by T. M. Cromer
“I think you’re a romantic at heart.” She sniffed the rose to hide her pleased grin.
“For the right woman.”
“Am I still the right woman?”
“You know you are.”
A frown darkened her brow, and she faced away from him to look out over the moonlit path.
“I’m conflicted,” she finally confessed.
“I’d be surprised if you weren’t.” He wrapped his arms around her and drew her back against his chest. “When I woke after my time in the Otherworld, it was as if I viewed the world through a hazy looking glass. I was detached.”
“You’ve been twice, haven’t you?”
“Yes. Once when I died at Zhu Lin’s hands, and again when Isis allowed me to cross over to see you.”
“And both times, you felt this odd detachment?”
“The first time I did, but Isis gave me an Ankh amulet.” He rubbed her cold, exposed arms and sent a surge of magic to warm her cells. Aurora murmured her thanks, and Alastair continued his tale. “It is a charm that allows me to restore life to another. But not life in such a way to revive someone from stasis, or I’d have done it for you years ago. Instead the amulet allows me to boost life, to give a magical insurgence that brings back parts of the lost soul.”
Aurora twisted around in his arms and parted his shirt. She lifted the pendant. “This?”
“Yes.”
“Does it help you to wear it?”
“No. It’s so I can provide some semblance of relief to others when they have come back from the Otherworld. Isis restored the missing parts of my soul, or rather the parts she could.” He tucked the necklace into his shirt then tilted her chin up to capture her attention. “You have to understand, the soul will always be fractured after it dies. I can give you magical infusions until you feel mostly normal. But there will always be a part that is lost forever. It could be your ability to love, to hope, to cry. Or it could be a small part of all of them combined. It’s difficult to tell.”
“Will I get used to the loss?”
“I don’t know if we ever do.”
It was difficult to discern her exact feelings. She nodded and turned away. “Thank you for being honest with me.”
“I’ll always be honest with you.”
“You weren’t,” she said softly.
“No, and look where that led. When you found out I’d lied and gone after Zhu Lin, you hightailed it to where we were. You ended up in a coma for decades.”
She pivoted to search his face. “Why didn’t you just let me go?”
“Because not only would I have lost my reason for living, I’d have lost my humanity. It was pretty touch and go as it was.”
She gave a sharp nod of understanding. An animalistic warlock with no care for life would be dangerous to the world at large.
“I’m not saying you have to stay with me to temper my magic, Rorie. But I need to know you are alive and well in the world.”
She closed the short distance between them and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I never thanked you for all you did for me. While I don’t approve of the means, I understand why you did it.”
He closed his eyes and hugged her tightly in return. Voicing his thoughts and emotions was impossible, but he doubted she needed him to. They had always been on the same wavelength when it came to their feelings. Perhaps it was why he loved her so much; she was the only person to truly see him and love him regardless of his flaws.
“Just promise me that you’ll try to embrace life again. I want you to be able to enjoy your children and grandchildren, and to bask in their love.”
She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes and nodded with a sniff. “I will.”
“That’s all I ever wanted for you, Rorie.”
“You sound like you’re saying goodbye again.”
“No. I’ll be here as long as you want me to be. But I had a lot of years to ruminate over all the words I wish I’d said.”
She cleared her throat and clasped his hand. With a small tug, she started their walk again. “When do we leave for England? I assume that’s where we need to start looking for Jace.”
“Yes. I want to go to Fennell Castle and see what clues he may have left behind.”
“Do you think Ryker or Preston might be of use to us?”
“Perhaps, but let’s wait to drag them into our little adventure until we need to, hmm?”
“Our little adventure?” She smiled. “I like the sound of that.”
“I thought you might.” He pulled her to a stop. “I had intended to leave in the morning, but let’s give it a few more days so you can gather your strength.”
“Three days. But swear to me that you won’t go without me in the meantime.”
“I won’t,” he assured her.
“Promise me.”
Her insistence reminded him so much of how she used to be that he was helpless not to laugh. When she wanted, Aurora was a force to be reckoned with.
“I promise.” He kissed their joined hands. “Now can we get some sleep. I’m older than I look.”
10
Two days and ten hours later, they found themselves on the grounds of Aurora’s ancestral home. As she stared up at the imposing castle, misgivings assailed her. To her eye and to the eyes of any witch or warlock, the exterior looked as it should. To a non-magical human, it would appear to be under construction. In a few months’ time, they too would see the building as it should be.
Large dark gray towers rose straight up on either side of the main structure. They appeared to be reaching for the heavens. A thick rampart connected the towers and ran the entire perimeter of the outside keep. A bird’s-eye view would show the hexagon shape protecting an inner courtyard once used to safeguard residents and villagers during times of war. An arched opening was flanked by large metal gates on either side. To Aurora’s knowledge, they had never been closed in her lifetime.
“Are you all right?”
Alastair’s voice startled her from her musings.
“Did you restore this?” she asked.
“No. I thought maybe you and Preston had.”
She frowned and shook her head. “Perhaps Preston? It’s odd to see the place in daylight after so many years.”
“I can imagine. Still, it’s stunning.”
“Thanks to the magic my ancestors attached to the building. I fear it would have fallen to ruin had it been up to my brother.”
“I’m sorry, Rorie.”
She grasped his hand and squeezed. “This is not on you, Alastair. This was Jace’s responsibility. You cannot be blamed because he went to a dark place in his mind.”
“There are days when I think you’d be much happier for having never met me.”
“No. I don’t think I would have been.” She shifted to face him. “I was a bored young socialite with no direction. I spent my days drinking tea and reading, and my nights going from one social function to another.” She shook her head. “You gave me a purpose, and then after you were gone, I used my children to fill the gaping hole you’d left. Without you, I’d have never known true happiness.”
“But you’ve also experienced the depths of hell thanks to me.”
“I was devastated when I thought you’d died. But I survived. Despite what either Jace or I have said, my stasis was on me because of my own foolish tendency to run into trouble.”
“So you’re no longer angry with me?” he teased.
She compressed her lips to hide her smile. She never got the chance to respond before they were interrupted.
“Well, well, aren’t you two a sight?” a deep voice sneered from above.
Alastair had her behind him in an instant, a glowing ball of energy filling his hand.
Aurora grabbed his arm and tugged. “Alastair, no! It’s Jace.”
“I bloody well know who it is, Rorie,” he snapped. “It doesn’t mean I intend to trust him right off the bat.”
“Ostendo!” Jace shouted fro
m the rampart.
The air rippled around them, and Aurora spun in a circle, looking for whoever or whatever Jace was magically ordering to show themselves. Seeing nothing, she lifted her face to stare at him.
The hatred bled from his features, and he stared in shock. “It really is you!”
Unexpected tears flooded her eyes and clogged her throat, making her incapable of speech. She nodded.
Beside her, Alastair shook his hand to dispel the magic.
“May we enter?” he called to Jace.
Her brother must’ve answered in the affirmative because Alastair gripped her hand and led her through the gateway.
Just as they set foot in the courtyard, the iron gates slammed shut behind them. Had she not been holding Alastair’s hand, she’d never have known of his nervousness. His face was inscrutable, but within seconds of the gate closing, his hand grew clammy in hers.
In the time they were lovers, he’d never truly opened up about his time as Zhu Lin’s captive, but Aurora knew enough to know it hadn’t been pleasant. Many nights, Alastair woke screaming and coated in sweat. When she pressed him for answers, he’d lock himself in his study with a bottle of Scotch. It was during those moments that she felt the deepest divide, and she knew reaching him was impossible. More often than not, he’d return to himself in the morning. She’d wake to breakfast in bed, or some equally sweet gesture on his part. He never failed to find a way to apologize for his distance.
Now, she recognized the response for what it was: a post-traumatic reaction. She squeezed his hand but showed no other outward sign that she’d picked up on his panic.
“Was locking us in necessary, Jace?” she asked as soon as he appeared in front of them. “We came to find you. Don’t you feel the gates are extreme on your part?”
His worried gaze darted around the area. “Come inside and be quick about it.”
The pulse of magic Aurora experienced from holding Alastair’s hand said a lot about his feelings of being ordered about. It didn’t take a genius to know that internally he was bristling.
“Please,” she whispered. “Just go with it for a bit. Jace will have a good reason for his precautions.”
The frigid stare Alastair turned her way caused Aurora to release his hand and sidestep, fearful of this rage-fueled man he’d become.
Once within the castle walls, Jace continued walking until he reached the north tower.
“Explain yourself,” Alastair ordered.
“I don’t need to explain anything to you,” Jace said, scarcely above a snarl. His eyes softened when he looked at her. “Rorie.”
He opened his arms, and she flew into his embrace. She felt more than heard his deep inhale. “I thought I’d never see you alive again.”
The catch in his voice moved her more than words could describe. This was her big brother. They’d always been close growing up, relying on one another when their parents were off, flitting about Europe and attending some function or another. When Jason and Felicia Fennell died in a hotel fire in Italy, Jace and Aurora only had each other to turn to. Since their parents had no siblings, they’d had no aunts or uncles to turn to, and their grandparents had long been deceased.
“You should have had more faith in Alastair,” she tried to tease. Her attempt at humor fell flat. Both men stared at one another as if waiting for the other to strike. “Jace, where have you been all this time? Everyone has been looking for you.”
“I’ve been dealing with things the best way I knew how,” he told her gruffly.
She glanced at Alastair in time to see his eyes narrow on Jace. As with her, something struck him as off.
“Can we sit and chat over a cup of tea?” she wheedled with a smile. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”
“Do you intend to stay the night here?” Jace asked.
“No.”
Aurora frowned at Alastair. “Yes. I intend to. Alastair might have other plans.”
They made eye contact. She refused to waver under his challenging stare. Ever so slowly, his cold expression thawed and his lips quirked.
“I guess we are staying the night,” he told Jace.
Jace looked back and forth between them, eventually nodding. “Why don’t you get comfortable. I’ll make us some tea.”
By silent agreement, neither Alastair nor Aurora spoke for a few minutes after Jace left. Finally, he turned to her and said, “Your brother is acting strangely, even for him.”
“I agree.”
“I thought you’d argue the point.”
“Don’t be an ass, darling. I just said you were right.”
She could see him struggle against his urge to laugh.
“I wonder what he’s hiding.”
Shaking her head, Aurora sat down on an antique, red damask Victorian settee. “He could just be suffering from the shock of seeing his sister return after twenty years.”
Alastair joined her on the sofa, leaned back to rest one arm along the top, and crossed his legs. He was half-turned in her direction. Lazily, he reached out a hand to toy with the blue tips of her hair.
“It remains to be seen, but I imagine we’ll get to the bottom of it soon enough.” He stared moodily at the lock of hair he played with for a long moment before looking at her directly. “Please don’t be overly trusting of him. People change with time.”
“I know.”
“Thank you.”
* * *
Alastair was aware that the information in the dossier he’d collected on Jace over the years was woefully little. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that Aurora’s brother was in some type of fix.
“Why didn’t your brother simply conjure the tea?”
Aurora gasped and looked at him with wide-eyed trepidation. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
He was about to respond when he heard the clunk of a locking mechanism click into place. He shut his eyes and shook his head at his own naiveté. For years and years, he’d been on his toes, prepared in the event of any situation that arose. Yet here he sat with Aurora, allowing himself to be duped.
“Un-bloody-believable!”
Alastair mentally agreed with her outburst. What were the odds the two of them would be locked in a room together twice in one week?
“What is with our family members locking us up?” she demanded, hands on her hips and outrage clearly written on every line of her body. “Of all people, how could Jace do this to me?”
Placing his palm flat over the lock, Alastair attempted a quick spell to disengage the mechanism. Nothing happened. He slammed his fist against the solid oak.
“Your brother has gone insane,” he muttered. “I’m beginning to believe I’m just as crazy for participating in this wild goose chase to begin with.”
Her outraged gasp echoed about the chamber. “Jace isn’t insane.”
He tried to keep the look of disbelief from his face and failed miserably.
“It’s true,” she insisted. “I know my brother.”
“No, my love. You knew your brother. The man we just encountered is not the same man from years ago.”
“You’re wrong, Alastair. I’ll prove it to you.”
“That’s neither here nor there. Right now, we need to figure out how to escape this tower.” He stalked to the window in time to witness Jace glance up on his way across the courtyard. From this distance, it was difficult to tell the expression on his face, but tension clung to the lines of his body as he hurried away. Exactly what Jace had planned for them was anyone’s guess, but Alastair didn’t imagine it was going to be favorable.
Behind him, the sound of stone grinding against stone met his ears. He turned just as a hidden passageway opened beside Aurora.
“Close your mouth, darling. Do you really believe a fortress this old doesn’t hold secrets?” Aurora picked up a bronze candelabra off a long oak sideboard and touched her finger to each of the three wicks. She handed it to him and grabbed a single brass candlestick holder from a small nightstand. Agai
n, she used her finger to light it. “When our old nurse was sleeping, Jace and I used to explore these passageways.”
Alastair frowned and glanced around the room. Jace had to know that his sister would remember their childhood exploits. Why would he lock them in, only to allow her to escape through the passageway? “I think you should allow me to go first. Just in case we run into any unpleasant surprises.”
“I’ll go first. I know these passages like the back of my hand.” She ducked through the four-foot-high opening and gestured for him to follow.
It went against his nature to allow a woman to take risks on his behalf, but Aurora was correct. Her familiarity with the place would come in handy. “Remind me to punch your brother in the face a few times when next we meet.”
“I’ll do no such thing. Come along, and be sure to engage the lever on this side of the opening. That way, if the door opens again, we’ll have advanced warning of visitors.”
“Who knew you were so clever?” he murmured as he did her bidding.
“You did. Now, stop messing about and follow me.”
“I have to admit, this bossy side of you is highly attractive, Rorie.”
Her light laughter floated back to him. “Only you could manage to sound seductive during a high-stress situation, Alastair Thorne.”
“It always worked for James Bond.” He brushed away a cobweb and was grateful she missed his shudder. Spiders had become a phobia of his since his turn in Zhu Lin’s dungeon. Alastair abhorred the creepy little buggers. “But I can’t recall old James traipsing through a centuries-old castle’s hidden passageway.”
“When did you start watching Bond films?”
“I had a lot of time on my hands while you were sleeping the days away.”
She paused and spun to face him. “I would have understood if you had moved on.”
The vulnerability in her eyes was highlighted by the uncertainty in her tone.
“You don’t know me at all if you believe I could have done that, Rorie. There will only ever be you.”
Her eyelashes fluttered down, and she bit her lower lip.
“That doesn’t obligate you. If you don’t feel… the same, you are entitled to find your happiness.” It cost him everything to say the words—practically wrung his guts dry—but still, they needed to be said.