“Nothing is,” I agree, my fingers lacing with his. “Perhaps that’s why they should.”
He huffs softly, looking down as if to hide his small smile. Is that the ghost of a blush on his cheeks? “Perhaps you’re right. They likely would’ve never met if not for the curse.”
“Why so?”
“Winny was training to be a member of the castle guard. Callos had just earned his position as a head teacher in the academy.”
“Academy?” Yet another unfamiliar word.
“Don’t act so surprised. The vampir were among the first to record written history. We took it as our responsibility to record the present and past, as well as the futures we saw through blood magics. Our annals dated almost all the way to the formation of the Veil—the barrier that separates this world from the Beyond.”
“How long ago was that?” I follow him as he approaches the miniature town Winny had just been inspecting.
“About six thousand years ago.”
Six thousand years… I rest my hands on the edge of the stone table the miniature town has been built upon. I need something sturdy. Six thousand. It’s such a long time. Longer than Hunter’s Hamlet has been standing. Longer than anything I’ve ever known.
“I wonder if there is anything from my world that old,” I whisper.
“I’m sure there is. The Natural World and Midscape were once one world of the living. Before it was given to the humans, much of the land was occupied by elf, fae, vampir, mer, lykin, and who knows what other magical monster and beast roamed the early lands that we could only dream of now—like dryads or dragons.” Ruvan rounds to the opposite side of the table. He points at a tall building. I recognize it as the one Quinn had been staring at from my smithy window. “The academy is here. The museum is here. And of course you know the castle up on the mountain. My favorite place, though, in all the city is the tower of stars, over here on this ridge line. The Succumbed had overtaken it before my birth. But I saw pictures of it in books and I heard the stories of glass disks there that brought the stars right before your eyes, so close that no bit of the future could escape you.”
As Ruvan speaks, he points. I follow along, drifting through the museum at his side, absorbing as much of the vampir’s history as I can possibly fit between my ears. I learn more of the important things—I learn about how the vampir and lykin eventually split territories as a result of the lykin disagreeing with how the vampir approached the blood lore. The former believed that blood should only be drawn from animals, if ever, but the vampir needed blood deepened by experience to truly gain power from it. I learn of how half the city was built after the lore began, the speed and strength it afforded the vampir enabling them to build twice as sturdy, twice as fast.
I learn of important notes on history. His. Mine. Ours. That my home was once in the territory of the vampir. That the fortress the hunters have made their home was actually the far southwest gate of the castle and that is why the wall extends all the way to the sea, back through the Fade and toward the castle it was once a part of.
I have questions, of course. In the hamlet they say that the fortress and walls were made by the first hunter. But I don’t contradict Ruvan. I don’t want to do anything that would make him stop talking. His voice is delightful.
Moreover, the last time I was this curious about something was when my mother was first showing me how to make silver steel. But that was knowledge I had some inkling of. Everything Ruvan is telling me is new. I want to know it all. I’ve embraced him with open arms and now I want to try to also embrace the truth of our worlds as well—whatever that might be.
“What’s that way?” I ask, pointing to the right as we reach the T at the end of the hall we’ve been strolling through.
“That way…” He hums. “I think it’s armors from antiquity.”
I inhale sharply. Old. Vampir. Armor. I have to see it.
“Would you like to see it?” Ruvan reads my mind and holds out a hand with a warm smile. My heart does a skip.
“I thought you’d never ask!” I take his hand and yank him down the hallway.
He erupts with a laughter brighter than any I’ve ever heard from him. It matches the shimmering gold of his eyes and flawless platinum of his hair. “Do you even know where you’re going?”
“No, but I intend to find everything I can along the way!”
“I’ve unleashed a monster.” He keeps laughing the entire way as I tug him along, taking him from room to room.
“You’re wrong,” I say.
“What?”
I give him a small grin over my shoulder, taking in his ethereal face. The warmth of his hand around mine. How wrong I’ve been… “We’ve never been monsters.”
* * *
The sun is hanginglow in the sky and my stomach is roaring by the time we’ve finished scouring every bit of the museum. Ruvan and I have ended up in a rooftop sculpture garden turned winter wonderland. The silent statues peer with blank eyes through ice so old it’s turned blue.
Ruvan has gone ahead and now leans against the railing, giving me time and space until I’m finally ready to join him.
“You seem to have enjoyed yourself.” He smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
