“Then Sir Roderick found me. He waved Gabriel’s Bracelet under my nose like a carrot to a donkey. He knew I would take the bait. We struck a devil’s bargain. We would work together to find the city. Only once we did, he plotted evil.”
“I don’t understand,” she said quietly. “How did he die, Papa?”
“He stole out of the city with the key,” her father said.
“And that is why he died?” she asked.
He shrugged. “There is much about the city you don’t know. So much neither of us knew. It’s all so utterly mind boggling. I knew we had to have the key back. And I knew you were our best chance at recovering it. So I embellished my circumstances a bit and hoped you would see fit to do this one thing for your father.”
“But why didn’t you come?” she cried. “Why allow me to believe you were dead? Didn’t I mean anything to you? You thought me dead in India, and yet you suddenly knew I was the one to retrieve the bracelet?”
“Only when I arrived here did I know you were alive. Arcane informed me of the error in my beliefs. Then I made the decision to stay here rather than return to England.” He paused and looked her in the eye but then ducked guiltily. “Even knowing you were there. I had hoped...I had hoped you would come and that you might also stay,” he said in a quieter voice.
A buzz began in her ears. Stay? Never had she even considered this in all of the possible scenarios she had played out in her head. She had assumed she would rescue her father and that they would return to England. Together.
She leaned back against her pillows feeling oddly deflated.
Her father leaned forward eagerly. He reached for her hand and clasped it against his chest. “We could be a family again, India. Just you and me in this magnificent place. We’ve spent so many years trying to find it, and now we have. I know I’ve let you down, but I’m hoping you can find it in your heart to forgive a foolish old man.”
She softened when she saw the sparkle of tears in his wrinkle-lined eyes. Deep within all the hurt and disappointment, she was so relieved not to be alone in the world. Her father was alive. Her flesh and blood.
There was so much to think about, and she was so tired. So very tired.
“I need to rest,” she said.
Her father nodded and slowly stood. “There is a young man quite anxious to see you. Shall I send him in?”
She shook her head. “Not now. Let me rest.”
She needed to think. Needed to sort out the horrid sense of betrayal she felt, and the overwhelming sense of relief that followed so closely behind. What Ridge had experienced at her hands was now what she had been dealt by her own father.
She closed her eyes and listened until she heard her father’s footsteps fade from the room. A hot tear leaked from underneath her eyelid and slipped down her cheek, below her ear and around to the back of her neck.
###
When India awoke, the room was dark. She twisted her head to look out the window of the cottage and could see that night had fallen. How long had she slept?
She pushed herself off the pillows, moaning softly as her shoulder protested. With considerable effort, she managed to swing her feet over the side of the bed and steady herself by planting her feet on the floor.
She was well on her way to standing up when she saw Ridge sitting in a chair by the door. She squinted her eyes in the dark trying to see if he was awake.
“Ridge,” she whispered.
He didn’t move.
She pushed herself from the bed with her good arm and stood for several long moments in order to get her bearings. She needed fresh air. Maybe it would clear the cobwebs from her brain. And her heart.
She tiptoed past Ridge and eased out the front door of the cottage. As the cool night air blew over her, she inhaled deeply, closing her eyes for a moment.
When she opened them, she looked skyward, marveling at the brightness of the moon and stars. Then she glanced around, determining her destination.
A small path between the cottages led toward the lake, so she followed it, moving slowly and stiffly.
After much effort, and considerable discomfort, she managed to heave herself onto a stone bench that overlooked the tranquil water.
Then she allowed herself to look around. Truly look around at Pagoria. She couldn’t believe she was here. That she was sitting in a place of legend. People throughout time had sought the city without success. Why had she been successful? Why had her father?
“You have the look of a person in torment.”
