Chapter 21
FRANKIE
It’s chaos once we arrive at the estate. Men in military uniform file in and out of the huge doors.
I had told Zach everything on the way including where that slimy little prick, Aiden, was. He got on it straight away and had his guys (whoever the hell they were) to track him from the new Russian territory all the way out to an abandoned nightclub north of Birmingham.
Cora and I wait in the Grenville's fancy kitchen, sitting tight for my own orders. My legs bounce up and down beneath the kitchen counter until Cora places a grounding hand on my thigh. Her face is sullen as she nods in understanding.
I want to go there now and charge in like a bull in a china shop. But apparently there’s a “conversation” we need to have first. Ben is nowhere to be seen; I wonder if he’s still ill, or perhaps he’s busy doing whatever the fuck rich guys like him do. The mental clock ticks loudly in the silence.
When Zach enters, he looks pale like Ben did the other day. Dark circles wrap around his eyes. Can immortal beings get things like the flu? My eyes linger on the very old book in his hands, which he unceremoniously slams down in front of me on the kitchen island.
Dust puffs up into the air from the dark pages. A shadow slides along the kitchen floor in the corner of my eye, but when I turn, it’s gone. Chills slither down my body. This place is creepy as fuck, despite the modern decor they’ve given it.
“We need to talk.” Zach says as he takes a seat opposite us. Cora shifts uncomfortably next to me. She always has this kind of reaction to Zach—not that I blame her. He’s a scary fucker.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t see why dumping a minging old book down in front of me has anything to do with my sister.”
Zach’s eyebrows raise to new heights. “Don’t be so dim. This book has everything to do with your sister. Besides, don’t be jealous that you can’t read.”
“Fuck off, Zach. Get on with it because I’m not sitting around doing fuck all when I’m this close to getting her back and getting you and your zombie brother out of our lives.” His silver eyes turn menacing at my tone.
“There's more to this than you could ever begin to fathom, but I’ll try to dumb it down for you.” My blood boils.
“And if you think that we will rescue your sister just for you to ride off into the sunset with her and leave us both behind, you are sorely mistaken.
She is in this for life, end of discussion. " His intensity has me swallowing bile.
“Now, back to the topic at hand. As you know, time is not on our side. I have spoken with my brother, and we think it’s time that you truly understand what’s at stake here.”
I nod, not wanting to waste time. He’s already told me that he’s basically an all powerful immortal, how much worse could this get?
“I’ll keep this as short and sweet as I can. A very long time ago, your ancestor cast a curse upon me and my brother. She removed our souls and granted us eternal life, but the conditions she set were… hazy.”
My ancestor?
Zachs finger traces the faded script on the front of the bound book lying between us.
“She removed our souls and put them somewhere for safe keeping. Inside another, to be exact. We were told that when this person… emerged… it would be our undoing. So we searched, for centuries, trying to get them back so that we might finally become masters of our own fate. What we didn’t know about was the complicated side effects that came with this.
“When that person finally arrived twenty years ago… My brother felt drawn to her in a way that is indescribable to the simpleminded and thus could not follow through with our original plan of getting our souls back. To remove them from said person meant that they would die.”
I take a deep breath in and try to stop my hands from shaking uncontrollably. I know what he’s going to say, but I still don’t want to believe it. The Garrick curse is a fairytale. Something the other leaders tell their kids at bedtime to keep peace and order throughout the generations.
“That person is your sister.”
“You fucking pricks!” I rise from my seat, not giving a shit that he has the strength of a hundred men. Cora grabs my wrist and pulls me back down. “You’re fucking mental! My sister doesn’t have your soul inside of her!” The thought of it makes me feel sick.
“Yes, she does. Now try not to have an existential crisis, you’ll give yourself an aneurysm trying to understand it.”
I shake my head and look at Cora, “You can’t seriously believe any of this?”
She gives me a sympathetic smile. “I was taught from a young age not to question what the Grenville brothers are. Everyone knows, at least in our inner circle. And there have, of course, been rumours…” Her eyes flick to Zach’s. “...of weaknesses.”
“I don’t have much time to go into this, but this—” He slides the book towards me. “Is your ancestor’s grimoire, if you’d like to take a look. She was a little crazy, though, and most of it seems like ramblings.”
I frown, “ramblings?”
“Something about a shadow self that tells her what to do. Anyway, before Louisa went missing, her soul… accepted my brother’s. So when she is ill, he becomes ill too. Their souls have bonded, in simple terms.”
My mind races. “And you?” I ask. “You look pale, but you seem fine.”
“No, not yet. But I don’t know what happens to my soul if she ceases to exist. I can feel…
her torment, the agony of being held captive.
Perhaps because I have been in a similar situation myself, or maybe I’m just drawn to her the same way my brother is—like a moth to a flame.
I ripped out the heart of the only person who would be able to tell us.
” He pauses, looking more vulnerable than I’d ever seen.
“What I’m trying to say is that we can’t fuck this up.
This situation must be handled delicately, and my brother needs some more time to recover.
Once he does, and we know where she is, we will get her back.
In the meantime, read this and find out who you really are.
” He disappears without another word, leaving the terrifying truth and an old crusty book in his wake.
We sit in silence, neither of us knowing what to say.
This is madness.
“Are you going to read it?” Cora’s voice is soft as I stare at the grimour, whatever the fuck that is.
“No. I know who the fuck I am. If something like this was true, my dad—” My throat closes, the words lost.
“Frankie, your dad probably had no idea.”
“He spoke about the curse. Several times. But it didn’t sound the way that Zach described it.
” I close my eyes, recalling the memory.
“He’d sit me down on my bed, every time I disappointed him.
Dad would always tell me that I had to protect her.
That she’s special. I always thought it was because she was smarter than me, that since she was more like him, he preferred her.
But now, I can’t help but think that he knew about all of this.
” Pain stabs in the back of my eyes as I try to pull the strings together.
“At least you know that she’ll be safe with them.
If there’s anything I know to be true about Ben and Zach, it’s that they’re strong.
Nobody dares to oppose them out of fear.
While this is all horrific, you must see the positive side to this.
Once we get Louisa back, the Grenvilles will make everything else go away.
” Her hopeful eyes shine bright at the prospect of a happy ending.
But something in the pit of my stomach, something I’d felt since I was a small boy, tells me that’s not in the cards for me. Despite that, I find myself nodding and kissing her forehead.
I couldn’t protect my sister, but I can protect Cora.