Sister Seeker

by Shelby Hailstone Law

  “Oh.”

  “Andrew,” Elaine started to say, but he waved her off, gently scooping up the unconscious woman before he turned to Theresa with a more serious look than the openly shocked one he’d been wearing a second before.

  “I need to take her somewhere secure. Right now,” he said. “What do you have?”

  “My house is the most secure. I even have a room I kept as a sort of panic room, but it could also be used as a prison with a few modifications,” Theresa said, one eyebrow arched. “But only if you tell me what’s going on.”

  Andrew glanced down at the woman in his arms. With her hair tangled and her face covered in dried blood and mud, none of us could easily identify her. But when I saw the sort of grimly determined look Andrew wore, I had an idea.

  “She’s a member of the Family,” Andrew said. “My family.”

  Theresa narrowed her eyes at that. “You brought a mercenary to my sanctuary,” she breathed out, obviously furious. She had her hands clenched in fists, but to her credit, she hadn’t lashed out at Andrew. Yet.

  “I didn’t do anything,” Andrew shot back angrily. “I didn’t ask my sister to come here. I haven’t talked to anyone in my family since my brother tortured me for being too close to Elaine!”

  Judging by the surprised noise Elaine made, I suddenly had the feeling Andrew hadn’t actually told her that part. At least not the reason for the torture; she already knew that he’d been badly hurt when he’d been captured. But I had assumed—and Elaine probably had too—that Jordan had tortured Andrew in Iceland because he had betrayed the Family, not because of some weirdly sadistic big brotherly disapproval.

  If that’s how his brother reacts to him picking the “wrong” girl, it’s no wonder it took Elaine and Andrew so long to get together. I shook the thought off and put it aside—something I did all too often when it came to Andrew and his odd family dynamics.

  “Do you want help? I can help,” I offered quietly.

  But Andrew shook his head. “I know how to deal with her if she wakes up before we get there,” he said with steel in his tone that I didn’t often hear.

  I nodded and let the subject drop—for now—but I made sure Andrew could see me falling into step at his side, with Elaine on his other side. A silent show of solidarity.

  We were part of the way there when Andrew’s sister started to stir, but instead of risking having to deal with his sister as we carried her back to the village, Andrew simply put a hand on her cheek, and she went drifting back into unconsciousness without a fuss—obviously still too worn out to put up much of a fight.

  Not that I expected our luck on that front to hold out much longer. I knew what Andrew’s family members were capable of. His brother had tortured him, and the rest of them considered him a traitor. More than that, I knew they had taught Andrew how to destroy people. How to inflict pain. How to sow chaos. How to be exactly the kind of person I knew he didn’t want to be.

  “We need to know how she found us,” Andrew said in a tone I couldn’t quite place, somewhere between anger and panic. I’d never heard him sound like that before, not even with Jordan.

  “You can’t question her alone,” Elaine said.

  Andrew looked like she’d hit him. “Elaine, after all this time—”

  “It’s not a matter of trust,” Elaine said, cutting off any argument with a single raised eyebrow. “You know better. But I’m not letting you do this alone.”

  Andrew shook his head at her. “Now’s not the time, Elaine.”

  “Exactly. Now is not the time for you to get lost in your family.”

  “She can’t know you’re here, Elaine,” Andrew said. “There are security concerns.”

  “If you’re here, I’m here. I’m sure your family knows that by now.” She gave him a hard look. “And disapproves, apparently.”

  Despite the seriousness of the situation, Andrew smirked quietly. “Yes. And your family is so very supportive.”

  “My cousin is.”

  I held my hands up at that. “Woah, don’t drag me into this,” I said. “I’m just here to help.”

  “Then you can stick with Andrew,” Elaine said decisively.

  Andrew whirled to face her. “Elaine—”

  Elaine cut him off with a wave of her hand. “Andrew, I love you, but you can’t hold your own against your older siblings. You need backup.”

  Andrew came to a full stop, and I barely hid my laughter with a cough.

  Can’t argue with the ‘I love you,’ I thought with a smile. Not that I’d say as much out loud—not until we had safely dealt with the mercenary in our midst, anyway.

  Chapter 11: Andrew the Traitor

  Andrew acted differently around his sister than he had acted around his brother. With Jordan, I’d known exactly how scared Andrew was, because he simply couldn’t hide it. But with his sister, he moved gently, even cleaning up the blood from her face while she was still unconscious. Sure, he also made sure to tie her up so tightly that she couldn’t possibly get out of it, and he watched her like a hawk for any signs of movement. But I somehow doubted he would have been this careful with Jordan.

  But then, Jordan didn’t look as much like Andrew as this woman did. The two brothers had shared a few similar traits, but this woman had the same red tint to her hair, the same cowlick at the front, the same facial structure, the same jawline.

  “Were you guys close?” I asked as Andrew finished what he was doing and stepped back from his sister, his mouth drawn in a tight line.

  Andrew paused and looked toward me. I could see the indecision in his expression. He worked so hard to maintain this illusion that he was a heartless killer and a mercenary that I knew how badly he struggled with any kind of personal admission. But I hoped he would trust me enough to talk to me anyway. We’d gotten closer since I joined the Rendezvous—especially when I hadn’t dropped our friendship the moment I realized how evil his family was.

  (Besides, how could I drop someone’s friendship because of their family when my family was literally the evil power sitting on the throne that we were trying to overthrow? I totally had no room to judge.)

  I hoped the fact that I’d been open with him and made it so clear he could trust me got him to hesitate, but I also knew better than to try to press him. Andrew was still so young, and I knew now, from centuries of experience, that a hurt little boy would clam up under pressure faster than a bolt of lightning.

  But, finally, Andrew nodded without looking my way. “She was the baby of the family before I came along,” he admitted. “And she’s my full sister. Jordan’s mother died in the initial push to take the kingdom from Sir Peter. My mum—” He paused. “She was a powerful assassin. The perfect match. Wendy was born just a few years before I was.”

  “So you were close.”

  Andrew nodded. “Witches don’t usually . . . there’s usually more space between siblings. But Mum took dangerous missions all the time to stretch her skills. And, well, to age herself. She would age weeks at a time, so she was ready to try for more children more often.” He let out a breath. “My father made it abundantly clear he wanted more of us. More children, more power. And he also made it clear to Mum that her duty was to give that to him.”

  “Yeah, I’m not a fan of the way your dad runs things,” I said, making a face.

  “That’s the way things are done when your entire family is based on stratagem,” Andrew said, still without looking at me. “I’ve already told you, Michelle: I’m nothing but a tool. A weapon. That’s how I was raised.” He shrugged, his palms outturned. “If I’d stayed with the Family and proven myself, I might have ended up like Jordan. My father chooses a few favorite children and shows them darker magic. They live longer because he allows them to.”

  “What? Why?”

  Andrew shrugged. “For power.”

  “I hate that answer.”

  “It’s the truth.”

  “I still hate it.”

  Andrew shrugged. “Ea
sier to do that when you’re on the other side of it. But the members of my Family? We all wanted that power. And Jordan hoped I’d become a favorite like him,” he admitted. “That’s why he trained me when I was younger.”

  “And that’s why he’s so upset with you now,” I surmised.

  Another shrug. “That’s the way things are in my family.”

  “And I’ve already told you how I feel about that.”

  Andrew shook his head, and I thought I could hear him chuckle to himself. “You act like the world will change because you tell it to.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at that description. “Well, why shouldn’t it?”

  Andrew smirked and shook his head again. “You’re one strange Halfsie. You know that, right?”

  “Someone’s got to keep you entertained,” I teased.

  Andrew’s smile widened at that—and then immediately dropped when Wendy stirred and let out a quiet moan. I could see the switch from Person Andrew to Soldier Andrew—which was strange, considering Wendy was his closest sister.

  But then, I supposed I’d be putting on my emotional armor too if I had to interrogate someone I loved.

  This can’t be easy for him, I thought.

  I guess we’ll have to help him, Lila said. I could feel her smiling in the way my own lips turned up. I’m kind of enjoying this protective streak of yours.

  I was always this way, Lila.

  I know, but it’s stronger now, and I like it. I love the new you! Or the old you.

  I shook my head. Don’t encourage me.

  Too late.

  I almost laughed, but I knew that would seem out of place to Andrew when he had his sister to worry about, so I bit back the urge and focused instead on the woman in front of us. Andrew had said she was only a few years older than he was, but physically, she looked a decade older. I remembered what he said about the expected lifetime of his family members and frowned, thinking of the way my own father had tortured me into aging as well. And that thought left me feeling more determined to take the Family down as well as my father. No one should pick and choose which children they wanted to live longer than others.

  “You shouldn’t be here, Wendy,” Andrew said. His tone wasn’t sharp—and I realized that was probably why he wanted to talk to his sister alone. I’d seen the way Andrew had been treated when he was the one under lock and key, and I could understand why he’d want to keep his sister from that same rough treatment. Someone else might go overboard hitting a Family member, but not Andrew.

  “Neither should you,” Wendy said. She shifted so that she was on her knees, though she couldn’t do much else with her hands tied behind her back and a spell on the ropes to keep her from accessing her magic.

  Andrew shook his head. “I’m right where I’m supposed to be.”

  “Is that so?” Wendy raised an eyebrow and then turned my way, a smile creasing her expression that looked suddenly more like Jordan.

  I could more easily think of her as a member of a mercenary family when she mirrored Jordan and not Andrew, as irrational as that sounds.

  Wendy met my gaze as her smile widened. “Have you told her about where you’re supposed to be, Andy?” she asked in a teasing tone that didn’t match her expression at all.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Andrew stiffen. “Wen. . . .” His tone carried a warning, but his honest fear undercut the threat.

  Wendy ignored her little brother, her full focus on me. “You think he’s really on your side?” she said, her eyes glittering. “You’re so trusting.”

  “Wendy.” The tone of Andrew’s voice, the sharpest he’d used with her in my presence, finally got her to look his way, though she looked even more amused when she looked at him than she had when she was taunting me. But as soon as Andrew had her gaze, he dropped his shoulders and looked far more open than I had ever seen him look. “Please.”

  Instead of softening her expression as Andrew had probably hoped she would, Wendy seemed to have the opposite reaction. “Begging? Really?” She sniffed. “Jordan was right. You’ve gone totally soft. I didn’t want to believe it.”

  “I have not.”

  “You have,” Wendy said, drawing herself up as much as she could. “That princess turned you into a page boy!”

  Andrew narrowed his eyes at Wendy and pointed a finger her way—and the next thing I knew, he’d knocked her out again with a spell. He was glaring and obviously intensely bothered, if the set to his jaw was anything to go by.

  I took a step toward him. “Andrew—”

  “I’m really tired of my family talking about Elaine like that,” Andrew said shortly before he got to his feet.

  And I think I would have accepted that explanation not too long ago, when I barely knew him and didn’t remember helping to raise teenagers. But I’d seen great-grand-nephews wear that exact same expression of barely-concealed hurt and panic too many times to brush it aside as simply a matter of protecting Elaine.

  “Andrew,” I said, this time reaching out to grab his arm before he could get too far, “that’s a lie, and you know it.”

  Andrew gave me a dry look but didn’t answer.

  But that wasn’t going to work on me. I crossed my arms and gave him a dry look right back. “I know you,” I said. “You live and breathe strategy. You know we need to know how Wendy found us and if anyone is coming behind her. You don’t lose your temper and knock people out when you know there’s intelligence to gather.” When Andrew held my gaze, I squared up with him. “Tell me what’s going on now before she wakes up and tells me a half-truth that makes it look worse than it is.”

  “Michelle—”

  “I’m not going running to tell Elaine,” I said. “But there’s a reason people don’t trust you, and you’re playing right into it. So tell me now, while you still have a sympathetic ear. I want to be on your side, but I don’t have patience for lies and smokescreens.”

  Andrew looked surprised before he burst into a laugh. “Don’t hold anything back on my account!”

  I couldn’t help but smile back once Andrew had relaxed. “Come on,” I said cajolingly. “I’m the one who had a time bomb planted in my memories, and you’ve met my brother. I don’t have room to judge.”

  Andrew glanced toward the still-unconscious Wendy for a long time, obviously weighing out his choices. I knew whatever secret he wanted to keep me from learning had to be something big, because I could see the almost-panic behind his eyes. And panic simply wasn’t something I associated with Andrew—not until I’d started meeting his family.

  Finally, he nodded to himself and held out his hand. “Swear to me you won’t turn right back around and tell the rest of the Rendezvous,” he said, his tone deadly serious.

  Part of me wanted to hesitate, but . . . Andrew didn’t have many friends. And even fewer that he could trust. And I had just been thinking about how young he was. I wasn’t going to turn my back on him and give him another reason to think the world hated him. So, I nodded and shook his hand. “You can trust me.”

  He kept a tight hold of my hand and didn’t drop my gaze. “I was assigned to the Rendezvous, Michelle,” he said in a voice so soft I had to lean forward to hear it. “I never left the Family. I was sent to spy on the Rendezvous and keep the Royalists aware of their movements and plans.”

  Okay, I hadn’t been expecting that.

  “What?”

  “You heard me. Don’t make me say it again,” Andrew said, his tone sullen—also something I hadn’t been expecting from him.

  I blinked back my surprise a few times and then started to shake my head all over again. “But that doesn’t make sense.”

  “Doesn’t it?” Andrew replied before I could really get any traction with my argument. “My father saw the Rendezvous gaining steam after Elaine escaped, so he sent me. I was the youngest in the family, so I was the most believable. I had barely finished my regular course of training with Jordan. Of all my brothers and sisters, I was the only one that
might have a chance at convincing the Rendezvous that I’d had a youthful rebellion.” He sounded angry, gaining speed with every word. “I was thrilled. This mission was the perfect way to gain my father’s favor.”

  I could barely find the wherewithal not to stare in slack-jawed horror. This was everything I had been defending Andrew against, everything I had taken people to task for even suggesting, and here he was proving all those conspiracy theorists right about him!

  “I sent them intel—as much as I could. Not much at first, not when I had to establish my cover, but I also sabotaged Rendezvous plans and kept King William safe from assassination attempts,” Andrew said, the anger turning into bitterness in his tone.

  “That doesn’t sound like you,” I said, though I couldn’t seem to get my voice above a whisper.

  Andrew whirled to face me, his eyes flashing. “Doesn’t it?” he demanded. “I’ve been trying to tell you since the day I met you that I’m dangerous, and you’ve never believed me.”

  Despite the venom I could hear in his words, I shook my head and stood my ground. “No,” I said, tipping my chin up. “No, I don’t believe that.” I held up a hand to stop him from snapping at me again. “Okay, I believe that you were sent here. That makes sense. Even if I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around how much lying you’ve done to get here.” Andrew let out a breath that would have been a laugh if the topic weren’t so serious. “I just don’t believe that you’re that hardened. Especially not when I know how you feel about Elaine.”

  Something shifted in Andrew’s expression. “You can’t tell her.”

  “Can’t tell her what—that you’re sabotaging her?”