CHAPTER42
No one moves.
We’re all in awe. Suspended animation. As frozen in place as Ruvan.
It worked. It’s a thought we all share. I can feel it in the magic that still hangs in the air, glittering like fireflies around the glassy stone of what looks like a ruby coffin encasing Ruvan. I can see it written on their faces. Ventos is the most shocked; his mouth hangs completely open. He’s also the first to try to speak, and just ends up blubbering.
Callos runs his hands over the smooth ruby. Seeing him touch it prompts me to stand. No one stops me as I approach. My hands hover over Ruvan’s stony tomb, trembling slightly. The pads of my fingers meet the faintly glowing crystal.
No… It’s not quite crystal, in actuality. It’s not stone, or glass, metal, or like any other substance I’ve ever encountered before. My fingers sink into the magic slightly. The haze that surrounds Ruvan is almost like jelly. After a point I meet firmness. It is smooth, silky almost. The magic is warm, inviting, like the radiant heat of a forge in winter. But it won’t allow me to pass any farther. I cannot touch Ruvan.
“Did it work?” I whisper. It looks like it did, but I’m no expert in magic, and I want to be sure. I have to hear he’s all right or I might not believe it.
“It did,” Callos says. “The seal is solid. The color is right and the magic is strong.” A faint smile graces his lips. “Just look at him.”
I do. He looks exactly like he did before the curse. He looks better. “If we free him…”
“The curse will return in full force.” Callos picks up on my poorly worded question. “This stasis preserves things as they should be—not necessarily as they are. Like a mirror, it’s a window into a person’s true nature, void of illness or curse. But it’s not real; it doesn’t reflect the true state of his physical or magical being, only what’s in his soul.”
A glimpse into the soul. My chest tightens. He looks far more perfect than I’ve ever seen him. I can’t tell if he really is different or if I’m just so relieved to see his skin its usual pallor, his frosty hair, his smooth brow relaxed.
I’ve never seen him so peaceful. My fingers spread across the barrier. I want to see him this peaceful, time and again. I want to give him a world where this is his reality, inside and out. Where I can come to know him as he should be.
Even though it’s something I want to give him, I want it for myself. Yes, I want to protect my family, my brother, Hunter’s Hamlet. I want to help my friends here on this side of the Fade. But all of those are wants for others.
Ruvan is the first thing—person—I’ve ever wanted for myself.
His people will say I shouldn’t have him. They have said as much already. If I can prove his covenant wrong, if I can win them over, then I could win over the rest of the vampir if I so chose. And maybe I won’t choose. I’ve never much cared for what others thought of me. Even when they had control over my life, I didn’t care what their opinion of me was.
I’m the one holding the hammer and forging ahead.
My hands ball into fists. I keep staring at his perfect face. I don’t know what the future holds for us, or even what it can hold, but I intend to find out. No curse is going to stop me.
“We should get to work,” I announce.
“To work?” Winny tilts her head to the side. “What are we supposed to do?”
“What we were already planning on doing: ending the curse.”
“There are rules,” Quinn begins uncertainly. “There must always be a vampir lord or lady to guide the covenant and protection of the people. We’re not permitted to do anything without one.”
“Our lord is right here.” I motion to Ruvan.
Quinn folds his hands before him. “I do not think that is the intention of the rules that the council of lords and ladies set out before the long night.”
My lips press into a firm smile. “Quinn, you’re mistaking me for someone who cares about the council of lords and ladies and what they said three thousand years ago.”
“For us, that council was merely a year ago,” Ventos says.
“I understand. But that doesn’t change the actual passage of time.” I straighten, trying to command the same presence that Ruvan always did. His magic and essence are within me, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to. I was able to do it when Drew was here. “It might feel like it happened so recently for all of you. But that’s not the truth. Those people are long dead. Honor them, but do not tie yourself and the present to the past at the expense of moving forward.”
“If we don’t have lord or lady to guide us, how are we supposed to know what to do?” Lavenzia folds her arms.
“You’re all smart and capable; I’ve seen how much freedom Ruvan gave you. He was never interested in dictating your every action and he never did. You don’t need him or any lord or lady to tell you to do what’s right.”
“The next leader that’s awoken is going to be cross about this. We might not be exempt from punishment,” Quinn murmurs.
“What are they going to do? Kill us? We’re all dying anyway so is that a real threat?” I’m surprised that it’s Callos who points out that grim truth. But he was always pragmatic, always focused on the reality before him. “If we have an opportunity to end the curse, we have an obligation to try. It could take weeks to brief another lord or lady and convince them of our plans.”
