“I wanted to let you know I returned on my own this time,” he said, sauntering in, his hands in his breeches pockets. “Rowan is relieved. He scolded me. Can you believe that? All these years he’s put up with me, but now you are here, so I’m scolded—” He stopped, his foggy brain realizing she was holding a half-packed bag. He tilted his head. “What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving,” Thea said. Why hide it? Had he not wanted her gone?
“You can’t do that.”
His objection surprised her. “Is that not what you wanted?”
He shook his head as if trying to clear his brain. The air around him reeked of spirits. “I can’t think. Where’s Margaret?”
“Harry, don’t say anything to her—”
“Margaret,” he hollered, going out into the hall. “Margaret.”
With an exasperated sound, Thea set the bagback on the bed. “Harry, please,” she said, going after him, but Margaret had already heard his shouts.
She came out of her room. “What is it?” she asked, taking one look at her brother and making a frustrated sound. “So you are back, are you? And looking the worse for wear!”
“Enough about me,” Harry said, waving away her chastisements. “Thea’s leaving.”
Margaret’s whole mood changed. She came charging toward Thea’s room. From the doorway, Thea turned and went inside. She wanted any arguments between them contained in this room.
“Tell her she can’t go,” Harry said, following his sister into the bedroom.
“Will you shut the door?” Thea ordered him in a furious whisper.
He mugged a face at her sharp tone but did as bid. Once the door was closed, he poked Margaret’s arm. “Tell her she can’t go.”
Thea turned to her sister-in-marriage. “I must leave,” she said. “The curse is real.”
“Of course the curse is real,” Harry responded, throwing his arms wide. “Weknow that.”
“Oh, Harry, I wish you were sober,” Thea said. “Then you would understand what I’m saying.”
“I understand,” he snipped back.
Margaret held up a hand to warn her brother back. “What is the real reason you are leaving us?” she asked.
Leavingus. Margaret had said that ... Margaret, who had disliked almost everything Thea had done, even when she’d been very careful about Margaret’s feelings. Margaret, who barely spoke to her.
“I don’t want to,” Thea replied. “But I must. I am carrying Neal’s child.”
The air in the room changed. Harry collapsed on the bench at the foot of the bed. Margaret raised a hand to her head. They knew what this meant.
And then Margaret said, “But how is your leaving going to do anything but tear Neal’s heart out?”
So, they had noticed he loved her. “He’ll be angry if I leave, and then he’ll hate me,” Thea said, her eyes stinging. “I don’t want him to love me. He’s never said the words to me. There may be time to help him. I’ve had the dream,” she said to Margaret.
“The dream?” Margaret asked.
“You don’t know about it?” Thea shook her head. “Perhaps only those who are being chosen have it. I’ve had dreams where I’m burning andeverything is being destroyed. There is terrible laughter in the background. A woman’s laughter. I can’t describe it except to say it is the most evil sound I’ve ever heard. I started having it after I married Neal. Cass Sweetling had dreams as well, much like mine. She asked me about them. Now I know the curse is real.”
Thea closed the top of the bag. “I love him. I don’t want anything to happen to him. I want Neal safe. I want our son safe. Our son will be safe. This is the only action I can think of taking.”
“But you and your sons have become a part of our lives,” Harry said. “We don’t want you to go.”
His candid admission touched Thea. “And I would not go if there was any other way out of this.”
“Where is Neal now?” Margaret asked.
