“What’s wrong?”
I sat down beside him, close enough that our shoulders almost touched.
Almost.
For half a second, I thought for sure I would cry. Then I drew a breath, reminded myself that I was a bad-ass Demon Hunter, and took the plunge.
“Marcus found something on Antonio’s USB drive. Something about Eric. About this thing that happened twenty years ago in Rome.”
He tilted his head. “I’m going to assume this isn’t a happy story?”
“Kind of happy,” I said with a grimace. “I mean, I’m not dead at the end.”
For a moment, his features softened, and he put his hand on mine. “That is a happy ending.”
I drew in a breath, almost scared to exhale. This was the closest I’d been emotionally to this man in months, and I just sat there, knowing we needed to get down to the meeting, but terrified of missing some shift in Stuart that would push him back to thereal and presentside of the equation.
“Tell me,” he said, and I nodded like an eager puppy, thrilled to have him sticking his toe back into what had become our strange family’s occupation.
I gave him the short version, of course. My optimism was only going so far. I filled him in on Samarek. The ritual. Saving my life—and then Allie coincidentally trapping the demon years later.
Stuart listened without interrupting, his face growing more closed with each revelation. When I finished, the silence stretched between us like a wire pulled too tight.
“So Eric made a deal with a demon to save your life,” he finally said. “And now that demon wants revenge on Allie.”
“Well, actually, yeah. That’s the gist of it.”
“And you’re just finding this out now. Twenty years later.”
“Stuart, please.”
“How many more secrets, Kate?” His voice was quiet, but I heard the edge underneath. “How many more things about your past with Eric are going to come crawling out of the woodwork?”
“That’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it?” He stood, moving away from me, and the distance felt like more than just physical space. “I’m not angry. I’m just...tired. Tired of being the one who’s always three stepsbehind. Tired of finding out that the life we built together has all these trap doors I didn’t know existed.”
I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell him that I hadn’t known either, that Eric’s secrets weren’t my secrets. But the truth was more complicated than that, and we both knew it.
“We’re calling a meeting,” I said instead. “We need to figure out what we’re dealing with and how to protect Allie.”
Stuart nodded slowly. “I’ll be there.”
A knock at the door interrupted us, and I was more grateful than I should have been. Fran poked her head in, her expression apologetic. “Sorry to bother you, but Timmy’s asking for his mom. He won’t settle.”
“I’ll come.” I stood, then hesitated. I wanted to reach for Stuart’s hand, but I was afraid he’d just leave me hanging. “Get some rest if you can,” I said to him instead. “Meeting’s in fifteen minutes.” Then I stepped out of the room without looking back, a strange sense of finality settling over me.
I forced myself to shake it off. Told myself that Stuart and I would get through this. Except I wasn’t sure that we would. And there was some small, traitorous part of me that wasn’t sad or scared. It was just quietly waiting to see where all of this would land.
I foundTimmy in his room, sitting up in bed with Boo Bear clutched against his chest. His dark hair was sticking up in all directions, and his lower lip had that telltale wobble that preceded either tears or a tantrum.
“Hey, baby.” I scooped him up and settled into the rocking chair by the window, tucking him against me. “What’s wrong? Bad dream?”
He shook his head, burying his face in my neck.
“Use your words, Timmy.”
“Drew pictures,” he mumbled.
