“You think it’s Collett? You think she could be that old?” Rederrick asked Cade.
“He didn’t say her,” Tracy offered.
“What?” Jarrett asked.
She held up the book to the passage he’d translated. “Read it again.”
“Yet my praise falls meekly to the scrolling rune etched into my mind, as it was etched into his blade. The image passes.”
“His. The author spoke of a male,” Tracy said.
“She’s right,” Cade replied. Thinking out loud, he asked, “Protectors is plural though, right?”
Jarrett nodded. “There’s more than one,” he said grimly, coming to the same conclusion as his twin.
“There’s more than one,” Cade agreed. “Or at least —”
“At one time…” Jarrett finished.
“You’re sure Collett had this mark?” Tracy questioned as the brothers compared thoughts.
Cade nodded. “If it wasn’t exact, it was amazingly close.”
“Connection?” Jarrett asked leaning against the table pensively.
Cade sighed. “Has to be.”
Watching the exchange, Rederrick found it interesting that the brothers, who spent centuries apart and were raised so differently, could read each other’s thoughts with clear ease. They only held half a conversation, and yet they understood each other perfectly.
“We’re missing something,” Jarrett offered.
“The sword has two different marks on the blade and the pommel,” Tracy pointed out.
“The marks must mean something,” Rederrick agreed.
Cade rubbed his thumb over the diamond rune. “But this one matches the one in that book. How’d a random traveler find a weapon like this, and even more confusing, why give it to you when he could have sold it for a fortune?”
“Gratitude?” Jarrett offered.
“Maybe, but it doesn’t feel right. Plus, Collett, her neck—” Cade spun and met Jarrett’s eyes. “The mark—”
“Protectors—” Jarrett added.
Running his fingers through his hair, Cade shrugged. “There was you. There was Cody. But not…”
“Rowena,” Jarrett finished with a bite in his tone.
“Why?” Cade wondered.
“Her sword—” Jarrett said at the same time.
“There’s more than one!” the brothers said simultaneously.
Cade was running from the room with Jarrett on his heels before Tracy and Rederrick caught up to their random thoughts.
With their supernatural speed, the twins made it to Cade’s room in seconds, leaving a host of curious friends in their wake. Cade went to his closet, and spinning the dial, opened the safe that was hidden in the wall. He reached inside and felt his heart catch.
Steeling himself against the emotional assault, he pulled out the long item wrapped in a protective blanket. He hadn’t looked at it once since she died. After she disappeared, he’d wrapped it in the same blanket he planned to use for her body. He hadn’t even bothered to clean it. Cade had tried hard to shut out the painful images of her death. As the sword reminded him of that fateful moment, he had driven it from his thoughts. Moving to the bed, he laid the bundle down and carefully unwrapped it.
Jarrett respected Cade’s need to do this and did not rush him. When the final fold was pulled away, Cades fingers reached out and reverently hovered above the hilt of the silvery sword. He swallowed hard through his grief and focused on the new clue surrounding Collett’s true identity.
Jarrett heard the approaching footsteps in the hall and understood the whole house had followed in their wake. Entering first, Tracy gasped at the sight. Cynda whispered to her husband seeking an explanation. When Delphene stepped forward to see better, Jarrett stopped them all with a gentle shake of his head. He, more than anyone, understood the gravity of what was happening. Delphene nodded and held out her hand as James came up behind her.
While Cade remained oblivious to them all, Tracy and Rederrick pulled the rest of the group back into the hall, whispering an explanation.
“It’s the same,” Cade said quietly after a few minutes.
“Not completely. The style is different. So is the mark on the blade,” Jarrett pointed out.
“But this—” Cade traced his fingers over the symbol protruding from the center of the crosspiece.
“It’s the same,” Jarrett agreed.
“She said he betrayed her. No,” Cade corrected, tilting his head. “She said them. She said he betrayed his purpose,” Cade explained, trying to pull her exact words to his mind. “Am I forgetting?” he asked desperately.
“No, brother, you’re grieving.”
“It sticks inside me, and sometimes I think I can feel the same blade in my own heart.”
“I know,” Jarrett said.
“It must be important. The sword didn’t disappear, like…” Minutes after her body had stilled, Collett faded into mist, leaving behind this weapon.
“Tell me what happened.”
“You were there,” Cade replied.
“Not when she changed. Not at first. Right before she saved me, everything inside me went cold, but it was burning too. My bones turned brittle, my heart—I felt it slow. I could feel the blood in my body expanding with an icy burn as if it was actually freezing. I heard Collett yell, saw a bright light, and I felt the ground rush up. After that, there was nothing but pain for me. Tell me, Cade.”
Cade’s jaw clenched as Jarrett recalled his own memory of the battle, and for the first time since that night, Cade purposefully sought the images of those final moments.
Collett gently set aside Rederrick’s protective hands, smiled at her stunned friend, and turned back to her enemy. “You are a traitor, Bellig.”
“It is you who betrayed me!” he spat back across the torn field.
“You have broken the rules and forsaken your purpose, betraying us all.”
“You break them now, you interfere again. Have you not learned?”
She continued as if his accusation was nothing to her. “I will not allow this any longer. You will not take them! None of them! They were always mine to protect. To have them, you will have to get through me.”
“Mine to protect,” Cade mumbled. “She said we were hers to protect, and that to get to us, he would have to go through her.”
“She had guts,” Jarrett offered.
“Yeah she did,” Cade agreed with a smile playing at his lips. “There was magic. She spoke strange words and then—a light. It was so bright, it covered the whole field. The demons scrambled and screamed to escape it. Any of them caught in the glow turned to ash. And then, it was all gone.”
“The light?”
“All of it. The demons, the light, the screams. All that remained was Collett, us, and him. In those final moments, she walked across the space between them and sought me out as she did. She—” Cade hesitated.
“What? She what?” Jarrett prompted.
Cade met his brother’s eyes, his expression displayed his heartache. “She looked at me, and I felt her. She was in my head. There was fear, reassurance, and love. It was so much. I felt everything she had for me in a single second. I should have protected her,” Cade insisted, touching the dried blood covering the razor edge of the long sword.
“You couldn’t have. I couldn’t have,” Jarrett insisted. “There is nothing I can compare to the agony I felt from his power. He was more powerful than I ever thought. We underestimated him, and that falls on me. I knew him, I knew the evil inside him.”
“She was beautiful, powerful too. You were right though. When I was trying hold her back, I was afraid. Her eyes—when she looked at me—the innocence was gone. In its place were strength and power. She still loved me though. She was magnificent in battle, as if she’d been born for it.”
“Maybe she was.”
“Maybe,” Cade conceded. “His eyes changed too—Bellig, Niall, whoever he is. When she called him out, he was eager, excited even. He change
d his appearance too, and it matched his soul.
“That’s when I was coming around. I remember he offered her a chance to be with him.”
Cade nodded. “He wanted her. I felt it. I think she allowed me to somehow, as if she was trying to show me. I can’t explain it.”
“You don’t have to. I know him well enough to believe possessing her would be a big deal to him, and I know her ability to project emotions into a man. If you felt it, she wanted you to know.”
“Right before he took her life, my wife looked at me and her eyes said everything. She warned me to stay away. He planned to kill me as he almost did to you. In a glance, she also told me she wouldn’t win and walk away after it was done, and I knew—I knew what she was planning.” Cade sighed.
“At the end, what did she say?” Jarrett questioned. “She spoke to him, and only you were close enough to hear it.”
Cade’s brow pinched. “I didn’t—”
“She spoke to him, and it may not have mattered before, but now…” Jarrett insisted.
Already in agreement, Cade closed his eyes and pulled it all back. It felt foggy, and it angered him that this, her final words, would elude him. He watched as the images flashed in as tiny snippets and pushed for more.
“I didn’t hear it. She barely could force it past her lips. It was hard for her to even talk.”
“Force what? What did she say?”
Eyes wide, Cade looked to his twin. “I didn’t see it, I didn’t hear. I felt it!” he said. Shock covered his features. He reached down and lifted the elaborately designed weapon to examine it closer. He ran his fingers over the symbol in the pommel. “It was in my head. She wanted me to know, ‘Victory. I am the Guardian Victory.’’’
“What the hell’s a Guardian?”
“I don’t know, but I know someone who does,” Cade answered eagerly.
Chapter 21
Jonah waited outside Selena’s shop well into the night, long after the streets were quiet. He was undecided on how to approach the situation and talked himself out of going inside several times. Despite being closed, the lights were all on, and he saw her moving around inside. Frustrated, Jonah finally relented and tried the handle. Bells jingled above his head as he opened the door.
He wasn’t sure what he was doing here. His instincts were taking his mind to a place he wasn’t ready to accept, but the detective in him insisted on answers. Selena’s previous references to events that hadn’t even occurred yet puzzled him, but he was not fanciful enough to believe the possibilities that plagued him. As a result, he came here seeking facts. Jonah needed tangible proof that could ground him once more.
Selena looked up from her work and smiled, but he noted the smile was not wholehearted. As a detective, Jonah learned how to read people, and he took note of the stress in her expression as he sauntered to the counter. Her hands were covered in dirt as she moved a small plant over to a bigger decorative pot.
“You really should keep the door locked after closing. It’s a safety thing. There’re too many crazies out there.”
Selena raised her brow and stared at him pointedly. “If I’d locked it, how would you have come in to warn me? You’re late, I’ve been waiting for you,” she greeted somberly as she continued to pot a plant with blue flowers that looked familiar to him.
“Wanna tell me how you knew about the daisies?” he asked without preamble.
“I know many things about flowers. I love them all. Detective, do you know what this flower is?” Confused, he examined the flower, and she continued, “It looks like a bluebonnet, don’t you think?”
“Look—”
“It’s not though. You would know that as a native Texan. There’s nothing like the bluebonnet. They used to grow around the house where I was raised. That was after my parents disappeared. I miss them,” she confessed as she proceeded to push the dirt around the small blooming plant. “I miss the flowers too. I miss seeing the way they would fill the gardens every spring.”
Jonah wondered at her direction but didn’t interrupt. He hadn’t looked into her history as maybe he should have, and he found himself curious about her admission.
“This,” she explained as she touched the petals on the flower, “is an aspen lupine. Native to Colorado. Beautiful in its own way, but not the same is it? Life is that way sometimes. You’ll soon find things are not always as they appear. Something that looks harmless can be dangerous. Columbine is deadly to pets, and yet you find the blooms all over, even purposefully planted in gardens.” She wiped her hands on a small towel sitting on the counter next to her. “Then again, some of the most dangerous creatures are often harmless. Like a Rottweiler raised with love. It looks scary, but with the right family it becomes a loyal, loving companion.”
“Uh, sure,” he replied, still off balance.
She paused, then sighed. “Do you think there are bluebonnets in the afterlife?”
He met her eyes and realized it wasn’t stress in her features, but a profound sadness. “I suppose you could have any flower you wanted in Heaven.”
“You've heard the story of course.”
“Story?”
“The story about how the bluebonnet came to be. The story of the little girl who sacrificed her most precious possession to save her people.”
“Oh. Oh yeah,” he stammered.
“Well, never mind. This is for you,” she said pushing the flower toward him. His puzzled expression drew a gentle laugh from her. “Take it when you leave. You’ll find a use for it. ”
“I didn’t—”
“You came here to talk. You came about the daisies. What can I tell you, Detective?”
“How? How did you know?”
“I’ve always known Jenny favored them. Every month during the winter, she bought a bundle from the little flower shop down the street to take to her husband’s grave. She told me once that when he took her out on their first date, he brought her daisies. I’ve known the family for years now, so I suppose I know a lot of things about them. But that’s why you came to me the first time, isn’t it? To learn about them?”
“But you knew—I don’t get how, but somehow you knew before…”
Selena waited, but when he didn’t finish she helped him. “Before she died?”
Still trying to find a logical reason for her predictions, he tried to reason out loud. “I mean, I guess they might've told you about her decline. So I suppose you're smart enough to know her passing was coming. The part that gets me still is the river. You knew about the kids down at the river.” She waited with calm patience as he continued talking it through with himself. “You told me to bring my shell, and then Peterson, and the movie… I just can’t. What you did, it’s impossible.”
“Impossible, or merely hard to believe?”
“What I can’t believe is that I’m even having this conversation. The idea that keeps circling in my head belongs in some fantasy story.”
She offered a knowing expression. “Fantasy and reality are only a matter of perspective.”
Flustered, Jonah waved it away with his hands. “I just…” Reaching up and rubbing his neck awkwardly, he changed the subject. “Look,” he tried again, “I need some answers, and I think… Well, I think you have them. Help me. No one deserves to have their murder go unsolved. I didn’t know Jeffery, but you did. Don’t you think he deserves justice?”
“You’ve made an incorrect assumption. I did not know him, not well at least.”
“Nothing will happen to the Williams if their innocent,” he insisted.
Now her smile turned indulgent. “That’s not entirely correct, is it? The innocent suffer all the time. You’ll see that soon enough. Consequence and closure do not always come from a courtroom, Detective.”
“I only want the truth,” Jonah pled.
“You’ll get it, I promise. Soon you’ll learn more than I suspect you’ll ever want to. The question is not whether you’ll get your answers, it’s a matter of what you’ll do wit
h them. Like the girl in the blue bonnet story, are you prepared to sacrifice everything you hold dear for what you seek?” Selena questioned intently.
“Yes.”
“Your career?”
“Yes.”
“Your life?” she challenged.
“If that’s what it takes to help make wrongs right. I wouldn’t be much of a good person, let alone a good cop, if I said no. People deserve to feel safe. Somebody has to take the risks to make sure they do.”
She tilted her head and quietly asked, “What if in finding the truth you would destroy Tracy? What if it was her life you had to risk?”
He hesitated. “What are you talking about? Of course I don’t want to put her in jeopardy. Is she in trouble?”
Selena gently laid a hand on his, closed her eyes, and told him, “Your answers are coming, and so too is he. Strength will rise again. The blade of light is his end and his beginning. Time grows short, sacrifice will be required. Faith will be needed. Even the dimmest light penetrates the dark. You must make the choice to stand within the storm’s eye to find that light. You will protect the electric fires and shield its wielder from the darkest forces. You will need all your weapons for what nears. The flood of knowledge comes. There will be no time to waver, else you’ll drown in a sea of evil.”
“I don’t understand!” Jonah exclaimed.
“You will.”
Something changed between them. He sensed her desire for him to take action. She stared into his eyes, practically urging him to ask her anything. He sensed she would tell him whatever he wanted to know. “Who are they protecting? What are they all hiding? Who was the other coffin for? Who else was with them that day?” The questions were flying past his lips before he could even think about the consequence of uttering them. It was the first time he admitted openly that he knew about the other coffin at Jeffery’s funeral.
The bells over the door rang, but he didn’t bother to look at who was coming in. Nor did he even contemplate the late hour of the arrival. The only thing that he wanted was the truth, and he focused on her intently, all but begging her to tell him.
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