Titanium (Amber trilogy Book 2) Page 18

  TWENTY-FOUR

  With Drake’s present that night, it felt as if the knot in Amber’s stomach disappeared. He loved her. He might not be able to say it, but he did. Even when he was pissed at her, he wanted to protect her. How naive she’d been, thinking that love was only there when the words were spoken.

  The auction, and Namaka’s ceremony, had taken hours, but finally they were home. She changed her clothes into something comfortable and went to the gym, eager to show Faey her new weapon, so she could train with it. The gym, however, was empty, and so were the living room and the kitchen. She found Faey at the veranda, throwing knives at a dartboard from the deck.

  She wondered how many years of training it had taken Faey to master perfect aim as she had. It was another question concerning the mystery named Faey Lancaster.

  “I saw your promesi during the auction. Imagine my surprise when I found Franco alive and kicking.”

  Faey’s next knife missed its target. She traced to the board and pulled out the knives. “He’s not my promesi.”

  “Why did you make me believe he was dead?”

  “I’m not a mind reader,” Faey said and traced back to the deck. “You believed what you wanted to believe, because in your perfect little world there was no way that my promesi would abandon me. Also, my brother didn’t want you to know that it’s possible for promesis to renounce each other. He wanted you to be assured of his loyalty and to feel safe with him.”

  “This isn’t about what Matteo wants. I thought we were friends. You could have told me about Franco.”

  “Unlike you, little flame, I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve.”

  At least Faey didn’t deny they were friends. Guess that was progress. “Which is exactly the problem, Faey. You never tell what you really feel. If you did, I might be able to help.”

  “No one can help me.” Faey kept throwing knives at the dartboard without even giving her a look.

  Amber gave up. It was like talking to a wall. She turned away and was about to walk back inside when she smelled smoke. From the corner of her eye she saw a figure appear on the wall above the rose bushes. It was an archer, completely clad in black leather. He pulled out an arrow, putting it against his cheek.

  “Faey! Look out!” Everything happened as if in slow motion, when the arrow was shot at Faey like the poisonous head of a snake. Amber just stood there, frozen. Useless.

  Luckily Faey had amazing reflexes. She made a sideways flip, and the arrow hit the wall behind her instead.

  “Faey Rose Laine Lancaster,” the archer spoke. “It is time.”

  Amber’s heart was in her throat. This wasn’t the way it had happened in her vision. She had assured Faey, practically given her a guarantee, that she would warn her against the next attack.

  “Otva’li, blyad!” Faey yelled as she pulled out more knives.

  Amber didn’t need to speak Russian to understand the hate dripping from the words.

  The archer jumped down and casually walked towards Faey. He didn’t even bother to trace the distance. Arrogant ass.

  “Step aside,” Faey said, her eyes on the archer. “This is between Vasily and me.”

  “Njet,” Amber said, using the only Russian word she knew. There was no chance in hell she was abandoning Faey. “I’m sorry I didn’t see this coming.” Maybe her gift was still off. How else could she have missed this? In her vision the Romanovs appeared during a full moon. She quickly looked around. Where was the other Russian? The one with the sword? When Faey answered her, she realized she spoke out loud.

  “Vasily always comes alone. That is, in the beginning.”

  The archer pulled out another arrow, slowly approaching them. “Let me do this quickly, Faey. A simple arrow through your heart and it will be over.” He didn’t sound like someone enjoying his ‘job’.

  Faey held out her weapons. “When have I ever chosen the easy way, Vasily?”

  “Never,” Amber whispered. She searched in her clutch and pulled out her knife. Drake’s present couldn’t have arrived at a better time.

  Vasily pulled out another arrow after which he put away his bow on his back. “Izvinitye.”

  “You’re not sorry yet, but you will be,” Faey snarled as she stormed at him.

  Amber approached Vasily from behind, but it was as if he had eyes in his back. He gave a backward kick, hitting her right in the stomach, landing her on her ass. Her stomach screamed out in pain, but there was no time for a rest. She crawled back on her feet, ready to call in the reinforcements.

  Matteo! Faey needs you. Vasily Romanov is in the back yard.

  She sent out a little prayer, hoping that this time he would react faster to her call.

  Faey had landed on the ground as well, but she jumped up the second she hit the cold tiles. Her red curls swirled around her while she circled Vasily, looking for an opening, swooshing her knives.

  Amber watched their deadly dance a few beats, while trying to catch her breath. It was obvious that each was attuned to the other’s movements, as if they had met each other in battle many times before. Her grip on her knife tightened and she ran towards them, this time approaching Vasily from the side.

  Faey yelled when Vasily’s arrow grazed her cheek. She recovered much faster than Amber, though, and retaliated by throwing a knife at him. Vasily ducked and the knife narrowly missed him.

  Amber used her knife the way she was taught, holding on to it, dancing on her feet, while trying to stab Vasily. This time when he wanted to jam the arrow in her side, she jumped away. She saw a flash in the corner of her eye. Matteo stood next to a large flowerpot on the deck. Finally, the cavalry had arrived.

  Why are you standing there?

  He didn’t answer her telepathic call, but she didn’t have time to go over that. Vasily had grabbed Faey by her throat and lifted her. She swayed like a fish caught on the hook. With his free hand, Vasily took out another arrow from his quiver.

  She didn’t think; Amber threw her knife at him, all the while praying she wouldn’t accidentally hit Faey. The knife landed in his shoulder, and with a grunt he let go of Faey. She fell at his feet in a pile of limbs, but still breathing, which was all that mattered right now. Amber wanted to dance for joy that Faey’s knife-throwing lessons had paid off. Sadly, there was no time for that.

  Vasily Romanov had the regenerating speed of the Terminator. He pulled out the knife and pressed his foot onto Faey’s leg to keep her down.

  Amber didn’t waste another second. She jumped forward, on his back, with her arms around his neck and her legs clutched around his body. She probably resembled a monkey hanging from his mother’s butt, but she didn’t really have another option. It was the only thing she could think of to keep him off Faey, to buy her time so she could crawl away from him.

  Vasily stepped backward, trying to pull her from his back.

  Faey got back on her feet, holding Amber’s knife. She didn’t hesitate when she stabbed Vasily in the heart. “Do svidaniya, mudak. Or as we say in this part of the world: see you later, asshole.”

  Amber pulled away from Vasily and slid off his back. For a moment there he stood frozen, not even blinking his eyes, just standing still. A wave of heat wafted into the cool night, as an ominous breeze, making it feel as if they were standing in a sauna.

  Faey grabbed her arm and traced them over to the porch where Matteo was still standing. Vasily’s body was merely a statue now, right before it exploded.

  Amber covered her eyes to protect them against the glaring light. The fire that came with the explosion disappeared as fast as it had started. The sky was filled with a layer of ash slowly descending in the garden on the spot where Vasily had been standing just a few seconds before. She was still trying to process what she’d witnessed when Matteo spoke.

  “That was particularly unpleasant to watch,” he said coolly.

  She spun around at him. “How could you just stand there? Faey almost got killed and all you can say is it was unpleasant to watc
h? Are you for real?”

  “Particularly unpleasant,” he had the audacity to correct her. “One day you will understand.”

  “Don’t treat me like a child. I’m almost twenty.”

  “Almost twenty. What a milestone indeed.”

  She poked his chest when she saw his smirk. “So, I haven’t been around as long as you have or have traveled the world, but at least I care about living things instead of a stupid vase!” Apparently she was still upset about that.

  Matteo’s eyes fired up and he looked at Faey, who stood near him silently. “You are wrong, promesi. I care about living things as well. The problem with Faey is that she does not live long.” With those cryptic words, he traced away.

  Amber waited for Faey to explode after Matteo’s crude remark. When Faey didn’t utter a word, her jaw dropped. “What is wrong with you people?” she called out in disgust.

  “My brother is right.” Faey sounded flat as she dropped into a patio chair. “I’ve been dying for twenty years, little flame. There’s nothing Matteo can do to prevent that.”

  She didn’t like Faey’s fatalistic words one bit. She leaned on the corner of the garden table. “Are you telling me the Romanovs have been after you for twenty years, systematically killing you, and Matteo did nothing to stop that? Matteo, with all his connections, his wealth, couldn’t come up with a way to save his sister from a bunch of assassins?” She didn’t buy it. She’d seen their sparring sessions. Matteo was deadly with a rapier. The Three Musketeers had nothing on him.

  A deep sigh was her answer. Faey lifted her feet on the table. “Don’t get me wrong. Matteo could handle Vasily, and probably even beat Dimitri, but then the other Romanov brother would show up.”

  How many of those guys were there? “So? Then we beat all of them. Matteo can’t just give up. It’s your life we’re talking about.” It hurt to find out he wasn’t the man she thought he was.

  Faey pushed Amber’s knife to her over the table. She put her hands on her neck and closed her eyes. “This might be hard for you to believe, but Vasily is actually the nicest of the bunch. He just wants to get his assignment over with so he can go on to the next one. His life is all about following the rules, a certain routine. Which actually suits me just fine. It’s because of that I have learned to anticipate his actions and, so far, have beaten him twice now. However, it doesn’t change the outcome. The Romanovs are like a hydra: chop one head off and two return in its place. It’s all part of my punishment. If Matteo intervened, he would end up in the Catacombs, next to our sister Lucia. The rest of the people he guards, such as Namaka, Benedict, and even you, would share his fate.”

  The more Amber learned about phoenix life, the less she liked it. “Benedict told me you were sentenced to the extinguishment penalty, though he didn’t explain what that exactly means.” She expected Faey to clam up again, but she was wrong.

  “It means that I get killed over and over again. But hey, no reason to be alarmed. I only have eighty years to go.” Faey tried to laugh it off.

  “Whatever did you do to earn such a horrible punishment? Did you commit a mass murder? Let loose a plague onto the world? And why is Franco no longer your promesi? Isn’t he supposed to be your rock in all this?” Her head hurt from the million questions she had.

  Faey opened her eyes. “It all began with a little indiscretion. When I found my so-called best friend Susuki in bed with Franco one morning, I kind of snapped. I’m known to have a short fuse.”

  “Why did you snap? I thought that monogamy amongst phoenixes was rare.”

  Faey pursed her lips. “Rare isn’t the same as nonexistent. I don’t like to share. Never did.”

  Amber plopped down into a chair as well. She had a feeling Franco’s betrayal was only the tip of the iceberg. “What did you do? Decorate her body with knives? Trace her to a live volcano and drop her inside?”

  “Of course not.” Faey snorted. “As if I would ever show Franco how much he hurt me. I have my pride, you know. I simply scorched Susuki from her dainty little toes up to her head. Obviously her body didn’t suffer, since we are impervious to fire. But she was bald for weeks. She looked like a lollipop.” She beamed. “See? I can still laugh at the memory. That alone made it worth it. Oh, and as the cherry on the cake, I ruined her social life.”

  “That’s it?” Well, that felt anti-climatic. “Hold on… how exactly did you ruin her?”

  There was a sparkle in Faey’s eyes now. “I bided my time until the next auction. Through Matteo I got my hands on the list of artifacts that would be auctioned. One of the antiques was a chastity belt. I bought it through the auction and made a show of handing it over to Susuki’s promesi, who happens to be Franco’s arch-nemesis. I politely asked him to use the belt so his promesi wouldn’t jump in bed with mine again. I was a bit dramatic back then. In hindsight, that moment was the beginning of the end of my promesi bond. The rest is history.”

  Amber sat straighter. “No, it’s not. At least not to me, since I don’t know much about phoenix history. Why were you so severely punished for this?” It didn’t make any sense.

  Another sigh, but Faey did keep talking. “Susuki is the daughter of the Oriental queen. Her promesi and Franco have bad blood between them, for reasons I’m not going to explain right now. It would take too much time. Either way, Susuki’s affair with Franco was considered to be treason. Although most phoenixes don’t believe in monogamy, sleeping with your promesi’s enemy–and getting caught–is frowned upon. So her promesi broke their bond. Susuki’s family, however, didn’t accept that. Their families waged war against each other. More and more families got involved, because that’s the way it works with alliances. Inferi died, phoenixes did horrible things during battles and ended up in the Catacombs. When the dust cleared, all eyes turned to me. My loose lips were considered to be the cause of the huge destruction. I had endangered century-old relations, caused deaths among all ranks, both phoenix and inferi. Susuki wasn’t the first one sleeping with her enemy. I, on the other hand, was the first one to publicly shame her for it.”

  Finally, she understood what drove Faey. “And you were sentenced to die for a century.”

  “Not exactly… See, normally the punishment would have been to banish me for a century. I’d have to pay Susuki a large sum of money and become a social pariah for a hundred years. No biggie. It seemed like the ultimate punishment to me. Back then I didn’t know any better.” Her eyes suddenly narrowed. “However, the families of the fallen draconis were not satisfied with that punishment. Susuki herself also wanted more than me being banished and a pot of gold. I had the bad luck that she’s from a very influential family. She’s a princess. Her mother has connections both my father and Crassus needed during the next Demillennium. So, my sentence skyrocketed overnight. I got to choose between an Eternity or staying in the Catacombs for a hundred years.”

  Amber leaned back. “You chose an Eternity.”

  Faey nodded. “It was either dying for a century, with the option that my promesi would beat the Romanovs, or get locked up in the Catacombs for a century. You don’t know what my life was like before the Eternity. The only weapon I ever had held was a nail file. I’m a Lancaster. There are hundreds of people locked up in the Catacombs, wanting a piece of my father. A hundred years there would have been Hell on Earth. Also, I believed Franco would stand by my side against the Romanovs. Sadly, I was wrong.” She looked up at Amber. “No one ever came to my aid, except you.”

  “Some help I was,” Amber groaned. She couldn’t believe this was Faey’s life. Worse was that she didn’t have a clue how to help her.

  “You were. I may not have a coin to my name, but one day I will pay you back.”

  “Trust me. You owe me nothing,” Amber said honestly. “I should have seen this moment. Except during my vision there were two Romanovs. During a full moon.”

  “Hmm. I don’t think there’s something wrong with your vision. This is the second time in two decades I got to beat Va
sily. Believe me when I say that’s quite a feat.” A genuine smile appeared on her face. “While I don’t believe I can handle all the Romanov brothers at the same time, it feels damn good to know that I didn’t knuckle under. Faey Lancaster is no longer easy prey.”

  “Speaking of easy prey…” Amber’s eyes went to the pile of ash where Vasily had exploded.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Faey cut her off. “The ashes of a phoenix are considered to be sacred. Waiting for Vasily to rise from the dead, just to kill him again–or worse, keep him a slave–is the greatest offense under phoenix law. If anyone ever finds out, you will be permanently extinguished. And you can take a bet on it that I would be on top of the list of suspects should Vasily suddenly disappear.”

  Bummer. She should’ve guessed that it wouldn’t be so easy. “Why didn’t you just trace away, by the way?”

  “You can’t outrun fate, little flame. You can jump high and low, trace all over the world, but eventually Lady Karma will catch up with you. Lady Karma being Ivan Romanov in this case, the third and oldest Romanov brother.” She pushed down the collar of her top. There was a sun underneath her collarbone.

  “Is that a tattoo?” Amber leaned forward to get a closer look.

  Faey let go of her collar. “Some phoenixes have special powers. If you get marked by Ivan Romanov’s fire, he can find you wherever you go. There’s no escaping him.”

  Shit. Apparently Lady Karma truly was a bitch.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Faey’s grim fate was like a wake-up call. It made Amber think about the important things in life. It was time to put her priorities straight. She kept plotting and planning about her day as she made a smoothie for breakfast.

  It wasn’t long before Matteo sauntered into the kitchen, in nothing but sweatpants. He didn’t even have on socks. It was the first time she’d seen him in anything other than a black suit.

  “Morning. Couldn’t sleep?” She poured the smoothie in two mugs and pushed one his way. Her rage towards him had evaporated when she was able to think straight again. “I wouldn’t be able to sleep either if someone were trying to kill my sister.” She might not have a sister, but she did have a brother who was on the shit list of a certain dragon. A list she was going to take him off of.