Abandoned to the Night (The Brotherhood Series, Book 3) (21 page)

“Grace and I will go and ask Sylvester to light some candles,” Evelyn said. She gave Alexander his coat before they raced to the stairs.

“Follow me inside.” Leo shuffled forward. “But have a care. We do not want to break anything.”

They all crept inside; a sense of awe and wonder flooded his chest, and he knew his brothers felt it, too. This tiny chamber could contain the answer to their prayers. As they stood huddled in the centre of the room, they scoured their surroundings.

“The longer I stand here, the clearer the objects in the chamber become,” Alexander said squinting in the darkness.

“I can’t believe I have lived here all this time and knew nothing of this secret room.” Ivana touched his hand. “Do you think we will find the cure in here?”

Leo sighed. “We can but hope.” A strange sense of foreboding settled over him. Perhaps his anxiety stemmed from knowing Nikolai was not a man to be trusted. Perhaps a fear of the unknown caused mild panic to flare.

What would it be like to be human again?

In the years he’d spent coming to terms with the nature of the affliction, he never dared to ask himself the question. To walk in the sun, to eat ham and eggs for breakfast, were but simple pleasures most people took for granted, yet he would have sold his soul to experience them once again.

But things were different now.

Ivana was his life, his love, the greatest gift, the only pleasure. In those terms, his affliction changed nothing. It was neither a hindrance nor a blessing, and so he would not be disappointed if their efforts were in vain.

Evelyn and Grace returned carrying a candlestick in each hand. As soon as they entered the chamber, the golden glow illuminated the table at the far end. Leo took one from Evelyn’s hand and placed it on the wooden surface while he inspected the equipment. The others were placed in various positions around the room.

“It looks like some sort of filtering device,” Elliot said touching the glass tube leading into a bulbous bottle. “This piece of muslin could have been used to remove impurities.”

Leo shrugged. “Such contraptions mean nothing to me.”

“I think these are Talliano’s notes,” Alexander said. He was sitting behind a desk at the opposite end of the room, flicking through a leather-bound book. “It’s all in Latin. His writing is appalling unless he was drunk when he scrawled the words.”

“There’s a chest on the floor over here.” Grace knelt down in front of the small wooden trunk. “It’s not locked.”

Leo and Elliot came to stand behind her. “Open it.”

With hesitant fingers, she raised the lid. “There’s nothing inside but a piece of rock.”

“Rock?” Leo bent down and peered into the chest. He removed the grey, silvery lump. Its shiny metallic lustre sparkled in the light. “I have no idea what it is.”

“In Latin it is known as
haematītes
,” Alexander said coming to stand with them. “Talliano mentions it in his notes. From what I can read, the scholar believed it removed impurities from the blood.”

Leo frowned. “Do you suppose we are to ingest a fragment of the stone?” He shook his head. “Surely not.”

“There is something under this tray,” Grace said, removing the wooden structure that had supported the stone. “There is a box underneath.” With steady hands, she removed it and carried it over to the table before placing it down gently.

They all came to stand before the inlaid mahogany box.

No one spoke for a few seconds, but it felt like hours.

“One of us will need to open it,” Elliot eventually said with slight apprehension.

Leo turned to Ivana. “Perhaps you should. After all, the contents belong to you.”

Ivana grasped his arm. “No. You open it.”

Leo sucked in a breath before flicking the tiny brass catch and lifting the lid. Five small brown bottles lay nestled amidst a bed of burgundy silk.

Leo stepped back, his hands were shaking, his heart thumped hard in his chest. “Good Lord. I think we have found the cure.”

Excitement thrummed in the air until the whole room vibrated with suppressed hysteria. Leo removed the first bottle, picked out the stopper and sniffed. He could smell nothing. He shook it. But he did not hear the liquid sloshing against the glass. Holding out his hand with his palm facing up, he attempted to pour a drop out for all to see.

But the bottle was empty.

His throat grew tight as he tried to swallow. Leo turned to see their smiles fade, to see fear flash in their eyes. He checked the next bottle, knowing that there were only four left, not knowing what to do should it be empty too.

Replacing the empty bottle back in its cushion, he took the next one, knowing as soon as he held it in his hand it was also empty. Still, he went through the motions, felt his shoulders sag as he tipped it upside down and shook it.

The room was deathly silent.

Leo continued with his ministrations, feeling a little easier when he discovered nothing in the third bottle. To leave only one of them suffering from the affliction would be the worst punishment of all. After checking the last two bottles, it was as he suspected.

He closed the lid gently and turned to face them. In their disappointment, they had stepped back into the middle of the room. Alexander and Elliot held their wives in their arms. Indeed, the realisation that their husbands were immortal, and there may be no cure, had finally roused painful emotions.

Elliot cleared his throat. “From your grim expression, I suspect it is not good news.”

Leo gazed at the sorrowful look on their faces. “I’m afraid we cannot all take the cure.”

“All?” Elliot asked. “You mean not all of the bottles were empty?”

Leo shook his head, struggled to suppress the wave of sadness consuming him. “No, not all the bottles were empty. There are two left. Only two of us can take the cure.”

Chapter 18

The sudden sound of whimpering permeated the stunned the silence.

Ivana glanced at the men whose lives had been forever altered by her bitterness and resentment. Their wives looked weak and helpless when enveloped in their strong arms. Many times, while tending to a child plagued with a fever, while trying to persuade Christoph to speak, she had felt justified in her actions. But now she had come to know Evelyn and Grace, to know the love they shared with their husbands, it made her doubt her decision.

Ivana pushed past Leo, desperate to see the evidence for herself. But she knew her eyes and ears had not deceived her. Watching Leo check the bottles, counting in her mind all the times Nikolai had taken the cure, convinced her there was not enough to save them all.

“I thought it might be in a large flask or similar vessel.” She ran her hands over the tiny bottles as though the process would make them magically refill. She turned to Leo as he came to stand at her side. “I hoped there would be enough for all of us.” Years of suppressed emotion filled her throat, and she gasped a breath. “What can we do, Leo?”

Alexander cleared his throat. “Forgive me, but I need to take Evelyn somewhere to sit down. Is it safe for me to go up into the Great Hall?”

Ivana turned to him, her heart aching when she noticed Evelyn’s blotchy face. “In an hour or two. I’m afraid you will have to wait in the crypt until then.”

He nodded to the room beyond the secret chamber. “We’ll sit out there. It will give you a chance to talk privately.”

Elliot looked at Grace, cupped her face and kissed her softly on the lips. “Are you alright?”

She shook her head numerous times in response. “It never mattered to me before, that you were different. But now,” she paused and hung her head. “Now I feel as though there is a huge divide separating us. Every day I age only serves to widen the gap, only serves to take me further away from you.”

Elliot glanced at them, his rueful look causing guilt to flare. “We will go and sit with Alexander.” He took Grace’s hand and led her from the room.

Ivana fell into Leo’s arms. “Oh, it is all so terrible. It is all my fault.”

“Do not be so hard on yourself.” He stroked her hair, the motion going some way to soothe her. “We have all moved beyond the need to apportion blame. We all understand you did what you thought was best. Indeed, in a strange way, our lives have been enhanced by our experiences.”

She looked up at him and without another word gripped his shirt and claimed his mouth. The kiss was desperate and rough, a way to banish the pain of regret. Even in her despair, she wanted to feel his naked body covering hers. And she would have given anything to join with him in that instant.

Leo stroked her cheek as their lips parted. “We must decide what to do.”

“Will we ever be truly happy?” The question fell from her lips without thought. “Will we ever be able to move forward?”

“While my heart aches for my brothers, it soars with joy at the thought of sharing my life with you.”

“I love you,” she said, a radiant light flowing through her body at the thought.

Leo smiled weakly. “And I love you, which is why I must be honest with you now.”

Fear sparked in short, sharp bursts. “You’re not going to take the cure, are you? You’re going to go back to England with your brothers to live as you did before.”

Her mind was a jumbled mess of chaotic thoughts.

He smiled. “If you think I could go and leave you here then you do not know me at all.”

“I’m scared, Leo,” she admitted. “You don’t know how hard it was for me to say goodbye to you. I don’t ever want to feel that way again.”

“And you won’t.” He took her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed it tenderly. “I want to stay here with you. I want us to be married. I want us to live with our affliction so we can give my brothers the chance of living a normal life with their wives.”

She stared at him while the gravity of his words penetrated her addled mind. He wanted her to give up all hope of walking in the sun, all hope of ever having a child of her own. A moment was all she needed to reach a decision. In truth, she had never expected such dreams to come to pass. She had never thought to reunite with her one true mate. The thought of living an eternity with Leo was reward in itself.

“Very well,” she nodded pushing aside all doubts. “We will give the cure to Elliot and Alexander. I took their humanity in payment for a debt. From what I have witnessed, they deserve some form of recompense for their plight.”

“It is the right thing to do, Ivana.”

“I know,” she said with a heavy sigh. “Shall we go and tell them?”

Leo closed the lid on the mahogany box and secured the catch. Taking her hand, they walked out into the crypt.

Alexander and Evelyn were sitting on the floor against the wall on the far side of the room. His eyes were closed. Evelyn was curled up against him, her head resting on his chest as he stroked her hair. Elliot stood against a pillar. Grace was nestled between his legs and encompassed in his arms. Upon hearing their approach, both couples came to stand before them.

“It was always going to be unlikely we would find the cure and all live happily in human form again.” Elliot’s words were logical. But his dull eyes and harrowed expression tore at Ivana’s heart. “But despite our disappointment, we are truly happy for you both.”

Grace nodded in agreement as she held hands with her husband.

Alexander and Evelyn stepped forward.

“Please, do not mistake our subdued response for bitterness,” Alexander said. “We, too, are pleased you have another chance of life.”

“We want you to be happy,” Evelyn said hugging Alexander’s arm. “We do not want you to hide your true feelings from us.”

Other than the first time she had said goodbye to Leo, Ivana had spent the last ten years barely shedding a tear. Now, in the space of a few days, she had become a blubbering wreck.

“You are so kind,” she said, failing to stop the tears running down her face. They were tears of happiness, she realised. The cure gave her the power to make amends for all the despicable things she had done.

She nudged Leo, as she wanted him to be the one to tell them the news. As always, he interpreted her actions without her having to say a word.

“I won’t prolong your misery by spouting flowery words of love and friendship,” Leo said. “But know that we are both in agreement regarding how we wish to proceed.” He paused. “We have decided neither of us will take the cure.”

All four of them appeared bewildered. They blinked and shook their heads, glanced at each other, then glanced back at Leo.

“You do not have to spare our feelings,” Elliot said with a hint of compassion. “We understand how difficult it must be for you.”

“You mean you want to wait,” Evelyn clarified. “I suppose there is no need to rush. Now you know it is here you have time to decide what to do.”

Leo brushed his hand through his hair. “No. You mistake me. I do not want to take the cure myself. I want to give the cure to my brothers.”

“We want Alexander and Elliot to take the last two bottles,” Ivana added.

Elliot covered his mouth with his hand to suppress a gasp as he stumbled back.