His Shadows thrummed with a painful urgency. A prickle of foreboding, like a dark premonition, taunted him. At first, he’d thought it was a reaction to his fight with Emma. Then, as his worry grew, he realized it wasn’t only remorse at what had happened, it was a growing dread of what was still to come.
He shuffled up to the front door and let himself inside as quietly as possible. Emma would be asleep in one of the guest rooms and he didn’t want to disturb her. The house was dark and still. A clock ticked softly in the lounge and the fridge buzzed mechanically in the kitchen.
He crept silently up the stairs toward his room. His head was a mess. Filled with regrets and wishes, anger and uncertainty. There was only one thing that he was utterly certain of. He should never have forced Emma to choose between him and what she believed in. And he should never, ever have made her feel like she didn’t belong.
He would let her sleep. He didn’t have the right to disturb her. But as soon as the sun rose, he would fix what he had broken. First though, he wanted to see David and find out how she was when she arrived.
Zach dumped his bags outside his bedroom door and made his way up the stairs to David’s office. The door was open, and David was sitting at his desk, working at his computer despite how late it was.
David was surrounded by papers and open books, his office even more chaotic and overflowing than usual. Dark rings circled his eyes and his gray hair stood up, overly long and spiked as if he’d run his hands through it many times. The last time Zach had seen David look so tormented, Elizabeth had just been kidnapped.
David looked up from his work and met Zach’s eyes with a somber look. “I wondered when you’d get here.”
Zach made his way to the desk and lowered himself into the chair opposite David. “I’ve come for Emma.”
David nodded slowly. Then he reached across his desk and gripped Zach’s hand in his. It was even more terrifying than when Kay held him.
“You just missed her,” David admitted in a rough voice.
The world froze on its axis, and all the air in the room frosted over. It was the only explanation for the harsh burn in Zach’s lungs. For the way his chest cramped around the breath he tried to drag in.
“What do you mean?” Zach forced the words out, not caring that he sounded half-strangled.
“She’s gone to Gordon.”
“No.” Zach pushed himself to stand, the chair clattering away somewhere behind him as he glared at the man who he knew significantly better than his own father. “She was going to call him tomorrow with Kay and Ethan.”
“She decided to call him immediately.”
“Why?” Zach growled, leaning across David’s desk. “What the fuck did you do?”
David returned his glare. “Sit down, Zach, and I’ll tell you.”
Zach wrapped his hands around the back of his neck and squeezed the aching muscles. “Not until you tell me what the hell you said to her. Fuck, David. She came here. She came to you. And now she’s gone.”
“Sit. Down.”
“No, I—”
“Sit the fuck down. Right now.”
Zach sank into the chair. He had only ever heard David curse once before—and that was when they had all just realized that Gordon had brought blood Shadows back into the world.
“Emma decided she wouldn’t be able to get close to Gordon if Kay and Ethan were with her, and she was right,” David said quietly. “She asked me to help her and I agreed.”
Zach dropped his head, letting it hang as he shut his eyes. Emma had asked him to help her, and he’d refused. Had he honestly thought she would just go home and hide away in safety?
He should have known that was the last thing she would do. He should have realized she would go off to battle alone, just as she had her entire life. God. He had made everything a million times worse.
“She left this for you.” David held out a letter.
“What does it say?” Zach asked, hardly daring to reach for it.
“I’m guessing it says goodbye.”
The lump of tension that had settled in Zach’s throat seemed to expand, cutting off his air. “You know what happened between us?”
“I was with her when she told Gordon,” David admitted.
