“Do you know my real last name? Or why my parents brought me to the human world?” Ariana asked archly now as she watched him, trying to be firm in a situation where she and Devi could be in danger, though she sensed the Summer Fae Prince was honorable. But Ariana could feel a sharpness in Prince Lucca Bellari, like a tremendous warrior who understood manipulation and politics, maneuvering her into talking with him. Though he was the bright light of day to Quinn’s midnight allure, Ariana sensed instinctively that the Summer Fae Prince was every bit as cunning as the Vampire who had taken her in.
And perhaps every bit as dangerous.
“I do not know what Summer Fae House you hail from, unfortunately.” Prince Lucca spoke quietly now as he shook his head. “Nor have I met your Fae parents, and I do not know the circumstances under which they left the Twilight Realm or you were turned Dark. But I believe Quinn’s report to me, that you were raised in the human world without magic, and have no clue about the politics of Fae and Vampires, or the Dark Fae. I believe you are an innocent in these concerns that plague both Vampire and Fae kind, Ariana. And my father’s ruling against your life is unjust.”
“Are you going to do something about it?” Ariana asked archly as Devi finally eased her fighting posture and her seething crimson magic, now that neither Prince Lucca nor his man had moved to harm them. Stepping back to Ariana’s side, Devi kept her fierce gaze fixed upon the Prince, as her eyes, features, and hands returned to normal.
“I would like to.” Prince Lucca Bellari responded as he eased a step closer. As he did, Ariana tried to calm a sudden attraction to him as her pulse spiked and her breath caught. Deep inside, her new magics blazed bright as he weighed her; and Ariana could feel a strange pull between her and him, similar to what was happening between her and Quinn. But the pull Ariana felt between her and the Summer Fae Prince was almost disastrously bright compared to the fiery darkness she felt with Quinn. Like setting foot upon the sun, it was a brightness that could annihilate a person if they were not careful.
And Prince Lucca Bellari seemed to understand that too, as he carefully kept his distance.
“My father the Summer Fae King has judged you harshly based on historical events in which you have had no part.” He continued quietly as they regarded each other. “I wish to fight his ruling against you. And give you a place… at the Summer Fae Court.”
“Give me a place in your society even though I’m Dark Fae?” Ariana blinked at him as she startled. “Why?”
“Because you were born one of us,” he spoke quietly, holding her gaze as a deep righteousness flared in his bright blue eyes, “and I believe you belong among us, even carrying the power of the Night as you do now. Long ago, Dark Fae and Light Fae lived in peace, Ariana. Your kind were our moonlight kin. Because of recent history, we have edicts against them. But long ago, your kind were known for their beauty, their mystery, and their thoughtful contrast to the hot-headed righteousness of my people. And lived in peace with my kind, before the War of Rome. Before the Vampires convinced them to betray us.”
“Dark Fae lived in peace with the Summer Fae before the War?” Ariana blinked, amazed to hear a very different story than she had gotten from Quinn. She suddenly wondered if he had been holding back, to make his option of taking his Master’s Kiss more appealing. All at once, she knew she wouldn’t put it past him to manipulate her that way. Beside her, Devi had gone very still, as if she could sense what Ariana was now thinking about Florence’s Master Vampire.
“They did.” Prince Lucca spoke soberly, though his gaze was sharp. “Vampires have always either courted or hunted Dark Fae, to harness or kill their power. But Fae have not, necessarily. I would return my people to the peace that Dark and Light Fae once enjoyed, Ariana. Both for your benefit and for any other Dark Fae who may still be out there. And my people as well.”
Taking a deep breath, Ariana watched the Summer Fae Prince. Though his story of Fae, Vampires, and Dark Fae was similar to Quinn’s, there were differences – that both men were up-playing to persuade her to their side. Ariana believed Prince Lucca, that he wanted to give her a pardon and integrate her into Fae society, perhaps eventually returning the Summer Fae to a golden age where their darker kin were balanced in their lives. But there was a glaring problem with the Prince’s side of things.
“You want to pardon me, but you haven’t been able to convince your father the King.” Ariana spoke bluntly as she stared Prince Lucca down. “So I’m still a wanted criminal among the Fae. And thus, I’m safer with Quinn than with you.”
“For now.” He nodded, though his eyes lit with a fierce approval as if her challenge made him glad. She watched her statement make him fiercely competitive, as a whirl of his sunlit magic glimmered in the shadows.
Throwing darker rainbows to the cemetery’s tombs.
“But how safe do you think you will be when the Vampire Council finds out about you, Ariana?” Prince Lucca spoke quietly now, his beautiful voice lance-sharp. “How safe do you think you will be when they attack and devastate the Dark Haven of Florence to wrest you from Quindici DaPonti’s hands? He is powerful, yes, but they are vastly more so. Why do you think he has not yet challenged them for a spot upon the Council? Because he can’t. Because he’s not strong enough. Only cunning. And there is a price to be paid for cunning wielded against the Vampire Council, when a lesser Vampire does not have the strength to back it up.”
As Prince Lucca Bellari’s summer blue eyes flicked to Devi, his insinuation was plain. Like crimson lightning, she bristled, but he held a hand up. “Peace, Scarlet warrior. I do not wish to start a fight, I simply ask Ariana to weigh her options. For Quinn tells his side of things, and he is a careful composer of the truth. I merely wish to present an opposing truth. One that Ariana ought to consider.”
“But you can’t protect me.” Ariana spoke again, bluntly. “And Quinn can.”
“There are ways of presenting your case to my people.” Prince Lucca answered as he watched her. “I am working on those avenues right now, building support to see if I can get your case heard. Though the King’s laws rule, our Magistro’s courts are not blind. If you are interested in knowing your kin, and living among us rather than the Vampires… I would help you do that. Would you?”
Something inside Ariana leapt at the thought of having a life among the Summer Fae. Prince Lucca Bellari’s brightness called to her, and the freedom of the sunshine and being outside suddenly moved through her bones in a way Ariana had never truly felt before. It was her Fae side, she knew, that held this desire to be free among the woodlands and streams in the brightness of life. A yearning opened up inside her as she stared at Prince Lucca Bellari.
Knowing that living free was something she wanted – deeply.
“I do want it.” Ariana breathed, feeling her heart keen. But watching the Fae Prince before her, she knew he was too intelligent to be doing this without a price. “But what’s in it for you?”
His full lips quirked, approval shining in his blue eyes again that she had found him out. “Power.” He spoke succinctly, truthful. “I want your rising power on my side, Ariana Summers. Because like Quindici DaPonti, I have my own ambitions among my kind. And having a Dark Fae behind me would give me a vast advantage against those who would harm my people.”
“Quinn has a grudge against his Vampire Council, that he says block Vampire-kind from modernity.” Ariana spoke abruptly, as she watched the Summer Fae Prince. “So who wronged you?”
“My father.” Prince Lucca Bellari spoke with a furious edge now. “He has wronged my people with every breath he’s taken in his vastly long life. And I want you to help me bring him down.”
Ariana’s lips fell open as she stared in shock at her Summer Fae Prince. Wrath shone from his furious blue eyes as he held her gaze like a warrior of light. As she gaped at Lucca Bellari, she realized he had just blatantly told her that he wanted to overthrow his father the King. Her head spun, flashing down what that could mean for her, and how she would be free to live among the Summer Fae if Prince Lucca managed a coup. Hope surged in her as she stood in the ancient cemetery and felt the sun on her skin and the wind curling around her.
Hope that she might secure her freedom if she aided the Summer Fae Prince.
But it was a long road, deposing a King – and that road was also treason, Ariana knew as she met Prince Lucca’s gaze. Waiting patiently, he watched her process, his guardsman idling nearby with a hooded look as he pretended to examine his fingernails. They were both watching her, seeing if she had the guts to side with a renegade Prince against a powerful Fae King. Ariana suddenly wondered if the Summer King was as heinous as his son implied.
Or if she was suddenly caught up in politics that ran far deeper than she could ever imagine.
“You want to kill your father.” She spoke softly, wondering why Prince Lucca hated his father so much – and why he would admit it.
