Chapter 28
Callum
Time passes. The sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening. I do not have the strength or the desire to count them. To know how many days have passed since I lost everything. My father. My sister.
Cate.
Even as her words replay in my mind, over and over, until they no longer cut me like a thousand knives, I can’t make myself truly believe them, cannot fathom a world where the feelings I have for her are not reciprocated.
Which makes me nothing more than a fool.
Harold remains alive, but unconscious. According to Harold, Lady M has been feeding him a slow-acting poison.
He’s grown thinner and paler as the days go by, but he keeps breathing.
I don’t think there is much hope for him without a Gifted healer, but I wouldn’t know where to find one, even if I had the desire to try.
“I don’t think he has much time left,” Alex tells me one morning, the clouds outside the one tiny window as gray and heavy as the mood in the room.
I’ve barely dragged myself from the rickety cot that passes for a bed. I know deep down I should care about this news, but I can’t manage to make myself feel anything, content to linger in this state of numbness.
If I let in one tiny emotion, what’s to keep the other, much bigger and more dangerous ones from pulling me under?
A knock sounds on the door.
Alex and I exchange a look.
I haven’t left the safe house since I arrived back from the fortress. Alex has slipped out a couple of times in the dark of night to gather more food and supplies, but no one is supposed to know we’re here.
Did he betray me again? I wonder. But the look of fear and surprise in his eyes is too genuine. He doesn’t know who’s on the other side of that door.
The knock sounds again.
Alex rises, drawing a knife from his boot. I reach for the dagger I keep under my pillow, joining him at the door. I flatten my back to the wall next to it, ready to spring into action if need be.
I give him a nod, and he cracks the door.
Whatever he sees on the other side must not give him pause, because he throws it open wide, and three bodies fall into the open space.
My heart stops. I would recognize that golden hair anywhere.
My body freezes along with my heart, but the room bursts into motion around me.
A redhead rushes to Harold’s side, her hands hovering over his body, doing lord knows what.
Alex helps Cate lift another golden-haired woman onto the empty cot.
This must be Andra. She and Cate have the same coloring, though Andra is thin and frail, lifeless except for the rise and fall of her chest. Cate tucks a blanket around her, smooths back her hair, whispers something in her ear.
Dark circles line her eyes and exhaustion curves her shoulders; it must have taken them the whole night to make it here, but it doesn’t surprise me that Cate managed to find a way to save her sister.
I can’t take my eyes off her.
She’s here, her presence stinging more than soothing.
I had resigned myself to never seeing her again, and yet, now that she’s here in front of me, I don’t have anything to say.
Conflicting emotions wage a war within me and I’m unable to settle on a single one.
I don’t know what it means, that she came here of all places.
I do know that a small part of my heart stitches itself back together knowing at least she’s alive.
Cate rises from her position next to Andra only to sink to her knees again, this time next to Harold. Her own war of emotions flits across her face, but she finally gives in, taking his hand in hers. And it becomes clear why she came here. Not for me, but for him.
It shouldn’t hurt. There shouldn’t be any part left of me to hurt.
Her eyes meet mine and they are layered with so much pain and grief that I long to take away from her, to share that burden even if I am unable to ease it. “You didn’t kill him.”
My chest aches as I watch the two of them together. Despite everything, I had many years with my own father. Cate thought she had lost hers long ago, but really he was right there with her, protecting her and caring for her, the whole time. How will she react when she finds out the truth?
I pray I won’t have to be the one to tell her. I don’t think I could.
“I told you he was alive.” The words come out harsher than I intend, as if to remind both of us of the division still separating us.
She nods, a million emotions in the small gesture. She opens her mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. Instead, she turns her focus back to Harold.
Minutes pass, bleeding into hours and still the redhead, Bianca I presume, fusses over Harold. I don’t know how her Gift works, and watching her isn’t making things any clearer. The whole room looks on with bated breath, searching for some sign of change in his condition.
He comes to with a start, a violent cough racking his lungs.
Bianca calls for water and Alex darts into the kitchen, returning with a glass of it seconds later. She holds it to Harold’s lips and he sips, barely taking in more than a few drops at a time.
Harold’s eyes flit around the room, searching for something, or someone. They linger on mine for a second before they land on Cate. He sits up, moving quite well considering the state he was just in, and wraps her in his arms.
Cate resists at first but finally acquiesces, her arms finding their way around Harold’s frail body.
“We have much to talk about.” His voice is so weak I can barely make out the words.
“We’ll leave you alone.” I gesture for Alex to head into the other room with me to give them all some privacy.
“No,” Cate says. “Whatever it is he needs to tell me, you need to hear too.”
I don’t know if it’s supposed to be a peace offering or a sign of trust. I almost refuse, heading into the small bedroom if for no other reason than to not have to see her face.
“Please, Callum. I need you to hear.” She turns to Harold. “If that’s okay with you.”
He nods, adjusting his position, gratefully accepting the pillow Bianca offers to put behind his back.
I stay rooted in my spot, unable to deny her anything, even still.
Harold opens his mouth to speak, hesitating as if he isn’t sure where to begin, but once his tale starts to unravel, it doesn’t stop. He speaks for maybe an hour, spinning the story of his childhood friend, the woman who became his wife. The woman who became the mother of his children.
Cate pieces it all together before he says the words. “It was you all along.”
Harold nods, his eyes brimming with sadness.
“I thought it was the only way. Diana told me we needed to send you girls away from Grecia if you were to have any chance of surviving. It killed me to say goodbye to my daughters, but I would have done anything to guarantee your safety. I would still do anything to guarantee your safety, Cate.”
Her grip on his hand tightens. “Why didn’t you say something sooner? We could have had a whole life together, as a family.”
He reaches for her cheek, patting it the way one would a young child’s. “We did have a whole life together as a family, and I wouldn’t change anything about it if it meant no harm would come to you or your sisters.”
“Sisters?” Alex questions, the first time one of us on the outside has dared to speak.
Harold nods, his eyes never leaving Cate. “There were—are—three of you.”
Cate sucks in a breath. “We have another sister? Where is she?”
“I’m not sure. But before Diana died, she assured me that she was safe. That she would come into our lives when the timing was right.”
Cate’s fist clenches. “I can’t believe Diana never told us.”
Harold gently unclasps her hand from where it grasps the blanket. “Such is the way with Seers. Sometimes they know too much.”
“So your Bond with this Lady M, it really can’t be broken?
” Alex watches the group with sympathy shining in his eyes.
But underneath that there’s a calculating edge to his question.
This isn’t over. We might have escaped the fortress, Harold might have survived the poisoning, but Lady M isn’t going to rest until she secures the candidacy for herself.
“It seemed to be, for a while, after we lost the girls. But I’m afraid I triggered it when I went back to her. I don’t know that anything now is strong enough to sever it, save for one of us dying.”
“It won’t be you,” Cate says, the fierceness in her determination stoking a flame of pride deep in my chest. It’s an unwanted feeling, and yet I can’t seem to force it down.
“She’s your mother, Cate,” Harold reminds her gently.
Cate shakes her head. “No, she’s not. She might have given birth to us, but that woman is no mother. She is evil, Harold, capable of so much more harm than you can imagine.”
“She will be ready for you. Between Diana and Andra, Grecia knows what to expect. She will know you are coming, and she has the Gifted on her side. I don’t know that we can stop her.”
“What is her end goal?” I ask. Maybe if we know what she is really after, we can find a way to put a stop to it. “Does she want to be the Scotan candidate? Does she have plans to try to win the election?”
Harold hesitates, but after everything that’s been revealed, there is little use for more secrets. “When we were younger, Diana told us we would amass power, live in prosperity. It didn’t mean much until Andra came along. Her visions are more attuned, more specific.”
“What did she See?” Alex asks quietly.
“She Saw a crown, and a Gift, and a pair of golden eyes,” Cate answers.
“That could be Lady M,” I concede. “But it could also be you, or Andra.”
“Or our other sister,” she says quietly.
Alex clears his throat. “I think it would behoove us all to focus more on the here and now, rather than looking too far ahead. We need a Scotan candidate, and I don’t think it should be you, Harold.”
“I do not disagree with you. I have no plans to be for much longer.” Harold shoots me a look, both of us remembering my promise, uttered what feels like a lifetime ago.
“Unfortunately, Grecia seems to agree with me on that much at least. I know she is planning to end me, claim the candidacy for herself. Hence the poison.”
“We can’t let that happen.” I’m not even sure who says it, because it comes from more than one voice in the room.
“More importantly,” Cate inserts, “we can’t leave the rest of the Gifted there to be used by her. Look what happened to Andra; she could drain any and all of them. Next time she could end up killing someone. They aren’t safe with her. We need to find a way to get them out.”
“Once the Gifted are free from her clutches, it should be easy enough for Callum to take her out. What is she without her army?” Alex crosses his arms over his chest, ready to go to battle.
“You should not underestimate her,” Harold warns. “I fear I might be the only one who can get through to her, to find a way to put an end to all of this.”
“Will your Bond allow you to do that?” My eyes flit to Cate’s. I can’t imagine ever being the one to hurt her, let alone end her life, even after everything she has put me through.
Cate rises, coming to stand by my side, like the brief eye contact between us was enough to stir her need for me. I itch to take her hand in mine, but there is still so much we need to say to one another. She is here, but I don’t know that it’s enough.
“I don’t know.” Harold watches us, and it’s hard to tell if that’s concern in his eyes, or hope. He pushes up from the cot. “But I don’t think we should wait too long before we find out.”
Bianca reaches out a hand to steady him, but he doesn’t need her help. “I don’t think you should be going anywhere near her right now, Harold, you need to heal.”
“There isn’t time for that.” He turns his focus to me. “You’re coming with me, I presume.”
I nod. Even though I no longer have plans to kill him—there is no way I could do that to Cate at this point—I need to see to it for myself that Lady M doesn’t come anywhere near the candidacy. Her, I would have no problem killing.
“I’m coming too.” Cate holds up a hand to stave off the arguments coming at her from all sides.
“Our only chance against the Gifted is to reason with them, to make them see who Lady M truly is. I’m the only one who can get through to them.
And I’m not letting you go in there alone.
” It’s unclear if her final words are for me or for Harold.
Harold nods, like he knows there’s no point in arguing with her. “We should meet there tomorrow morning, at first light.”
“Why not tonight?” Alex asks.
“I need to go back to the club. There is something I need to do there before I go to see her.”
“Will you go with him?” I ask my uncle. He might be the only one I trust to protect Harold.
Alex nods, heading to the bedroom to gather his meager pack of things.
I cross the room to where Bianca sits, having shifted her attention to Andra. “I’m going to take Cate to another location for the night, closer to the fortress. I think it might be safer for you if we are not here. Do you know how to use a dagger?”
She nods, her eyes weary as they dart to Cate’s.
I hand her the knife tucked in my boot. “Don’t leave the safe house, and don’t let anyone in.”
She nods again, taking the dagger from me and setting it at her side.
Cate waits for me to cross to the door before she heads toward Bianca, whispering something in her ear before embracing her. She sends a last worried look in Andra’s direction before joining me at the front door.
She didn’t argue when I said the two of us needed to leave, whether that’s to protect her sister and her friend, or because she knows we have much to discuss, I’m not sure.
But even with the inches of space separating us, I can feel the heat of her.
It licks at my skin, and the urge to take her in my arms, to meld our mouths together, to enter her and claim her, is nearly overwhelming.
I take a deep breath, steadying my nerves before speaking. “We should go.”
She nods, reaching for my hand instinctually.
I pull it out of her reach.
Her mouth flattens into a straight line, and there’s hurt and determination shining from her eyes.
I swallow thickly, open the front door, and head out into the darkness of the night. The air is cool, but the stench of the river is thick. I don’t check to see if she follows me, but I can sense her presence, trusting me as I guide her through the shadows.