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arth. I have no intention of leaving my whole life behind to go to Otherworld and do a job that I never asked for.”
“The Realm,” Evie corrected him. “There is no need for you to call it Otherworld as if you were an outsider. You belong here. Even mother knew that you belonged here, though she tried her damnedest to keep you away from it.”
“Did you ever think that mother was right?” said Storm.
“She was wrong, and she was selfish not to send you back. She should have sent you back as soon as you were born. Our aunt would have raised you to take up the position you were meant to take up. You were meant for great things, Conn. I don’t know why you refuse to see that.”
“I don’t want great things, Evie. That’s you. You’re the eldest. It should have always been you anyway.”
“We both know it doesn’t work like that,” she said bitterly.
“It would have been you if our ancestors hadn’t fucked it up,” said Storm. “And I’m sure you’re doing a better job of it than I could have.”
Evie was silent for a long moment, and then when she spoke again her voice was light and cheery as if she had decided that she was getting nowhere with the other conversation and it wasn’t worth her time to pursue it right now. “I’m glad you answered,” she said. “I had been thinking I should call Saskia, but wanted to call you first to see how she was doing.”
“Not good. She won’t listen to me. You calling her isn’t going to make any difference. I think you should come to visit.”
Evie laughed with no amusement. “You mean stage an intervention? You might have noticed that I have three young children, and I have far too many responsibilities to drop them for this.”
“You have a younger sister too,” said Storm quietly. “And after what we did, we owe it to her to make sure her life is happy.”
“What we did?” repeated Evie quietly. “We did what we had to. It was a duty. And I have told you that I never want to speak of it again.”
“And we never have spoken of it,” he said, his voice raw. “But that didn’t mean there weren’t consequences. Saskia needs us.”
“I’ve done my best with her. I offered her a home, but she refused to take it. She flung it back in my face.” Evie was always subtle. This was her way of telling him that she had taken her turn trying to look after Saskia, and now it was Storm’s turn, and he could damn well deal with it.
But Storm knew that he couldn’t help Saskia on its own. Saskia had self-destructive streak that if left unchecked would turn into a raging fire. One none of them would be able to put out. She wouldn’t listen to him. He had spent many long hours last night thinking of what he might be able to say to get through to her, or who could speak to her that she might listen to. In the end he’d even had the mad thought that she might listen to Diana. Diana was nearer Saskia’s age, she was unconventional, she was … Compelling. Hell she might even see something with her psychic vision that would make Saskia listen.
But that was the problem; Diana’s psychic visions and what she might see that she was not supposed to see. Things that were better left buried for everyone’s sake. He could just imagine what Evie would say if he told her that he had been working closely with a very perceptive psychic. She would be furious. And so he couldn’t turn to Diana for help even if she had still been working with him. He needed to keep Diana as far from Saskia as possible. Saskia needed Evie.
“Saskia was a kid,” he said. “She didn’t get along with your husband and she didn’t want to live with him. Can you blame her? She probably felt like an outsider, and that has always been the problem. They took her away from us, and all she really wants is her family but she is too scared to let us in. She is still a kid, Evie. She needs us both. So will you please just come for dinner this Saturday so that we can talk to her? I think it would make a difference.”
He could almost hear the cogs turning in Evie’s brain. He suspected that it was him that she did not want to see, not Saskia. Storm waited for her to make up her mind. He had stated his case. His ever logical big sister would not appreciate him trying to cajole her into making a decision.
As he waited, Storm looked out of the glass wall of his office towards the glass double doors on the far side of the open plan office. Leo and Remi should be making their way back right about now. He needed this conversation with Evie to wrap up soon, but saying that to Evie would not help matters. She thought his job was taking him away from his true calling. His heritage. The position of power that he had been born to, as she had so often told him.
“Maybe you can bring the girls?” Storm offered. “And stay for the weekend? It would be good to see them. I haven’t seen them since what they were so little.”
“If you miss children in your life, you could easily start a family of your own. You already have half of one here.”
“All I meant was that it would be nice to see my nieces.”
“No,” said Evie shortly. “Nash can damn well take care of them himself while I’m way. And it’s your own fault that you never see them. If you were here in the Realm you would see them all the time. They would have valued having their uncle around to play with.”
Storm winced. Evie knew exactly how to make him feel guilty.
Across the office floor Storm saw the elevator open and Leo and Remi step out of it. And with a sinking feeling he saw the chief immediately walk out of his own office to intercept them. Unable to hear what they were saying, he could only watch their body language. Remi said something, and the chief responded. And Storm didn’t need to hear the words to know that trouble was headed his way. Damn it.
“Sorry Evie,” he said. “I have to go. See you Saturday.” He hung up, knowing that she would be furious that he’d made her decision for her.
Chapter 17
STORM
Minutes later the chief arrived at Storm’s office, trailed by Remi and Leo. Remi shot Storm an apologetic look over the chief’s shoulder. Clearly the chief had grilled her and Leo, and they had been forced to confirm the truth of where they had been.
“Agents Kane and Bronwyn tell me that they’ve been interviewing a witness related to an old Devil Claw Killer case,” said the chief to Storm. “But they haven’t been able to tell me quite what this has got to do with any of the current cases that are assigned to your team.”
