* * * *
His brother lay in ruins and Robert’s only regret was that he didn’t have a hand in it. Then Liz started to cough, and he rushed forward, pulling her away.
“No, Robert, I don’t want to hurt you,” she spun away, falling to the ground as her eyes closed and her magic dissipated. She curled up into a ball, her hands covering her stomach again.
He knelt beside her. “Look, I’m fine, Liz. We need to go.” This time he scooped her into his arms and took them back to her room. “He’s gone.”
Liz crawled away, and pulled herself into an overstuffed chair. “You didn’t stop me,” she whispered.
“I told you I wouldn’t. Liz, whatever he did, I want to fix it.”
Her laugh was bitter, laced with pain. “You can’t, Robert. It’s too late. You can’t fix me.”
“Elizandra, you’re not broken.”
“I am,” she screamed. “I have to go.” She slowly stood, her eyes darting away. “I can’t do it anymore.”
“No. Please, don’t leave. I’m not afraid of you. I love you more than words can express. You’re the only one I need. I don’t care about the rest.” Robert pleaded.
“I nearly killed you.” Tears slid down her cheeks.
Robert closed the distance, his fingers threading into her hair as he brought her gaze to his. “Tell me what I have to do. I’ll do anything for you. Anything at all.”
She shoved his shirt up and ran her fingers over the new shiny white scar over his heart. “Have Emily heal these.” Her voice broke. “I couldn’t tell you apart after James….”
“Emily changed her mind. She wants us together.”
“Robert,” she whispered, staring deep into his eyes without a shred of emotion. “You have to let me go. I can’t be with you now. I….”
He pulled her tight against him, crushing his mouth over hers, but she pulled back and shook her head.
“Damn it, Robert. I can’t be enough for you. Let me go. I don’t want this anymore. I need to be alone. Don’t follow me. I’m as good as dead.” She tore herself away from Robert and walked out of his life.
* * * *
Emily parked in front of the warehouse. Smoke billowed out of the open door. She almost turned the car around and drove away, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Panicked, she ran to the building. She watched Robert wrap his arms around Liz and disappear. Her eyes fell on the burning body. She could feel her twin, barely hanging on. As tempting as it was, the healer in her wouldn’t allow her to walk away.
Swallowing hard, she closed the distance as she surrounded herself in her own shields. She placed one hand on his chest, and used the charm Robert had given her, to take him back to her home in Charleston.
He was nearly gone, but at least the translocation put the fire out. Before he could gain consciousness, she put him under. With tears in her eyes, she assessed the damage.
As gifted as she was, it would take years to mend his body. She wasn’t sure she could take the scars, but she already knew she would leave one thing damaged beyond use.
After years of abuse, she couldn’t bring herself to give him the opportunity to hurt another woman again.
Chapter 13
Liz grabbed her coat from the hall closet and ran to her car before Robert could stop her. She slammed the door and tore out of the driveway.
She only had one thought. Make it look like she was gone forever so Robert could move on, even if she couldn’t. She was lost without him, but after James took the baby, and she nearly killed her only love, she couldn’t trust herself.
He needed a fresh start, and this was the only way she knew to give it to him. She punched the gas and steered toward the cliff before phasing out and falling to the road as the thunderbird took a plummet.
The wind was knocked from her, and she struggled to catch her breath. She pulled the turquoise from her pocket. Please, Tremaine, if you never do another thing for me, please come get me, and take me far from here. I need you, only you. If you bring Robert, I’ll disappear forever, I swear it.
Liz picked herself up and stumbled as far from the wreckage as she could get.
* * * *
Tremaine sat outside the warehouse. It was surrounded by fire trucks. The firefighters were dousing the building with water, but the flames weren’t dying. He knew the fire came from Liz.
Then Liz’s pleading broke into his thoughts. He knew exactly where she was, and she was stumbling through the woods, toward her hidden escape. There were only three people who knew how to find it. Robert, Liz and himself.
Fuck, Liz, what happened?
He couldn’t communicate with her, so he sped down the road and back onto the Interstate. There were a million questions rattling around his head.
The only thing he knew was that James had slipped fully into becoming a Dark Mage, and he had somehow visited Liz. Whatever he did, she fucked him up for good, and now he had a feeling James was gone for good.
He wouldn’t miss James, but Liz was suffering. He could feel her anguish through the stone he gave her. All he could think about was the baby. She wouldn’t be so broken if the baby were okay.
Damn it, he wanted to kill James himself.
It took him thirty minutes of hell to get to her cabin. His only goal was to get to her. Once there, he rushed up the steps, and threw the door open.
He found her on the bench beside the window. Her legs were curled under her, her hands over her stomach, blood seeping through her shirt.
Tremaine ran to her, falling to his knees beside her. He took her face in his hands and forced her gaze to his. “Liz, doll, what happened?”
“James took my baby,” she whispered as tears filled her eyes. “I had to let Robert go.”
“No. You don’t have to let Robert go. He doesn’t blame you.”
“I nearly killed him. I thought he was James. He nearly died. I can’t, Trem. I can’t go back.” Her eyes closed and his heart broke for her. “Please, take me far from here. Somewhere Robert won’t find me. I already made it look like I’m dead.”
“What did you do?” he whispered.
She looked away. “I drove the car off the cliff. It caught fire. I know he won’t believe it, but you have to make him understand this is for the best.”
He shook his head, his eyes narrowing. “Damn it, Liz. This doesn’t make sense.”
“He found me after James stabbed me over and over.” Her gaze dropped to her bloodstained hands that she splayed out in front of him. “When Robert tried to push my clothes out of the way, I woke in a panic, thinking it was James come back to finish what he’d started.” She wrapped her arms around herself and turned away. “I managed to bring him back, but his heart had stopped, he wasn’t breathing. I did that. I left scars in the shape of my hands on his body. I can’t be with him anymore, Trem. I can’t.”
He wanted to argue, but he knew she wouldn’t hear him. “Okay, but I need to see how bad you’re hurt before we can leave. You’re bleeding, Liz.”
She nodded, lifting her shirt and shoving down her sweats to show him the jagged wounds.
“I don’t suppose you’ll let me take you to a healer?”
“No,” she shouted, and then whispered, “I remember last time. I can’t go through that.”
Tremaine growled, “Did he rape you? Is that why his dick looks like bloody coleslaw.”
“He tried. He didn’t like being hit with fire infused lightning. That was when he got the knife. But I made him pay.”
“And the factory. He’s dead, isn’t he?” Tremaine asked seriously.
“Yes. I couldn’t let him live. Not after I nearly killed Robert because of him.”
“Good. If he wasn’t, I’d hunt him down.” He reached for her stomach and looked into her eyes. “Trust me, Liz?”
“You know I do,” she answered as she held his gaze.
He placed his hand over the worst of it and whispered a spell to seal the wound. It wasn’t pretty
, but it would help to heal her wounds a little faster. He wished he could do more for her.
He sat back on his heels. “It’s the best I can do.”
“Thank you. Now, can we go before Robert changes his mind about letting me walk away?”
Nodding, he stood and pulled her to her feet. He murmured, “I’ll take you because I know you’ll go anyway, but I this is not the right decision.”
“It’s the only decision.”
* * * *
Robert sat in his office at the Headquarters in South Carolina. He couldn’t bring himself to go back to their house in Edenton after she walked away.
He left after she drove away. He’d been sitting in his chair for hours when Preston walked into the office.
“Hey Robert,” he said lamely as he slumped into the seat.
Robert nodded. “Hey.”
His brow wrinkled. “I take it you heard about Liz?”
“What?” He whispered, his heart plummeting.
“Shit,” Preston scrubbed a hand over his face. “You didn’t hear, did you?”
Robert slammed his hands on the desk as he sat forward. “Just tell me. What happened?”
“Her car went off the side of a mountain. She’s gone.”
“Where?” he demanded.
“Up past Edenton, out near where you said her cabin was.” He stood and held out his hand. “I’ll come with you.”
Robert was on his feet. He took Preston’s hand and he flashed them back to the exact location. The guardrail was ripped open, and he could see the wreckage far below.
The Thunderbird had gone off all right, but he felt her presence still. Whatever Liz did when she healed him had formed a connection, and he still felt her presence. He had the sense that she was shattered, broken, and it killed him that she wouldn’t let him help her piece herself back together.
Tears streamed down his face as he stared off into space. He knew she did this to help him let her go, but he never would. He didn’t know how.
It was what she wanted though, so he took Preston back to the office.
Robert fell into his seat and buried his face in his hands. If this was what she needed, he’d give it to her even if it broke him.
* * * *
It was the middle of the night when Robert’s phone rang. He’d been staring at the ceiling. He rolled over and answered, “Hello?”
“Robert, if you’re smart, you’ll flash out here to Boise, and talk to Liz. She needs you. Only you.”
“She doesn’t. She told me she didn’t want me anymore.” His voice was empty. Her words had cut like a knife. “She’s done with me. She begged me to let her go, Trem.”
Tremaine’s voice was quiet but held warning. “She was grieving, Robert. She’s a mess. She isn’t thinking straight. You need to get your ass over here and talk some damned sense into her. You’re the only one who can fix this.”
“I begged her to stay, Trem. She told me she was dead to me. She left anyway.” Tears fell and Robert wiped them away. “I tried, but she said this was what she needed. She’s never lied to me, Trem. She’s left things out in the past, but she wouldn’t lie about what she needs.”
“She’s lying to protect you, but that’s not what she needs, Robert. Don’t be stupid. Don’t let her go. She thinks she’s doing the right thing, but she’s not. She needs you.”
“She doesn’t. I’ve always given her anything she has ever asked for, anything she’s needed. She needs me to let her go, so I am. If she changes her mind, I’ll be right here waiting.” Robert hung up before Tremaine could argue. He prayed time was all Liz needed.
Part 2: The Present
Falling Into Place
Sometimes it all has to fall apart to fall into place.
Chapter 14
Liz couldn’t tear her eyes away from Tremaine’s hard body as he stretched to place a book on the top shelf. His shirt rode up, displaying that perfect V she found herself wanting to lick.
For the millionth time in the last twenty or so years she found herself wondering if she should feel guilty for lusting after him. At first she did, but as the reality that Robert was never going to come for her sank in, she gave up hope.
Her reasons for denying her feelings faded into oblivion as she fell further in love with her avenging angel. Still, she held her tongue, afraid of what he would think when he kept telling her to go fix things with Robert, but it had been twenty-one long years without any contact. It was too late to pick up the shattered pieces.
Tremaine looked over, capturing her gaze with a sinful glint in his warm brown eyes. A smirk lifted one side of his full mouth.
Liz looked away, imagining his taste, longing to run her hands down his ribbed abdomen to his heavy cock. And she would know because she had walked in on him having sex several times in the last few years. It was always a different woman.
She couldn’t complain about his habits, it wasn’t much worse than her own. The only difference was that she seemed to be pickier about who she took to bed, but it was never more than a release.
Maybe it was wrong to stand and watch as he pleasured another woman, but she knew she couldn’t have him. So she became a voyeur, watching when the opportunity presented itself, wishing he turned to her for his pleasure.
The bells rang. With a sigh, Liz dragged her gaze to the young nymph with the cheeky smile and sparkling lavender eyes. Amethyst swept her purple hair behind her ears before she climbed onto a stool.
“I take it Hayden came to see you?” Liz asked with a raised brow.
Amethyst swallowed hard, a blush coloring her face as she nodded slightly. “By the way, thanks for the spell in my room. At least the sound stays in, even if we shake the walls.”
Liz shook her head, trying to block out the image of the big muscular sheriff taking tiny Amethyst against the wall.
Tremaine strode to the counter with a chuckle, “Soundproofing with a spell is doable, warding walls from an Earth Fae, not so much.”
Fallon hurried inside, shaking her head. “Seriously Ame, if you’re going to go at it like bunnies, don’t do it against the wall in the shop. I had to explain to Erik why the walls were shaking but there was no sound.”
Amethyst pouted. “It’s not like I can resist him.”
“Resist him?” Fallon balked. “You grabbed him by the belt and dragged him into your room. I saw you slam the door shut. That was all you, sweetheart.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Amethyst looked up at Liz with pleading eyes as she changed the subject. “Can I please have a cherry orange smoothie?”
Liz nodded slightly. “Sure thing.”
“Should I make myself scarce so the ladies can have some girl talk?” Tremaine waggled his brows.
“No,” Amethyst squeaked. “I’m quite happy to change the topic.”
Liz met Tremaine’s gaze, silently begging him to stay.
He wet his lips, and there was mischief in his gaze. “You all know about Christian’s party tomorrow night?”
Christian was like family. After Tremaine took her from the cabin, he brought her to Old Lady Murdock because he was still a part of the Council and didn’t want to draw extra attention by quitting after Liz’s supposed death.
The old woman took her in, but she had adopted a newborn days before Liz got there. Old Lady Murdock never would say where the boy came from, but she still remembered the first time she saw Christian.
Tremaine stood next to Liz as he pressed the doorbell. Old Lady Murdock came to the door with the same gray streaked mahogany hair. She wore an apron over her house dress and carried a swaddled baby.
Liz’s eyes went wide, and she turned to go, maybe run. Trem caught her before she could bolt. There was an equal look of surprise on his face.
“Hey, I didn’t know about the baby,” he told her.
Liz let out a strangled moan. It wasn’t fair, she wanted to curl up and cry.
“Child, look at me,” Mrs. Murdock said.
She turn
ed, and found the babe in her arms as Mrs. Murdock took a step away. “I can’t,” she whispered.
“Elizandra,” she snapped. “Look at that child and tell me you can walk away from the precious boy.”
Tears spilled over as she looked down and was met with amber eyes and a head of golden hair. His little hand reached up to touch her face and she pulled him closer, letting the tears fall.
“I need help with him. Why don’t you stay?” Mrs. Murdock asked.
She nodded dumbly and followed her inside.
Amethyst perked up. “Party? Oh yeah, Christian’s turning twenty-one tomorrow. Right?”
Fallon nodded. “We’ll be there. Jess wrangled me into helping decorate.” She shot a glance to Amethyst. “You too, so you better warn Hayden your naked fun time is limited tomorrow afternoon.”
Amethyst spun in her seat to glare at Fallon. “Please, it’s not like you and Brody aren’t constantly going at it. You called me over yesterday, and I walked in on him bending you over the dining room table while he gave it to you good and hard.”
“Shit, is that why you didn’t show up?”
“Uh, I um… may have watched a moment before I hustled my butt out of there and found Hayden.” Amethyst looked up at the ceiling innocently.
Fallon laughed out loud. “At least we weren’t trying to bring Inktastic down around us.”
Tremaine cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’ll be in the back, working on inventory.” He ducked his head before walking down the hall.
Liz watched him go, wishing he wouldn’t leave her with the two happiest women she knew. Oh, she was thrilled for them, but it was depressing when she was in love with a man who didn’t feel the same way.
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