Elizabeth shrugged. “Not yet. You know I like to be clear about my visions before I start telling stories.”
“Let’s at least talk to David—”
Elizabeth cut her off with a wave of one elegant hand. Kay had no idea where her grandmother’s long-standing feud with the head of her Circle had come from, but she knew better than to get in the middle of it. “Fine. Someone else on the Council then?”
“I don’t know, Kay. Something feels… off. I’ve got a feeling that telling the Council would be a bad idea, but it’s not something I can prove to you or give you any reason for.”
Kay let out a sigh. Elizabeth didn’t like the Council. Not since her husband—the granddad Kay had never met—had died suddenly during his time as its leader. He had only been in his early forties, and his death was so sudden that not one Seer, including Elizabeth, had known it was coming. Her dislike for the way the Council worked had become a lot worse when Gordon Dennehy—James’s uncle—was invited to join them. Elizabeth hated their secrecy and their controls. She disagreed with how they made decisions and how they ruled over the Circles. It had reached the point where Elizabeth couldn’t even attend Order meetings without getting into at least one heated argument, and her hostility had only grown worse in the year since David had been nominated to join them.
Honestly, Kay felt the same way about all the layers of secrecy and hidden power. The only difference was, she liked working with David, and she had to put up with the Council if she wanted to continue to be a Guardian.
It wasn’t surprising that Elizabeth had a feeling that the Council wouldn’t be any help. But it didn’t mean Kay could disregard it either. All Shadow Weavers hadfeelingsabout things from time to time, but when a Seer had one, you took it seriously, especially when the Seer was as powerful as Elizabeth.
“So… what do you want to do?” Kay asked.
“Wait for a better vision—something clear—that I can explain without sounding insane. Wait until I know who we can trust,” Elizabeth replied swirling her glass and then taking a slow sip of Scotch. “In the meantime, please keep this to yourself. I don’t want to discuss it with David. And please don’t mention it to James or Zach either, it would only put them in an awkward position.”
Kay sighed again. It wasn't the first time Elizabeth waited for clarity rather than sharing a vague vision that might not mean anything. But this time, it just felt wrong. And it wasn’t Kay’s way. She wanted to take action. Hunt down the problem and solve it. “Okay, but—”
“How’s James?” Her grandmother cut her off with an innocent look. As if Kay wouldn’t notice her blatant change of subject.
“Gran—”
Elizabeth merely raised her eyebrows. “How’s James? I haven’t seen him for a while.”
Kay fought the urge to roll her eyes. Anyone who thought she was stubborn had never met Elizabeth. “He’s okay, I think, I haven’t seen that much of him recently.”
“He still seeing that blonde?”
Kay shrugged. “Which blonde?”
Yeah, she’d long ago accepted that the man she’d been friends with for so many years was most accurately described by the wordswhich blonde.
Elizabeth flashed her a slightly bemused grin; she also knew what James was like. “And Zach? I worry about that boy sometimes.”
“Yeah….” Zach was still the quiet one of their trio. And recently he’d been brooding a lot. “You know, last week, he told me I should really consider getting rid of my motorcycle.”
Elizabeth barked out a laugh, shaking her head.
“And replace it,” Kay continued, “with something less dangerous, like a Volvo.”
Elizabeth snorted and Kay chuckled into her whisky just thinking about it. It wasn’t the first time someone had felt she should be doing something different with her life. But Zach, of all people, should have known better.
“How about your mum and dad; have you called them?” Elizabeth asked, following the same thought.
Kay stiffened. She was going to call them. Soon. She kept meaning to, but somehow, work got busy, her duties as a Guardian piled up, and the days went by.
Elizabeth reached across the table and tenderly pushed a short lock of dark hair behind Kay’s ear. “Don’t you think it’s time to forgive them?”
It probably was time. Years had passed since she’d arrived in Wales as a bewildered teenager. She was twenty-eight, successful in her own right. She had grown out of that blinding hurt and rage long ago… and yet, some scars never quite healed.
She’d learned to fight back. To defend herself. But somehow, over the years, that had translated into only letting people in part of the way. She was always half expecting them to prove that they didn’t really want her after all. The only people she genuinely trusted were Elizabeth, James, and Zach. Which was why Zach’s overprotectiveness grated so badly.
And she still couldn’t quite bring herself to call the parents who had watched her leave all those years ago without saying a word. They had tried to contact her a few days after she’d arrived in Wales, but she had been too angry and betrayed to speak to them. Since then, they’d phoned her once a month, and once a month she let them go to voicemail. Maybe if they’d visited in person, if they’d tried to see her, even once, it would have been different. But they never had.
“Your father is the same, you know,” Elizabeth stated quietly. “When your grandfather died so suddenly, he blamed me. He thought I should have Seen it and he blamed the Council for the pressure Alasdair was under. Your father was so young when Alasdair died, and he could never get past it. He couldn’t forgive me or the Council. It’s why he and your mother left. Why they cut us all out. And then you came along, so much like Alasdair… so powerful. So clearly a Guardian. Your parents didn’t want you in the Order, and they definitely didn’t want you on the Council. They thought they were protecting you.”
Kay closed her eyes, not wanting to hear how she was similar to the man who had rejected her. Not wanting to hear excuses or reasons. It didn’t justify what they had done. “No. If they wanted to protect me, they would have told me the truth. They would have prepared me properly, not sent me away at the first opportunity.”
