Kay stood still, trembling and nauseous, as her Shadows churned helplessly. James wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He had turned all his focus back onto her, flooding his will through the dark Shadow around her soul, and she swayed. Unable to move, unable to make a sound. Fighting with everything she had to force the only tendril of Shadow she could control back up and under the sludge embedded in her neck.
James grinned at Ethan and Zach. “See, we’re all okay here. We’re all well. Aren’t we, Kay? Just give a little nod to your friends.”
Kay felt her head nodding jerkily as she desperately fought against the Shadow in her mind.
Ethan looked at her, his face drawn and tired. “Kay, you don’t look well. Please come with me. Let’s just go somewhere to talk.”
Kay’s tiny Shadow finally managed to peel one of the tentacles away. “Ethan, please—”
James grunted, wrapping his hand around the back of her neck over her collar, firmly sticking the Shadow tentacles to her skin once more. To anyone else, it would look as if he was simply holding her, maybe even supporting her.
“That’s enough,” James said. “I’ve had a long talk with Kay, and although I’ll admit that this morning was slightly premature, she’s accepted my proposal. I’m sure she’d love to tell you all about it, but it’s been an emotional day and Kay needs her rest. As you can see, your presence here is upsetting her.”
“What about Oracle?” Ethan demanded.
James laughed. “What about it? My uncle has a small consultancy that’s helping to keep people safe. I work there sometimes.”
“But—”
“Phone him if you like,” James said, glaring at Zach. “And while you’re at it, you can tell him, and the Council, about how you and Kay have been exposing Order secrets to a norm.”
“But—” Zach started.
James cut him off with a glare. “Oracle is trying to save people. Kay came with me of her own free will, and now she wants you all to go. Don’t you, baby?”
His fingers twitched, tugging the dark Shadow, and she nodded helplessly.
Kay watched the blood draining from Ethan’s already pale cheeks, his shock mirrored in the stern, confused look on Zach’s face as he slowly crossed his arms and looked away. Neither of them argued.
It was over. She truly was all alone.
James squeezed her shoulder and then steered her toward the bedroom. “Off you go, Kay; we’re finished here.” No one else would have heard the command beneath the words.
Her wooden legs forced her to turn, and she stumbled back to the bedroom to collapse onto the mattress as he closed the door behind her.
James’s muted voice grew harsh. “Now, get out and don’t come back. You’re not wanted. That goes for you too, Zach. Don’t come here again.”
She heard a low mumbling and then the front door closed with a sharp click.
ChapterTwenty-Three
Ethan staggered awayfrom the door and blindly down the stairs. He couldn’t remember walking, or how he got back to the car, but finding himself there, he sank back against the door until he was sitting on the pavement.
He pushed the heels of his palms hard into his eyes as if he could block out what he’d seen. What he’d done. He had fucked up the one good thing in his life… and somehow pushed Kay to James. She had looked destroyed. Her usual vibrancy and energy were swallowed in a heavy cloud of misery and exhaustion.
He had to fix this… but he had no idea what to do. All his thoughts and plans had dissolved when he saw her standing, looking so broken, beside James. Nodding in agreement. Letting James hold her up.
Ethan had wanted to throw himself at the other man. Pour his rage out with his fists. But how could he do that to Kay? How could he be responsible for yet more destruction in her life? James was a liar and a bastard, but Ethan needed to get him away from Kay before he could deal with him.
If she never forgave him, he would have to learn to live with it, so long as she didn’t land up with James—a man who was prepared to pull her world apart. And Oracle, fuck. Could they have been wrong about it? But even if they were, she was still in danger. Whoever was responsible for the dark Shadows was still out there.
The vision of Kay looking so lost and small stabbed at him. No matter how he tried to force it away, he couldn’t let it go.
Fuck. He’d pushed her out of his home, and now he’d walked away. And it was wrong. Utterly, completely, wrong. He’d thought leaving was the right thing to do—what she wanted him to do—but he couldn’t, not when she was so obviously devastated. Ethan looked up to see Zach leaning on the car, arms folded, looking grim. “We have to go back.”
“So why did you drag me out?” Zach asked in a tight voice.
“I hurt her so badly that I pushed her straight to James, and I didn’t want to make it worse. She chose to stay with him, and violence didn’t seem like a good way to fix this... but now… I don’t know. God. What is the right thing to do?”
