House of Ravens (3 page)

Once more, I’m asking myself just how long
Rath has worked for my father. But I know I’ll get no answers from
him.

“
Rath,” I breathe. “How
long before he died did my father write that letter to me? He put
that key in the envelope. It was a clue. He wanted me to someday
find this place.”

So many pieces to this huge and complicated
puzzle are falling into place. The answers to so many questions
I’ve had are being revealed. But there’s still so many missing
pieces that I just can’t make out the picture yet.

“
Eight days,” Rath says. As
he says the words, I see him mentally accepting something. “Your
father gave the envelope to me eight days before he was killed. He
instructed me to give it to you should anything happen to him and
you came to the Conrath Estate.”

“
That’s it, then,” Ian
says, holding his hands up and shrugging his shoulders slightly.
“Henry’s still alive. He somehow planned his death; faked the whole
thing. He’s still out there somehow.”

“
But why?” My voice cracks
slightly. And suddenly, I feel so betrayed. “Why would he do that
to Rath? To me? He had to know everything would be turned on its
head the moment I arrived in town. The way Jasmine would come after
me. How Silent Bend would hate me. That the King would come to
investigate. Why would he do this?”

The tears that have been threatening to
spill finally let loose, and two of them roll down my cheek as my
body shakes in anger and loss. Ian crosses to me and pulls me into
his chest, tucking my head under his chin.

“
I know there’s a reason,
Liv,” Ian whispers as he runs a hand down the back of my hair.
“Your father was a smart man. He’s survived centuries, and he’s
seen a lot. There has to be a reason to all this. A very good
one.”

“
I don’t understand,” I
breathe. “I just… I need to know why.”

I TAKE A DEEP BREATH when I hear voices
floating down through the hole. I’m pretty sure it’s Danny and
Markov. If they’re there, I suspect in the foyer, I’m sure the
others are not far away.

“
Time to be a queen again,”
Ian says into my hair. And where once there was only resentment and
anger when it came to me ruling the House, there’s now support and
understanding.

I nod my head and step away. Instantly, my
eyes are drawn to Rath. He watches me, studying. Taking a step
around Ian, I take four toward the man who has been as much a
father to me as I have ever had.

“
I first need to apologize
to you, Rath.” My heart is absolutely racing. My palms sweat and
everything in me holds firm, when all it wants to do is quiver into
a puddle of scum on the floor. “You recognized what I was becoming
before I saw it. You tried to warn me, multiple times. And I didn’t
listen.”

He holds my eyes, and I stare back into his.
Begging for him to see that I really have changed. “Circumstances
made me forget who I was. Where I came from. It felt like every
little manipulation I’d suffered just brought me one step closer to
the edge of losing myself. So, I started fighting back. But while I
fought back, I didn’t realize I’d already slipped over the
edge.”

I take one step closer to him, breathing in
Rath’s scent. Like lemon grass and firewood smoke. Secrets and
loyalty.

“
You did your best. You did
as Henry asked.” My throat thickens. “You did guide me. And now, I
stand before you, so very, very sorry. For everything. I can do
nothing but beg your forgiveness and tell you that I have changed.
Things will be different.”

It’s difficult, bearing the weight of his
gaze. I’ve meant every word I just said, and it’s hard to humble
yourself before one of the people who matters most to you in this
life.

But I need Rath back. And this is his home,
every bit as much as it is mine.

“
Your actions surprised
me,” Rath says. “I saw a girl, who came into this house an empty
vessel; one who needed to be educated and allowed to rise once she
was given the correct information. But you turned in the opposite
direction.”

I bite my lower lip when emotion threatens
to take me over once more. But I won’t cry. I can’t.

“
I watched you become
something I did not recognize. And it cracked my soul, Alivia.” His
eyes remain steady, calm, and an inch away from cold. “I do not
know if I can yet forgive what you did. But…”

He hesitates in finishing his statement, as
if evaluating the words one last time. If he’s making the right
call. Finally, he looks back up at me, sure of whatever he’s about
to say. “But if Henry is still alive, I will stay and help you find
him.”

I can’t hold myself back any longer. I rush
forward, wrapping my arms around his waist, squeezing him hard.
“Thank you, Rath. I promise that I will show you that I’m
different. I will regain your trust, even if I have to spend the
rest of my immortal life doing it.”

Rath lowers his startled arms, carefully
enfolding me. He doesn’t hug me back. But he doesn’t push me away,
either.

“
Thank you,” I whisper once
more. I back away, looking up into his eyes, offering a small
smile.

“
Liv, I think it’s time,”
Ian offers quietly from behind us.

I take a quick breath in through my nose,
standing a little straighter as I take a step back from Rath. I nod
once and the two of them follow me back to the platform. I crouch
down and twist the key. With a little lurch, the platform begins to
rise once more.

My eyes quickly dart around the space. I
feel a little hollow now. For a moment as I first descended, I
thought I might suddenly find Henry, alive and well in the lab. But
he isn’t there, and I still can’t be certain he’s alive.

Whispers float into the room as we level
even with the rest of the ballroom floor. I retrieve my key,
looping the necklace around my neck once more. There’s no one to be
seen, but I can hear them. Just around the corner, on the steps
leading upstairs.

“
It’s okay, you can come
out now,” I call loudly enough for them to hear me, which isn’t
loud at all.

First to round the stairs is Cameron,
followed by Samuel. Then it’s Nial, Christian, Anna, Trinity,
Markov, Danny, and Obasi.

So few of the full members
of the House of Conrath. I wonder if any of them took off after the
King hauled me off to
Roter Himmel
and the Court members left.

One by one, they flow into the ballroom and
stop before me, waiting for my words.

I don’t say anything for a moment. I have to
revaluate what kind of leader I want to be right now. I’ve done
everything out of manipulation and political games up until this
moment. I’ve twisted and lied and played with so many ploys.

But all of that has to change. I need to
continue finding myself.

“
Things are going to be
different,” I begin. I look around at them all, and when I do, I
remind myself that they are people. They were once humans, with
mundane problems and sicknesses and ailments, just like I used to
be. They’re individuals. They are not pawns. “I’m ashamed of who I
was becoming. I saw the fear when many of you looked at me. The
same way you looked at Cyrus…” I shake my head, squeezing my eyes
closed.

“
It can’t be like that. I
don’t want things to be like that,” I whisper. Everything in me
fractures, splintering off the dark queen I was becoming. Shaking
off the fear and the toying, I stand before them as Alivia. Ryan.
Conrath.

“
I will do better,” I
promise them. “I will be better. For each of you. For our House.
For Silent Bend. I apologize for the way things have happened. I
wish I was strong enough for it to have been different. But I can’t
change the past. I can’t take any of it back. So all I can do is
learn from it and move on, and hope that all of you will forgive
me.”

“
Do you really think any of
it could have played out differently?” Lillian steps out from
behind Markov. In her eyes, I see so much shame. “Every major event
that has happened since you came to town…do you really think you
had any other choices to make besides the ones you did? Your
hand…your hand was forced along every turn, and I don’t see any
other way for things to have ended up, Alivia.”

“
Of course things could
have turned out differently,” I admit quietly. “I could have always
made a better call, looked for a better way around an obstacle
without hurting the people I did. And I beg your
forgiveness.”

Lillian’s eyes well, red and full of tears.
She steps forward, dropping to her knees on the marble floor. “No,”
she says. “I beg of yours. I should have never doubted you. I
betrayed your trust.”

I shake my head, but this time Samuel steps
forward. “She’s right, Liv. You hadn’t done anything to make us
doubt you, but, well, some of us did. You didn’t deserve that. I’m
really, truly sorry.” He bows his head.

“
I…” Cameron says, but his
voice cuts out. “I hate to admit it, but I kind of questioned you
there, for a little bit. I want to punch myself in the face for it,
but I did. Sorry, Livy.”

I shake my head, my throat thick with
emotion. It takes me several long moments before I’m able to speak.
“We’ve all made mistakes,” I say as I walk forward. I pull Lillian
to her feet. “Can we all just let the past go and move on?”

Lillian’s tears break free onto her cheeks
and she nods her head. I fold her into my arms, hugging her tight,
and feel all of her pain and regret. I hope she can feel mine in
return.

I turn to the side and pull Cameron into our
hug, and Lillian reaches over and drags Samuel in, as well.

“
Well, if this didn’t turn
into a barf cheese fest,” Danny chuffs. Which brings laughs from
most everyone else.

I chuckle as I back away from the group hug,
looking out at all of them. “Okay, now that we got that out of the
way...” They all, again, laugh with me. “Um, I guess there’s some
things we need to talk about.”

“
So, Henry’s still alive?”
Christian is the first to ask what I’m sure are a dozen questions
burning through the group.

“
Maybe,” I say with a tiny
shrug. “I can’t find perfect, solid evidence either way, but…my gut
tells me yes, that he’s still alive.”

Several curse words slip from multiple
mouths. There’s a lot to be said about this. But no surety. “I
don’t know. I’ve only just discovered what lies beneath the
ballroom floor. Until we know what’s going on, I beg of you, don’t
say a word about it. I don’t want to keep any more secrets, but
please, for now, don’t tell those at the Institute what you’ve
seen.”

I search their eyes, and one by one, they
each nod their heads in agreement.

“
I need to investigate
further, with Rath and Nial’s help, but things need to be taken
care of first,” I say. “So please, try not to get too crazy with
the speculation. Keep calm about it. For now, this doesn’t change
anything.”

“
Cause we have a more
important problem at hand,” Anna pipes up. “Impending
war.”

I nod my head, even as the cold rock forms
in my stomach. “Anna, I’m sure you’ll brief me on everything that’s
been going on when we get time this evening. We’ll plan. We will
find a way to end this chaos.”

“
What about him?” Markov
asks, nodding his head in Ian’s direction. “Is he still hell-bent
on killing all of us?”

Every set of eyes in the room shifts to Ian.
And to my utter relief, he doesn’t recoil from their scrutiny. He
stuffs his hands into his pockets and steps forward, so that he’s
standing side by side with me.

“
I know my relationship
with most of you has been…” he hesitates, “complicated, in the
past. I didn’t know, and I didn’t really want to know. Being like
you all was the last thing I expected to ever happen, but it did,
and well, I’m in this for a long, immortal life now, so I guess I
better get over it, huh?”

Ian gives an uncomfortable little chuckle,
feeling the weight of so many eyes. But he looks over at me, and
that gaze there, the history and struggle and understanding, it
warms everything inside of me.

“
I love Alivia,” Ian says
as he reaches for my hand and looks back at the House members. “I
tried to fight it. Tried to turn my back on it. But I do. And
that’s never going to change. So, I’m going to be here, as long as
she’ll have me. I’m going to try, every damn day, to make all of
this easier. If you’ll forgive my past, I’ll look past
yours.”