She guides me through the process while Ace watches, his face the happiest I have seen. We work long into the night. And when I ask Patricia to pass a block, I realize she is asleep. Ace lifts her up and puts her to bed as I watch from the doorway. He kisses her on the forehead, and sings her a song about a princess looking for home. I have never heard Ace sing before. His voice is deep and gentle. A soothing one to fall asleep to.
When the song is finished, he kisses Patricia one last time, and leaves the room, closing the door behind him. He speaks softly to me. "Do you understand now, what I have to lose?"
I think on the entire night, the pieces clicking together in my mind. "She's your daughter, isn't she?"
He nods. "I loved a woman once. A long time ago. But we… we couldn't be together. Our worlds were too different. So we decided to stay apart. But one day, one day my love returned, and she told me of our child." He sits down on the couch, gazing into the fireplace. "Until that moment, I didn't realize how much I wanted to be a father. How much joy it could bring. I still remember the first time I met her, how she wrapped her hand around my finger and stared into my eyes. I vowed then that I would keep her safe. That I would never let any harm fall upon her." He pauses. "Patricia is not a full vampire. Her blood, like your blood, tempts my kind. It makes us see you as inferior. And I could not… I could not subjugate her to that fate."
"So you kept her secret," I say. "But why not turn her?"
"And curse her?" he asks. "So that the sun burns her? So that she craves blood above all else? No. I would not wish this upon anyone. Not even my worst enemies."
I sit next to him, holding his hand. "Where is her mother?"
"Gone somewhere I do not know," he says, his eyes turning red. "Her life, her life was not that of a mother's. My life not that of a father's. So I brought Patricia here, where Old Meg takes care of her, raises her, teaches her the things she needs to know. I visit when I can. Less and less frequently these past few months."
"Why not stay here always?" I ask. "I know I would do anything for my child. Even give up a realm."
He nods, picking at a seam on his brown cloak. "I would give up my realm. I would give up even all my inventions. But what I cannot do, what I will not do, is hurt Patricia. If I stay here, if I let her know who I truly am, she will care for me all the deeper. And I for her. And yet, I could not give her all she deserves. I could not be with her during the day. If she ever got a cut and bled, I could not help her. I would have to leave just to keep control of my senses. I would have to abandon her at times she needs me most." He clenches his fist, gazing into the fire. "I hate this curse. I hate it more than I have ever hated anything. It keeps me from remembering all the wondrous things I see here. It keeps me from the woman I love. It keeps me from my daughter."
"Perhaps," I say, my voice soft, "she would prefer a father, one who spends even a little time with her, over an uncle who barely visits."
Tears well in his eyes, and he turns away. His voice breaks with sobs. "We are of the same blood yes, but I'm not her father. I'm not here enough to be her father. But I wish I could be. I wish it with all my being." He turns to me, his eyes full of sorrow. "Whatever happens tomorrow, we must win. Because I must return to her. I must return, do you understand?"
I take his hand in my own. "I understand. But I cannot promise victory. All I can promise is that I will do my best. That I will fight until the end."
He glances back at the door, back where Patricia sleeps. "Then that will have to be enough."
Chapter 14
MOONLIGHT PRINCE
"There were three of us. Three who summoned the shadow. Three who paid the price."
—Tavian Gray
PART I
—Arianna Spero—
After we leave his daughter, we make one more stop before returning to Inferna. To the hospital where my mother's body is being cared for. I step into the sterile room, where the whir of machines keep her alive. I put a hand over hers and let the tears that fill my eyes fall down my face. "I could save you easily, if I did as Fen asked. If I just left with him. But I hope you understand. This isn't just about you and me anymore. This is about a whole world of people. I can't abandon them to their fate, not when I have the power to make it different."
She doesn't answer, of course. But I think somewhere, somehow she hears me. As I leave I ask the nurse for a piece of paper and pen, and I write a short letter to Es and Pete. Just in case. Because the future is uncertain, and this battle might be my last. "Could you mail this for me?" I ask the nurse.
She's about to say no, that it's not their policy to play postal service to patients, but then something shifts in her face. Maybe she sees into something deeper, something truer than rules. Because her face softens and she nods. "I can't do it from work, but I'll drop it by the post office after."
I smile at her, touched by her kindness, by her willingness to go out of her way for a stranger.
And as I turn to leave, I stop again, something tugging at my mind. "There was a man here before; he visited my mom. Has he been here again?"
Ace paces the floor impatiently, but the nurse, she pauses, a curious expression overtaking her face. "Actually, yes, there was someone. He left a note, said to give it to anyone who asked about him."
She rummages through my mother's file and pulls out a small envelope, handing it to me. "It's all very strange," she says with a vague expression on her face. And I wonder if she's been influenced by magic.