The Darkholme Gathering (Titus)

Thaddeus drew me aside, as Anne stepped onto the dance floor with Jonas, her back tense. Once she enjoyed dancing. Life by life it faded, too many fathers viewing their only daughter as a tool. With Thaddeus it was different. He wanted all of us to fall in love the way he had, even knowing Marion had never felt the same way about him as he did about her.

Zachary, dancing with the same young woman, seemed the closest of the three of us, but he held back too. Unlike Marion and Anne he’d been told about the ritual. Thaddeus thought it was for the best, which I disagreed with, but, in the end, our father made the decision Zachary was trustworthy enough. So far he hadn’t said anything to the wrong person, yet the way he looked at me told me he felt the same way about me. If he’d said anything to Thaddeus about whatever worries he might have it wasn’t passed on to me – in part due to Thaddeus trusting me implicitly.

“How is she?”

Unlike some of our fathers Thaddeus truly cared for Anne. If I didn’t know any better I might have said he was the reincarnation of Papa. For the first time what I had to do hurt, in ways it never had before. The man I’d had a chance to get to know was a good person. Like it had so many others the darkness affected him, but all it made him do was connect more closely with his family, including me. Having to use him would be so much easier if he’d been like the others. Alongside the nightmares it made the ritual a struggle, even as Thaddeus saw it as a solution to a problem – losing Marion to death.

“A little lonely.”

“She doesn’t know?”

What Anne actually knew was a mystery. Our earlier conversation once more pointed to her at least having some of her memories back, but she hadn’t told me. Until she did I had to assume otherwise. Even with some of them it could cause problems if I happened to say too much, because any that were still lost might flood her, causing damage to both mind and soul. It was her soul I worried about most. The mind was fixable, even if she needed another body. Her soul wasn’t. Damage to that, especially now, would cause problems I might not be able to solve.

“No, I don’t believe she does.” I looked over at her, as Jonas talked, and she did seem to reply, but there was no smile. “The Darkholmes?”

“Lars still doesn’t understand my decision to let Anne choose the man she wants to spend the rest of my life with, but then he was born in Marren Vale.” Thaddeus raked a hand through his hair. “He tried to convince me it would be better for Anne if I were to entwine our families through marriage, as a Lockwood Darkholme baby would be strong magically.”

Having Seen multiple Lars wasn’t exactly wrong. Neither the Greater or the Lesser families were the same, and the Darkholmes’ power was lost with Cornelius. He’d known at the time his daughters weren’t strong enough to take his place. Jonathan, lack of magic painful, chose to leave Marren Vale, something I couldn’t have stopped. Even though she’d never said anything it broke Anne’s heart when he did, the light she’d been beginning to regain lost once more. Had it been possible I might have gone to find him, but it wasn’t, fortunately, considering the arrival of Dante.

Jonas was the strongest of the three Darkholme sons, but was closer in power to Sterling. Asking Nicholas to step in was purely due to him being the easiest option. He thought it meant Sterling would claim the Darkholme seat, when the reality was I never planned on there being a Darkholme on the Council after Cornelius’s death. Then there was the complication of the Riordans, and I imagined myself building a very different Council to the one I’d had, until I’d made the mistake of using dangerously complicated magics when I was emotionally compromised.

Now our future was different. I stood beside a man I’d come to respect, often wishing I didn’t, knowing I’d have to kill him, and the woman he loved, to finally free the woman I loved from a cycle we both despised. There was no other option. For years I’d tried to find a different solution, one that hurt her less, but I’d failed. As I watched Anne, seeing her as she was in so many different lives, I’d put her first, the way I always had. Finally she’d be with her soulmate, the way Papa planned from the very beginning.

Watching her never got any easier. Anne had no interest in Jonas, yet jealousy still burned within, because at least he had a chance of spending the rest of his life with her. I didn’t. He turned her, and her eyes met with mine. They brightened for a moment, as she smiled at me, before they moved once more. Soon enough that wouldn’t happen again, when the memories of our lives, the mistakes I’d made throughout them, returned to her. Until then I’d make the most of every moment.

“Anne doesn’t believe love is a possibility in Marren Vale.”

Thaddeus sighed. “You agree.”

“Father…”

“I have paid attention, to both of you, and your brother. Neither you or Anne have a connection with someone in this room.” Lars, like all the Darkholmes, made certain to invite all the Greater families, along with some of the Lesser. “Zachary, it seems, is beginning to build something, that I can only hope won’t be too badly affected by our plans. What did you promise your sister?”

“How did you know I promised her anything?”

Laughing, Thaddeus shook his head. “I said I’d paid attention. You’ve always been close, Titus, and she talks to you about everything. Not being late wasn’t the only reason I sent you up to help her finish dressing. She needed you. The way you’ve been joined at the hip most of the night simply confirmed I’d made the right choice, especially when you disappeared off together.”

Of course he wasn’t making the reality of the situation any easier to come to terms with. Again, proving he was the best father we’d had in lifetimes. Even Reuben saw Anne as a commodity, when he’d given her the name of the great-aunt he loved who’d never married, and I mistakenly assumed he’d be less likely to try to find her a strong husband when she was his daughter. Instead he acted like all the others, although he was gentler about it than some.

“She’d like me to be her chaperone when she travels. If, by the time she comes of age, she hasn’t met anyone here I promised I’d give her a chance to search for love elsewhere.” The song had ended, and I looked over at Anne, who was slowly stepping away from Jonas. “Not that I think it will be necessary.”

“Due to the ritual?”

As I nodded Anne turned, moving away from Jonas in a flutter of skirts that said she was closer to running than she should be in those shoes, so I moved toward her, drawing her into my arms when she was close enough. She buried her face into my chest. Fortunately it didn’t seem like there were tears, but I moved with her back toward Thaddeus, who put a hand on her shoulder. For a time we were all silent, giving her time to work through her feelings. When she looked up, calm finally, Thaddeus was still watching her.

“Please tell me if Jonas said something untoward.”

Leaning against me, hand reaching for mine where it couldn’t be seen, she laced our fingers together. “Nothing unexpected, Papa.” Her voice was gentle. “He’s one of the Greater families, and an attempt at romancing me was to be expected.”

“It being expected changes nothing, Anne.” There was an anger in his voice I wasn’t surprised to hear. “Let me find Marion and Zachary.”

“Honestly, it’s not necessary.”

“Yes, it is.” Thaddeus glanced over at where Lars and Jonas talked, most likely about how badly his dance with Anne went, shaking his head. “Lars may not understand the decision I made, sweetheart, but that does not give him the right to try to circumvent it, especially when it clearly made you very uncomfortable. We are Lockwoods.”

Before either of us had a chance to say anything more Thaddeus walked away, the disapproval radiating from his body as he went looking for Marion. “What did I do, Titus?”

“Nothing, Anne.” I kissed the top of her head. “Father’s right. We need to respond correctly to the Darkholme’s disrespect. Leaving is the best way to do that.”

She rested her head on my chest once more. “Jonas was only doing what Lars expected.”

“Which is exactly why this is now necessary. Father made it clear to Lars our family isn’t like the others. You are free to marry for love, and that will be your choice, rather than for an alliance or power.”

Anne looked over at where Jonas still stood with Lars. “One dance is never just one dance, Titus. Papa knew that. Do you think he did this on purpose?”

Thaddeus believed he’d be rebuilding the lost Council after the ritual, so it was entirely possible he had, at least in part, done it on purpose. Now he knew the Darkholmes weren’t to be trusted. Only the thing I’d come to see was he truly, even after the darkness changed him, trusted everyone, until they gave him a reason not to, and he thought explaining would be enough. Unfortunately that wasn’t how the Greater families had ever worked. As he’d not grown up in Marren Vale he hadn’t seen their machinations until more recently, because Anne was old enough to marry.

Of the three of us she was the most interesting. Zachary didn’t obviously have the Lockwood power. I exuded disinterest. With Anne’s power and kindness she’d drawn people to her, the way she always had, so I didn’t doubt Jonas believed there was something between them. A smile had the power to make anyone fall in love with her, something she’d never got used to, so there were a couple of lives where she’d almost shut down emotionally. Until Elias. He’d managed to draw her out of the shell she’d created. For a time I was grateful to him, until I Saw what he’d planned.

“Papa’s different. He’s not from Marren Vale, and sometimes I think he forgets what the Greater families are truly like.” I squeezed Anne’s hand. “Using you wasn’t something he planned to do.”

“It was an unfortunate side effect of trying to be the head of a Greater family.” Anne sighed. “Should I try to fix this?”

“What choices you make are up to you, sweetheart.” The look Anne gave me almost made me smile, but I held it back, because I knew better than to draw her ire in those moments. “Do you think I care enough to put in the effort? Only I’m not you. You, I think, do, so you’d be willing to try no matter how I advised you.”

Her smile, as unwilling as it was, gave me the freedom to smile back. “Sometimes, Titus, I hate how well you know me.”

For a second, just long enough Anne felt it, I rested my forehead on hers. “No, you don’t.”

With a laugh, and a squeeze of my hand, Anne started walking toward the Darkholmes. I hadn’t realised she planned on taking me with her, but I had said I’d stay close however long she wanted me to. Dealing with the Greater families was never an easy task, made more complicated by the frailty of the alliances Thaddeus built, because he wasn’t like the others. His father returned to Marren Vale when he received a letter from an uncle he barely remembered, about an inheritance. Finding a house was the last thing he expected. When Thaddeus told the story he thought they’d return to the home they’d left soon enough, until his father learnt more about the position the Lockwoods once held.

Everything changed then. Thaddeus wasn’t old enough to leave alone, so he had to stay until he was, leading to a chance meeting with Marion, which he always said was love at first sight for him. Marion, on the other hand, saw power. She didn’t know straight away her was a Lockwood, and I don’t think it really mattered. He talked about wanting to leave Marren Vale. Hearing those words gave her what she believed was her best chance of getting far away from a future she didn’t want… until Thaddeus met Gregor. Working with Gregor, dreaming of immortality with Marion, led them both to a very different future.

Lars noticed us when we were about halfway to them, and watched us as we crossed the room. The main reason Nicholas agreed to be part of the ritual was Mallory. She’d married him for the name, the way so many still did. When the boys were born she wanted more for them, especially when it turned out Jonathan was born without magic, with her pushing Nicholas to get Sterling chosen as the heir. Nicholas’s relationship with Cornelius wasn’t strong enough for that to be a possibility, so he didn’t try, causing a rift between the two of them, not helped by the fact Nicholas was in love with Cornelius’s wife. Marrying for love honestly did make things so much simpler.

Unfortunately that had faded away between our first and second lives. Learning to use magic in death was much more complicated than I’d anticipated. I knew I could do it, I’d Seen it, but that didn’t mean finding the solution didn’t take far longer than I’d hoped. Anne, although she never said, felt the opposite – being dead, in a lot of ways, was easier than living. We had each other. Living again was only going to cause pain. Yet the time came when I was born once more, and she waited, the way I asked her to, for the next pregnancy. Growing up was the most complicated part. Seeing how Marren Vale had changed in our absence. It was similar to seeing the changes between our last life and the one we were living.

There was no doubt what Lars wanted – Anne to choose Jonas. A Lockwood marrying a Darkholme would strengthen their family. Neither of Emory’s daughters had the Lockwood power, because they weren’t Lockwoods, while Finn did, but he was still too young. He also wouldn’t be of use to the Darkholmes, because Lars only had sons. Like she often had been Anne was the best chance of Jonas’s children having the kind of magic the Darkholmes hadn’t had since Cornelius. If Lars knew their history.

“I hope you’ve come to apologise.” Jonas looked down as his father spoke, the set of his shoulders a sign he hadn’t wanted Lars to say that. “Turning my son down at his coming of age gathering…”

Anger flared. “Had you chosen not to say anything foolish an apology was the first thing you’d have received.” Even through it Anne was gentle when she looked at Jonas. “I am sorry, Jonas.” She reached out her free hand to touch his arm. “You’re a good person, and you will make someone a wonderful husband in the future, but that’s not going to be me.”

When Jonas looked at Anne the love he already felt for her caused the jealousy to flare once more, but I controlled it. Hopefully before she noticed. “I wish it could be, Anne.” He held out his hand, and she accepted it, letting him lift it to his mouth to kiss. “You’re amazing.”

“Papa believes in love, and, honestly, that’s all I’ve ever wanted. Not only to be loved, but to love in return.” She turned to Lars. “You are the head of a Greater family. I truly expected better from someone in your position. Jonas understood, even as he propositioned me, I’d say no, yet you still chose to put him, in the mistaken belief I’d go against what Papa wanted, in that position.” Her grip on my hand tightened. “The only reason Jonas was harmed in any way was you, Lars.”

Lars took a step closer to Anne. She’d never backed down in situations like that, and this time was no different, even though she wasn’t wholly the person she had been. Instead she raised an eyebrow. That didn’t stop her shaking, hence the grip, to remind herself I was there, if anything went badly she had me with her. No one could harm her if I was by her side.

“How dare you speak to me that way!”

“Is Anne incorrect?” Thaddeus’s voice came from behind us, a touch of amusement in it. “She said nothing I disagreed with. Putting your son in that position was both unfair and unkind, to both our children. Before I agreed to ask Anne to dance with Jonas you understood my expectations, even if you didn’t accept I’d made the right choice, so I don’t understand why you would make such a choice.”

Glancing back, I saw both Marion and Zachary standing beside Thaddeus. Marion’s nod told me she agreed with Thaddeus, before her eyes met with mine for a moment, giving her a chance to look at Anne. I nodded. The relationship I had with Marion was different to the one Anne had with her, so I was always willing to put her mind at ease when it came to Anne’s emotional state. A flicker of relief, before she turned her attention back to Lars, giving me a chance to do the same. Other Greater families were doing the same, something I could tell Jonas noticed from the slight pinkness on his cheeks. He didn’t want all the attention.

“No, Anne isn’t incorrect.” A surprising ally spoke from close by – Emory. “She was right in saying we expected better of the head of a Greater family, especially as the coming of age of his son. Jonas has behaved impeccably all night, even as Anne turned him down, apologising for what he was about to say before he even said it.”

Multiple voices speaking against him, including two Lockwoods, led to Lars stepping back once more, looking at Jonas as he did. “Your response was to a child, Lars.” Another voice, from another unexpected person, and I looked at Isaac, Marion’s brother. “One who chose kindness. She didn’t have to come over to apologise, when it should be you apologising, but she chose to, for Jonas. We could all see it. Anne cared how Jonas felt, which is more than you did.”

Anne freed her hand from mine, moving to Jonas, talking softly in his ear. He gave a nod, and followed her. They went back to the dance floor, with Anne leading, making him laugh as the tension left his back. I stayed with Thaddeus, giving him my support now Anne didn’t need it. We shared a look, a smile touching his lips, because she had chosen kindness, even in that moment. Kindness to a boy who was the second son of a Darkholme, yet had the whole weight of his father’s expectations on his shoulders, due to being the one who’d come closest to inheriting the Darkholme power. A coming of age gathering did not make someone a man, but I could tell Jonas had a good head on his shoulder, even though he had been led by his father at times, so the time would come when he’d have the courage to say no when he knew it was the wrong choice.