But though he was truly trying to help her, and his magic and hands were kind as he soothed her, Ariana suddenly knew Devi’s read on Lucca Bellari was correct. He would help her, and he would do it to the best of his ability, but it was going to cost her. Eventually he would ask for Ariana’s help in some agenda of his, or get involved deposing his father the King. Like it or not, it was either serve Quinn as her Master and take her chances with the Vampires, or take a risk with Prince Lucca Bellari and have a shot at winning her freedom at the Summer Fae Court. But after everything tonight in the grotto, Ariana had no doubt what remaining close to Quinn was going to cost her.
And suffering his cold shoulder as he tried to control himself around her, or deny these feelings between them, was going to be abominable.
But as the Summer Fae Prince stood before her now, holding her hand, she felt a sensation like golden heat pour through her. As he watched her and gave her space to process, his winds of power gently curling around her, it was like walking into the sunlight on a hot, bright day; deep inside, everything in Ariana cried out to feel his sun-bright nature shining upon her. But if she failed to win her freedom tomorrow at the Summer Fae Court, she wouldn’t be around Prince Lucca. She’d be shoved away like a dirty little secret.
Hidden so Lucca could still use her for his political aims, eventually.
As Ariana heaved a deep breath, her energy darkened back towards the void. All of a sudden, her magic was flooding out of her with a far darker tinge; all around, she saw a hollow black nimbus now, devoid of quicksilver, gold, or even oilslick-dark rainbows. Prince Lucca saw it; as he did, a shocked sadness took his face. Reaching out, he slid an arm around Ariana’s waist.
And his golden warmth poured into her – her energy brightening back towards the sun.
“I’ve never seen anyone’s aura go that dark before… either Vampire or Fae.” He spoke quietly as his gaze returned to her. Penetrating now, his blue eyes were dark as he watched her. “Your Dark Fae energyneedsLight in it, Ariana; and I would save you from a life devoured by the Night, if I can. Regardless of any other agreement between us.”
“Why?” Ariana asked, feeling like the Prince had some kind of personal investment in the outcome of her fortunes, though she didn’t know why.
“Because I had a dear friend once, who was Sired into the Life of the Night.” He spoke with a quiet gravitas now, his blue eyes very dark as he gazed down upon her. “He and I were inseparable as children and reckless together as boys. But when the War of Rome happened, his heart was broken. He sought out the Vampires… and never looked back.”
“Quinn!” Ariana blinked as her eyes widened, astounded but suddenly understanding why Lucca was fighting so hard to give her a life amongst the Fae rather than the Vampires. As it all crashed home for her suddenly, Ariana reeled, blinking as her aura surged in a tremendous, heady whirl. “That’s how you and Quinn are connected! You were friends once… back when he was Summer Fae.”
“Yes.” Lucca smiled sadly as his hand at her waist pulled her slightly closer. “I was in my early twenties when the War happened, quite young for a Fae though I was already on military duty in the Brightwatch. Quinn was my same age and in the Brightwatch also, though as… a military noblefae’s son, he was already a capable commander, trained from birth. As the War drained us and his father became ever harder upon him, he soured to the life of the Light. He… let his guard down, and was taken by the Life of the Night. Everything changed, then.”
“My god!” Ariana breathed, feeling the depth of emotion the Prince shared, though she was astounded by his sudden admission. “How… how did the two of you become at-odds from such a close friendship?”
“It’s a long tale.” Lucca smiled sadly. “Let us simply say that the Vampires forever corrupted my friend’s bright heart. And I shall never forgive them.”
“Lucca. I’m so sorry…” Ariana was at a loss for what to say, and reaching up, she found herself touching his elegant jaw, and the ash-blond stubble there. It was soft like silk, and before she knew it, she was stroking his jaw with her fingertips. His breath caught, and as he looked down upon her, his eyes blazed a fiery blue with bright white-gold in their depths – the same color Ariana had seen when he’d fought the Vampire Revenant at the Pitti Palace. But even as his power rose in a hot, delicious swirl around them both, Prince Lucca pulled it back. Taking her fingers down from his face, he smiled wryly, then nodded to the window.
“Shall we go? Would you like to take this chance and plead your case to the Summer Fae Court tomorrow?”
“Do I have any other option?” Ariana mused, wry but also deadly serious as she debated it.
“Not as I see it, no.” Lucca shook his head, his gaze intense. “You could stay here and pledge yourself to the Vampires. But like with Quinn, that is a life I could never save you from. And a life where you would never live in the Light, Ariana.”
Taking a deep breath, Ariana glanced to the door of her suite. As if she’d heard a call in the night, she suddenly felt a strange pull; to go to Quinn, to find him wherever he was and apologize for everything that had happened at the grotto, and for what she was about to do now. Some deep part of her wanted him to stop her; to rush in and take her in his arms and tell her everything was going to be all right. She didn’t know why his opinion mattered so much, or his leave, but it did suddenly.
And she knew she was never going to get it.
Quinn wanted her; he’d made that clear over their brief time together. But if he wasn’t going to give her a chance to understand these feelings developing so hard and fast between them, Ariana didn’t know where she fit in his Dark Haven. Fae died from broken hearts; and she was only going to get hers broken living in proximity to Quinn but never being allowed to actually get close to him. Ariana would end up dead if she stayed. And even though she didn’t want to abandon Quinn, some part of her wanted the Light, and life inside her veins. Vampires offered decadence and power, but their life was deadly. Even if it didn’t kill her, Ariana knew she would be miserable.
If Quinn never gave their budding feelings a chance.
Taking a chance on the Light, Ariana drew a deep breath and nodded at the balcony doors. “Let’s go. I’d rather live in the Light in hiding, than drown in the Night and die from it.”
And the Summer Fae Prince nodded back, as he quietly took her hand.
CHAPTER 20 – RISK
Ariana hadn’t been entirely certain how the Summer Fae Prince was going to get her out of the Red Letter Hotel Florence without alerting any of his father’s Brightwatch or Quinn’s Vampires, but she should have known better. Of course, Prince Lucca would have magic stronger than his Fae guards and most Vampires; as he wrapped Ariana in a length of dark grey silk he’d been using for a face-wrap, he flooded his power out to the night so it made a shimmering cocoon of magic around them that bent the moonlight, making them unseen. Hefting her up in his arms so that Ariana made a smalleepof surprise, he sprung up to the railing of her wrought-iron balcony like she weighed nothing. And as Ariana took a quick inhalation, the Fae Prince paused on the railing.
And then flooded his power to the night – surging up from the balcony and into the darkness.
Ariana loved flying, but being launched out into thin air held only in someone’s arms was a vastly different thing than being on an airplane. She knew some Fae could fly with their power, but Ariana had never done so; as she clung to Lucca with her arms around his neck, terror swamping her to see the Hotel recede so fast below, he gripped her closer – smiling amusedly at her cheek. With immense power surging through his entire body and all around them in the night, Lucca had manifested massive wings of light from his spine. They didn’t beat exactly, but flowed like music – as if they simply vibrated and swirled the currents of air to help him surge through the darkness. The air was cold so far from the summer-heated earth with nothing but the diamond-bright sky all around; as Ariana clung to Lucca, she realized he was deeply warm, like soaking in a good bath. The thought of being in a bath with him suddenly flared her magic in a hot zephyr around her.
And she heard him chuckle as they flew.
The night was gorgeous, and as Ariana realized that Lucca could basically fly like this for hours, she at last began to relax. Heaving and swirling all around her, the bright rainbows of his power caught the light of the moon, scattering it as the winds of his magic bore them up, whipped into powerful vortices by his enormous wings of light. His wings were there and yet they weren’t, Ariana realized as they flew over red-tiled roofs and past the city, out over a gargantuan forest that didn’t exist in the human world. Whipping up vortices all around them, it was like Lucca’s wings were made of his rainbow-aura but coalesced into form, whirling with luminous power as they flowed in the night. They were beautifully mesmerizing; reaching out, Ariana relinquished her terror-grip on his neck to brush her fingertips over that gossamer delight.
And she felt him inhale sharply, as a deep heat flooded all the way through him.
