“I don’t think tomorrow’s going to be a very good day,” she murmured. She lifted the fairy to her face. “If you can, find the guardian and tell him I miss him and Randall. I need them both.”
“I will, miss.” Dayla hugged Karen’s nose. “Good night. Be well.”
Karen watched Dayla scoot under the door. She felt lonelier than ever without the fairy’s presence. She threw the covers back on the bed, crawling between the soft sheets, and turned out the bedside lamp with a loud click.
She lay there, watching the shadows dance across the ceiling. The birds outside flapped their wings, the rustling of their feathers loud in the darkness. Her heart pounded as she watched the silhouettes pace back and forth. The glass seemed too thin to stand between her and the flock on the balcony. She rolled over, unable to stand watching them any longer.
She thought about Bradford. He knew everything. What did he have planned? And did she really want to know? Her brain shifted into overdrive as she conjured up all sorts of horrible scenarios. Had he hurt Randall or the guardian? Would he hurt her?
She sat up, punching her pillow with a little more force than necessary. She settled back down, wishing Randall were next to her. Was he safe? Was he thinking about her? Could Dayla get her message to him?
Her eyes drifted shut. One way or another, tomorrow she’d have her answers.
Chapter Thirteen
The cheeriness of the morning sun was in direct contrast to Karen’s mood as she dressed and brushed out her hair. The birds still sat on the balcony, their black eyes watching her every move.
She breathed a sigh of relief when Dayla appeared on the dresser. “Good morning, Dayla.” She extended her hand, letting the fairy climb on.
Dayla sat cross-legged on Karen’s hand. “I worried about you all night, miss. Raesheen thinks you’re in danger.”
Karen walked to the bed, and Dayla hopped off her hand when she grabbed her shoes. “I can handle Bradford and his men.” She turned to the fairy. “Did you find Randall or the guardian?”
Dayla paced on the bed, her hands clasped behind her back. “No one has seen either one of them since yesterday.”
Karen’s chest tightened. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to ward off the internal chill pushing its way up to her skin. “Bradford said he had a plan to keep us apart. You don’t think...”
Images of Randall, broken and bleeding, filled her mind’s eye, making her heart nearly stop. She closed her eyes, willing the repulsive vision away as cold sweat trickled down her spine.
Dayla shook her head. “No. We would’ve felt it, and you would’ve definitely known.”
Karen’s shoulders sagged with relief. “But what could’ve happened to him?”
The fairy shrugged. “I’ve never understood how mere humans can be so good at hiding people. Especially people like me.”
The click of the lock had Karen jumping to her feet as Dayla disappeared. Jeffries stood there, looking down his nose at her. She stepped back from the menace in his silent stance as he glared at her.
“Mr. Troyington requests you to come down for breakfast. Now.” He moved to the side, indicating she should go first.
Karen pressed her back to the door and inched by him, not wanting to touch him. For good or ill, this was it. Bradford and Edna were already seated as she arrived. She watched the two of them as they stared at her, and again, that large chunk of ice moved into her stomach to sit there, freezing her soul. She took a deep, shaky breath and walked into the room.
“Good morning,” she said, surprised she could keep the tremor from her voice.
Bradford waited as she settled herself at the table. “I’ve decided to show you my private study this morning.” His face betrayed no emotion, no hint of what he had planned. He glanced at Edna, nodding slightly at her.
Karen’s eyes widened. “Really? I didn’t expect you to, seeing as how we’re having some issues between us right now.”
Bradford poured them all some coffee. “I know things are a bit strained, but I think this will help put everything into perspective.” He sat back, a small smile finally coming out.
Not good, her combat instincts screamed. “What kind of perspective?”
He chewed silently for a few minutes, watching her face. “I’ve got something in there that will be of particular interest to you.”
I doubt that. She turned to Edna. “Do you know what’s in there?”
The older woman’s mouth curled up in a sneer. “Of course.”
Karen laid her fork down. The few bites she’d eaten churned in her stomach, making nausea rise and fall in her throat. Her hands trembled as she laid her napkin on the table. “Let’s go now. I’m not very hungry.”
Bradford practically jumped to his feet. “Excellent. I didn’t want to wait any longer.”
He grabbed her wrist, pulling her along to his study. He unlocked the door, shut down the security system, and lightly pushed her inside. He flipped on the light switch, watching her face as she looked around. She heard Edna shut the door and lock it.
The low light cast strange shadows into the corners. The study was smaller than Karen thought it would be. It was plain with just a desk and two chairs in front, a small bookcase, and a few filing cabinets. The wall to her right was empty of everything. No pictures, no furniture, nothing. She stared at the plain wall and her body trembled.
Karen glanced around the small room. “I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this.”
Bradford picked up a remote and turned to her. “This is only part of the room. I have a separate room that joins this one. Edna conducts a lot of her experiments there.”
Karen turned to Edna. “I didn’t know you where a scientist,” she lied.
Edna eyed her, and Karen felt her skin crawl under the older woman’s watchful stare. “Geneticist.”
Mad scientist is more like it.
Bradford perched on the corner of his desk. “Edna is in the middle of something big and on the verge of a major breakthrough.”
He gestured she should sit down in one of the chairs. “You wanted to see my office. Well, here it is.” He opened his arms wide, indicating the small room. “What do you think?”
“It’s very private,” she said, feeling he wanted her to say something.
Edna moved to stand behind her. “Bradford and I have been talking about you. I convinced him this was the best course of action to take. He wasn’t too sure, but I reminded him that you know about too many things around here.”
He flipped the remote in his hand. “And the best is yet to come.”
Karen turned and shrank back from the maniacal look on Edna’s face. “What do you mean?”
Edna placed her hands on Karen’s shoulders, holding her in the chair. “Tell her.”
Bradford folded his hands in his lap and leaned forward. “I know about the nightly visits you’ve had from the guardian.”
Karen frowned and tried to rise from the chair. Edna’s grip on her tightened. She was stronger than Karen would’ve thought for an older woman. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?” The look on his face said he didn’t believe her. “When you arrived here, I’d hoped we’d share the same vision, the same ideas.” His eyes narrowed. “But the longer you’re here, the more you stink of fairy magic. However, I’m going to give you one more chance.”
Karen’s instincts started screaming to take them out and run. But she couldn’t. Not until she found out what had happened to Randall. “A chance for what?”
He pointed the remote at the wall, pressing a button and it slid silently upwards. “Let me show you.”
Bright fluorescent light flooded the room, making Karen blink several times as her eyes adjusted. Randall faced off with Cray while Harmon stood off to the side, holding a knife to a teen girl’s throat. Randall blocked a blow from Cray and crashed back into the glass, streaking it with blood and making it shudder.
“What are you doing?” Karen tri
ed again to rise, but Edna still held her down. “Stop it, Bradford! I mean it!”
He laughed, a dark mirthless sound that made Karen’s body shake harder. “You don’t like the game?” He grabbed her left arm while Edna held her right as they led her to the window. “If Dupré hurts Cray, Harmon cuts the girl’s throat with a silver dagger. No regenerating from that, right, Edna?”
Edna nodded eagerly. “Right.”
“If he does nothing, Cray will break him in two and I’ll be rid of him. Either way I win.”
He rapped on the glass, getting Cray’s attention. He gestured for Randall to be brought to the window. Cray yanked Randall to his feet and shoved his head against the glass. Bradford pushed Karen closer.
Karen could see the cuts and bruises on Randall’s face and arms from the beating he’d sustained at Cray’s hands. He stared at her and she lifted a hand to the glass. He raised his gaze to Bradford and Karen could see in his face he knew what was coming.
Bradford pushed a second button on the small remote and she could hear Randall’s ragged breathing and the girl’s quiet sobbing. Bradford leaned close and whispered, “Deny him. Say it and all will be forgiven between us. Stay silent and I’ll kill them both right now as you watch.”
Karen watched Cray heft a metal bar in his hands. Randall wouldn’t survive a blow from that, not in his present condition. And the girl was innocent. She looked in his eyes, those eyes that reminded her of ice on fire. He nodded, knowing what she had to do.
“I deny him,” she whispered.
Bradford laid a hand to his ear. “What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you.”
Karen took a deep breath, hot tears scalding her face as she stared into Randall’s eyes, watching her words hurt him more deeply than Cray ever could. “I deny him,” she said louder.
Randall’s eyes closed and his head dropped as her words reached him. He sank to his knees as Cray laughed, and Karen balled her hands, longing to go through the glass and wipe the smug look off his face.
Bradford gave her a sharp shake. “Say it one more time and the bonds will be broken for all time.”
Break his heart, save his life. Karen hated Bradford more than anyone in her life. She wanted to hold Randall, to comfort him and make everything all right. But she’d just been forced to destroy any future they would’ve had together. Break his heart. Save his life. She followed him down to the floor, wanting to stay beside him as long as possible.
“I deny him.”
Bradford yanked her to her feet. “Get him up, Cray. I want him to see this.”
He grabbed Karen and kissed her as Randall watched. He turned her to the glass and opened the top few buttons on her shirt. “This is mine now. You’ll never know what it’s like to have her.”
“How does ‘no’ grab you?” Karen growled.
She rammed her elbow straight back, catching him in the stomach. His breath whooshed out of him, and he stumbled back as she spun around, catching him with an open palm strike. He fell to the floor, surprise and rage competing for dominance on his face.
Karen shoved Edna to one side, running for the door. She opened the lock she’d heard Edna set when Bradford grabbed her shoulders and shoved her toward the desk. She spun with a roundhouse kick to his head. He fell to the floor, and Karen grabbed a fistful of his jacket. “Randall, the girl, and I are leaving now. You’d be smart to let us.”
“I don’t think so,” Edna said behind her.
A sharp pin prick stabbed the back of her neck. She slapped at it, turning to see the older woman with an empty hypodermic needle in her hand. Karen staggered, grabbing the back of the chair. She blinked, her vision blurring badly. She heard someone shouting her name from far away and turned her head to see Randall pounding on the glass.
Bradford stood, straightening his clothes. He rubbed his head where her foot had connected. “Thank you, Edna.” He looked at Karen. “I was expecting you to try something like that, so I told Edna to be prepared. Don’t worry. She injected you with a mild sedative. It’ll wear off soon.”
Karen sank to the floor as she tried to get her legs to take her to Randall. As her hand touched the glass, her world went black.
****
She was cold. Karen squeezed her eyes shut tighter, then opened them slowly. She was lying on a concrete floor. She sat up, massaging her temples to get her brain functioning again and her mouth felt stuffed with cotton. A water bottle sat next to her on the floor and she grabbed it, drinking half without stopping.
A hand reached out, pulling the bottle away from her mouth. “Not too much at once. You’ll make yourself sick.”
She looked up, trying to make her eyes focus. “Randall?” She grabbed his arm. “Are you all right?”
He smiled, kneeling beside her. “I should be asking you that.”
She grabbed a fistful of his T-shirt. “The girl that was with you. What about her?”
“Nikki’s fine,” he said, then grinned. “Do you always worry about everyone but yourself?”
Her heart flip-flopped in her chest. “Yes.” She threw her arms around him. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to deny you, but Bradford gave me no choice. I’m so sorry I caused you pain.”
Randall wrapped his arms around her. “You didn’t,” he whispered.
She sat back, watching his eyes sparkle with amusement at her confusion. “But Bradford said...”
He laid a finger on her lips. “Do you remember what the guardian told you about the power of names?”
She nodded, wondering where he was going with this line of thought.
“By not saying my name when you denied me, the bonds stayed intact. As far as the magic knows, you could’ve been denying broccoli.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Broccoli? Really?”
He grinned wider, shaking his head. “Not really. But you didn’t say my name, so it didn’t work. That’s all that matters.”
“For now,” Bradford said from the doorway, Cray and Harmon behind him. “Didn’t you think I’d be able to tell if it worked or not? I sense things like that.”
Randall shot to his feet and stood in front of Karen. “You won’t touch her again, Troyington. I won’t let you hurt her.”
Bradford folded his arms and chuckled. “Why should I want to hurt her? I’m going to let you do it for me.” He stared at them. “I thought having her break the bonds was the best thing to do at the time. Then, when I felt everything still intact, I came up with this solution and I like it much better.”
Randall frowned. “What do you mean?”
Bradford smiled that evil sneer again. “You’re a smart boy. Figure it out.”
Karen stood next to Randall. She’d seen a lot of emotions cross his face, but this was the first time he looked panicked. “What’s wrong?”
He didn’t answer, just took several steps toward the door.
Karen’s hands shook as he remained quiet. “You know what he’s planning, don’t you?”
Randall nodded. “He’s going to keep us locked in here all night.”
Bradford clapped. “Very good, Dupré. I know about your nightly visits and what you haven’t shown her, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for you.”
Karen looked back and forth between the two of them. Dread crawled through her as she watched fear fill Randall’s face and the overconfidence in Bradford’s. She opened her mouth to ask Randall to explain, but the words jammed in her throat.
“When the sun sets in—” Bradford looked at his watch. “—nine hours and twenty-two minutes, all will become clear.” He motioned for Cray and Harmon to leave. “When you finally see what a monster he really is, you’ll be begging me to take you back.” He paused at the door. “But I won’t. I’m done with you, both of you. See you in the morning, Ms. Spraiker.”
The door slammed shut, the boom echoing through the room.
Chapter Fourteen
Randall ran toward the door, slamming his fist against it and cried out as the meta
l seared his flesh. There was a loud click as they were sealed in. “Troyington, no! Don’t do this to her!”
He hung his head, squeezing his eyes shut. “Please,” he said in a low voice. “Don’t do this.”
Karen pushed on the locked door. “Well, it’s not opening this time.” She stared at the claw marks on the walls to either side of the door, dried blood coloring the set to her right a dark brown. She ran her fingers over them. “Edna tried to explain these away but something wasn’t happy about being here.”
Randall rubbed his hand where it connected with the door. “It was me,” he mumbled.
Karen turned sharply to stare at him. “What?”
She thought about the guardian’s hand and those long claws and touched the marks lightly. Karen smiled a little as the pieces fell together and formed the puzzle she knew it would. She figured right. Randall was the guardian who came to her at night.
“Nothing.” He lifted his head, staring at her. “We don’t have much time left. I need you to do something for me.”
Karen hurried to him, watching him watch her. “Tell me. I’d do anything for you.”
He lifted his hands to her face and held her. “Just remember right now, at this point in time, you loved me.” He gathered her into his arms, holding her tight.
She rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes. “Wait a minute.” She stood back. “Is something going to happen to make me stop loving you?”
He kissed her forehead. “In a few hours, everything’s going to change.” He looked away. “I’m afraid.”
“Of what?” she asked, trembling as his fear bled into her.
“Of losing you,” he whispered. “When you see who I truly am.”
“You won’t,” she said firmly, trying to make him believe it. “I promise.”
Fire crept its way back to his eyes as his fingers glided down her neck. He kissed her, his tongue tasting and teasing, pulling a passion from her she didn’t know she had. “Remember you said that.”
She could feel his power rise around her, but it felt different. Instead of warming her, it ignited her, raising a blinding silver light behind her eyes. She squirmed in his arms, trying to relieve the pressure building inside.
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