Still. He hadn’t left her side since he’d come to get her and Bryn. And the things he’d said the last time he called her were engraved on her mind… and her heart.I love you, Liz. I loved you then, and I still do…. When it’s safe, I’m coming to find you. What happens then will be up to you.
It wasn’t safe, not even nearly, but he sure as hell had come for her.
And now… the vision she’d had when James went missing from Bryn’s house had joined the constant loop of horrible dreams that had plagued her for so long.
She had Seen James’s lifeless body, just like she told Riley. She’d been utterly correct that he was in danger. But what she hadn’t mentioned—what she hadn’t told anyone—was that she had also Seen David’s.
She swallowed against the tension in her throat. Against the words that were locked inside. James had been the priority. The danger to him had been immediate. But now he was safe. Now she needed to warn David.
She pushed herself to sit up straight. Cleared her throat and looked for the right words. But before she could find them, her phone rang, cutting through the silence.
She fished it out of her bag and checked the caller ID. She glanced up to find David looking at her with concern. Concern she shared. “It’s Maeve,” she explained.
He turned back to the road, his jaw clenched so tight, she could see a muscle tick. There were many reasons one of Gordon’s Council Healers would call, and none of them were good.
She sent out her Shadows, looking for guidance, some kind of foreknowing. But there was nothing.
“You could ignore it,” David murmured.
“What if she’s realized the truth about Gordon? What if she can help? What if sheneedshelp?”
David’s eyes flicked to her once more. “Do what feels right.”
She might have laughed if it wouldn’t have sounded slightly deranged. Nothing felt right about anything.
The phone continued to ring in her hand. Wouldn’t it be better to know what the Council wanted? To have all the information available? She connected the call. “Hello.”
“Oh, thank God, Elizabeth,” Maeve spluttered frantically. “Thank you for picking up.”
Elizabeth turned the phone onto speaker as she replied. “I’m not sure I should be speaking to a Council Healer right now, Maeve. What do you want?”
“I’m not! I don’t… I mean, I’m not calling for the Council. Gordon doesn’t know.” Maeve’s voice dropped to a terrified whisper. “I need help. We need help. He’s gone insane. And I think….” Maeve cleared her throat anxiously. “I think he’s about to come after you too.”
A flicker of dark foreboding crawled up Elizabeth’s spine and settled over her chest. Not a vision, not exactly, but a sharp feeling more distinct than the general unease she’d carried for so long. “We already know he’s coming after us, Maeve.”
“No,” Maeve insisted. “No, you don’t understand. He’s coming afteryou. He wants to replace his blood Shadows and now that James is gone….” Her voice disappeared, replaced by shuffling noises, and when she came back she was even quieter. “He won’t stop.”
“Why are you calling me now?” Elizabeth asked, her Shadows swirling around her torso, instinctively forming a loose armor of ruby and charcoal. “Why didn’t you warn anyone before?”
Maeve laughed under her breath, a cynical, grating noise. “We thought he was working for all of us, but he’s not. He only cares about himself.”
“All ofyou, you mean,” Elizabeth muttered. “You thought he was working for all of the Council, not the rest of the Order.”
“Whatever. None of that matters now,” Maeve insisted. “He’s Shadow stripping people.”
“Yes. We know he plans—”
“You don’t know. He stripped Finn.”
“Finn? The Healer?” Elizabeth couldn’t stop the horrified shock that permeated her voice.
“Yes. He’s…. God, Elizabeth. Finn is utterly destroyed. He never says anything. Sometimes he moans. Sometimes he screams. I don’t know if he’ll ever come back. And I… I…. Gordon made me….” Maeve’s voice cracked. “We need help.”
“What is it exactly that you expect me to do?” Elizabeth demanded.
“Come here,” Maeve replied instantly. “I’ll let you in. We can challenge him together.”
David’s hand tightened on the wheel, dread clear on his face, and Elizabeth put out a hand to rest on his thigh. “I’m not an idiot, Maeve,” she muttered, her attention snagging on the way David’s cobalt Shadows had responded to her touch, swirling and sliding against her skin.
