(In which Aria is apparently betrothed. Yeah, we didn’t see this coming either.)
Aria wasn’t sure who was more shocked, the beautiful couple standing in front of her, or herself. His bride? How crazy was this guy?
Upon seeing the bewildered faces surrounding him, Lush begrudgingly amended “Well, bride-to-be, anyway. I’ve not had the chance to ask her father for her hand yet.”
The couple Aria assumed were his parents seemed soothed with this amendment, but all eyes flashed to Aria with her rather un-ladylike snort of laughter. “And you’re not likely to without a medium. My father’s been missing for years. He was quite content to run away when my mother announced my coming arrival.”
“So,” The gentleman who presumably was Lush’s father said in an accent Aria couldn’t place, “your father’s consent is not necessary?”
Aria stared at him and the auburn-haired woman at his side. He was tall, with long black hair pulled neatly back in what appeared to be a leather thong. Both were dressed in formal black and white, but they somehow made it look…classier than anyone else could ever hope to. And the way the man held the woman at his side, it was like she was the most precious thing in the world to him, and like he would sooner take on every demon in existence than take half a chance at losing her for even a moment.
“My…father?” Aria blushed at how stupid she sounded. “No, I don’t guess so, but wouldn’t my consent be kind of necessary?”
“Well, traditionally---“ The man began, but was cut off by his apparent wife’s hand on his chest.
“Vlad,” She said softly, somehow pouring every endearment in existence in that one word. “Let it be for now. The children are tired, and we have time to discuss this yet. Let’s away to the resort. Frank will be waiting for you and Lush, and I promised Pricilla I’d help her with Little Frankie’s clothes.”
“Oh, very well,” Vlad sighed, “Come along, then. Lush,”
“Sir?” Lush replied with the utmost respect in his voice.
“You and your….” He paused as if to search for the right word before landing on the one his son had chosen “bride will follow on your bike. Your mother is too tired to ride and so we’ll be taking the car.”
Something in Lush’s eyes lit like a sky full of fireworks. A boyish grin spread across his face as he replied with an enthusiastic “Yes, sir!” before Aria felt his hand encircling her wrist yet again and he was pulling her toward the shadows beyond the brilliant display that had apparently been set up for her benefit.
It was so dark that Aria couldn’t see anything as Lush pulled her deeper and deeper into shadows. Abruptly, she just stopped walking. He pulled inquisitively at her wrist, but she didn’t budge. This was something she’d never told a living soul. Aria was terrified of the dark.
“Aria?” Lush’s voice reached out to her, and it brought with it an odd comfort she couldn’t make sense of.
“No.” was all she could bring herself to say. She was too deep in the darkness. She couldn’t see her way back to the safety of the lights and crystals. She felt a sensation like when she was little and went swimming with Zak and got too far from the bank and couldn’t feel the bottom of the river anymore. Panic. Raw, primal panic, without any real reason behind it or any reason that could assuage it.
“It’s okay, Aria.” Lush said in a soothing voice, like he was speaking to a frightened child or an injured creature. “I’m right here. Hang on to me and you’ll be okay.”
Hang on to him? That’s not exactly helping. In this moment, Aria knew exactly what it was about Lush she hadn’t been able to pinpoint yet. The reason she had never been able to relax around him was that Lush carried Darkness with him wherever he went. Though Aria had never seen him in daylight, she was certain in that moment it was impossible. Even if the sun was blazing in the middle of a summer afternoon, around him, it would fade into an unnatural twilight.
Apparently realizing she didn’t have the strength to reach for him, Lush turned back and took Aria’s hand. He’d intended to lead her toward his bike. He really had. But as soon as his hand reached hers, some foreign instinct took over and he instantly enveloped her in his arms, willing her to stop shaking. When her trembling didn’t subside, he swept her up into his arms, cradling her yet again, and strode back toward the haven of crystal lights and flowers.
They stayed there for a while before Aria could stop shaking and her breath slowed to a normal pace. Lush looked down into her face and brushed her cheek with his palm. She hadn’t realized she was crying until he wrapped the same palm around the back of her neck and she felt it was wet. “I’m sorry.” She said, “I didn’t—I mean, I…”
“Don’t worry about it.” Lush said in a low voice, still trying to soothe her. “I didn’t realize dark scared you so much.” He suddenly looked very thoughtful, like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. “This could be a problem.”
Aria wasn’t sure what to make of this. Lush was staring at her face as if she were a complicated physics equation he was bent on solving. His focus on her was more than a little unsettling. She was suddenly, painfully conscious of the scar on her lip where she’d attempted to keep a Monroe piercing, but had gotten into serious trouble when she wore it to school and was forced to take it out. Or at least that was the story she told anyone who asked.
“Aria,” Lush said, never lessening his scrutiny of her face, “Do you think if I gave you a little light to carry with you it will make things easier?”
“You mean like a flashlight?” Aria asked, humiliated that her voice sounded so small. She felt like a frightened child, and much to her chagrin, she sounded like one, too.
“Sort of.” He gently lowered her onto the ground and turned away, seemingly busy with something, and for some reason, Aria couldn’t help feeling bereft without his arms around her even for that short moment.
When Lush turned back to her, she still wanted to be back in his arms, where she felt safe, but the crystal he was holding quickly captured her attention.
It was one of the crystals from the display he’d had set up to greet her when they arrived, but Lush held it aloft by a leather chord and it was held in a silver setting that resembled a hawk’s talons. As Aria reached for it, the crystal grew brighter and brighter until it rested against the skin of her palm when it shone so brightly she could have sworn she was holding a fallen star.
“You’re not too far off, mi anam cara.” Lush explained, “This crystal is linked to the star that sits over my home in the North. As long as that star burns, as long as I live and as long as you keep this crystal with you, you will never have to face true darkness.”
Aria could only stare in admiration at the crystal. She was pretty sure that if she could see to the center, she’d see a star glowing there. While she was still looking, Lush pulled the crystal from her hands and before she could think to protest, he’d put the leather chord over her head and the crystal was settling over her heart.
He’d made a star into a necklace so she would never be in darkness. Maybe he really did love…..
“Where’s Cerberus?” She asked to keep from thinking along that particularly forbidden line. “I haven’t seen him since we left the plane.”
“He’s already at the resort.”
“So quickly?”
“’Quickly’ nothing. We’re running behind.” He sounded just a little bit impatient, but even then he was gentle with her as he pulled her to her feet. “Now, querita, do you think you can walk with me, or do I need to carry you?”
“I will walk, thanks.” Aria tried to sound aloof, but as Lush turned with her hand in his to lead her into the shadows, she tugged his hand to call him back to her. “Leather---I mean, Lush, I really do mean it. Thank you for this.”
She didn’t even see him moving. The next thing she knew, she was back in his arms and his lips were on her forehead. “Cualquier cosa por ti mi amor. Now, come along, we are late.”
As they stepped into the deep shadows, the crystal around Aria’s neck glowed brighter and brighter, surrounding her in an orb of light that somehow did not extend to cover Lush, but before she had much time to ponder this, they were at his bike which roared to life as soon as he mounted and pulled her astride behind him.
“Hang on tight, anam cara.” She could hear the grin in Lush’s voice, like a mischievous little boy. “I’ve been wanting to rush for a while, and I finally have a good excuse. Besides,” He added, looking back at her, “I like the feeling of your hands on me.”
Aria didn’t even have time to protest his open flirting before they were racing down the impossibly twisted roads at a speed that nearly tore her breath from her. She clung with all her might to him, and judging from the way he was laughing, he loved this fact.
Within moments, they were pulling to a stop outside a large, beautifully lit mansion with huge mahogany doors. As Lush lifted Aria from the bike, the doors swung open to reveal an impossibly large man, a svelte woman with big hair, and a little boy who was running as quickly as his legs would carry him toward them.
Aria expected him to run to Lush, and so wasn’t expecting the tackling embrace the youth clamped about her waist. “Aria!” The boy was shouting as if he was too delighted for words at the sight of her. “You’re finally home!”
“Wha--?” Aria couldn’t even form the words. How did this child know her?
“Frankie, you’re frightening her.” Lush reprimanded softly. He obviously adored the boy and the feeling was apparently mutual as the child called “Frankie” released Aria immediately to wrap himself around Lush’s leg.
“Uncle Lush!” He exclaimed, “You brought her, you really brought her! And her puppy, too!”
“Easy, Frankie.” Lush reached down to pull Aria to her feet, wrapped his arm protectively and possessively around her shoulder, and gestured toward the doorway. “Aria, I’d like you to meet Victor, Stella,” He gestured to the child still wrapped around his right leg, “And Frankie Von Frankenstein.”