Feeling their hearts entwine in the bright, sunny day.
CHAPTER 16 – TIME
From the trattoria, Ariana and Lucca went to a wineshop, then on to a Fae chocolatier, tasting delicacies and chatting with proprietors. Florence was beautiful as they wandered through the midday, the scents of a thousand flowers heavy in the hot summer air, every shaded arbor cool with granite benches and ornate stone fountains. Thepiazzewere busy with eateries, shops, and music just like in the human world, though musicians wielded strange instruments and jugglers did feats of magic. Ariana lost track of time until she found them back at a stone bridge spanning the Arno River.
Leaning out over the railing as they watched the sun set beyond the colorful rooftops of the city.
“God, this place is so beautiful.” Ariana breathed as she watched wrought-iron lampposts of saffron-gold Fae magic light all down the avenue. Butterfly and dragonfly-wing buttresses of the city’s more opulent buildings caught the last of the sun’s rays, glowing as the rest of the city settled into blue shadows. Down both sides of the river, shops and eateries were casting on lights now, everything acquiring an almost Mardi Gras appeal as establishments were lit by different colors of magic.
As Ariana watched, she saw lights flicker on around ornate shop-doors that led down to beautiful underground catacombs; with a macabre elegance, haunting blue and dark purple magics joined the brighter colors of the Fae – the city’s Vampire eateries and boutiques opening for the night.
As Ariana’s breath caught, she noted Vampires dressed in modern couture emerge from basement apartments to go about their evening. As an Italian Vampire couple wandered by, both dressed in runway-chic Armani, they glanced curiously at the Summer Fae Prince and raised their eyebrows at Ariana. But they were soon past, as Ariana stared after them.
Amazed at the sudden change in the shared Vampire-Fae city as the Night overtook the Light.
“Beautiful, isn’t it? I never tire of the changeover here from Light to Night.” Lucca spoke softly now as he stared out over the water, watching the lights come on and the Vampires come out. “For thousands of years, Fae, Dark Fae, and Vampires have shared this city, along with other Lineages. What you see now is a divide between the Life of the Light and the Life of the Night. But once, it was not so.”
“They don’t mingle.” Ariana noted as she watched a Vampire couple give a Fae couple a wide, respectful berth as they passed on the sidewalk. The Fae weren’t entirely gone from the streets, bright lights to their darker Vampire shadows as the two Lineages walked side-by-side.
But Ariana saw how careful both were to not interact, as if apartheid divided the city.
“By my father’s edicts, no.” Lucca sighed as he watched, tension knitting his brow. “Summer Fae are forbidden to consort with Vampires on pain of death – both the Fae who consorted and the Vampire they consorted with. We live together in the city, especially at night, but it is a tense association these past six hundred years. Certain modes of business are allowed to be conducted between the Lineages for the city’s welfare, but that is all.”
“Vampires patronize Vampire shops, and Fae only go to Fae establishments.” Ariana observed, seeing that certain Fae trattorias were open at night, but no Vampire customers migrated there, only filling newly-opened Vampire places for the evening. “And Dark Fae… fit nowhere.” She added with a sudden wistfulness, wondering if she would ever find any of her own kind. As Lucca glanced to her, his blue eyes darkening in the twilight, he heaved a sigh. Settling his elbows upon the stone rail with his fingers interlaced, he gazed into the distance, watching the parklands of the palace.
“Do you miss your home, Ariana? In the human world?”
His question took her aback, and for a moment Ariana paused. “I never felt entirely at-home in the human world, Lucca.” She spoke at last. “I love my family, my human friends in Florence, and the city upon the other side, I just—”
“Don’t feel a connection to a place without magic?” Lucca answered, turning to face her as he leaned against the railing, watching her in the night.
“Essentially.” It was Ariana’s turn to sigh now as she put her elbows up on the rail and gazed out over the water. “My Fae family had to hide what we were, so I never felt a true connection to humans I shared my life with. And when I got the job with Robar, Fisk & Lund, I accepted every assignment they threw my way, traveling so much that I began to feel disconnected from my human-world life. Like it never really fit. LikeInever really fit in it, constantly searching for where I really belonged and who I truly was. Does that make sense?”
“You fit here.” Lucca spoke quietly as his gaze penetrated hers.
“I do.” Ariana nodded with a deep breath. She hadn’t even known how much she felt like she was settling in to life here until Lucca said something. But seeing the Twilight city of Florence now, both by day and by night, was making her feel more complete than she had ever felt.
And more at-home than she ever had been.
“I can’t explain it,” she continued, glancing around the deep shadows and luminous saffron-gold lampposts, “but it’s like the world of the Summer Fae and even the Vampires is in my lifeblood. Like I remember it all… before I was whisked away. I want to remember it. I want to know this place. Because I do belong here. And maybe it was that which caused me to make a rift between the human world and the Twilight one that day during the auction. I think in a way, my power was already searching for the truth. The truth of myself – both who I really was and where I needed to be.”
“And who you need to be with.” Lucca spoke softly, as Ariana glanced up to see his dark blue gaze on fire with passion. Reaching out, he clasped her hand upon the stone rail of the bridge, and like slow magic, their fingers twined together. At his touch, Ariana felt a breath of fresh air flow through her as she stared up into Lucca’s beautiful blue eyes.
“You’re a Royal Dark Fae, Ariana, and you belong here in this world.” Lucca spoke gently as their magics intertwined in the night. “Quinn and I knew your abilities were strong, but now we know part of why that’s so. Because you were born a Royal Summer Fae, to a house with mighty magic – some might even say the Summer Fae’s strongest magic, though Altvies tend to use it wisely. What we don’t know is the strength and temperament of the Master Vampire who turned you Dark… something that will deeply influence your power as it opens.”
“And has.” Ariana sighed heavily as Lucca reached up, stroking a lock of hair back from her cheek. “The Vampire side of my powers have been rioting lately, Lucca, and my connection to Quinn is only making it worse instead of better. It seemed like I was getting steadier these past three weeks after our Master’s Kiss, until I pushed a… personal issue with Quinn. And then we were suddenly vastly less steady, not just me but him and me both. And because my magic is making him unstable… well, you can see the problem with him trying to give me control to tame my opening powers if he’s not got much control himself. And it’s only getting worse. Which was one reason he was happy to let me go into the city today, to be surrounded by the Fae and hopefully steady my power.”
“You’re experiencing Vampiric obsession.” Lucca observed with a quiet alertness as he searched her eyes. “Are you feeling an obsession for blood or for sex, Ariana?”
“You know about it?” Ariana asked, grimacing now though it felt good to tell Lucca everything she was going through.
“I know enough.” He spoke kindly as he stroked her cheek. “I was once in love with a man who became a Vampire, remember? But fortunately, there are ways to address Vampiric obsession. Especially if the obsession is leaning towards… ardor.”
As Lucca gave a wry chuckle, a small smile lifted Ariana’s lips. As they stood together in the twilight digesting her situation, he suddenly reached out, netting her around the waist. With a dark decadence, the sexiest smile curled his lips now as he pulled her to him – then walked them backwards behind a massive gargoyle statue on the bridge.
Its wings spread wide, the gargoyle hid them from passersby as Lucca corralled Ariana into a private overlook on the bridge. His eyes shone a blue so pure in the twilight that she was lost in them as her magics unfurled to his sudden passion in the night.
A beautiful blue-white nimbus ringed the sky as diamond stars popped out above, the color only enhancing Lucca’s bright-dark gaze as he brought Ariana closer with his strong hands. Pressed to him, her breath was high now, her heart hammering as her magic eased out in a luscious sensation. Bright shimmers devoured the air as Lucca’s power unfurled also.
