Shadows slid easily from the dappled shade around her, gathering in her palms in smooth coils, silky and soft as cloud but growing stronger in her hands. This time it was going to work. This time—
“Kayleigh!Cariad, where are you?” Elizabeth’s voice called faintly from the direction of the college and the Shadows scattered into smoky wisps, fading into nothing.
“Bloody damn.” Kay scowled at the disappearing Shadows.
James and Zach chuckled, and she turned her glare on them, which only made them laugh more.
“Kayleigh!” Elizabeth’s voice was even louder.
She shoved her hands back into her pockets. “Here! I’m coming!”
James tipped his head toward Zach. “Come on, they’ll want all of us, I’m sure.”
Zach made a ball of Shadow and the three of them threw it back and forth between them as they crossed the rugby field and made their way up the short flight of stairs onto the wide terrace at the back of the main hall.
Elizabeth was standing with two men. One of them was stooped and gray-haired, his face lined and eyes tired, but otherwise immediately identifiable as related to Zach. The other, standing a few feet away in a space of his own, had the sleek look of the city—and Kay should know. She’d grown up in the glass and chrome of luxury apartments, surrounded by men and women in designer suits and thousand-pound watches—but this man had a darker edge than those people. He radiated power and impatience.
He said something quietly and Elizabeth bristled, taking a small step further back. Kay had only known her for a few short weeks, but she knew that slight curl of her lip already. This man was not someone her grandmother wanted to spend time with.
Kay stepped up beside Elizabeth, instinctively wanting to be close to her. Whether to protect her or to be protected, it was hard to tell.
The man turned his gaze on her, his eyes the palest green she’d ever seen, and held out his hand. “Gordon Dennehy. And you must be Kayleigh Stewart.”
She glanced at Elizabeth, who gave her a tiny nod, and she took his hand and shook it briefly, unreasonably relieved to be able to let go. God. Poor James, that this was who he’d ended up with.
A surge of relief and gratitude tumbled through her that Elizabeth had claimed her, and she leaned a little closer to her grandmother.
Gordon narrowed his eyes. “So, you’re the new potential Guardian.”
“Yes.” She was determined to be a Guardian. She wanted to fight. She wanted to be strong enough that she would never again have to feel as small and helpless as she had lying on that floor surrounded by her laughing classmates. She wanted to fight back against people like her parents, who refused to accept her as she was and had tried to force her into a box she hadn’t chosen. And she wanted to defend other people who felt small and helpless too.
Gordon didn’t say anything more, and the silence stretched uncomfortably until the man beside Zach turned to Kay. “Hi, I’m Owen, Zach’s dad.”
She introduced herself and shook his hand far more easily than she had Gordon’s.
“I have good news,Cariad,” Elizabeth said as she looked around their small circle, then gestured to James and Zach. “The college has assigned you three to study together. It’s why the boys were also asked to stay after school. You’re going to be a triad… if that’s what you want.”
She’d only been there for a few weeks and even she knew that a triad was a real honor. “Really?”
Elizabeth smiled gently. “Yes. Something about being the three strongest Guardians in your generation, and ah—”
“And a natural propensity toward getting into fights,” Owen interjected. His face seemed permanently drawn into a deep frown, but the look he gave his son was warm with approval and pride as everyone chuckled.
Gordon merely grunted as he crossed his arms over his chest, hardly even glancing at James.
“You’ll be training together starting tomorrow, if you all choose to accept your places,” Elizabeth explained, “so expect to spend a lot of time together from here on out.”
“A triad is almost like a family,” Owen said quietly. “You’ll look out for each other, protect each other, and get to know each other better than most brothers and sisters.”
Zach and James both nodded firmly as Elizabeth turned to look at Kay. “Is this what you want,Cariad? It’ll be extra work, but I know you can do it—the choice is yours.”
God. She was given a choice. She could be who she wanted to be. And she knew, without hesitation, that Elizabeth would support her, whatever she decided. But really, there was no choice. To suddenly have brothers, a family, and a place in the Order was beyond anything she had dreamed of, or even imagined possible. She didn’t have to think about it. “Yes. Thank you.”
She grinned at the two boys, and they grinned back. They were going to be a triad.
ChapterOne
Present Day
