“What happened?” I repeated the question, keeping my face neutral as I pushed up on my elbows. We were in my bedroom, that much I could tell, but something disorienting clouded my mind. Something I could not clear, no matter how hard I tried to.
My sister fidgeted beside me, unable to look me in the eye as she spoke. “What do you remember? You know, before you passed out?”
“What are you avoiding, Rowena?” Irritation threaded through my words, and I almost felt horrible—almost—until she pinched her nose and cursed softly.
“After you collapsed, Jasper and I… You were so fucking cold, Rion, colder than ice. Your lips were turning blue, but your body was sweating like it was roasting over an open flame. There was so much happening at once, and then Jasper began screaming at Sloane and Ballard, accusing them of killing you or trying to.” She rolled her eyes. “You know how dramatic he can be, but seeing how you looked… It wasn’t an outlandish accusation.”
“And then?”
She sighed, running a hand through her blonde hair. “And then Ballard’s phone rang. He moved so fast, talking in what seemed like riddles. I was surprised at first that Jasper let him take the call without slamming him against the wall, but he just stood there—stony and silent with a heaving chest—while Ballard spoke.” Rowena paused, her nerves coming to a head. “And when he was done, Jasper demanded answers.”
And what answers could Ballard give Jasper that would send him running? Because I could only imagine it would have been critical if he had not stayed. “Just say it, Rowena. Stop dancing around whatever it is that you are avoiding.”
Her eyes sparked. “Fine. You want the truth? The spell worked, and we know where Leonora is. But there were complications—fucking huge ones—and before I tell you, youshould know that Ballard, Sloane, and Jasper are on their way now to intervene. Everything will befine, Rion.”
But her voice lacked conviction, not to mention she had always been a shit liar. Every emotion was always written across her face, and this was no exception. I could not breathe as I waited for her to go on, dread sluicing in the pit of my already churning stomach.
“Where is she?” I asked, closing my eyes as though that could stop the following words from tumbling out of my sister’s mouth.
“She’s found Calia.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
“No, Rion, stop!” Rowena called after me, grabbing my arm as I pushed to my feet. Every part of my aching body protested the movement, but the pain was second to my fear knowing Leonora was closing in on Calia. For fuck’s sake, she could already have her hands on my wife.
How much time had passed? Minutes or hours? It mattered not. Each wasted second was too much to bear.
I stumbled to my closet, bracing a hand on the doorframe to steady myself. The clothes I wore were sodden from sweat, clinging to my skin. I reached into my pocket, pulling the small, pink hair tie onto my wrist before stripping down to change. Rowena rounded the corner, covering her eyes just in time.
“Rion, think about this before you run off to play savior!” she begged. “You know damn well it’s probably some sort of trap. Leonora knows what matters to you. You think this is a coincidence? You’re injured. You’re in no way ready to fight our mother, and we can’t know?—”
“I will not leave her. You know better than most what our mother is capable of.” I slipped on a black tee and jeans, tracing my finger over the hair tie to remind me what I had to lose.
She blocked my path. “You’ll get yourself killed, Rion.Thatwill be your fate if you walk out of this house.”
“Without Calia, there is no life for me. Either way, it seems my options are grim.”
She placed a hand over her heart, looking at me with all the pain in the world written across her face. For a moment,just a moment, guilt stirred as I stared into her tear-limned gaze. Knowing she was trying to save me from myself, I should have held my tongue. Only Jasper had grasped the depth of my despair, but I saw the moment Rowena’s keen mind finally understood.
She shook her head. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do,” I said simply, letting her see every fractured, broken piece of me.
Calia’s almost death had irrevocably changed something inside of me. It did not matter that she was alive and well, nor that I knew the truth of what she was and what we could have been together. She was the gentle breeze ruffling my hair on a balmy summer’s night. A lover’s kiss to chase away the demons playing in the dark recesses of my mind. A steady heartbeat thrumming in my chest, keeping me from letting go entirely.
She waseverything.
Rowena looked at me momentarily, studying me as though I was a stranger. Perhaps I was. I had certainly never made it easy for her to know me, choosing instead to keep her at arm’s length because I could not bear the thought of disappointing someone else. “Oh, Rion…” I hated how her voice softened and reminded me of what else I stood to lose if I was too late.
“Stop, Rowena. This conversation is over.” The declaration was more for me than her. The look on her face was breaking my fucking heart. She grieved for me, the brother who was so lost to grief that nothing could save him. “I am leaving.”
“No!” Her voice echoed through the air, a plea, but I had heard enough.
I had tasted my fair share of unsolicited advice on grief, the world dictating how I should behave. The shackles of guilt still clung to me like a curse. The weight of my mother’s venomous bullshit threatened to suck the air out of my lungs, and I was done with it all.
“Godsdammit,” I growled, pushing past her. “I understand your intentions, but my wife is at the mercy of that cunt, and I will be damned if I sit around and twiddle my thumbs, as you so eloquently put it.”
Calia’s fate hung in the balance. I did not know what my mother would do with unfettered access to her blood. While she may still need my participation to complete the ritual and break the curse, Leonora knew I would give myself over without protest to ensure no harm befell my wife.
