Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
My feet stayed rooted to the floor as the woman brushed past me.
Sarah was stunning, a natural blonde with light eyes and a smile that seemed like pure sunshine.
Only love brimmed in those eyes as she went to Ethan and took his hand with one of hers while the other brushed his hair away from his brow.
“I’m so glad you’re alright,” she murmured, bending to kiss him.
Despair flooded me. My chest tightened painfully. I wanted to rip her away from Ethan and send her back to the grave, even knowing Ethan would fight me to the death to prevent me from getting within a foot of her.
The horrific truth was Sarah was real. My mother had performed the darkest of magics, forbidden in every single pantheon. Fee’s magic was one of the few pure ways to resurrect that would not corrupt a soul.
Witch magic should be incapable of such a feat, and yet my mother had found a way to do it. She’d somehow managed to find out about Ethan’s first love and used her unholy magic to bring Sarah back. No dark magic stained this woman. She was whole and hale and very human.
Her scent was pure and sweet, and she touched Ethan as if he was the only thing that mattered.
I swayed on my feet.
“Kinsley?” Ethan said again, when Sarah broke the kiss.
The Second jerked. “Yes. Apologies. Right away, Lord.”
Kinsley gripped me by the elbow and all but hauled me out of the room. Henrietta followed quickly behind.
“What is the meaning of this?” he hissed when we were safely out of earshot.
Henrietta was still pale. Her fingers shook as she lifted them to her lips. “My god. Such a thing should be impossible, shouldn’t it?”
My entire body trembled. “There are only a couple of paranormals able to perform such a feat without corrupting their souls. One is a phoenix. The other is a necromancer, but their powers are tightly regulated.” I’d never seen a real-life necromancer, though we all knew they existed.
Most worked for the government and were on the up and up.
Just like with everyone, there were bad seeds, but my mother having access to one felt like a stretch.
A little voice in the back of my mind whispered I hadn’t seen her at all in years, and lots of things could have happened to give her that access.
Kinsley blanched. “Sarah is real?”
I nodded miserably. Henrietta let out a gasp. “My gods,” she whispered. “I—I have no idea what to think.”
From the look on Kinsley’s face, that made three of us.
“We should tell him,” Kinsley murmured. “Right?”
Henrietta shook her head vehemently. “No. You must gather every single person in this Keep and forewarn them. No one is to say a word.”
As much as I hated this, I agreed. This was no illusion. I could smell the blood flowing between Sarah’s veins. What a cruel trick my mother had pulled.
Henrietta gripped both of my upper arms tightly. “Moira. You must figure out what kind of spell your mother cast.” Henrietta’s voice trembled. “We need to know if Sarah is here to stay or if she is back on your mother’s whims.”
“She’s using Sarah as a control mechanism,” I said quietly.
“For me.” There was no doubt in my mind Mom had Sarah on a tight leash and could use her to force Ethan to do her bidding.
The Lord had no idea, and Mom would wait until Ethan was settled and happy before she revealed exactly how deep her claws were in them both.
Kinsley leaned against the wall and let out a shaky breath. “This is all kinds of fucked up, man.”
“Agreed,” Henrietta said. “It appears Ethan has no memory of his time with Moira.”
I pressed my lips together and looked down so they wouldn’t see the grief written all over my face. “He doesn’t remember Sarah’s death. She erased it from his psyche.”
“This is above my pay grade,” Henrietta murmured.
She closed her eyes and released a heavy exhale.
“You have powerful connections, Moira. Please reach out to them and see if they can help you. Ethan—” She gave me a sad smile.
“He loved her more than he loved himself. Child, I am so, so sorry for what is happening. But if this is real…” Her voice trailed off.
Kinsley looked away, his jaw tight.
“I know,” I whispered. “I will not interfere.”
Kinsley’s hand fell onto my shoulder. “Godsdamn, Moira,” he said softly. “This is a fucking nightmare.”
I gave him a wobbly smile. “Yeah. But it’s not his fault. He has no memory of anything other than her, and I would never take that away from him.” No matter that it felt like my heart had leapt off a cliff and crashed to the rocks below.
“I’ll walk you back to the house to get your things,” Kinsley said.
I nodded and let him lead me out of Ethan’s house. The Second stopped to speak briefly to the two wolves guarding the door.
“No one else is to come in or go out, unless it’s Ethan or Henrietta. Do you understand?”
Both wolves nodded. “Everything okay?”
Kinsley let out a heavy exhale. “No. I’ll be back shortly to speak to everyone. Whatever you see, you are not to speak a word of it. Do you understand?”
The wolves glanced at each other, identical expressions of worry on their youthful faces.
“Of course,” they said in unison.
“Good.” Kinsley jerked his head toward me. “Moira?”
I fell into step beside him.
Kinsley said nothing until we were out of earshot. “I can’t imagine how you feel. This is…” His voice trailed off. “In a million years, I never thought we’d be here.”
I let out a wet laugh. “Me neither. My mother has been the bane of my existence, but I never thought she’d do something like this.” A sardonic chuckle escaped. “Though I should have, I suppose. She’s done nothing good in her life. Why wouldn’t she resurrect the dead?”
Kinsley rubbed his chin, the scrape of five o’clock shadow against his palm comforting in an odd way. Ethan never shaved every day and used to do the same thing. My heart ached.
“Can she take Sarah away again?”
“Probably. There will be a link between her and the person who raised her. If it wasn’t my mother, Sarah is most certainly linked to the original spellcaster.”
“If he loses her all over again, he might not come back from it.”
I always thought I was a good person. I’d been a good friend and a generous lover. I was kind to my friends and those I considered family. Five percent of my salary went to charity every year. I planted trees and recycled.
But when Sarah had walked through that door a little while ago, I had to stop myself from killing her again. Even now, I kept thinking about small ways I could get rid of her and keep Ethan to myself.
I knew he had feelings for me. Or used to, now that Mom had erased everything he knew about our history. His feelings were not strong enough for him to overcome his feelings for Sarah.
Maybe this was my karma to bear.
A hot tear slid down my nose. I dashed it away with the back of my hand while Kinsley pretended not to see it.
We stopped at the door to the cottage. I fished through my purse for the keys.
“We all knew he built this for you,” Kinsley said. “He’s going to wonder why your scent is all over it.”
“Just tell him I stayed the night here while he was out to help with a gardening project Evie wanted done.” I frowned. “He was forming a friendship with Rowan. Hopefully Mom didn’t erase that, too.”
“I’ll see what I can find out,” Kinsley said. He handed me his cell. “Plug your number in, if you don’t mind.”
I hesitated. “Are you sure?”
Kinsley snorted. “I’m not sure about anything anymore. A dead woman walked back into our lives like nothing had changed and my Lord has no memory of her death. So, no, Moira. I’m not sure about this or him or anything at all.”
I took his cell and added my number. “Fair enough.”
He shoved his phone back into his pocket. “Do I need to escort you off the premises?”
“I brought a potion. Give me twenty minutes to pack, and I’ll be out of your hair.”
Kinsley blew out a breath. “I’ll need to witness your departure.”
Which meant I had to wait to break down until I was back home. “Fine.” I unlocked the door and stepped inside. “Come in then. From what I can tell, the place is stocked.”
Kinsley shut the door behind us. “With all your favorite things.” He gave me a sad smile.
“Yeah.” I turned before he could see my eyes filling with tears. “Make yourself at home. I’ll be out in a little while.”
He went straight to the kitchen while I went to the back to pack my suitcase. I ran my fingers over the freshly painted walls, mourning the gift I would never be able to accept. Every touch in this house was a blend of me and Ethan, every bit of it brimming with possibility.
And in a few minutes, I very well may never see it again.
Life was unfair.
It was even more unfair when your mother was an evil bitch.