She had trained with James for years and he knew all her strengths and weaknesses. He knew everything she knew about Shadows and fighting, maybe even more, since he had started training several years before her. He was also bigger and physically stronger. But she had to do something.
James watched her with narrowed eyes. “Don’t even think about it,” he commanded softly as he pulled a wickedly sharp hunting knife out of a holster strapped to his side and held it loosely, muscles prepared, his Shadows swirling into a dark armor shielding his body.
His mouth twisted. “I know you better than anyone in the world, and I know when you’re planning something. Just don’t. I’m sorry about the knife. I don’t want to threaten you, but I know what you’re like with those blades of yours. I promise that this is the best way to protect you.”
Kay knew in her heart that if she fought now, she would lose. She didn’t want to try her Shadows against James’s knife. And maybe, if she went with him, she could find out more. Learn enough to stand a real chance at preventing whatever horror Oracle was planning next. And, deep inside her, she didn’t want to believe that this was all coming from the same man who’d been her friend for so many years.
She swallowed down her furious need to argue and slowly raised her hands. “Okay, I’ll go with you.”
“Good. See, we’re getting along better already. Now give me your phone.”
She took it out and handed it to him, watching with a combination of shock and fury as he pulled it apart, dumped the battery, and crushed the sim card under his heel. “Now we’re ready,” he said, waving her forward with the knife. “Let’s go.”
James led her down the stairs and outside to a car she’d never seen before, and drove them in silence to a small block of run-down flats.
Kay followed James up the stairs, feeling like she was caught in a bad dream. None of it seemed real. A few hours ago, she’d been lying in Ethan’s bed, wrapped up in his arms. Now she was standing beside the man who had betrayed her as he let them into his secret home.
Kay looked around, her eyes widening at the unkempt and unattractive rooms. There was a rumpled sleeping bag on the bed visible through an open door and a pile of clothes kicked haphazardly in the corner. “What is this place?”
“Sometimes I need a little privacy. I can’t do what I need to in that hotel of a house in Highgate, and I can’t sleep at the office.”
“I can see how lovingly you’ve made a home here,” Kay sneered, kicking the pile of clothes. “What, no mummy here to clean up after you?”
James flinched. It was particularly nasty to remind him of the mother who’d wanted nothing to do with him, but at that point, she didn’t care.
James clenched his fists and she watched him take control of his rage as he answered. “I have much more important things on my plate. Anyway, I told you I needed a wife.” He grinned and winked, knowing he was driving her insane. “You can take care of it now that you’re here.”
“I. Will. Not.”
His face softened. “Come on, Kay, I’m teasing you about the clothes. But seriously, we have to support each other. We’re in this together now.”
The lines around his mouth faded as his blue eyes gazed into hers, and for the first time, he looked like her friend. “Imagine, Kay, your lineage and mine, together. Both of us from the top families within the Order. Elizabeth is one of our most respected Seers, and my uncle is the most powerful Guardian in centuries. Our children will be phenomenal. And we’re about to take over the world. It will be their inheritance. We’re doing this for them, for everyone in the Order.”
She was not even going to think about how he thought they were going to create this mythical horde of progeny. “Your uncle is involved?” she asked instead, already dreading the answer.
“Yes, he’s been preparing for this for years.”
Kay leaned heavily on the wall. “Your uncle Gordon… he’s the one… he’s Oracle.”
Gordon was on the Council. Every vision would be reported to him. David had discussed the dark Shadows with him. A man who their entire Order trusted had been preparing—something—for years, and now he was involved in attacking people on the streets.
James watched her, his expression a mixture of determination and hope, but she still couldn’t wrap her head around it. “How does terrorizing people benefit anyone? Is this about the money? If you wanted £50 million, we could find it through the Circle’s investments. Hell, I’ll help you do it if it means that these attacks stop.”
His eyebrows lowered. “Don’t be ridiculous. This is nothing to do with the money. It’s about reclaiming our power. We’ll finally be where we should have been all of these years, advising and guiding as leaders again.”
He took her freezing hands in his, his grip too tight. “We’ll come back out of hiding and take our rightful place in charge of the country. Standing proudly, no longer hiding. Not just for me and Gordon, but also for you and Elizabeth and Zach. We’ve been saying it’s time for years—you’vebeen saying it’s time. Oracle is doing this for all of us.”
Kay wanted the secrecy to end. But not like this. “All of us?” She couldn’t help the skepticism in her voice.
He ignored her raised eyebrows. “Yes. And it’s not just for the Order. The whole world will benefit by finally having leaders with wisdom and courage.”
She wanted to slide to the floor and pretend none of this was happening. This was a perversion of everything she believed and had thought James believed.
And Gordon was behind it all. God. He had always been cold and ruthless. She had always avoided him, and Elizabeth detested him, but Kay had never imagined that he would have spent all these years indoctrinating James.
If only she could find the James she knew—the man who’d been a brother to her—and show him that none of this was necessary. “But James, what if the rest of the country doesn’t agree with your suggestions? What if this committee you’re seeing believes that your remit is counter-terrorism, and you have no business advising in other areas?”
James stiffened. “That won’t be a problem. Gordon has a plan.”
