Framing his face with her hands, his mum pressed a kiss to his forehead. “You are very special, Eli. And very powerful. Or, you will be one day because you have a rare gift. One even we don’t understand. Take this and hold it tight.”
She pressed a silver pendant into the palm of his hand.
“When the time is right, this will come back to you. And it will lead you where you need to go.”
His mum and da’ held hands surrounding him, and fear settled in his belly like a stone as they started to chant in a language he didn’t know. Irish? Scottish? The ground rumbled under him, a breeze from nowhere ruffled his hair, and something close by started to burn. Seconds later, droplets of water fell from the wooden beams above his head, and then everything around him stopped, frozen in time.
His parents’ faces held so much pain, he wanted to cry out, but he couldn’t make a sound. A tear perched below his mum’s right eye, unmoving, and Eli focused on it, aching to reach out and touch them, but his arms stayed glued to his sides.
The world around him shrank until it was nothing but a pinprick of light and after what felt like an eternity...that light flickered out.
Chapter Thirteen
Farren
Listening to Eli recount his last memories of his parents without being able to truly comfort him was the worst kind of torture. The man wasn’t hers yet. Might neverbehers.
She could sense his uncertainty. He didn’t know why his parents had bound his powers or who they’d been afraid of.
“So this pendant,” Farren said as she rubbed her thumb over the design, “is from them?”
“I’d never seen it before that day. Not that I can recall.” Tugging on his hair like it might help jog his memory, he let out a groan. “Everything is all jumbled up in my head. Bits and pieces of my childhood, moments with my mum learning how to use my element. My da’ never taught me. At least...not without her there. I don’t know why.”
“The last day,” Mara said, “what you described sounded like they had access to all four elements. You smelled fire, felt drops of water, there was a breezeinsidethe basement, and an earthquake.”
Eli nodded.
“Four elements don’t just randomly appear. Either your mother, your father, or that pendant called air, fire, and water.” Mara winced, and Cade immediately dropped to a knee in front of her.
“What is it, honey?”
With a huff, Mara waved him off. “She’s dancing on my bladder again, and I need to pee. Stop worrying that every little twinge is something...evil.”
“I can’t help it,” Cade muttered as she shuffled off to the bathroom. “This pregnancy is going to kill me.”
“Ya’ weren’t there for most of Livie’s,” Liam added. “Ya’ should have seen Shawn every time Livie complained about bein’ uncomfortable or nauseous. The man lost his mind more than a few times.”
Farren turned to Eli. His face was drawn, exhaustion clearly taking its toll after everything he’d been through—and it wasn’t even noon yet. “Maybe ya’ should rest a bit,” she offered. “And I’ll go into town and do some research on your mum and da’. And that barrister they left yer care to.”
“I want to go with you.”
“No. Not a smart idea, that. Not after what happened on the beach. The Thirteen—and I’ll bet my arse those two were either members or their minions—can track elemental powers. Their use. It was one thing when yers were still bound. Quite another now that ya’ have them back again.”
“What would you have me do? Just stay here and hide until what? The wards wear off? Until Mara gives birth? I have a life back in London, Farren. It wasn’t much of one, but it was mine. I’m not ready to simply give up on it.”
His words cut deep, but the pain gave way to anger and she pushed to her feet. “No one wants ya’ to give up yer life. Least of all me. But until we know more about what we’re dealin’ with, that’s exactly what ye’re goin’ to do.” Dropping the pendant into his lap, she turned on a heel and headed for the stairs. “Work with Caitlin and Tierney. See if ya’ can make any sense of that damned book. Maybe with that talisman and another set of eyes, ye’ll see somethin’ that’ll get ya’ back to that life of yers and let me have some feckin’ peace and quiet.”
She fled up the stairs and flipped the lock on her bedroom door as soon as she’d shut herself inside. She wasn’t one to cry over a few hurt feelings, but Eli’s rejection hurt more than she imagined possible.
Her tears stopped after only a minute through sheer force of will, and she dabbed a bit of powder on her cheeks to hide the evidence, swapped the cashmere sweater for her leather jacket, and then nearly ran right into Caitlin when she opened the door.
“He doesn’t understand, ya’ know,” the air elemental said. “What it means to find yer mate. But he will.”
“He doesn’t have to. I’m fine alone. Always have been, always will be.” With as much bravado as she forced into her declaration, she almost believed it. Until Caitlin embraced her. “Stop it. I just fixed my face.”
“Ya’ can fix it again when I’m done with ya’.”
Never in a century would Farren admit how good it felt to be hugged. To be cared for. Caitlin was one of the most intuitive people Farren had ever met, and she suspected the woman knew.
