“Oh, absolutely I shall go look, but I suspect if I do have any success it will not be the answer you seek. I will notify you immediately if I find anything out.”
“Thanks.”
He grimly nodded before disappearing.
Baba Yaga returned to the rock and climbed up on it. Elain followed, but didn’t return to her seat, instead staring up at Baba Yaga.
“You’re just going to sit there?”
“I am retired, dear. I’ve helped you as much as I am able. I will continue to work on it as well, now that you’ve notified me of it. If I make any breakthroughs, I, too, will let you know.”
“Why do I feel like I’m getting the brush-off?”
“Because I came here to think and be alone. I didn’t have to answer your call. I could have sent you to my house to let you find it empty.”
“Why couldn’t Lina get in touch with you? She said she tried.”
“Because I choose not to deal with her anymore unless it’s vital,” she said. “You have a solid head on your shoulders, as they say. Which will no doubt serve you well. Verbally sparring with Lina was amusing in the beginning, but that was before you emerged as the leader of the Triad. If I wanted to deal with minions, I might as well summon Will, or Aidan, or Purs. They’re far more pleasant and reasonable to deal with under normal circumstances.”
That wasn’t…that wasn’t the full truth.
That wasn’t even partially the truth.
Maybe a little truth to it, but there was a huge whopping evasion of some sort, if not an outright lie, sitting right there in front of Elain.
“What’s going on with you?” Elain asked.
Baba Yaga stared at the water.
“Come on. Tell me. You know if you want any peace and quiet, you might as well freaking tell me now.”
Her gaze finally returned to Elain. “Would it be faster if I simply point Lina toward Bolivia and say, ‘Sic ’em, Goddess’?”
Elain’s stomach rolled. “What?” she managed, barely above a whisper.
“You heard me.”
“What does…that…have to do with you not talking to Lina?”
“Because I no longer have faith in my ability to shield myself from her.”
Elain’s stomach rolled again, dangerously so. She knew it had nothing to do with the double burritos of doom, either.
“You guys told me that the connection meant I could shield my thoughts from her and Mai!”
“Yes, you can.” She held up the amethyst amulet she wore around her neck and jingled it on its chain. “Some of us, however, no longer have those abilities, and they grow weaker with the passage of time.”
“Why?”
“Because I am no longer protected by my Triad powers. As part archdemon, one who lost her mate, my powers now wane. My sisters have mates, and are therefore stronger than I am. Their knowledge is safe. Ask Ryan to give you the 411 on how and why Will and Kal were hooked up, if you don’t believe me.”
“Who?”
“He’ll tell you. Although I believe you already saw some of that.” She released her amulet and stared out at the water. “I don’t wish to give away any secrets that must stay hidden. Marston. Connor.”
Elain swallowed.
Baba Yaga glared at her. “Your son is safe from me, never fear. I would not kill a baby, especially one who has such good prospects with excellent parents. Doubly especially considering the price paid for his safety. Be a grateful mother, not a fearful one. Fear has no place in how you must raise those children in this world. All of them. Not just yours, but BettLynn, Luka, and Anton. Colleen. Elise. Fiona. The others to come.”
Elain laid a hand on her still-flat stomach. “What do we do if we can’t make progress?”
“Keep trying. Move forward. Work on it, on your powers. Or focus on the past. Try to find out who else is able to work that kind of magick. Perhaps tracing events backward will help you move forward again. Look back in time.”
“Why can’t he track the other books?” Elain was pretty much convinced at this point that the other two Grimoire Lilitu still had to be out there. Somewhere.
“Ryan? It’s a different energy signature. The amulet Brighton possessed came from off-Earth and had an energy signature Ryan was able to sense, once he was aware of its existence. The books were created on Earth, from Earthly origins, despite the nature of the magick they detail. Had the skin and blood of an off-Earth creature been used, perhaps Ryan would have been able to track them then. The knives were created on Earth. As were those stupid, evil little statues. If the magick is performed in this realm, and the item originates in this realm, it won’t trigger the same types of…mental alerts.”
She stretched her legs out in front of her on the rock. Elain finally realized Baba Yaga was wearing jeans and a black T-shirt.
“Perhaps I have not made things clear to you, Elain,” she continued. “None of us are all-powerful or all-knowing. We each have our realms to deal with. We each have our responsibilities, our specialties. Our limitations. There is a reason that no one being on this plane has all that power within their grasp. It would tip the universal balance.”
“Shades of grey,” Elain muttered.
“Exactly. Checks and balances.”
“You’ll contact me if you find something out?”
“I will.”
Elain slowly nodded. “Thanks. Sorry I bothered you.”
The lines on the matron’s face softened. “I understand your frustration all too well. It has not been so many years I don’t remember my frustrations in the beginning.”
Elain closed her eyes and poofed herself back to Arcadia.
* * * *
Baba Yaga returned her focus to the water, ignoring the sound of the person making their way down the cliffside trail.
When she was no longer alone on the rock, Baba Yaga finally spoke. “Good evening, Lacey.”
“Jadwiga.”
She didn’t even care if the Seer called her that anymore.
It was her name.
Had been.
“Why’d you lie to them,” Lacey finally asked.
“I did not.”
“Why did you omit? Why didn’t you tell them the answer lies as close as that blasted rock pile?”
She didn’t answer, at first. “Why did you not tell Ryan all that you saw?”
“Because I suspect you have a final end game and I respect your wishes. I know you wouldn’t allow a cockatrice to bomb the Midwest. I saw that much. Unless you want me to tell them what I saw. But I think that messes up your plans, doesn’t it?”
“We all have secrets. Things we wish to keep hidden.”
“Some of us have things we wish to know. Questions you’ve refused to answer.”
An easy silence settled between them for several minutes before Baba Yaga finally broke it. “Do you really want to know? Will it allow your soul to settle and be at ease? If I finally tell you?”
Lacey didn’t respond at first. When she did, the old Seer’s voice sounded choked with emotion. “Please.”
Baba Yaga eventually turned to Lacey. “Lina comes from a long line. That much you know. She and Zack’s souls renewed, bound forever.”
“The way BettLynn and Luka and Anton are now bound. They won’t lose each other again.”
Baba Yaga nodded. “I hold myself responsible for their deaths. I wasn’t listening closely enough to events, at the time. I was angry and caught up in my own pain. For that I cannot forgive myself any more than Ryan will forgive himself for Chloe or Abby or Brighton or any number of lost ones.”
Lacey didn’t speak.
“Bertholde lived in agony the rest of her days. Agony multiplied by two. I barely survived losing one, and only then was I sustained by the energy of the Triad and my own rage and the need to make sure my babies survived. Bound as a soul sister, I could not escape then.”
“And you can now.”
“I will not apologize for manipulating the Ether. Had the El
ders wished, the Dodeks, any of them could have stepped in and stopped me. Goddess knows, even Hades could have, had he been bothered to pay attention.”
Baba Yaga clasped her hands together and laid them in her lap. “I know you and Jocko ached and mourned your losses, and there was no solace I could give you, my friend. I saw, I listened, I watched. I did the best I could do. As I did with Bertholde. Rest assured that souls always come home.”
Lacey held out her hand to the other woman.
After a long moment, Baba Yaga finally reached out and touched her hand, showing Lacey what she wanted to know. Then she withdrew her hand, clasping them in her lap again and watching the ocean as Lacey’s soft sobs next to her drowned out the sound of the water lapping at the shoreline.
When Lacey leaned over and rested her head against Baba Yaga’s shoulder, the former Immortal tipped her head and rested it against Lacey’s.
“Thank you,” Lacey finally whispered.
“You’re welcome, my friend. I wish I could have done more. Bringing them back to you in this way was the only option. Now you understand why I resisted telling you before now. I could not have them knowing too soon.”
A few minutes later, Lacey climbed down from the rock and headed back to her house, the beach once again returning to the sounds of the surf.
The woman formerly known as Jadwiga stared out at the water.
Soon.
So, so soon.
She closed her eyes and deeply breathed in the scent of the ocean.
Chapter Nine
It was a little after four the next morning. Ellie and Connor were both asleep on a blanket in the living room with Jasper, Juju, and Bea standing watch over them. Elain had fed and changed both babies. They’d gone back to sleep, leaving Elain wide awake and watching some documentary on the History channel with the volume turned almost completely off about earthquakes in the Midwest.
Elain had kept her “don’t wake them up” bubble around herself to allow her men to sleep. While it was weird having their house all to themselves now, Elain was grateful for the solitude.
Relatively speaking.
In less than a year, her children would have two siblings, thanks to Brodey knocking her up and Cail adding his two cents the next morning to take care of the second egg she’d ovulated that month. Life would get crazy—ier—and not just as parents.
If that wasn’t enough, there was her job as a Seer and as part of the Triad. And Ain being a member of the Maine wolf Clan Council and part of the mega-Clan Council.
Elain hadn’t gotten any sleep following their futile Triad session the night before. After returning to Mai’s and reporting what she’d learned—or not learned—from Baba Yaga and Ryan, they’d tried a couple of different things with no results.
Elain didn’t think trying to see what happened in the past with the third spell book would work, because Ryan and Elain were deliberately sabotaging that. Elain couldn’t let Mai or Lina see the truth of what had happened on the rock pile that day with Brighton.
Without having the spell books in front of them to work with, and the bank being closed until morning to go get them and lay hands on them, they’d finally called it quits for the night. To say they were all frustrated was an understatement.
But Elain couldn’t sleep.
It crossed her mind that she needed to ask Baba Yaga, or Ryan—or both of them—if her keeping the barriers in her mind to block the knowledge she held was possibly causing the problem. If there was any other way to protect Marston and protect her men from the knowledge that Brighton’s death hadn’t exactly happened the way everyone thought it had.
In less than two months, they’d be going to the fall Gathering at Yellowstone in October. She couldn’t get out of it, either. Not even with the double burritos of doom as her excuse. They’d be having the larger memorial for Brighton, and some of her men’s brothers were going to travel for it.
Jasper got up and walked over to her, laying his head in her lap.
She reached out and stroked his head. “And you,” she quietly said.
He wagged his tail.
“You’re obviously a very good boy, but what the hell are you?”
He wagged his tail a little harder. “Protecting my babies.”
“Well, they’re my babies, but I love that you’re so protective of them.”
“Sad for lost crazy wolf?”
Oh, shit. There was that. Jasper had witnessed all the events of that day on the rock pile. He knew the full truth.
She cupped his head in her hands and stared into his eyes. “You cannot reveal what you know about that day to anyone without my permission,” she whispered, edicting him. “Understand?”
He softly chuffed in agreement at the edict. “No tell. Love my babies.”
He was such a sweet dog. Well, not dog, but she didn’t know what the hell he was.
She stroked his head. “You’ve lost a lot of people in your life, haven’t you?”
Another soft chuff. “Dark Ones bad. Love protecting my babies. It is my calling.”
Maybe she could, when they weren’t so desperately working on the vision, arrange a visit for Jasper with Purson. She wasn’t concerned about Jasper being bad. He hated cockatrice and protected her and her children.
“You met Mercedes and growled at her.”
“Strange wolf woman. Yes.”
“You didn’t attack her.”
“Wolf woman. Dark One smell but…” He cocked his head and seemed to be searching for the answer. “Jaguar girl.”
“Fiona.”
“Yes.”
He hadn’t growled at Ortega Montalvo’s granddaughter, a wolf with traces of cockatrice in her because she was the daughter of Rodolfo Abernathy.
And Mercedes’ half-sister.
“Fiona is less cockatrice than Mercedes was.”
“Woman had good heart. Bad smell.”
“None of us smelled that.”
“Wolf smell outside. Dark One smell inside.”
On the TV, the documentary talked about how the Mississippi River had even reversed its flow at one point during a massive New Madrid fault earthquake a hundred or so years earlier.
Glad we live in Florida. She’d take hurricanes over most other natural disasters any day. You got plenty of warning about them.
“Watch the babies for me,” she said. “I need sleep.”
“You nap. I watch.”
She released Jasper with one final pat to his head. He returned to the blanket to lie down between Juju and Bea, their two Labs, at the head of Connor and Ellie.
With Jasper on the job of watching the babies, Elain snuggled on the couch, dropped the “stay asleep” barrier around her, and tried to catch a nap of her own.
* * * *
Elain awoke to the smell of coffee and bacon that not only didn’t send her stomach into rumble mode in the good way the aromas normally did, it sent her scrambling for the powder room off the hallway.
She barely made it in time before she puked her guts up.
She heard Cail in the doorway behind her. “Babe? Oh, sweetheart.” He rushed over and gathered her hair in his hands, holding it back for her. “We there already?”
She nodded and spit, waiting to see if that was it or there’d be more. “Thought I’d have a little while yet.”
He helped her get back up and rinse her mouth out. “You’re almost a month along now. And it’s twins. Don’t expect the same kind of pregnancy you had with Ellie.”
Leaning against him, she rested her head on his chest. “I’m so tired.”
“I know, sweetheart.” His fingers stroked her back and she couldn’t help but feel his mixed-up wave of emotions washing off him. Guilt that she was puking and it was partially his fault. Worry for her over the strain of her job.
But mostly pride that one of the babies was his, and that he was about to become a father again.
Something the brothers had long since begun to think would never happen until
they met her.
Looking up, she palmed his cheek. “Stop feeling guilty. I wanted this.”
“You wanted one more. You didn’t sign up for two.”
She smiled. “Consider it a two-fer.”
That finally drew a laugh from him.
Brodey’s head popped into the bathroom doorway. “Is she okay?”
“She is right here,” Elain teased, turning in Cail’s arms.
A wave of warm fuzzies washed through her when Cail’s hands settled over her stomach, protectively.
Lovingly.
Brodey stepped all the way into the doorway. “Sorry, babe. Can I get you anything?”
“Don’t you have to be out on the ranch today?”
“Prime saw how exhausted you looked and asked me to stay behind with Cail.”
She blinked back tears.
Oh, great. Pregnancy hormones. “That’s so sweet of him.”
She’d gone from not wanting to quit her job and not wanting to run around barefoot and pregnant…to having two beautiful babies with a new set of twins on the way.
She’d gone from fighting Ain’s suggestion that she wouldn’t want to work outside the home…to wholeheartedly agreeing with him.
As for the working part of the equation, if she knew there was any way she could get out of her Seer and Triad gig and just be a mom and a wife and a mate… Well, with her three men?
Totes worth it.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen.
Especially not with so many lives at stake.
Brodey enveloped her in his arms from the front. “Can I make you some tea and toast?”
“Yes, please. Mint tea.”
He tipped her head up and kissed her, his green eyes bright and full of happiness. “Coming right up, baby.” He dashed off, almost bouncing like a puppy.
Despite grieving for Brighton, Brodey’s soul had lightened considerably with the knowledge that they were about to be parents.
Again.
If Brodey could do nothing for the rest of their lives but be a husband, mate, and father, that would be a dream come true for him. In a way, she felt a little guilty that she was both an answered prayer for him as well as his worst nightmare.
The Fire Road [Triple Trouble 10] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 7