Chapter 19 #2
Rowan paced from one end of the small office to the other. ‘Ellie couldn’t see what form the threat took, whether it was a living man or spectre.’ She turned her focus to Thomas. ‘Do you believe this Berty is the one who killed Viscount Beachley?’
Thomas tried to think clearly through the fear that plucked at his wits. Clio was in danger. And he was half a day’s travel away. He was such a fool for leaving her. ‘He has motive. He had the means, and according to Anna, he was there the day her father died.’
Rowan tapped her finger against her blue skirt.
‘As a rule, I am generally more worried about the living than the dead. If he suspects she knows, Clio has more to fear from Berty than Viscount Beachley’s ghost. Especially as the person most capable of protecting her from a violent man ran back to London with his tail between his legs. ’
He opened his mouth to argue, but she narrowed her gaze and kept talking.
‘When things got messy, you left. Hardly helpful.’
His rebuttal died because she was right.
‘You said she pulled you into one of her visions? Was the viscount there? Or the viscountess?’
Thomas hadn’t given any specifics about the vision. Rowan might know the truth, but he wasn’t ready to share it aloud. He certainly didn’t want Lachlan to hear the shameful secret he had guarded for so long. ‘No. It wasn’t about them. It was… a memory from my past.’
Rowan’s mouth parted and her grey eyes darkened to the blue of a stormy sea. ‘I see.’
Thomas wished he could say the same. It obviously meant something that Clio was able to see his memories, but while Rowan seemed to know, he didn’t think she would share any information with him.
She began pacing again. A sickly plant in the corner of the room swayed towards her every time she drew near it, like a sunflower following the arc of the sun.
Noticing, she paused and spared Lachlan a scathing look.
‘Why have plants if you aren’t going to take care of them?
’ She reached out and touched the wilted spider plant.
Instantly, it turned from yellow to lush green, the fronds plumping before their eyes.
Lachlan brushed aside her criticism. ‘Rowan, what are you thinking? What did Ellie see?’
Rowan paused, and Thomas would have grabbed the woman by the shoulders and shaken the answers from her if he could have done more than twitch his pinkie.
If Clio’s life was at risk, Thomas would tear the bloody ghosts out of the ether where they hid and destroy them with his own hands before he would let them hurt Clio.
‘Nothing was clear to Ellie. Perhaps her closeness to Clio inhibits her sight. But she knew Clio was in danger. No doubt from this Berty. And her destiny, whatever that might be, is inescapable. I nearly had to cast a binding spell to keep Ellie and Helena in the house. They were determined to find Clio. But fighting against fate only guarantees failure.’ She speared Lachlan with a heavy gaze.
Thomas shook his head. ‘I have to go back. I never should have left her. I was running when I should have stayed.’ He stood, belatedly realising he had been released from whatever power had held him. Rowan grabbed his arm, halting him.
The world stopped spinning on its axis as everything went perfectly still. Lachlan was frozen by his desk. A fly hung in mid-flight. Thomas felt the strain of the universe as it flexed to be free.
Rowan’s voice deepened and vibrated in the marrow of his bones. ‘You are part of it, Thomas Grey. For good or bad, I cannot say. But you have a role to play in this.’
When Clio touched him, his skin flamed, but with Rowan, everything went still. His heart barely beat. Air slowly seeped from his lungs. He started to pull away, but she held firm.
‘Whatever you think ails you cannot be cured. You are not broken, therefore you can’t be fixed.’
Anger pulsed through him, bringing with it strength.
Rowan was tearing away his shields and poking the raw flesh beneath.
Clio didn’t have control when she was pulled into his memories and saw beyond the shield he so carefully erected, but her aunt knew exactly what she was doing.
He ripped his arm free. Heat and life slammed through his system once more as time restarted.
‘I’m leaving now.’
He spared Lachlan a glance before quickly walking out of the office, racing through the narrow corridors, down the stairs, and out the back to Scotland Yard where he hired a hack to take him to the train station.
I am coming, Clio. You have a long and happy future ahead of you. And I’ll be damned if anyone tries to take that away.
Himself included. Rowan’s words wrapped like chains around his heart, squeezing tight. He hated that she spoke what he already knew. What was broken within him could not be fixed. And he would never damn Clio to such a life. But neither would he step aside and let anyone hurt the woman he loved.
Clio did not expect to see Thomas in the morning room as many of the guests gathered for a late breakfast. But neither did she think he would slink away in the middle of the night like a thief. She was shocked when Cynthia approached her, sympathy rife in her frank gaze.
She pulled Clio close and murmured gently in her ear. ‘He left early this morning. He asked me to beg forgiveness of Lady Langley and tell her he was needed urgently in London for an unavoidable business commitment.’
‘Balderdash! The cowardly bastard,’ Clio hissed, uncaring if her coarse words shocked Cynthia.
On the contrary, the woman leaned back and looked long and hard at Clio. She might not have magical abilities, but Cynthia had the discerning intuition of a sister, and that could be just as powerful. ‘Something is going on between the two of you. You like him. Admit it!’
Clio opened her mouth to deny such an outlandish accusation, but she couldn’t.
Because Cynthia was right. Damn her. ‘I have no interest in tying myself to any man,’ she hedged.
It was an unfortunate choice of words. She might not tie herself to Thomas, but she’d certainly let him tie her to any number of things.
And now she was thinking about those leather straps holding her helpless while Thomas ravaged her with his mouth.
Oh dear.
The fire that had been lit to ward off the morning chill crackled and popped ominously.
Cynthia’s eyes lit with mischief. ‘Really? Then I suppose you wouldn’t care to know that he is smitten with you.’
‘Exactly. I mean, no, I don’t care. Wait, what?’
Cynthia’s eyes sparkled. ‘He has fallen so hard, he doesn’t know it yet. But he will realise soon.’
Clio blinked, but the room didn’t disappear.
This wasn’t a dream. And Cynthia’s words effortlessly dismantled her shields.
She exhaled a long breath as her confusion gave way to something hollow and aching.
‘He can’t possibly…’ But she couldn’t say the word pulsing through her spirit with a resonant beat.
Because she couldn’t sacrifice her magic for love.
Even if it was the bright, stunning, breathtaking kind of love written about in the silly romance books Ellie sometimes read aloud to them.
Even if it was for a man full of courage and honour whose dark desires could make her melt and whose gravelled voice resounded in her soul.
She wouldn’t turn her back on her birthright just because she was stupid enough to fall in love with Thomas Grey. Her eyes widened as realisation dawned.
‘Oh, dear goddess. I’m in love with him.’
‘I know, darling.’ Cynthia’s smug smile did nothing to help.
Fear and joy were an odd combination, but both emotions filled her in equal measure. How could she have let herself fall? How could he have fallen just as swiftly?
How could we have done anything else?
It was as inevitable as the tide crashing against the shore, the wind whipping through the woods, the sun rising in the morning sky and setting in a blaze of colour.
Would he ask her to give up her craft? Would he twist her gifts into something he could use for his own gain?
Never.
The answer came unbidden, but powerful enough to cause a corresponding pulse of magic in her blood.
‘You really are the perfect match for him, Clio. And now I get to hope my false cousin becomes my true sister.’ Cynthia took both of Clio’s hands and squeezed them as Lady Langley entered the room and spied them near the buffet table.
‘Do not fret. His absence only proves how much he cares for you. He doesn’t believe he’s worthy, and so he thinks to spare you by leaving.
But, if I know my brother, he also won’t be able to stay away.
He shall return. I dare say before the day is over.
’ She pressed her lips together as Lady Langley joined them, preventing Clio from asking Cynthia if she knew the truth.
The real reason Lissa had divorced her brother.
Oh, Thomas.
But that thought was quickly followed by another.
Selfish bastard!
To leave without giving Clio a chance to process what she’d learned.
Assuming she wouldn’t want him because they couldn’t have children together was arrogant and asinine…
and completely understandable. Most women were raised to believe their one purpose was to provide their husbands with heirs.
But Clio wasn’t most women. She had been raised to believe her value was far more varied and complex.
She was meant to create magic. To help others.
To learn the facets of her own power and determine how best to use the gifts she’d been given for the good of all.
Children were a far-flung idea that held no charm for Clio.