Текст книги "The King"

Автор книги: J. R. Ward

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SEVENTY-FOUR

All Wrath had to go on was the smells in the room. Antiseptic in the air. Blood—that terrified him. Fear—from his Beth and the others all around him. Calm, cold reasoning on the parts of Doc Jane, Manny, and Ehlena.

Hopefully, that last one was going to be a lifesaver.

Abruptly, a new fragrance entered the mix. Astringent.

Then there was a squeak beside him, as if someone had pulled up a chair. After which a broad hand shoved him down so he was sitting, and took his own in a grip so hard the bones nearly crushed.

John Matthew.

“Hey, man,” he said, aware that time had ground to a halt. “Hey … man.”

In the end, all Wrath could do was squeeze her brother’s palm back—and so the two of them stayed side by side together, frozen as medical terms were traded back and forth and there were metal clanging sounds and hisses and suction noises.

Doc Jane’s voice was so even. Manny’s replies were the same.

They were like the inverse of the situation: As things got scarier, they became more focused and in control.

“Okay, I’ve got him—”

“Wait, is it happening already?” Wrath demanded.

The ascending whistle next to him was the only reply he got.

And then … the sound of a young’s first wail.

“Is he alive?” Wrath asked like a dumb-ass.

Another whistle.

And then he forgot about his son entirely. “Beth? What about Beth?”

No one answered.

“Beth?” he barked. “John, what the fuck is going on?”

The scent of blood was thick in the air. So thick. Too thick.

He couldn’t breathe. He didn’t think. He wasn’t even alive.

“Beth…” he whispered into the darkness.

It was forever until Doc Jane came over to him. And by the closeness and direction of her voice, he knew she had knelt in front of him.

“Wrath, we’ve got a problem. The baby’s fine, Ehlena’s checking him out. But Beth is continuing to bleed even after I closed her uterus from the C-section. She’s hemorrhaging very badly and there’s no sign that she’s clotting. The safest thing to do is a hysterectomy. Do you know what that is?”

She was talking to him like he was stupid—good thing, too.

“No.” Even though he’d heard the word before. Hell, at this point, she would have had to define even the most common of terms.

“I need to take her uterus out. She’s going to die, Wrath, if I don’t. It means she won’t be able to have any more children—”

“I don’t give a fuck about anything but her. Whatever you need to do. Do it—now.”

“Okay, let’s move, Manny.”

“Where’s my son!” he called out abruptly. “Give me my son!”

Not even a moment later, a small bundle was placed into his arms. So light. Too light to be alive—and yet his son was warm and breathing. Vital.

He wanted to hold him because his shellan was in this child. In every molecule of his living body, she was with him—and that meant, as he kept the young up against his heart … he was holding his Beth.

“What’s happening?” he whispered, not expecting a response.

He let the tears fall as they might. Probably on his son’s face.

Who the fuck cared.

SEVENTY-FIVE

Beth came out of the fuzzy neverland like a cork surfacing on still water. Bobbing along, things came and went out of focus.

But the second her brain flipped back on, she yelled, “Wrath—!”

“Right here, we’re right here.”

Recoiling, she wrenched around in the hospital bed and felt an instant oh, hell, no from her belly.

And then nothing mattered. Sitting beside her bed, in a chair that wasn’t big enough, her husband and her son were like two peas in a pod.

The weeping that came out of her was utterly uncontrollable, welling up so fast it all but exploded from her soul. And, man, her belly hurt like a bitch.

As she reached over the side of the bed, her IV pulled, but she didn’t care. And her menfolk came to her, Wrath standing up with that newborn and easing down right beside her on the hospital bed.

“Oh, my God, that’s my baby,” she heard herself say.

Little Wrath—yup, she really had named him already—was the spitting image of his father. Even the dusting of hair formed a widow’s peak in the center of his forehead. And like he recognized her somehow, he opened his eyes as his father let her take the precious bundle.

“Hey, there, big man.”

Because even though he weighed how much? Seven pounds or something? The way that little one stared up at her, it was like he was already taller than his father.

“You are beautiful,” she said to him.

And then she saw his eyes. The pupils were normal, the irises dark blue, not light green.

She looked over at her husband. “He’s perfect.”

“I know. They told me he looks like me.”

“He does.”

“Except for the eyes. But I would have loved him anyway.”

“Me, too.”

She cooed and fussed with the red fabric that the foreman’s shellan had made by hand. Until she became aware that something wasn’t right.

Her husband was way too reserved for this special moment. “Wrath? What aren’t you telling me?”

When he rubbed his face, that terror she’d felt came back. “What. Is there anything wrong with him?”

“No.”

“Where’s the but?”

“They had to take your insides out. You were bleeding too heavily.”

She frowned and shook her head. “I’m sorry?”

Wrath patted around until he found her arm. “Your insides are gone.”

A cold rush hit her. “A hysterectomy?”

“Yeah. That’s what they called it.”

Beth exhaled. Another thing that hadn’t been part of the plan. And it was a shock to realize that part of what defined her as a woman … as a female … was no longer with her.

But then she looked down at her perfectly formed, perfectly healthy little boy. The idea that she might not have had this moment? That she wouldn’t be here with her husband and her son?

Screw the uterus.

“Okay,” she said. “That’s all right.”

“I’m sorry—”

“No.” She shook her head sharply. “No, we’re not sorry. We have our family and we’re very, very lucky. We are not sorry.”

And that was when Wrath teared up, the crystal drops falling off his hard jaw onto the tattoos of his inner forearm.

As she stared at all the names, she smiled and pictured little Wrath, big and tall, strong as his father.

“We did it,” she announced on a sudden rush of optimism. “We did it!”

Wrath started to smile, and then he found her mouth, kissing her. “Yeah. You did.”

“It takes two.” She stroked his face. “You and me. Together.”

“I just got to do the fun part,” he said with a grin.

A number of hours later, Beth got out of bed and had a sponge bath in the loo. Then she put on a Lanz nightgown and, with Wrath’s help, walked out of the room with little Wrath in her arms—

To a standing ovation.

She’d intended to return to the mansion to find the household, but they had come to her. Nearly fifty of them, from the Brothers to the doggen, were crammed into the training center’s concrete hallway, lining it all the way down and back.

Hard not to tear up.

But then, whatever. They were family.

“All hail the King!” came the chanting.

Cradling her son against her breast and covering L.W.’s ears, she started to laugh. And that was when she saw her brother. He was beaming, his smile so wide and proud, his hands locked in front of his heart like he was dying to hold the baby.

Limping over to him, she didn’t say a word. She just passed L.W. over.

The joy she got in return as John awkwardly held the red bundle was pretty much the best thing in the world. Second only to Wrath’s.

Abruptly, the crowd started chanting in the Old Language. “All hail the King—”

“Well, not really.”

As Wrath said the three words, it was like he’d unplugged the sound to the whole world.

Frowning over her shoulder, she and everybody else just stared at the last purebred vampire on the planet.

Wrath cleared his throat and popped his wraparounds up to rub the bridge of his nose. “I abolished the monarchy last night.”

Cue the crickets.

“What …?” she said.

“You told me you didn’t want to be the cause of my giving up the throne. You weren’t. In the end, it was my choice. Sooner or later, someone else is going to make a run at me—and by extension you and him. And then if I die? My son’s going to end up having to fight to keep something that shouldn’t be decided by bloodline. It should be decided by merit.”

Beth put her hands up to her face. “Oh, my God…”

“So we’re a democracy now. Saxton helped make it legal. And elections are going to take place in a little while. I’ve talked to Abalone—he’s going to coordinate it all. Hell, the guy already had a good slate of candidates. Oh, and the best thing? The glymera’s out of a job. I did away with the Council. See ya, motherfuckers.”

“I’m so happy to be retired,” Rehv cut in. “For real.”

Wrath looked in Beth’s direction. “It’s the best thing for us. For L.W. And who knows—maybe he’ll decide to run. But it will be his choice. Not a burden—and no one, from any segment of any society, will be able to tell him that the female he chooses isn’t worthy. Ever.”

At that, Wrath shoved his hand in the pocket of the black combat pants he was wearing … and took out a handful of … shavings?

No, they were fragments of parchment.

As he sprinkled them onto the floor, he said, “Oh, and I tore up that fake-ass divorce decree, too. Human ceremony’s absolutely legal. But I figure our son has two kinds of blood in him, and I wanted both traditions to count.”

Beth opened her mouth to say something. In the end, though, all she could do was step in against her husband’s hard body and hold on.

Naturally, there wasn’t a dry eye in the training center.

But that was what happened when an ordinary mortal … did something worthy of a superhero.

SEVENTY-SIX

It was a good month later when Wrath realized what V’s vision had been all about. The face in the heavens, the future in his hands …

L.W. was already on a schedule, sleeping during the day, up all night—which was just perfect. Beth had bounced back from the C-section like a rocket, feeding well, eating well, and being the best damn mother on the planet.

Talk about your total natural. She was incredible … and so happy, so damned happy.

The reality of having a son was better even than the dream had been.

And oh, yeah, L.W. was taking to the on-the-planet stuff like a total trooper. Eating, pooping, sleeping, pooping, eating. He rarely fussed or cried, and had no problem being passed around at meals so each member of the household got a chance to hold him.

Even the dog and the cat liked him. The kid slept in a crib in the First Family suite, and apparently, George and Boo both thought of it as a guard station. When the retriever wasn’t helping Wrath get around, he was right with the kid, lying in front of the damn thing, on guard twenty-four/seven. And when George was on duty with his other master? That feline was on shift as the baby slept.

So yup, it was on a blissfully normal night in June that Beth said she was going for a run after First Meal, and Wrath decided to take L.W. and his dog and the cat on a promenade around the first floor. The kid always seemed to like that, and as usual, the minute they started walking, his head began to crane around as if he were checking out the real estate.

They were in the library, going by the French doors, when L.W. let out a squawk and strained as if something had caught his eye.

“What is it, big man?”

Wrath repositioned his son—God, he loved that word, son—and then did the math.

“Is that the moon you’re looking at? Must be—yeah, I think it is.”

Unlatching the door, he opened the way out and took a deep breath. Summer was coming big time, the night warm as bathwater, and as L.W. stretched his arms up, Dads thought, yup. He was checking out the old man in the sky.

Or … the face.

With a feeling that reality was coalescing in some specific, magical way, Wrath turned his son upright and faced him outward.

Lifting him high.

Holding the future … in his hands.

As his son saw the moon for the very first time—with eyes that were as perfect as the rest of him.

“I’m going to give you everything I can,” Wrath said gruffly, glad no one else was around. “Anything you need, I shall provide. And I’m going to love you until my last dying breath.”

All at once, he realized he was not alone.

People were streaming out of the doors of the house. A great crowd.

Pivoting around, he held his son protectively, bracing himself for bad news. “What.”

* * *

They came for Beth when she was on the treadmill. All of them. The whole membership of the Brotherhood.

But it wasn’t Tohr who did the talking. It was Saxton.

And when he was finished, she went numb and nearly fell out of her Nikes.

Her trip back through the tunnel, heading for the house, had the same kind of dreamscape removal that she’d suffered from when she’d gotten into trouble giving birth. She didn’t remember anything about the rush, not all the people with her, not anything that was said.

And when she came up to the foyer, and saw the others in the household gathered once again, every single one of them had the same expression she felt on her own face.

Destiny had taken the reins again.

And all they could do was go in the new direction.

She was leading the charge as they went around the first floor of the house, expecting at each turn to see Wrath and L.W.

The open door out onto the terrace provided the clue as to where they were.

As she stepped out into the night, she saw her husband holding her son up to the fullest moon of the season, the brilliant shining orb like the sun, the landscape bathed in white light.

It was as if he were making a sacred offering—

With a quick shift, Wrath turned on a dime, shielding their son with his massive arms. “What.”

Even though Saxton had brought the information home, everyone looked at her.

Stepping forward, she wished she was in something other than workout gear. A ball gown, maybe.

“Beth, what the fuck is going on?”

She tried to get the words right, frantically stringing nouns and verbs together at random in her head. In the end, though, she kept it short and sweet.

Dropping down on one knee, she lowered her head. “Long live the King.”

On a oner, the crowd behind her did the same, a chorus of those four words rising up into the night as their bodies lowered to the flagstone.

“I’m sorry.” Wrath shook his head. “I’m not hearing that?”

She got up. But she was the only one.

“You were unanimously elected for life. King of the race. Abalone led the effort, and all those commoners you helped cast the votes. Every single one of them. You have been chosen by your people to lead. You are the King.”

As the chanting started, Wrath seemed to have no idea how to respond. And it was such joyful chanting, female and male voices lifting up to the night sky, a celebration of the present and the future.

“And who knows,” Beth said as she looked at their son. “Maybe if he grows up to be like his father, he’ll be chosen, too. But it’s up to the people—you put the right to vote in their hands, and they gave the throne to you.”

Wrath cleared his throat. Again and again.

In the end, all he could do was whisper, “I wish my father and mother were alive to see this.”

Beth wrapped her arms around her husband and son, holding them both. And as she looked over her man’s shoulder and saw the face of the moon, she had a sudden sense that the realigning was over, the new era had finally arrived.

“I think they are,” she said softly. “I think both of them are looking down right this moment … and they are very, very happy about it.”

Parents, after all, were especially proud to see courage in their children rewarded by the world.

And to know that love abounded around them.

Everywhere.

Forevermore.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

With immense gratitude to the readers of the Black Dagger Brotherhood!

Thank you so very much for all the support and guidance: Steven Axelrod, Kara Welsh, Claire Zion, and Leslie Gelbman. Thank you also to everyone at New American Library—these books are truly a team effort.

With love to Team Waud—you know who you are. This simply could not happen without you.

None of this would be possible without: my loving husband, who is my adviser and caretaker and visionary; my wonderful mother, who has given me so much love I couldn’t possibly ever repay her; my family (both those of blood and those by adoption); and my dearest friends.

Oh, and to my new WriterAssistant, Naamah.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND PROPER NOUNS

ahstrux nohtrum (n.) Private guard with license to kill who is granted his or her position by the King.

ahvenge (v.) Act of mortal retribution, carried out typically by a male loved one.

Black Dagger Brotherhood (pr. n.) Highly trained vampire warriors who protect their species against the Lessening Society. As a result of selective breeding within the race, Brothers possess immense physical and mental strength, as well as rapid healing capabilities. They are not siblings for the most part, and are inducted into the Brotherhood upon nomination by the Brothers. Aggressive, self-reliant, and secretive by nature, they exist apart from civilians, having little contact with members of the other classes except when they need to feed. They are the subjects of legend and objects of reverence within the vampire world. They may be killed only by the most serious of wounds, e.g., a gunshot or stab to the heart, etc.

blood slave (n.) Male or female vampire who has been subjugated to serve the blood needs of another. The practice of keeping blood slaves has recently been outlawed.

the Chosen (pr. n.) Female vampires who have been bred to serve the Scribe Virgin. They are considered members of the aristocracy, though they are spiritually rather than temporally focused. They have little or no interaction with males, but can be mated to Brothers at the Scribe Virgin’s direction to propagate their class. Some have the ability to prognosticate. In the past, they were used to meet the blood needs of unmated members of the Brotherhood, and that practice has been reinstated by the Brothers.

chrih (n.) Symbol of honorable death in the Old Language.

cohntehst (n.) Conflict between two males competing for the right to be a female’s mate.

Dhunhd (pr. n.) Hell.

doggen (n.) Member of the servant class within the vampire world. Doggen have old, conservative traditions about service to their superiors, following a formal code of dress and behavior. They are able to go out during the day, but they age relatively quickly. Life expectancy is approximately five hundred years.

ehros (n.) A Chosen trained in the matter of sexual arts.

exhile dhoble (pr. n.) The evil or cursed twin, the one born second.

the Fade (pr. n.) Non-temporal realm where the dead reunite with their loved ones and pass eternity.

First Family (pr. n.) The King and queen of the vampires, and any children they may have.

ghardian (n.) Custodian of an individual. There are varying degrees of ghardians, with the most powerful being that of a sehcluded female.

glymera (n.) The social core of the aristocracy, roughly equivalent to Regency England’s ton.

hellren (n.) Male vampire who has been mated to a female. Males may take more than one female as mate.

hyslop (n. or v.) Term referring to a lapse in judgment, typically resulting in the compromise of the mechanical operations of a vehicle or otherwise motorized conveyance of some kind. For example, leaving one’s keys in one’s car as it is parked outside the family home overnight. Whereupon said car is stolen.

leahdyre (n.) A person of power and influence.

leelan (n.) A term of endearment loosely translated as “dearest one.”

Lessening Society (pr. n.) Order of slayers convened by the Omega for the purpose of eradicating the vampire species.

lesser (n.) De-souled human who targets vampires for extermination as a member of the Lessening Society.

Lessers must be stabbed through the chest in order to be killed; otherwise they are ageless. They do not eat or drink and are impotent. Over time, their hair, skin, and irises lose pigmentation until they are blond, blushless, and pale eyed. They smell like baby powder. Inducted into the society by the Omega, they retain a ceramic jar thereafter into which their heart was placed after it was removed.

lewlhen (n.) Gift.

lheage (n.) A term of respect used by a sexual submissive to refer to her dominant.

Lhenihan (pr. n.) A mythic beast renowned for its sexual prowess. In modern slang, refers to a male of preternatural size and sexual stamina.

lys (n.) Torture tool used to remove the eyes.

mahmen (n.) Mother. Used both as an identifier and a term of affection.

mhis (n.) The masking of a given physical environment; the creation of a field of illusion.

nalla (n., f.) or nallum (n., m.) Beloved.

needing period (n.) Female vampire’s time of fertility, generally lasting for two days and accompanied by intense sexual cravings. Occurs approximately five years after a female’s transition and then once a decade thereafter. All males respond to some degree if they are around a female in her need. It can be a dangerous time, with conflicts and fights breaking out between competing males, particularly if the female is not mated.

newling (n.) A virgin.

the Omega (pr. n.) Malevolent, mystical figure who has targeted the vampires for extinction out of resentment directed toward the Scribe Virgin. Exists in a nontemporal realm and has extensive powers, though not the power of creation.

phearsom (adj.) Term referring to the potency of a male’s sexual organs. Literal translation something close to “worthy of entering a female.”

princeps (n.) Highest level of the vampire aristocracy, second only to members of the First Family or the Scribe Virgin’s Chosen. Must be born to the title; it may not be conferred.

pyrocant (n.) Refers to a critical weakness in an individual. The weakness can be internal, such as an addiction, or external, such as a lover.

rahlman (n.) Savior.

rythe (n.) Ritual manner of assuaging honor granted by one who has offended another. If accepted, the offended chooses a weapon and strikes the offender, who presents him– or herself without defenses.

the Scribe Virgin (pr. n.) Mystical force who is counselor to the King as well as the keeper of vampire archives and the dispenser of privileges. Exists in a non-temporal realm and has extensive powers. Capable of a single act of creation, which she expended to bring the vampires into existence.

sehclusion (n.) Status conferred by the King upon a female of the aristocracy as a result of a petition by the female’s family. Places the female under the sole direction of her ghardian, typically the eldest male in her household. Her ghardian then has the legal right to determine all manner of her life, restricting at will any and all interactions she has with the world.

shellan (n.) Female vampire who has been mated to a male. Females generally do not take more than one mate due to the highly territorial nature of bonded males.

symphath (n.) Subspecies within the vampire race characterized by the ability and desire to manipulate emotions in others (for the purposes of an energy exchange), among other traits. Historically, they have been discriminated against and, during certain eras, hunted by vampires. They are near extinction.

the Tomb (pr. n.) Sacred vault of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Used as a ceremonial site as well as a storage facility for the jars of lessers. Ceremonies performed there include inductions, funerals, and disciplinary actions against Brothers. No one may enter except for members of the Brotherhood, the Scribe Virgin, or candidates for induction.

trahyner (n.) Word used between males of mutual respect and affection. Translated loosely as “beloved friend.”

transition (n.) Critical moment in a vampire’s life when he or she transforms into an adult. Thereafter, he or she must drink the blood of the opposite sex to survive and is unable to withstand sunlight. Occurs generally in the mid-twenties. Some vampires do not survive their transitions, males in particular. Prior to their transitions, vampires are physically weak, sexually unaware and unresponsive, and unable to dematerialize.

vampire (n.) Member of a species separate from that of Homo sapiens. Vampires must drink the blood of the opposite sex to survive. Human blood will keep them alive, though the strength does not last long. Following their transitions, which occur in their mid-twenties, they are unable to go out into sunlight and must feed from the vein regularly. Vampires cannot “convert” humans through a bite or transfer of blood, though they are in rare cases able to breed with the other species. Vampires can dematerialize at will, though they must be able to calm themselves and concentrate to do so and may not carry anything heavy with them. They are able to strip the memories of humans, provided such memories are short-term. Some vampires are able to read minds. Life expectancy is upward of a thousand years, or in some cases even longer.

wahlker (n.) An individual who has died and returned to the living from the Fade. They are accorded great respect and are revered for their travails.

whard (n.) Equivalent of a godfather or godmother to an individual.