Finally, he spoke. “You know the saying about absolute power corrupting absolutely?”
She nodded.
“It’s true,” he said in a lowered voice. “The people around you seem less than human, because they’re so weak. It doesn’t matter if someone gets hurt, and if someone dares to get in your way, you’ll squash them like a bug. They won’t be missed.”
It was a bleak picture, one he painted too well. “Who died?”
“More than one,” he whispered.
She turned to look at him, gave him her full attention. She should be horrified, but she was not. This was Ryder. He loved his daughter and would do anything for her. Echo was almost convinced that he loved her, too. Almost. He was not a man who could kill people because they got in his way.
“Tell me,” she whispered. Tell me everything.
For a long moment he remained silent, and she thought he might not say another word. He was torn. Tormented. She could say, Never mind, or push him to go on, but instead she simply waited. He would get there in his own time, or he would not.
Finally, he spoke. “Before I married Sybil, I left Cloughban to work for a man who promised me money and power and women. Everything a young man wants and needs.” Was that a smile? No, it was a grimace that offered her a glimpse of the man he had once been. “All I had to do was help him get rid of a few men who stood in his way. Bad men all, but that doesn’t matter, does it? I killed them. We took their ill-gotten gains.”
“How many?” she whispered.
“Three.”
“How old were you?”
“Nineteen.”
So young. So damned young. It was hard to imagine Ryder as a teenager. Even harder to see him as vulnerable and easy to manipulate. Obviously that’s what had happened. She didn’t expect that he’d been an angel, but he hadn’t been a devil, either. He’d been twisted. Used.
“Where was your family?” Why hadn’t they helped him? Saved him?
“My parents were both dead. I lived with my uncle, my father’s brother.” Ryder’s jaw hardened, and so did his eyes. “He was never able to handle me. My uncle was not what you’d call a powerful man. He was an empath, but nowhere near as strong as you.”
She nodded. He’d been basically alone. “What happened to this man who hired you?” she asked. “Where is he now?”
Ryder glanced down, then up again to look her in the eye. “I killed him. In all fairness, he was trying to kill me at the time.”
“And since then...”
“I returned to Cloughban, determined to leave that life behind.” Ryder was wound so tight, she suspected this story did not have a happy ending. “I came home and went to work for my uncle. He owned the pub back then. I tried to make up for the difficulties I had caused him. Most of all, I tried to leave all the darkness behind me and embrace a simpler life.”
Out of all that, one word stood out. “Tried?”
Ryder shrugged, and again he looked away from her. “I was still...who I was. Drunk on power, able to do and have and be anything I wished to be. After a few months my uncle and I started fighting again. I was planning to leave Cloughban, to move to a place where no one knew me, where I could truly start over. But then I met Sybil and I stayed here for her. She was beautiful and funny, and she loved me. I thought I loved her, the way a young man will. I did love her, for a while.”
She should not feel even an inkling of jealousy over a dead woman, but what Echo felt at that moment was definitely jealousy. He had loved her...
“That almost sounds like the end, but I’m pretty sure it’s not.”
His jaw tightened, his eyes went hard. Dark. “No, it was not the end. My uncle was the last of the Duncans, other than myself. He didn’t like Sybil. Looking back, maybe he saw what she would become. We’ll never know.” His hands clenched into fists. Was it a trick of the light that the wide leather band on his right wrist shimmered? Maybe. Maybe not. “When I told him I was marrying her, we argued. He forbade the marriage. I shouted in indignant rage. His heart exploded in his chest as every lightbulb in the pub exploded.”
She could see it too well, almost as if she’d been there. His uncle, the empath, had absorbed all that rage and it had killed him. “It was an accident.”
“Was it? He wasn’t like the others I’d killed. He wasn’t a bad man who’d profited from the suffering of others. He was standing in the way of what I wanted, and he died. Sybil and I had planned to leave Cloughban, to travel after the marriage. This is no place for a powerful wizard. We were thinking London, maybe Paris. With my powers we could make a fortune in no time, and if anyone got in my way...well, their hearts could explode, too.”
Much as she cared for him now, she would not have liked the boy he had been. Ambitious, power hungry, willing to kill... “But you stayed.”
“I had no choice. I was the last of the Duncans, destined to be keeper of the stones and leader of these people.”
“And this?” She waved a finger at her own throat.
He touched the stone, which rested just beneath the collar of his gray shirt. “I made these talismans for myself the day Cassidy was born. I had tried for a while to simply keep my abilities in check, but all too often I was tempted to use them. They’re like a drug. The more I use them, the more I want to use them. Why not? Why let such talent go to waste?”
Echo tried to keep her voice light, even while inside she felt anything but. “So, it was like walking to work when you had a Ferrari parked in your garage.”
“I suppose.”
She turned her back to Ryder and whipped the eggs vigorously, putting all her frustration and anger into working the eggs into a frothy mixture. She didn’t want him to go dark, didn’t want him to be without those protective talismans. But she’d seen it; she’d seen him become the man who was willing to kill.
She had to ask, “So, why not save Cassidy and then put the protective shields back on again?”
He didn’t say anything until the long moment of silence intrigued her and she turned to face him again. Then, while she was looking into his dark eyes, he told her the truth.
“I’m afraid I won’t want to.”
Chapter 17
The librarian was being very nice to her, but Cassidy wasn’t fooled. Even though her ability to know what was coming didn’t extend to herself, she understood that Maisy was not her friend. No matter how much she smiled her creepy smile.
Maisy had come to the school. She had visited at least once a week, smiling and talking about wonderful stories of adventure and family and animals. She’d recommended books from the town library, and Cassidy had loved some of those books! How could someone who loved books be evil? It didn’t seem right. How had she fooled everyone? Someone should’ve known, but somehow she’d hidden all that black in her aura too well. The town librarian was like a villain out of one of the books she recommended.
In books, the good guys always won, but this was real life, and Cassidy was not so sure that’s how it would end.
Twice Cassidy had attempted to travel out of body to tell her da where she was, but Maisy must’ve put shields around the room to keep her contained. She could manage some defense if it came to that, but she was weakened here. She couldn’t even read the librarian’s mind, not even a little bit. Besides, Maisy said a friend had her grandmother and would kill her if she didn’t cooperate. She’d also threatened her good friend Brody specifically. It was impossible to know if she was telling the truth or not, but Cassidy wouldn’t gamble with her family or friends.
Her da had always warned her that not everyone in the world was her friend, that there were evil people out there who would love to use the powers she’d been born with for their own selfish reasons if they got the chance. Cassidy had always nodded and said she understood, but she hadn’t, not really. Not until now.
; Maisy brought her a hot ham sandwich and a glass of water at what must be lunchtime. Cassidy tried again to peek into the woman’s mind, but like the room it was shielded. She pushed a bit and got nothing. So she simply asked, “What are you going to do to me?”
“Don’t worry about it, dear,” Maisy said in a weirdly friendly voice. “After tonight you won’t have to worry about anything at all.”
Well, that was good news... Wait, no, it wasn’t!
Her da and Granny didn’t think she remembered what her own mother had attempted so long ago. Even though Cassidy had only been two years old at the time, she did have a memory of that night. It was vague, pictures without words, but over time she’d come to understand.
Her mother had tried to kill her so she could take her abilities. A knife, a few powerful words. Blood spilled. She knew from the few occasions Granny had spoken about her daughter, Sybil, that at that time she’d not been right in the head. Duh. No mother who was right in the head would kill her own daughter, not for any reason.
Maisy, the librarian, was not her mother. Neither was she quite right in the head.
* * *
Echo tried to get Ryder to eat and sleep, but he would do neither. He did eat a few bites of egg early in the day, but he’d had to choke those down and did not care to try again. His worry poured from him in waves that almost knocked her down.
She felt his worry to the bone because she loved him. Maybe she had loved him all along, and that was why he’d been so damned annoying in those early days. She didn’t want to fall in love with someone like him. Not just a man who possessed his own magic, but a man who was surrounded by it. Magic wasn’t just a part of his life, it was his life.
As far as her dream man list went, he ticked none of the boxes. Well, the physical ones, yes—he was tall, dark and handsome—but in addition to his own abilities he had a daughter who was an extremely powerful child. Echo had decided a long time ago that she didn’t want kids of her own. What if she was no better a parent than her own? What if her child suffered as she had suffered? She sure didn’t want a hand in raising someone else’s gifted child. Especially not one like Cassidy, who would need constant guidance.
Did that make her a bad person? She didn’t think so. She had a list. Ryder and his daughter did not meet any of her requirements.
Except that he was beautiful and they were compatible in bed. And he made her heart beat fast and hard. She wanted to be with him, to be a part of his life. She wanted to take away his pain even if that meant taking it on herself. Dammit, love didn’t pay any attention at all to her lists!
Even Cassidy was adorable, loving and sweet. It wasn’t her fault she was special.
Echo had seen the darkness in Ryder when he’d invited her in and she’d touched his hand and his mind. When he was all powerful he cared for no one and nothing. He was ruthless. He was dangerous. He was a man who would do anything in order to get what he wanted.
Great. Another bad boy. All this time she’d planned to find herself a decent, nice man who didn’t even believe in prophets.
Coming here had shown her a new side of herself, and she knew now that the abilities she possessed could not be denied. She couldn’t wish or work them away. All she could hope for was to learn to control them.
She’d never wished for more magical abilities, but at this moment, she did. More than anything, she wanted to take away Ryder’s pain.
He sat in the small living room, staring into space, staring at nothing and no one. She’d tried to bring on a vision, had tried to find Cassidy for him, but it wasn’t working. The power she’d wished so hard to be rid of was being stubborn.
She sat beside him. His body stiffened. He withdrew from her physically and mentally. Echo was persistent. Some might call it stubborn, but she knew what she wanted and she wasn’t going to back down. She leaned into Ryder and placed her hand on his chest.
What this moment called for was a rush of optimism. “When this is done, I think the three of us deserve a vacation,” she said. “Where do you want to go?”
He didn’t answer.
She wasn’t about to give up so easily. “Where would Cassidy like to go?”
“Cassidy would like to go to Disney World,” Ryder said in a lifeless voice.
“I haven’t been in years. We should...”
“I can’t take Cassidy away from Cloughban until she’s older and in complete control of her abilities.”
“Maybe you could bind her with talismans, as you’ve done for yourself. Just for a week or two. It could work.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. You don’t know what she’s capable of.” Ryder looked down at her. “You don’t know what I’m capable of.”
Now was not the time or place to tell him that she loved him. Later, when all was well. When Cassidy was safe and home again, when Maisy had been taken care of, one way or another. Did Ryder know? Did he feel her love? She tried to peek into his head, but could not. Not because there was nothing to see, but because he was hiding his thoughts from her.
* * *
Rye couldn’t sleep. The day had passed so excruciatingly slowly he began to think that somehow time had stopped, that this was a nightmare from which he would never escape. His worst fears were coming to pass. Cassidy was in danger, and he couldn’t help her.
But the minutes did tick past. He saw it in the clock, and in the movement of the sun. His time would come; he would be there for Cassidy. More than once he tried to send Echo away, but she refused to go.
He didn’t want her to see what he would become in order to save his daughter. He didn’t want her around if he couldn’t manage to rein in the darkness once Cassidy was safe. What he had been, unleashed, might never be dampened again. Those powers had been bottled up so long, he did not know what to expect when the talismans were removed.
If he couldn’t save his daughter, he knew he would never be right again. If she died, if Maisy succeeded, he would have no reason to return.
A time or two Echo had tried to peek into his mind, but he blocked her. It wasn’t easy, but neither was it impossible. Eventually she stopped trying.
It was a warm day, all too slowly turning into a warm evening. It was far too warm for snow. Was it possible that Echo’s vision—which had been much farther in the future than her normal episodes—was not entirely correct? That vision was all he had to go on. The stones, snow, Maisy and Cassidy at the center of it all.
Where would Echo be as he ran toward his daughter, tearing off the talismans as he raced through falling snow? Ahead of him? Behind him? She hadn’t said. Maybe she didn’t know.
He stood in the open doorway of the cottage and watched the sun set. Soon, but not soon enough, it would begin. And end.
He heard and felt Echo approach long before she placed a gentle hand on his back. “When it’s done, come back to me.”
He knew very well that she wasn’t talking about a physical return.
“I don’t know that I can.” After being restrained for so long, would dampening that part of himself be possible? It wouldn’t be easy. A part of him would rejoice at the return of power. A part of him would fight to remain, after being smothered for so long.
“Do it for Cassidy.” She drifted closer. He felt her heat, felt her emotion. “Do it for me.”
Darkness fell while they stood in the doorway waiting. Waiting. He knew what he had to do.
“I will do nothing for you, Raintree. I don’t care for you at all,” he said, his voice low and cold. “I never did.”
She didn’t believe him, not right away.
“You’re pretty enough, you were handy, and to be honest when I need release it’s best not to get involved with a local girl who might be foolish enough to think a night or two in my bed means something more. Face it, you needed to get laid as much as I did. Did you real
ly think it was anything more than that?”
Her hand fell away.
He’d blocked his mind from her, but she was an empath. She’d sense his emotions no matter how hard he tried to hide them. So he thought of Sybil and how she’d tried to kill her own daughter. He thought of Maisy, and what he’d do to her when he got his hands on her. She was going to burn for taking Cassidy. She would suffer before she died.
He filled his heart with hate for those two women. He embraced the darkness that was a part of him—long buried or not—until there was no love in his heart.
“You were convenient, Raintree. Pretty, willing and temporary.” He turned to look at her. “For God’s sake, go away.”
She didn’t say a word, but he felt the temps drop. She believed him. Cold air swirled around him, and around her, as her heart broke.
Beyond the doorway where they stood, side by side but no longer together, it began to snow.
Chapter 18
Echo walked away from the cottage. She walked, and then she ran. She wasn’t wanted here. What an idiot she’d been! Thank goodness she hadn’t told Ryder that she loved him. He probably would’ve laughed at her.
She’d been so sure he felt more, but...her empathic abilities were new. Maybe she had felt what he’d wanted her to feel so she’d...
Those thoughts had to go, before they stopped her in her tracks. Focus on the positive, if there was any. She’d accomplished all she’d come here to do. She had learned some control, could now recognize when a vision was coming. No more dropping to the ground without warning. She’d also learned some control within those visions. Maybe she’d no longer feel as if she were right there in the disaster, but could remain an observer. An observer who could help, if the timing was right.
That was all well and good, but it didn’t make her feel any better.
She’d walked from the cottage Ryder had left, too, headed in another direction. Toward the stones, she assumed. She had not been brave enough to see if he glanced back toward her. He was focused on saving his daughter, as he should be.
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