Maeve doesn’t ask me to elaborate. “Where are you?”
“Harcourt.”
“Where is Tony?”
“Dead.”
“I’ll be right there.”
I end the call and rush back to Eloise’s side. She’s worse. When I touch her, she shivers but will not open her eyes. I tuck a blanket around her body and start a fire in the fireplace. The room warms quickly but her shivering doesn’t stop. Desperate to help her, I gather her into my arms, rocking her like a child.
A frustratingly long hour later, Maeve arrives and lets herself in the front door, pulling up short when she sees Eloise. “By the goddess.”
“Thank you for coming,” I say, bracing myself for the worst. What will the witch make me do to save my mate? “We need your help. Please.”
“Shut up. You did the right thing calling me. I’m going to fix her. I brought my Aunt Hildegard’s tea. It’s never been known to fail.” Maeve’s voice holds a slight tremor, and I wonder how sure she is she can fix this. I’m not familiarenough with human anatomy to know how damaged Eloise is, but I sense her injuries are severe. I’m doing my best not to notice the smell of death that surrounds her.
Maeve pads off toward the kitchen and I hear her lift the kettle from the counter and start the water. She returns later with tea, and together, we sit Eloise up and rouse her enough to get a few sips down her throat. After a few more, her eyes are clearer, and the swelling is down.
“I’m so tired,” she says. I release a relieved breath to hear her speak again.
“It’s okay. Rest. I’ll watch over you,” I promise her.
“I’ll stay too. At least until you’ve had another cup.” Maeve takes a seat in the lion’s head rocker near the grandfather clock.
Eloise frowns, her gaze shifting toward the fire. “Tony admitted to murdering my parents.”
Maeve hisses, leaning forward to brace her elbows on her knees. “I thought they were killed in a robbery.”
Eloise repositions herself in my arms. “They were, but Tony told me tonight the murder was orchestrated by the Denardi family. You were right, Maeve. They’re mobsters. Everything he did, even marrying me, was to get his hands on this property and the caverns beneath it.” She goes on, telling us about how Tony has been using the caves to smuggle counterfeit bills. I listen, but by the end, I can barely hear her through the roaring in my ears. I will kill every one of the Denardis to make sure she remains safe. I will bathe in their blood.
“The man was pure evil.” Maeve rubs her eyes with both hands.
“I killed him,” Eloise says, squeezing her eyes shut. “He’s dead because of me.”
I hate how much guilt I hear in her voice. Doesn’t sherealize she had no choice? After everything Tony had done to her, the hell he’d put her through, the fact that she can still think him worthy of life both endears me to her and turns my stomach. “How very human of you,” I say, unable to keep the cynicism from my voice.
“Hmm?”
“Little dragon, you have more bruises than skin. Tony admitted to killing your parents, then tried to kill you. You didn’t murder him; you defended yourself.” I bare my teeth. “I only wish I could have done it for you.”
“I agree with the adv— Damien,” Maeve says, forcing out my name. She must realize I am no longer the Gowdie advocate. I hold back my obvious pleasure at the change, for Eloise’s sake. “Tony’s had it coming for a while now. If you hadn’t killed him, you’d definitely be dead.”
Hearing that makes me feel like I want to shred Tony’s body just to have somewhere to direct my rage. I force my protective instincts into a box at the back of my mind. It doesn’t help Eloise for me to lose my shit right now, and I’m close.
“I think he succeeded in killing me, actually.” Eloise’s brows pinch over her nose. “I mean, it felt like I died… for a while. I saw my parents.”
Maeve stops rocking. “What happened in your vision when you saw your parents?”
“They said I had the blood of a dragon in me. We were on the edge of our cliff. They told me I was in the underworld and that my tattoo means I can travel between dimensions. It was such a weird dream. My entire family was there.”
I exchange a nervous glance with Maeve. “Your sigil contains a keyspell to open portals and you spoke with the dead?”
Eloise tipsher head back to look at me. “Yes, but, I don't understand, Damien. I never thought my family was like Maeve’s family. I never noticed any… magic before. Although...”
“Although?” I stroke her hair back from her face.
“The dragon on the door to my mother's studio, the eye was closed and now it’s open. And when I reached for my palette knife to fight Tony, the cup fell over and it was almost like it flew into my hand. At the same time, my mother’s sculpture started to whir.”
