His smile dropped and he leaned forward menacingly. “Yes, you can thank me for getting rid of that wanker that you should never have been with in the first place. Hanging around with a norm… for fuck’s sake, Kay. What would the Council say?”
Kay wasn’t going to correct him now. Who cared whether Ethan was a norm or not? And she was still too stunned by what she was hearing. “But I love him.” The words were out before she could regret them. And they were true, God help her.
“Well, you may think that now, but he obviously doesn’t love you, since he wasted no time in getting rid of you, did he?”
Kay flinched as the barb struck right into the broken mess where her heart had been.
“That’s what I thought,” James said.
She took a step back, appalled. “Who are you? I don’t even know you!”
He stepped forward, following her. “Yes, you do. I’m your best friend, the person who has always looked out for you. We’ve been taking care of each other since you arrived in Wales.”
She shook her head desperately. “No. You’re wrong. Friends don’t do this to each other.”
“Kayleigh, Kayleigh.” James wrapped a lock of her hair around his finger and tugged. “The world is so much bigger than you think. There’s too much at stake now. And I had to make a decision. Get rid of you or get you under control.”
“Get rid? Under control? Can you even hear yourself?”
James looked away from her, his eyes unfocussed and his hand tight in her hair. Whoever this was, he was not her friend.
He turned back toward her. “It’s time, Kay. The norm is gone. We’ll get married in the autumn, just like I said. On Samhain at sunset, when the sun drops below the horizon and the day begins, as it has since ancient times. The power of the darkness and the triumph of the Shadows will be a fitting start to our new life. And then, when you’re my wife, we’ll be the most powerful couple in the Order.” He smiled. “I even have a ring.”
“What are you talking about?” Her voice had risen to a screech. “I’m not marrying you!”
“You are. I’ll admit that it wasn’t what I planned… or even….” For a moment James lost the glazed look. An expression of exhausted grief crossed his face but he shook it off. “We’re past that now. What we’re working for is too big to stop, and you’ve been in the way more and more. He won’t tolerate that. But now you’ll be at my side, helping rather than fucking it all up.”
He gave her a serious look. “It’s the only possible solution that he’ll understand, Kay. Your bloodline is one of the most ancient. It’s what he did himself when he married into power. It’ll keep you safe and build our status at the same time; it’s the perfect solution.”
Kay shook her head, appalled by the calculating look on her best friend’s face. The harsh lines she’d never seen before. “I think,” she said quietly, “that you’ve lost your mind.”
James took another step forward, right up against her, and she stepped back, trapped against the office divider behind her. “You’ll marry me at Samhain. And in the meantime, I can keep a good close eye on you.”
Kay blinked, struggling to wrap her mind around everything that was happening. The anguish of the morning had left her head aching and fuzzy, and now it was clear that something was very wrong with James.
“I don’t understand any of this! You... me…. We’re not like this. We’re friends. And now you want to get married? It’s just wrong. If you were thinking clearly, you would see that for yourself.”
And then another horrific thought occurred to her. “You were the one who asked Zach for the book. You told everyone he was out on the night of the school attack. You… God.” Her voice dropped to a strangled murmur. “You were setting Zach up for the blame.”
“I didn’t set Zach up for anything,” James spat.
“Yes—” Kay started, but James cut her off. “You just had to go to London at the worst possible time,” he muttered. “I never dreamed you’d split up. I thought you’d look for the book together and you’d both be far away from the bus stop when the time came, but no, you had to involve yourself.” He glared at her. “You’ve given me no choice. Can’t you see, Kay? I’m protecting you.”
“Protecting me? By marrying me when you don’t love me? When I don’t love you! Not like that. Did you hit your head and start thinking we were living in a gothic novel?”
James smirked down at her and spoke with complete conviction. “You may feel like that right now. You’re tired and emotional. I understand.”
He patted her shoulder patronizingly. “You’ll see. When you realize what we’re about to achieve, you’ll be glad to be part of it. And I….” He swallowed, the same sad look flashing over his face. “Well, we all have to make sacrifices. This is mine.”
Kay couldn’t step back any further, so she stepped to the side, desperate for more space. “No. I don’t accept any of this. I’m not a sacrifice. And I don’t understand what you’re doing here.”
“This is Oracle.”
She rolled her eyes. “What the fuck is Oracle?”
“Oracle is the future. We’re working toward a meeting with a group of senior politicians where we’ll be awarded an extremely lucrative anti-terrorism contract. You see, Kay, there is going to be a terrible attack later today, and we’re going to be there to prevent it. No one will hesitate to award us the contract after that. And here you are, a little earlier than expected, but ultimately right where you should be.”
“I will not.” She shook her head violently, taking another step to the side.
