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She froze mid-bite of her second sandwich. Her face went pale. I waited.
“Wh—” She lowered the sandwich. “What do you mean?”
I took one calming breath. “I mean you’re taking this whole thing very well. I mean I’m risking everything to keep your sister safe. I mean, so help me, if you’re sitting on something—”
Her face went hard and she leaned forward. “Don’t you threaten me, you… you…” She stopped and went for a new tactic. “Listen, no one asked you to save Brianna. We. Were. Fine. You didn’t have to come along and steal her from me for some sick—”
“Sick what?”
“I don’t know, okay. I don’t have any idea.”
I narrowed my eyes on her and her shoulders fell in defeat. She tossed the sandwich in the bag and slapped her hands against her thighs in frustration.
“Maybe I don’t want to tell you, either.”
“Fine,” I said. “But if you’re keeping something from me that will endanger Brianna—”
She huffed indignantly. “I wouldneverrisk Bri.” Her hands came up to cover her face and she took several long breaths. She mumbled something incoherent.
I pulled her hands down. “I can’t understand what you’re saying.”
She stared at me for a moment. “I can’t tell you,” she said quietly. “I don’t think I can tell anyone.”
My mouth went dry. I realized her hands were still in mine, and I drew mine back to the steering wheel.
“It’s not… Aern, it’s not that I don’t trust you. I can see that you’re helping. It’s just…” Her eyes flicked down and then back to me. “It’s just that my whole life, it’s been our secret, mine and Brianna’s.”
“So this is something Brianna knows?” I felt suddenly more at ease. Brianna knew Morgan was after her, she would have told us if it was imperative to stopping him.
Emily bit her lip.
I mentally cursed. “Emily, if it’s important…”
“I would never do anything to hurt my sister,” she said. “I would never keep anything from her that wasn’t… that I didn’t have to.”
So Brianna didn’t know. “I can’t be swayed, Emily. Nothing you tell me can be ripped from my mind, do you understand that?”
“I think I do,” she whispered. A hand came up to rub her temple, and suddenly, she wasn’t speaking to me. “I never thought this would happen. It was all too crazy.”
“It doesn’t have to happen,” I said. “We can stop it.”
She stared at her hands in her lap for a long moment. When she finally spoke again, her fingers twisted together. “I never believed her. How could I? It was ridiculous, a story.” She rubbed her palms against her legs. “I didn’t tell Brianna. I just couldn’t. At first, it was because I thought she was fibbing.” She shook her head and glanced up at me with an embarrassed smile. “That’s what she called it, fibbing.”
Emily’s eyes were so sad, I couldn’t bring myself to smile back, only nod.
“She was always a little eccentric, odd. She didn’t like us to go out in public, always wanted us right there with her. She told us wild fairy tales as if they were true. But this, this one was different. And it was only for me.” She drew a shaky breath. “That’s what she said. Only for me. I was never to tell Brianna.”
“Your mother?” I asked.
She nodded. “I didn’t know. Until she died, I never believed.” She waved her hand. “Then they shipped us off to foster homes and it was a constant struggle to stay together. How could I tell her then? How could I tell Brianna she just lost her mother because…”
“Because of the prophecy.”
“It’s my job to protect her,” she said. “I’m the only one who can keep her safe.”
So she knew. All along, she’d known. But she was wrong, she wasn’t the one to save Brianna. “The prophecy never mentioned twins, Emily. There’s no reference to you at all. I understand how you feel, but you weren’t meant to take this on yourself. Your mother should have never put that on you.”
Her eyes were hard on mine. “She wasn’t wrong about the rest of it.”
She had me there, things weren’t exactly going as planned on either side. “Maybe so,” I said. “But you aren’t the only one trying to save Brianna.”
Emily’s eyes softened and she nodded. And then she brought her legs up to her chest and hugged her knees to look out the passenger window, effectively ending the conversation.
