Liz nodded, and Jamie walked away. For what it was worth, she wished Jamie luck.
It was time to get down to business. She looked across the table and said, “Now, I believe we should discuss what you know, Robert.”
* * * *
Robert stared at Liz. She never ceased to amaze him. No matter what happened, she could put aside her own personal turmoil to deal with her mission, or in this case threat.
The night before was a rare exception, but considering the circumstances, he understood. Still, she needed to know what was coming. Knowing James was alive was one thing. What Emily described made Robert’s blood run cold.
He pulled Emily’s journal out and slid it across the table to her. “Here. This explains what happened.”
She ran her fingers over it. Her hazel eyes locked onto his. “What happened to Emily, Robert? I know you said she wasn’t doing so well, something about a curse, but that’s all you said. What happened?”
Robert sat back and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. “I was having my own nightmares yesterday morning. I knew something was wrong when I woke up.” He shuddered. “Liz, I thought it was you. I was terrified. When I saw Emily laying in a heap, I was relieved.”
“Hey,” she said softly. “She’s your sister. She needs you too.”
Guilt trickled through him, but if he was being honest, he still couldn’t understand how Emily could ever bring that monster back. Then he remembered the one thing she did say and his lip curled. “All I got out of her was Lizard’s Hole before she collapsed. Gabriel and I took her to the druid compound south of here.”
Tremaine turned to Robert. He brushed his hand over the scruff on his face. “Do they have any idea of what’s going on?”
“They will contact me if she comes around. I will have to talk to her then, but I honestly don’t know if I can forgive her for bringing James back after everything he’s done.”
Liz softly asked, “Is she going to be okay?”
“I don’t know, Liz. I just don’t know.”
Tremaine squeezed Robert’s shoulder. Liz took his hand and placed a gentle kiss to his palm.
Robert tried to smile, but failed. After the reality settled in, he was having a hard time finding sympathy for his own sister. It could have been over, but she went and saved the man who hurt everyone around him time and time again. And not to mention everything James had done to Emily.
Liz pushed her hair behind her ears. “Maybe Dakota could have a look at her. He does better work than a lot of the mages I know. Or maybe Amethyst. I don’t know any druids who can heal worth a damn.”
Tremaine snorted a laugh. “Fallon can’t heal worth shit, unless it’s for her man Brody. Silver damage, and she straight up heals it like it was a paper cut. Not even Dakota can do that.”
“Mate bond.” Liz smirked. “That’s why. She could heal anything for him. Unfortunately, mages don’t work the same way as weres and druids.” Her eyes were tormented when she met Robert’s gaze. “I was able to bring you back, but not heal you all the way. At least I did a better job on you than I managed on myself.”
God, how was I so blind? How did I miss the pain she was in? Why didn’t I figure out her fear? She had suffered so much and he didn’t do a damned thing to help.
Robert squeezed her hand back. “I should have taken you to Emily. I wish I’d known what that asshole had done to you. I would never have let you go.”
Anguish flashed across her features as she turned away. “I was ashamed. I knew he wasn’t you, but then that morning I was such a mess I didn’t figure out it was you. I couldn’t explain that to Emily. She’s always hated me, and that would have been one more reason.”
Robert’s grip tightened on the table. He ground his teeth together with a sneer. “My sister is a damned fool. She brought him back even after years of abuse. He was gone, and she brought him back from the brink of death to wreak more havoc.”
Liz flinched. “She always could heal anything. I wasn’t kidding all those times I told her I would trade gifts with her. It doesn’t matter though, I want her whole. Maybe we can get to the bottom of this if she recovers.” She glanced down at her plate and picked up her fork.
“I take it you haven’t seen James yet?” Tremaine asked Robert.
“No. I would have killed him myself. He can’t enter the house. Our wards are still up, Liz. He had someone drop Emily off.”
“My bet would be Jarvis. He was always the little weasel’s bitch.” Tremaine snorted.
“I don’t know, I wasn’t about to go hunting him down without Liz. I was terrified he would find a way here before I could convince Liz to listen to me.”
Liz shrugged. “He wouldn’t have been able to breach my wards, and I was hungover yesterday morning.” She clasped her hands together. “If I can drink enough to pass out, I don’t have the nightmares.”
Tremaine reached over and took her free hand. “You passed out last night, and still woke up, doll.”
“Yeah, but part of that was having Robert there.” She looked into Rob’s eyes. “I was dreaming about the morning you found me. It’s why I locked myself in the bathroom. I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”
Her eyes slid shut as she dropped her head into her hands. She looked so lost, so defeated, and she was too strong to do that to herself. Robert moved into the booth beside her and pulled her against him.
“Listen to me, love,” he murmured. “I’m not going anywhere. No matter what. You’re going to have to kill me to get me to leave. So please, don’t act like you’re going to scare me off. You won’t, you never will.”
“Okay,” she whispered, but wouldn’t look at him. Her eyes were glued on the journal though, and she appeared to be speed reading.
Tremaine shook his head. “Give her a break. She’s reading whatever your sister put in there.”
Liz took a deep breath and looked over at Tremaine. “Apparently she came back the day after giving birth. She had some insane idea about rehabilitating him, but he’s too fucked up for that to work. She thought she could fix him.” She snorted. “I know she was trying to protect her child, but I don’t understand why she brought James back instead of letting him die and going to her kid.”
Robert’s heart squeezed tight. There were questions he needed to ask, but not here. It was too personal and she didn’t look ready to tackle that topic.
Liz glanced away. “And I still don’t know why she thought I would force Robert to give his family up for me. I never once asked him for that. I told him a million times it wasn’t a choice and that he needed them. James, well he didn’t count. He was a monster, and he needed to die for too many reasons to count.”
“Liz.” Robert cupped her cheek, pulling her face to his to capture her gaze. “The only choice I’ll ever make is for you. Don’t you dare question that. We won’t allow James to get near you, you have to believe that.”
“I’m not,” she said softly. “I refuse to be the reason you walk away from Emily.”
“If I make that choice, it will be my choice to make. Who says I can forgive her for bringing him back? If I make that decision, it won’t be your fault. No matter how she’s treated you, you always come to her defense.” He brushed his lips over hers and released her.
Liz closed her eyes and turned back to Tremaine. “Anyway, it looks like she literally brought James back from the brink of death and locked him in his mind while she attempted to … give him therapy.” Liz snorted and shook her head. “He’s been breaking loose for the last year. Apparently Jarvis has been coming around since the beginning, but he’s been showing up more often since then.”
Her eyes went wide as she spun toward Robert. “That fucking prick is in on this?” She slapped her hand down on the table. “James probably contacted him through dreams. If he’s fucking with Emily and Jarvis, who else is involved?”
“I honestly don’t know, Liz.” Robert shook his head. “I don’t trust most of the council. There are only a few.
Preston, and Draecyn. Other than that, I have my doubts about most of the enforcers.”
Her face scrunched up. “Preston’s going to be pissed when he finally sees me. I disappear every time he shows up. I just knew he’d involve you. I didn’t want to force you to find me, I thought you had finally let me go.”
“I never did. I couldn’t.”
“Fuck, I’m…” she started.
He covered her lips with a finger and shook his head. “Don’t apologize. We were both wrong.”
She snorted, turning her face away. “You sure Preston’s going to want to help me?”
Robert grinned. “Oh, he will. I know he misses you, but he’s going to give you hell for letting him think you were dead.”
One corner of her mouth tipped up. “I miss him, he was always a good friend. I hope he doesn’t hate me for hiding.”
“He gets it,” Robert told her.
Liz looked back down at the book and shook her head. “So how long do you think we have before James gets here?”
“Not too long. I don’t think he’s stupid enough to take a plane, and he can’t translocate.” Robert said thoughtfully. “A few days tops. I wouldn’t imagine too much longer than that.”
She pushed the book toward Tremaine. “I’ve read enough. If I can think of a way to help her, we’ll need to visit her.”
“Oh no, that all depends on what curing her entails,” Robert warned. “I’m not letting you risk yourself to save my sister. This is her fault. She brought him back. It could have all been over, but no.”
“Robert,” she snapped, her eyes flashing. “You can’t tell me no. I will help if I can. I won’t do anything I can’t handle.”
He didn’t bother to argue, but he was going to be damned sure that she didn’t involve herself with Emily. He had a bad feeling about the curse that was eating away at his sister.
* * * *
Tremaine watched Liz as she finished her food. She hadn’t said anything after telling Robert that they needed to find a way to help his sister.
She sat there, staring out the window as Robert watched her. Neither of them knew what to do to help Liz cope with whatever she was currently overthinking, and that was exactly what she was doing. Overthinking.
Her hazel eyes snapped to Robert. There was a look of unease plastered on her face. “Robert, would you mind getting Tremaine back to the house? I need to talk to Fallon about something.” She guzzled her coffee down and looked to Tremaine. “Do you mind going with him? I need a little time. I shouldn’t be long.”
Doubt narrowed Robert’s eyes. “What about, Liz?”
Her lips pursed as she glared at Robert. Tremaine had to stifle a laugh.
“I don’t have to run everything by you. It’s nothing major, just something I need to talk to her about. Is that all right with you? Or did you somewhere along the way decide you were in charge? Because I sure as hell haven’t changed that much.”
Robert leaned in and caressed her cheek. “No. I know better than that. I’m just worried about you. I don’t like the idea of you being alone with all of this going down.”
“And how likely is it that James is here?” She whispered harshly.
“Not very.” Robert sighed, his head nodding. “Very well. Do what you must. Just call me if you need me. Need us.” Robert glanced over at Tremaine and gave him a slight smile. “Us, we’re both here for you.”
Trem dipped his head in agreement, and still held back his laugh. He knew better than to try to prevent Liz from doing much. After their trek from Sinclair’s she had stopped taking direction so well. She was her own person, and she liked to prove it. Robert had a right to be worried, but he would remember just how independent she was.
“Don’t worry about me. If it takes longer than an hour, I’ll call.” Liz pushed at his shoulder. “Move, I need to run down to Inktastic.”
Robert’s eyes went wide as he scooted out of the booth and she followed. “Right now?”
She kissed his lips quickly, and leaned over to give Tremaine one. “Yes, now. I want to hurry and do this.” She turned and rushed out the door.
Robert flopped down in his seat. “I hate this. What do you think she needs to talk to Fallon for?” Then his mouth fell open. “You don’t think…?”
Tremaine shook his head. “She’s not going to be asking about us. She’s probably headed over there to see if Fallon can spell a tattoo to make sure she can’t be duped by another illusion.”
“Why couldn’t she say that?” Robert whispered.
“She mentioned being ashamed. Think about it. She thought you were James. She never wants to make that mistake again because she doesn’t want to send you away.”
Robert let out a heavy breath. “She knew he wasn’t me. She knew it,” He insisted. “She said so.”
“Fuck, Robert. It’s not that simple. Yeah, she knew that when he showed up at her place.” Tremaine pushed his fingers through his hair and stared up at the ceiling for a moment. “She was still in shock when you woke her, and assumed you were him. She hates herself for nearly killing you. She’s probably thinking that if she can see through any illusion, she can’t make that same mistake again. Can you blame her? She doesn’t want to hurt you.”
“Did James rape her?” The words tumbled off his tongue.
Tremaine shook his head abruptly. “No, he didn’t get that far. She told him about the baby and he stabbed her. She got loose, and I really doubt even Emily could put his dick back together again.”
Robert’s brow wrinkled. “How in the world do you know about the state of his penis?”
One brow arched. “Liz used one of your talismans to send him back to the council. I was on duty, he landed at my feet with his pants around his knees, his dick shredded. I’m half surprised he didn’t bleed out.”
“How in the….” Robert shook his head, blinking his eyes. “That trick she does with the blade.”
Tremaine growled, “Bastard tried to rape her. He took your baby from her. I think he deserved that and worse, even if I did have a momentary twinge of sympathy for him. That is until I found out why he showed up in that state.”
“Explains why he was limping that day,” Robert mumbled.
“Yeah. The healers were able to help some, but she ruined the piping.”
“Good. I hope to God Emily couldn’t do anything for him,” Robert snarled.
Tremaine shook his head. “Look, she doesn’t talk about it. She talks in her sleep though, and once she let me see through her memories so I would stop asking.”
Robert’s mouth fell open. That was a trick very few mages could pull off. Tremaine had taught it to Robert, but it was never a fun experience.
“I’ve seen what she experienced, Robert. I understand why she drinks herself under when the nightmares start.” Tremaine shrugged. “She doesn’t trust herself to be sure it’s really you.”
“Yeah, I get that.” Robert turned to stare out the window.
“I’m positive Liz can see through any illusion now. We’ve done plenty of work on it. She just wants to make sure there is never a way to take that away from her. Fallon’s wards don’t go away when drugged. So it will give her some peace of mind.”
“Right.” Robert looked over. “Should we go over there?”
“No. Let her do this. She needs reassurance, but she won’t take that from us. Not about that.” Tremaine stood and walked to the bar to pay.
Jamie looked up with a grin. “Liz looks happier.” A frown pulled at the corners of her mouth. “At least until she left.”
He nodded. “She’s had a hard life. Never really got her way for long.” An uneasy smile flittered across his face. “We’ll change that. First, we have to get rid of some asshole.”
“Take care of her. And bring her in later.”
“I’ll try. I don’t think she’ll resort to the rum tonight. Pretty sure we can distract her another way.” Tremaine winked before strolling back to Robert.
Chapter 21
Preston snuck up to Jarvis Fanning’s family home to do some investigating. He had a strong suspicion that Jarvis was once again playing James’ bitch. It didn’t come as any surprise.
No one was there. Hell, Jarvis hadn’t been there in days, and his wards were weak. He walked right up to them and cast a melding spell before walking straight through.
Nada, nothing. It should have been harder than that. Whatever, time to find some real info. He made his way to the library with the old desk. He looked through drawers and files without finding anything useful.
With a sigh, Preston sat back in the chair and ran his fingers through his hair.
A thought struck him. Maynard had been a pompous ass. The kind who would have a secret compartment in the intricate ancient desk, just like in the movies. Preston slid out of the chair, and onto his knees, started to pull out drawers to thump around, listening for a hollow spot.
Sure enough, he found one. He felt around until he found a groove. There was a tiny lever, and he could feel the magical signature.
With his own spell, he popped the lock and found a ton of old papers.
Great, more nonsense.
Except, he was wrong. The very first page was a contract between Sinclair and Jarvis’ father. A plot to abduct Draecyn’s child. The baby’s mother was a druid. The same year Emily was born.
His mouth fell open. “Can’t be,” he whispered. “Can’t fucking be.”
It explained so much though. Why Draecyn had never trusted anyone in Jarvis’ family. Why he always favored Liz when he was hard on everyone else.
Holy shit.
He kept digging and found old sepia photos that would likely scar him for life. Things done to women and children that he could hardly stomach. Then he found a picture of Liz strung up with bloody welts up and down her back. It was her though, he’d know that blank stare anywhere, but she was just a kid.
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