“Wine or whisky?” Ethan asked as she padded around exploring.
“Whisky please.” She smiled as he pulled down a bottle and a pair of glasses. “And now I know my gran will adore you. Speaking of which, I need to call her.”
She took out her phone and groaned. “There’s no battery. Can I borrow yours?”
“Sure.” He set their glasses on a side table and then passed her his phone. “I’ll give you some space so you can chat.”
“No, stay. Please.” He settled down beside her as she added, “She knows I’m with you. She even said to take you.”
Ethan choked on his whisky, and Kay had to chuckle. “You’ll get used to it. Spending time with a strong Seer like my gran teaches you not to bother with keeping secrets. It’s tough when you’re seventeen.”
“I can only imagine.” He wrapped a heavy arm around her shoulders, surrounding her in his salty, male scent. When last had she leaned on anyone? When last had she been so viscerally aware of another person?
Elizabeth picked up almost immediately. “Hello?”
“Hi, Gran. It’s me.”
“Kayleigh,Cariad. I didn’t recognize the number.”
“No, my phone’s battery died, so I used Ethan’s.”
“I’ve been so worried about you. I saw about the hoax on the news, but then I couldn’t reach you, and I couldn’t reach David, and….” Elizabeth took a breath and slowed down. “I was about to get in my car and come look for you.”
“Sorry, it was… insane. We only just got back to Ethan’s place. Here, I’ll put you on speaker.”
“Hello, Ethan. It’s nice to meet you… in person,” Elizabeth said.
“Uh. Hello. Nice to meet you too,” he replied uncertainly.
Kay rolled her eyes. “Ethan, my granny. Elizabeth, be nice.”
“I’m always nice,” Elizabeth replied tartly.
“Yeah, of course you are,” Kay said with only the tiniest amount of sarcasm before focusing on what Elizabeth had started saying. “What happened with David?”
“I couldn’t reach him. I rang and rang. I tried leaving messages, but he never replied. I phoned the house and Riley told me he was out,” Elizabeth muttered.
Hell. It had taken a lot to get Elizabeth to call David and he hadn’t even answered.
“Never mind about David,” Elizabeth said, “I want to know about you.”
Kay explained everything that had happened, Ethan a warm, solid presence at her side. “I just had a horrible idea—do you think there might have been other similar attacks that we haven’t noticed?”
Ethan scratched his thumb through his beard. “Is there something similar about these, other than your gran’s visions?”
Kay took a slow sip of whisky, savoring the warm peaty flavor as she thought about it.
“Yes, actually,” she said slowly. “Something does connect them. The mother from Oxford Street told me her husband works in Westminster, and we know that the Prime Minister’s children go to St Michael Cathedral School….”
Ethan stiffened beside her. “Blackmail maybe? What better way to get parliament to do what you want than to threaten their children?”
“Nobody has asked for any kind of ransom or claimed any credit. I’ve been going through the news every day checking, and I haven’t seen anything.” She lowered her voice, even though they were alone. “And why would a Shadow Weaver be involved?”
“Power or money. Selfishness. The same as any other criminal,” Ethan replied.
Kay blinked. He was right. Years of hiding had kept the Order isolated, but it didn’t mean there weren’t any greedy or ruthless Dru-vid.
“We’re too reliant on visions,” Elizabeth admitted. “Too closed-minded from years being hidden away in our Circles.”
