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‘I do,’ Hector said. ‘And Emrick agrees with me.’
I glanced at Sirius, suspecting that, like me, he was probably wondering why Emrick’s opinion mattered so much to even a Guardian.
‘Well,’ Iliana said, after a long moment, ‘I think the final decision must be Celeste’s. It was she who Blaise wounded more than anyone after all. Darling?’
Celeste hesitated, then she turned and took Blaise’s hand. ‘I say we give him another chance,’ she said quietly. ‘I believe he’s a changed man. And I know for certain that he loves Romy.’
‘He’d better,’ Harley said, through gritted teeth.
‘Thank you, Celeste.’ John gave her a genuine smile, and I saw a look of humility in his eyes that I suspected the old Blaise rarely had. ‘Of all the people in this room, your opinion matters more to me than anyone’s. After all I did to you…’ He shook his head, overcome with emotion. ‘I promise I won’t let you down.’
‘Oh, you’d better not,’ she said lightly. ‘I suspect you’ll be under observation anyway.’
‘Too right he will,’ Castor said.
Celeste looked at Sirius, a plea in her eyes. ‘Sirius?’
He hesitated. ‘It’s your call,’ he said at last. ‘I might not trust him, but I trust you.’
‘Well,’ Iliana sounded rather nonplussed by everything. ‘I suppose you’d better come back to Castle Clair with us then. Time for you to face up to your past. Funnily enough, Romy uses your old room at Castle Lodge. I daresay it will be strange for you to be back there, but I for one would feel a lot happier knowing you were under my roof where I can keep an eye on you.’
‘But maybe the island—’ Ewella began.
‘It’s okay, Mum,’ Romy said quickly. ‘Castle Clair’s the place we want to be right now. Blaise wants to face what happened head on. He can’t run from it. We have to learn to live with it—together. We’ll be all right, don’t worry.’
‘He’s going by Blaise again?’ Star asked, a curl on her lip.
‘I have to own who I am,’ he said simply. ‘No more hiding behind John Ford.’
‘And I’m very proud of him for doing so,’ Romy said firmly.
‘Well,’ Iliana said again, ‘what a day for announcements!’
‘Before we go our separate ways,’ Lowen said hurriedly, ‘there’s another announcement I want to make.’
Castor groaned. ‘Blimey, we’re going to be here all day at this rate.’
I took Sirius’s hand. Something told me this was going to be a doozy.
Lowen looked round at us all. ‘After talking with Emrick and then Hector, we’ve all agreed that it’s time.’
‘Time for what?’ Harley asked.
Keely had paled. ‘Lowen, what are you saying?’
I knew what he was saying. I glanced at Romy, only to find her looking straight back at me. It was like, in that moment, we knew. The three of us. We both turned to Lowen, and he nodded at us in turn.
‘Things are moving fast. Trouble’s growing. We need to be prepared. I’m taking back my magic and—’
We never found out what else he’d been about to say, because Keely gave a strangled sob and ran out of the room.
Castor shook his head. ‘By heck, the fun never ends with you lot, does it? Fancy making an announcement like that without talking it over with your girlfriend first! I’d go after her if I were you, lad. I reckon you’ve got a hell of a lot of grovelling to do.’
Chapter 25
Lowen
Okay, so I’m an idiot.
