Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Mason was all too aware of the silence in the room and the eyes on him.
He should be worried about how the others were taking his story so far, but all he kept thinking about was Rowen.
He had given her a quick accounting of things, but she had no way of knowing if he spoke the truth or not.
All the documents he needed to prove everything had been digitized and were stored safely, where no one could find them.
The feel of her fingers against his leg nearly undid him.
He had been so wrapped up in the memories of uncovering the crime against his parents that the tangled, cloying jumble of emotions tied to it had threatened to consume him once again.
It was only her touch that had pulled him from its clutches.
He pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger and closed his eyes for a heartbeat.
Then he lowered his hand and looked at Rhona.
“Dad met with someone in London. I don’t know who it was, or for what purpose.
He and Mum extended their time in the city by a week.
Ferne was at uni, and I was taking care of estate business.
I didn’t think anything of them staying.
I checked with the staff at the townhome, but there were no visitors.
My parents, however, went out once during the day and returned just after midnight.
Both the butler and one of the maids mentioned how both of them were quiet and seemed troubled when they got home. ”
“Where did they go?” Ferne asked.
He shrugged as he looked at his sister. “I don’t know. None of the texts or emails pointed to a location. They must have been communicating with someone another way.”
“Someone in the organization, you mean,” Carlyle said.
Mason gave a small nod of his head. “It’s my guess. With Mum being an elder, she was privy to a lot of information. They must have stumbled upon something.”
“Something Thomas didn’t want getting out,” Rhona murmured. She turned her head to Song, who sat near her. “Do you know anything?”
Mason frowned as he stared at Carlyle’s lover, confused as to why Rhona would ask her.
Song shifted uneasily and looked at Mason when she said, “Thomas took me as a child and forced me to work for him.”
“Exactly what did you do?” Mason asked.
Carlyle’s lips flattened as anger flashed across his face. “You know the truth about Thomas now. Use your imagination.”
“Did you know about my parents?” Mason asked Song, his stomach tightening with dread. “Were you the one who sabotaged the plane?”
Carlyle took a step around the sofa where Song sat, but she put a hand on his arm, halting him. Mason watched them exchange a silent look. After a heartbeat, Carlyle returned to his place beside the couch.
“You have every right to ask that,” Song told Mason. “I would, too. I did many things I can never take back, but I swear, I never did anything to your parents’ plane or your parents. I knew of them, of course, but the work Thomas sent me to do was usually away from headquarters and the elders.”
“Do you know who might have been involved?” Rhona asked her.
A deep sadness came over Song’s features as her shoulders drooped. “It could have been my sister. She and Thomas are together.”
Mason leaned forward, bracing his forearms on his thighs, searching through his memories for all the times he had been with Thomas over the years to see if he remembered anyone who stood out.
“Can you ask her if she was part of it?” Rowen asked.
Song shook her head. “I didn’t know where she was until a few weeks ago when Thomas tried to kill Carlyle.”
“I’m sorry. Did you just say that Thomas attempted to end his own son’s life?” Rowen glanced about the room.
“That she did,” Carlyle replied.
Mason rubbed his hands on his thighs as he sat back. “Song showed up at the estate, pretending to be with me. I knew the instant she arrived that someone from London had sent her, but I wasn’t sure why or for what. I played along while also hoping I could figure out why she was there.”
“While that was happening, Finn and I went to London because I hadn’t heard from my father,” Carlyle said.
“I believed he had gone missing, and since I was on Skye, I feared what London might do to him. I was unaware of his true position within the organization. He kept it all from me. So, I went looking for Thomas at our place in the city. I found Song instead.”
“Thomas ordered me to go there but told me I couldn’t let Carlyle or anyone know where he was,” Song explained.
Carlyle placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed.
“Finn and I followed her to Mason’s estate.
The four of us had a brief exchange, and I left, knowing that something had changed with Mason.
I thought if I could get Song away from him that he would return to who he used to be, and Song could give me information on my father.
Our plan was to kidnap both of them from the estate. ”
“Everything went to hell,” Song murmured. “I went to Mason’s office to retrieve something out of the desk I was instructed to obtain.”
Mason interrupted her to ask, “What were you looking for?”
“I don’t know,” she replied with a shrug. “They didn’t tell me that.”
Carlyle stroked her hair. “She was attempting to get into the locked drawer. I could’ve opened it since it was the magical lock your father taught us, but I didn’t.”
“What was in the drawer?” Ferne asked.
Mason sat back as he grinned. “Estate records.”
“Nothing to do with London and your parents’ crash?” Theo asked.
Mason shook his head. “I never left a trail to be found. Everything I had was encrypted. It’s safely hidden away and will only be released to Ferne should I die. I knew a hacker would be able to decode it, and she would then have all the information I’d gathered.”
Song nodded, seemingly impressed. “While I was in your office, Carlyle showed up. Then, the next thing I knew, we were both being shot.”
“We ran for our lives,” Carlyle added.
Mason thought about the gun that had been pointed at him. “Why use guns on you? Why did Thomas have individuals use guns and knives with me? It doesn’t make sense.”
“They weren’t ordinary guns,” Carlyle said.
Song grimaced. “London has developed bullets that can render a Druid incapable of drawing on their magic, and there is a second kind that turns a Druid’s magic on them.”
“Fucking hell,” Rowen murmured.
Mason agreed completely. “This is the first I’m hearing about these kinds of weapons.”
“It has been kept quiet from all but a few,” Song explained. “Thomas has been amassing an army for some time now.”
A deep frown marred Rowen’s brow. “For what?”
“To use against us,” Rhona answered. “Against anyone who stands against him.”
Carlyle blew out a breath. “I got Song away from the estate, but we were tracked. Eventually, she told me how she had been taken from her parents as a young child. She was raised with her sister at a manor house and kept there by the elders, who had her trained better than most of MI6.”
Song twisted her lips. “As long as I did what they asked of me, my sister was allowed to live. We both thought the elders had my sister and Thomas somewhere at headquarters, so we decided to go to them.”
“I found Thomas,” Carlyle said bitterly.
“I thought he’d be in some cell, possibly being tortured.
It never dawned on me that he was leading London.
He has been pulling the strings for some time now.
He was the one who took Song and her sister.
He was the one who set it up to look like he had gone missing so he could get me to London. ”
Mason narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “He hated you coming to Skye so badly that he brought you there to kill you?”
Song looked at the floor. Carlyle crossed his arms over his chest. “Actually, the bastard expected me to join him. He threatened Song to force my hand, but when that didn’t work, he tried to take us both out.”
“Fuck.” Mason ran a hand down his face. “I had no idea any of that happened. I only discovered that Thomas was leading the London Druids a few weeks ago. I’ve been watched, the phones bugged, my car tracked, ever since I pushed to know more about the plane crash.
Everything I did was under a microscope.
It’s why I became such a wanker. You were both safe here.
And that’s where I needed you to remain.
” He looked from Ferne to Carlyle. “Then you showed up, and I had to get you away before it was too late.”
Finn tilted his head to the side. “Did you know your home would be attacked? Did you know Thomas was looking for Carlyle?”
“I knew nothing,” Mason stated. “If I had, I would’ve alerted you.”
Ferne asked, “What happened after the attack?”
Mason had dreaded this part. He knew it was going to look and sound bad, but desperate people did desperate things.
“Once I learned Thomas’s true role, I leaned heavily into how close our families were.
I used the fact that Ferne and Carlyle were on Skye and how they had betrayed us to get close to him. ”
“You said what you needed to say to ingratiate yourself,” Theo said with a nod. “That was smart.”
Ferne glared at Theo. “It was stupid. He nearly got killed.”
“He needed answers. Each of us would have done the same in his shoes, and we all know it.” Rhona nodded at Mason. “Continue.”
He glanced down at Rowen’s fingers on his leg.
“I never missed a meeting. I did everything he asked of me, no matter how trivial. And I was always on guard. I knew he could turn on me at any moment. I kept my findings from everyone, and I stopped talking about the crash. I outfitted a storage unit in case I had to lie low. I was prepared. Or so I thought.”
He paused and thought about the assault.
It was bad enough that Ferne had seen his wounds.
He didn’t want her to know just how frightening the ordeal had been.
“It was a regular meeting. I hadn’t been there long before Thomas found me.
He asked me to follow him to the back. It wasn’t the first time, and I had my magic at the ready, just in case.
He was chitchatting about nothing in particular.
I had never been to the room he took me to before.
There were two men playing billiards and another standing off to the side when we walked in.
Instantly, my magic vanished. The next thing I knew, a man attacked.
I fought him off, but I didn’t feel right.
Then a woman came at me with a knife. I thought I knocked her out, but the next thing I knew, there was a third person, and all three came after me.
Somehow, the woman and I fell into the hall as we fought, and my magic returned.
I quickly ended her, but when I tried to get up, I felt my side.
A step later, and I discovered my leg injury. ”
“How did you get away?” Song asked.
Mason glanced at Ferne. “Mum made me memorize a map of escape routes, and I used one. It took all of my energy, though. By the time I found myself outside, I couldn’t get my legs to work anymore. Just when I was about to give up, Rowen found me.”