“Hey.” My sockets almost dropped my eyeballs. “You might be right.”

  “Wait. Next bearer?” David cut in, his tone clearly riddled with confusion. It was only then that I remembered I hadn’t given David the full story about what Drake told me that day either. But I still wasn’t ready for the truth about my soul to surface. Except, thanks to Mike, it was too late.

  “Turns out,” I said, spinning in my chair to grin back at David. “I’m not just a descendant of Lilith. I’m…”

  “A reincarnation?” David asked, his lovely green eyes slowly going round and large.

  “Nope. Better,” Mike added with a smirk. “She’s a soulless vessel. Lilith’s soul was placed directly into Ara on the day she was born. She’s the original queen.”

  “And that’s why my mother Rose died when she had me—because she gave up her soul.”

  David’s fangs showed under his slightly parted lips, his tepid breath leaving them and brushing my face as he sat there, struggling to either make sense of it or find words. “You’re… You. I mean, you’re…”

  “Yep.”

  “Woah.” He sat back and wiped his palm across his mouth. “I feel like I should … like maybe I should bow to you, or something.”

  Mike and I laughed.

  “So Lilith’s burden to this contract—” David said slowly, his face taut with reflection, “—the agreement to bear a child with me, it didn't get passed down her descendants?”

  “No. It’s still her burden—just one my body inherited when they gave me her soul.”

  “Anyway,” Mike added. “I was going to say that, for your dad to decide right after you met David that you should have the charm, that would have to mean he knew about the contract and the fact that you and David would end it—the fact that you would keep Lilith’s soul for eternity because you’d bear a child with a soul of her own.”

  My skin crawled with little bumps and my lungs stopped drawing oxygen. “How could he have known that?”

  Mike grinned. “Maybe that’s your answer.”

  “To what question?”

  “Who is Vampirie?”

  “No way,” I said, shaking my head. “My dad is not a vampire—was not. He … he had a heartbeat, he aged.”

  “And Vampirie was an original. Maybe all originals age eventually,” Mike said.

  “Drake doesn’t,” I challenged.

  “Does Drake have a heartbeat?” he asked.

  “He does,” David said. “I never heard it, but vampires that slept with him did. And that’s not common knowledge, either—really only something a council leader would know.”

  “Why?”

  “His heartbeat wasn’t obvious—Greg’s was,” David said, giving a little shrug. “So, I hate to say it, Mike, but I think that blows your theory right out of the water.”

  “I disagree,” Mike said. “Ara has an obvious heartbeat. She’s original. Why couldn’t Vampirie?”

  “Because he’s vampire. Not Lilithian. He wasn’t part human,” David reminded him, with just a hint too much bitterness.

  I sat quietly, thinking about Morgaine. Even she had a heartbeat, but concealed that with the lie that she was a Created Lilithian—not a Pure Blood. Not that I could add that little tidbit to the conversation because, far as I knew, neither David nor Mike knew about Morgaine’s true identity.

  “I’m with David on this one, Mike,” I said. “If my dad was Vampirie, then how did he age? I don’t age.”

  The boys went quiet again.

  “Not to mention,” I added, “Arthur said it wasn’t him. He said he’d seen my dad—that there were similarities in my dad and Vampirie, but—”

  “He said that?” David sat forward again.

  “Yeah, but—”

  “Arthur knew Vampirie well. If there were similarities, then there must at least be an ancestral connection to your dad and the original vampire.”

  “Like what?”

  “Maybe Greg was his son, and that’s why Amara adopted him.” David tapped his fingertips on his knee. “It’s in the eyes, Ara. If that’s not proof enough, I don’t know what is.”

  “Yeah, I agree,” Mike cut in. “There are a lot of skeletons in the Thompson family closet, baby. But there’s no way your dad was born to a family outside your bloodline. If Amara really did adopt him, it was because he had some familial connection.”

  “But that would've made my dad immortal,” I said.

  “Only if he chose to drink blood and trigger the curse,” David reminded me.

  I sat back, looking out the window at the heavy traffic. “If this is true, then he probably knew you were a vampire all along, David.”

  He laughed. “Probably since before you and I even met.”

  “Which makes sense why he asked you to watch over me. Maybe he wanted you to give me blood—make me immortal.”

  “Maybe so,” David said. “Wait. Remember that History lesson?”

  “Which one?”

  “The day I came to your class and he was teaching about the myths and legends of Adam and Eve, and…”

  “Lilith.” I sat forward again and turned to face David. “He wasn’t teaching myth. He was teaching history!”

  David grinned, and Mike and I followed.

  “I can’t believe he knew all along.”

  “He probably knew you weren't in Paris, too,” Mike said. “Not much ever got past your dad.”

  “Then why did he push so hard for me to marry you, Mike?” I asked, confused again. “If he knew what I was and what David was, then he must have known about the contract—that David and I were supposed to end it all.”

  “Maybe after you were kidnapped and nearly died at the masquerade, he decided he didn’t want you in that world,” David suggested.

  “If you and I got married and had a baby, it would’ve completely broken the chain,” Mike added. “This contract would've been null and void.”

  “No. Not if Drake got to me and made me put my soul into the next child.”

  “Which could be why Greg encouraged the move back to Perth. Maybe he thought you’d be safe there,” Mike said.

  “But my child would’ve been soulless. She’d have died and—”

  “And the chain would be broken,” Mike said. “Your womb would be sullied by birth, no longer pure. And with no pure womb and no child, there’d be no more contract.”

  I drew a long, deep breath, and huffed it out. “Wow.”

  “Conniving bugger,” Mike cursed playfully.

  “Yeah, that was pretty clever. I mean, Drake said that all his plans had been foiled by other people. This was just another attempt, I guess—like Dad leaving me with my mum in Australia in the first place.”

  “I’d say so. He probably thought Drake would never find you there,” Mike said.

  “He didn’t, though,” David said. “He found her when she came here.”

  “No, he saw to it that she came here.” As soon as Mike said those words, his jaw dropped and he visibly tried to gulp them back in.

  “Mike? Why did you say that?” I screeched.

  “Shit. Um—” He signalled quickly and turned off the highway.

  “I knew it!” I slapped the sides of my seat. “I knew I never told you about me having Lilith’s soul!”

  He pulled up slowly in a wide, abandoned parking lot, and cut the engine, shrinking away from my infuriated gaze when he looked at me. “Falcon told me.”

  “Told you what? Told you something I told him in confidence?” I yelled.

  “Wait, what’s going on?” David asked. “What’s he talking about, Ara?”

  “Falcon said he knew what was wrong with you that night—after dinner. Did you really think I was gonna let him take you upstairs, counsel you on whatever it was, and not tell me anything?”

  “Mike, that was a secret!”

  “What was?” David yelled. “Would somebody please just fill me in?”

  Mike softened and reached across my lap, taking my hand in his. “Falcon refused to tell me. He said he was taking care of it, and that he’d sworn to keep it secret.”

  “He did swear!”

  “But he has no right to do that. It’s against everything he swore when he made his oath, Ara. He was breaking his vows by keeping that secret for you, and he…” Mike winced.

  “He what?” I yelled, squeezing his hand.

  “He suffered consequences.”

  “What consequences?”

  “He was Marked.” Mike lowered his head. “He didn’t want me to tell you. Ever. But he came to me one day, showed me this horrific black scroll on his chest. When I saw it, I forced him to tell me what he knew.”

  “Why was it so horrific?”

  “Some Marks are just images that show the person for what they are or what they’ve done, but when a knight swears an oath to protect a goddess of the earth, then keeps something to himself that puts her at risk, he is punished harshly—Marked with the kind of symbols that bring harm.”

  “What did it do to him?”

  “He couldn't sleep. He was locked down into hellish nightmares every time he closed his eyes—seeing the ways you’d die—seeing himself fail to protect you. He was a mess. When he finally confessed everything you’d told him, the Mark just vanished.”

  “What secret did she tell him?” David asked in a low, impatient tone.

  “Drake knew where Ara was before she even met you,” Mike started. “He killed her mom and brother so she’d be forced into her dad’s custody.”

  David’s breath touched the side of my face with his shock, and my door flew open a second later. “Ara. I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  I looked down at him where he squatted by the car. “I didn’t think you’d really care all that much.”

  “Of course I care.” He took my hand. “I’m heartbroken for you. I just…”

  “That's not all of it, either,” Mike said.

  “Mike, please?” I reached back and touched his knee, begging him with my eyes. “Don’t tell him the rest.”

  “It’s time, Ara. He needs to know.”

  David stood and leaned in to undo my seatbelt, then helped me from the car. Mike met us at the passenger side, sitting casually on the hood, while the afternoon sun bore down with a strange warmth for this time of year, reflecting in an orb off the white paint.

  “Before we go on, Ara—” David turned me so I faced him, and took both of my hands. “I’m so sorry about your mom and Harry. If I’d known that—”

  “It’s in the past, David.”

  “But, I—” He closed his eyes for a second and nodded, then cast his attention to Mike, but I could feel in his touch that he wasn't ready to change the subject. “What else is there?”

  “We know who Morgana is.”

  David waited.

  “You know her, have always known her, as Morgaine.”

  “Morgaine’s a witch?” He folded slightly like he’d been punched in the gut.

  “A Pure Blood Lilithian witch.” I nodded.

  “Then, she’s…”

  “She’s our traitor,” I said simply.

  “She’s been working with Drake to get her mother back,” Mike added at the same time David asked ‘Why?’

  “Get her mother back?”

  “Yup.” Mike nodded. “Lilith’s her mother, remember.”

  “But … how can she get her back? She’s…”

  “She’s reconstructable. If you have all the pieces.”

  He rubbed his mouth. “Like Ara is?”

  “Yep.”

  “But, if Ara has the soul of Lilith, then…”

  “If Lilith lives, Ara dies,” Mike confirmed.

  “So Morgaine isn’t here to help?” he asked, directing his anger to me. “She wants you dead?”

  I nodded.

  His eyes narrowed, his jaw flexing. “No wonder you hate her.”

  I laughed.

  “Why didn’t you have her executed?”

  “Well, for one, she’s family.” I shrugged dismissively. “And, two, Drake will just put another spy in place.”

  David nodded to himself, standing tall again. “Better the devil you know.”

  “That’s exactly what I said,” both Mike and I said at the same time, then laughed.

  “But Drake doesn’t have all Lilith’s pieces, right?” David stepped almost protectively beside me then. “He’s not gonna—”

  “The dagger contained the final piece.”

  “What?”

  “He planned to put Lilith back together after the child was born—as promised in the contract.”

  David fell back against the car, his head in his hands.

  “That’s pretty much what I said.” Mike smirked.

  “Wait,” David said, looking up with hopeful eyes. “You said planned.”

  “Yes. He made a new agreement with me.”

  “To what?”

  “To leave you on the throne as king, for eternity—our people safe. And…”

  “And?”

  “And, to let me live until our daughter is eighteen.”

  His mouth fell slightly open and tiny bumps prickled the hairs on his skin as the realisation flooded his eyes. “Only until she’s eighteen?”

  “Mm-hm.”

  “You’re … he’s taking you away?”

  I nodded. “He wanted to do it when she was born, but I begged him to let me raise her.”

  “So, you’ve already agreed to this?” he asked, grabbing my arm and pulling me upward. “You swore this to him?”

  I nodded.

  “No.” He pushed past me and quickly walked away, stopping a few feet from the car to destroy a lamppost. “No!”

  I took a step in that direction. “Should I…?”

  “Just leave him.” Mike’s hand came down on my shoulder. “I needed to do the same thing when I found out.”

  “Someone’s going to see.” I checked around for onlookers, but everyone was just going about their day—clearly seeing nothing odd about the fact that a mere man just kicked over a metal pole that was cemented into the ground.

  “This isn’t happening.” David pointed in my face as he stormed back toward us. “This. Is. Not happening.”

  “There’s no choice, David. Drake has the dagger.” I watched him walk past me again and jump in the driver’s seat.

  “There’s always a choice,” he said, turning the engine over. “Get in.”

  Mike and I looked at each other.

  “Get. In.”

  “Don't argue with the king,” Mike said jokingly and opened the front passenger door for me. I slid into my seat and before I even put my seatbelt on, David grabbed it and buckled it into place.

  “David, please? Calm down.”

  “Mate, we’ll sort this out.” Mike patted David’s shoulder. “We’ve got eighteen years.”

  “No. We call a meeting and we sort this out now.”

  “We can’t. The council doesn’t know the full truth. And Drake said if I told anyone he’d take me when the baby is born.”

  Mike and I jolted forward suddenly, slamming back in our seats as the brakes squealed, the shock leaving us silent while David just sat there, the car idling quietly.

  “So what do we do?” the king asked.

  “Nothing,” I said. “Enjoy the next eighteen years.”

  David shook his head. “I can’t do that.”

  “Well, you can’t make a scene and go bringing everyone into it, either.”

  He rolled his head back on the headrest.

  “We’ll figure something out, mate,” Mike said. “We’re … none of us are just gonna stand by and let him take our girl.”

  David nodded solemnly and put the car in gear, driving away a lot slower than before.

  Chapter Three

  “Why do you care if he kills me?” I asked, breaking the silence after over an hour. “At least this way you don’t have to put up with me for much longer.”

  A lengthy breath of irritation flared his nostrils. “You hate me now, don’t you?”

  “Yes. What’s your point?”

  “Do you want me dead?”

  Dead? Probably not. Strung up by his thumbs? Maybe. I unwound the smug fold of my arms.

  “Precisely,” he said in that dull, deep tone he’d use on stupid people. “Now, tell me, what does Jason know about all of this?”

  “Only what you knew before today, with the exception of the truth about Morgana. He and Arthur, oh and Falcon, are the only other people that know about her.”

  “So my brother doesn't know about your eighteen year deal, or…” He looked down into his lap for a moment, as a stilled image of a girl wrapped up tight in his arms, crying her heart out by a lake, filled his thoughts. “Or what Drake did to your family?”

  I shook my head.

  David paled a little. I didn't need to read his mind to know he understood just how gutted Jason would be when he learned not only that I'd die in eighteen years, but also that I’d kept all of this from him. Although, I knew he’d be slightly impressed that I’d managed to keep it from him.

  “How did you manage that?” David asked, adding, “To keep it from my brother?” when I looked up in confusion.

  My jaw snapped open. “Did you just read my mind?”

  His lip quirked in that small secretive smile. “I can always read your mind.”

  “No. I’ve been blocking you!”

  “No, you only think you’ve been blocking me.” He turned his head and, for a millisecond, his eyes brushed along the roundness of my tiny belly, my hands across it. “My powers grew after my inauguration too, you know. I can get in when I try.”

  Hmpf! “That’s no fun.” I folded my arms again. “So, then how come you didn’t know about my eighteen year deal with Drake, if you’re so powerful?”

  “Because I haven’t tried to get into your thoughts. I’ve had no reason to.”

  “But you do now?”

  “More than ever before. I need to know what other lies you’ve been telling.”

  “Hey! I never lied,” I shouted. “I just didn’t tell you the entire truth.”

  “How is that any different?” he snapped, louder than me, clearly having held that little outburst in for a while. “Even your own trusted, most secretive council has been left in the dark, Ara, and—”

 

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