thinking about doing?” Julian was ravaged with doubt. Sky dead? Anything that involved even a chance of her dying was out of the question. “I’m not doing it.”

Viper, quiet, practical said, “Then let me take care of Vandar.”

“He’s your brother. No,” Sky said to him. To Julian she said, “What does he mean about me dying?”

Julian clenched his jaw, couldn’t bring himself to speak.

“The risen rite doesn’t work for every mortal,” Viper said. “It can give them dry sickness. That’s when a revenant’s body can’t use blood. They sick it up. If that happens, a Furie can drain the revenant till their heart stops, then pump his own blood through them. It’s the only time draining isn’t against the law.”

After only a second’s hesitation, Sky asked, “What happens after I wake up?”

“After the Dark Kiss, you drink from Julian one time, and you could poison anyone but him,” Viper said.

“Then why go through all that to get the heart stone?” Sky’s frustration showed through for the first time.

“Because the Dark Kiss is for saving revenants who get the dry sickness. Their blood doesn’t always turn poison.” Viper stopped, thinking. “It’s like open-heart surgery in your world. We only do it to save a revenant.”

“Do you ever do it with mortals?” Sky asked.

For Sky’s sake, Julian fought the beast’s rising demands to take her and run. “If a Furie’s betrothed gets a disease, and she’s still a mortal, the only way to make her a revenant is the Dark Kiss. The risen rite wouldn’t work,” he said.

“And…” Viper looked away from Sky. “The chances of a mortal waking up from the Dark Kiss aren’t good.”

“How bad?” Sky asked.

“Fifty-fifty,” Viper said. It was almost a whisper.

“I don’t see a problem here,” Sky said.

“How can you say that?” Julian said. “You only have half a chance of waking up.”

“No,” Sky said. “I have half a chance to be with you forever.”

Julian threw his head back and looked at the muddy morning through heavy glass. “Gods. Why am I even talking about this?”

“Oracle gave us insurance with the stone, right?” Sky said. “Turn around and answer me, Julian.”

“You’re right,” Julian said, turning to her. “We
know
the stone makes your blood poison. You swallow a pinhead of dust from the stone right now, your blood’s poison. To everyone.”

“Then why can’t I do that? Just eat some dust?” Sky asked.

“Not good enough,” Julian said. “It wears off. Vandar wouldn’t let you anywhere near the stone.”

“After the Dark Kiss, would I poison you?” Sky asked.

“No,” Julian said. “A remnant of my blood would always be in you. We can’t be poisoned by our own blood. It’s part of how we are.”

“Can’t I just drink from you?” Sky asked Julian.

“How?” Julian asked her. “You don’t have fangs.”

“Even if you had fangs, it wouldn’t be enough,” Viper said. “A ritual is like a recipe. Oracle gave us a secret ingredient—the stone. Drain all your blood. Fill you with Julian’s blood. Give you dust from the stone. You drink from Julian. You’re poison to everyone but him. We can’t skip any parts, or it won’t work.”

Julian kicked at a wall. “None of this will work if she doesn’t wake up.”

Viper paced a few steps back and forth, hands on his hips, head down. “Besides starting a war, I don’t see another way, brother.”

“War isn’t an option,” Sky said. “I thought Marek wouldn’t let me be your mate, Julian. Not with the binder signed. Not till this whole thing with Vandar was over.”

“Technically, we can do the Dark Kiss with any mortal who’s willing to do it,” Julian said. “All it takes is consent to a bonding.”

This wasn’t what Julian thought it would be. He’d never let himself fall in love with a mortal, because if they refused to be a revenant, it could only end one way. They would die, and he would live on for all eternity with nothing but a memory. But now here was Sky. It wasn’t just marking her or taking her. It was wanting her beside him on quiet days, in candlelight, in moonlight. Was that too much to ask whatever gods had made him?