“Because I should have told you when I came back from India and you were doing such an amazing job as a single mother. I should have told you every day since Kay joined me in London and I took one look at her and knew she was my family. I should have told you when I held you in my arms for the first time in so many long years. I love you, Elizabeth.”
He heard a soft hiccough, and he knew she was holding in a sob. David rested his arms on the desk that he’d carried halfway around the world alone and told her the rest. “Kay, James, and Zach are so brave, Liz. I see so much of you in all of them. They’re going to dismantle our corrupt Council and rid the world of Gordon’s darkness. I have to support them. I have to help them do this. Then, when it’s safe, I’m coming to find you. What happens then will be up to you.”
There was a long, heavy silence. She didn’t believe him. And why should she? He’d spent so many years proving that finding her was the last thing he would ever do.
“I’ll see you soon,” he promised. “We’ll talk.” And if he didn’t make it back, at least she would know the truth. She would know just how much she’d meant to him.
Elizabeth drew in a ragged breath. “Okay.”
He ended the call and leaned back. The weight that he had carried for so long had lifted just enough that, for the first time in years, he could almost breathe.
ChapterThirty
The backof Zach’s neck prickled, the hairs on his arms rising with every step they took. Beside him, he could hear Emma’s breathing—too fast and too shallow. Her hand was damp and cold in his. Whatever was at the top of the stairs terrified her, but she didn’t falter.
He unlocked a big black door with another of his Shadow keys. What the hell would she have done if she had to face it alone? Such a simple thing when they were together. But alone… God. She wouldn’t have backed down. She would have wrestled it open with a knife, no matter how long it took her. No matter the danger she was in.
The door opened into a massive conservatory. Zach’s footsteps slowed as they made their way into what could only be considered a forest glade, although nothing about it felt peaceful. The tall potted oaks seemed to sway menacingly, blocking out the daylight that should have filtered through the glass roof, while a small fountain splashed, echoing in the strange quiet.
Emma’s hand gripped his tightly as she led him past a disturbing painting of a druidess sacrificing a Roman soldier. The druidess was obviously related to Emma in the distant past. She was beautiful but seemed cold and ruthless, nothing like Emma’s warmth and light.
“That’s the bowl.” Emma tilted her head toward a wide silver bowl covered in engravings of figures and runes that seemed to twist in the dim light. “The one Gordon used for mixing the blood Shadows.”
This was the bowl from Emma’s childhood nightmares. She swallowed heavily, but she didn’t look away. God, she was amazing.
He pulled her closer, wrapping his arm tightly around her. “We have to destroy it.”
“Yes.” Emma’s eyes were wide and gleaming as she looked up at him. “But first… there’s more.”
She led him to a freezer in the corner of the room, hidden behind the row of trees, and lifted the lid. Rows of vials covered in symbols and strange markings nestled in containers. Viscous Shadows curled around and between them and dark sludge shifted slowly inside the vials.
They were blood Shadows. Fuck. She’d found Gordon’s stash. “Emma….” Zach’s voice trailed off. He had no idea what to say.
She blinked, her eyes filling with tears before she looked down into the freezer once more. “Me… James… and my mother. Zach, this is why she died.”
Fuck. “Gordon murdered her?”
“He said that he tried to show her it would work. But it didn’t. It made her sick instead.”
Zach looked back down at the vials. “Abigail,” “Emma,” and “James” were clearly marked. His stomach clenched into a tight ball of acid. It was everything they’d feared. And James…. Hell. There were so many vials. How much had James suffered in silence?
“It wasn’t your fault.” Emma’s soft voice broke into his miserable spiral of self-recrimination. “You didn’t know.”
“I should have. God. I should have done something.”
Her soft hands settled on his jaw and pulled him to face her as she whispered firmly, “You. Didn’t. Know.” She pressed her lips against his, and then went on her toes to kiss his eyelids. “You couldn’t have done anything differently.”
He shook his head roughly. “I could have helped him.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But you can help him now. First, we have to get rid of these.”
They turned back toward the slowly shifting blood Shadows. A lone vial, slightly to the side of Abigail’s, snagged his attention. “What’s this one?”
“I couldn’t read the label in my dream,” Emma admitted.
Zach leaned forward, careful not to touch any of the churning Shadows. The label was smeared and almost illegible. It would have been impossible to read if it wasn’t a name he knew well. He tilted his head and frowned down at it.
It couldn’t possibly say what he thought. “Does that—” He cleared his throat and tried again. “Does that say Elen?”
