Gordon didn’t say anything. He simply stared at Maeve and waited until her voice trailed away, leaving her sentence unfinished.
And then, when it was finally, blissfully silent, he spoke softly. “There will be no primary triad. There will be no division of power. There will be a Council to enact the new laws. That’s you. But there is only one Archdderwydd. Me.”
ChapterSeventeen
Maybe,somewhere deep in Emma’s heart, she’d expected Becky to say no. For it to be impossible to find enough help or to get everything prepared in time. But in the end, it had all happened extraordinarily fast.
She’d asked Becky to step in as manager on Monday, and now, just four days later, they’d run through everything one last time. She’d checked that Becky had every possible thing she could ever need and made her goodbyes. She couldn’t even complain that her pot plants might suffer, because Zach had arranged for Jake to water them.
And that was the other thing. Zach had stayed, supporting her the whole time.
He’d woken with her alarm and spent every morning working with her in the kitchen, following her directions, rolling, kneading, chopping, and even washing up when he had to so that she could massively overprepare and fill her freezers with racks of pastries Becky was perfectly capable of handling.
They had worked at a pace that reminded Emma of the hours she’d spent as an apprentice baker in Paris, wielding rolling pins and chef’s knives until her muscles screamed. But Zach didn’t complain. And he didn’t fall into bed exhausted as she had done in those early days. He spent every night learning her body and making her scream with pleasure until she fell asleep, wrapped up in his arms. And she did scream. Touching him was thrilling enough, but Zach could do things with his Shadows that she had never imagined.
And now the bakery was handed over, her cottage securely locked, and Zach was driving them up to Wales. At first glance, he seemed his usual calm, stoic self, but with every mile they traveled, the lines that had faded during their time together were slowly carving themselves back into his forehead.
Zach had spoken to Kay several times during the week and Emma knew that despite multiple attempts, Elizabeth had failed to force a vision that could help them. With every day that passed, the pressure on their small group grew. They couldn’t wait any longer. Their two plays—Emma and Elizabeth—had gone nowhere, and soon they would have to actively confront the Council and try to draw Gordon out.
First, though, she had to face Zach’s friends.
What would it be like to be back in Wales, the place that had been her home so many years before? Everything was different now.Shewas different. She had already made herself strong, but the weeks she’d spent with Zach had changed her too. For the first time, she was starting to believe that she didn’t have to be alone. That she had every right to have a family and friends, just like everybody else.
To have that hope destroyed would be…. Her first thought was that it would be devastating, but that wasn’t right. It would be terrible. It would break her heart into tiny pieces. But she would survive. That was what she always did.
Emma’s eye twitched, a prickle of pain dancing at the back of her vision, and she breathed slowly, wishing it away. By the time they crossed into Wales, her jaw ached from clenching it. And by the time they reached the familiar rolling green moorland and rising mountains of the Brecon Beacons, the headache behind her eye was thudding painfully.
Did it mean that the vision she would have had held bad news? Or was the pain entirely the frustrated vision fighting to break free? Or was it just the tension in her jaw?
Zach looked across at her and then rested his hand on her thigh, and her Shadows settled again, falling into the warm safety of their connection. The sparks of pain slowly faded and she breathed deeply, enjoying the comfort.
The sun was setting when Zach pulled onto a gravel drive outside a whitewashed farm cottage. It was beautiful, with a gray tiled roof and a huge climbing rose sprawling up the walls. The late afternoon light brushed everything with gold and the softly sweet scent of the roses hung in the air.
Emma rolled her shoulders. She took a breath and let it out. Then she climbed out of the car and stretched while Zach rounded the bonnet to reach her. His eyes were warm as he settled his hands on her shoulders. “It’ll be fine.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. He genuinely believed it. Or he genuinely wanted to believe it. Either way, she couldn’t bring herself to contradict him. Not when she so desperately hoped he was right. “Okay.”
“You want to go in?” he asked quietly.
Emma snorted. “There’s another option?”
Zach shrugged. “We could stay out here.” He slid his hands higher, resting them at the sides of her throat as his strong fingers dug into the tight muscles at the back of her neck.
She groaned and let her head drop forward, resting her forehead on his chest as he massaged away the tension. “Let’s do that.”
“There’s just one thing.” He leaned close enough that she could feel his lips move over her ear. “I think they’re all watching us from the window.”
Damn. She leaned back to glare at him. “Don’t you think you should have led with that?”
Zach chuckled and for a moment his frown lifted, his lips curved up at the sides, and his eyes shone. His hands were on her skin and from the corner of her eyes, she could see a soft ocean-colored Shadow gently wrapping itself around her shoulders.
This was important to Zach. And more than that, she could do it. It was time. She pushed away from the car, plastered a smile on her face, and laced her fingers through his. “Let’s go.”
Zach led her up to the door and knocked gently. It opened almost immediately, fast enough that he was probably right. At least one person had been watching from the window.
The woman who answered was somewhere in her late twenties. She was wearing a fitted black T-shirt and jeans over biker boots and had shoulder-length dark hair. This had to be Zach’s friend and fellow Guardian, Kay.
Kay leaned against the doorframe with an easy nonchalance that suggested confidence, power, and a lifetime of knowing exactly who she was. Kay’s gaze was intelligent and assessing, as if she could see all of Emma’s secrets—all her weaknesses—and her eyes narrowed in a way that told Emma she was looking at her Shadows. Seeing how broken they were.
