Kay flew to her grandmother’s side, and David stood helplessly, his attention utterly focused on Elizabeth as if he could take her pain by strength of will alone. “Liz?” he murmured, his voice cracked with worry.
“Not my pain,” Elizabeth said with a rough gasp. “Except… the spiral. Birth and death… and rebirth. Rebirth? Too much death. God. I See….” She shuddered again, a whole-body convulsion. “No.”
Elizabeth raised a hand and swept it through the turbulent Shadows as if to reject the fate that she’d been shown. Then she focused her gaze, raised her hand, and twisted her fingers. Her Shadows spun faster, dancing to her command, a vortex of charcoal and ruby snared and controlled by one of the most talented Seers alive. The images churned viciously, flashing too fast to be anything more than a blur. Until Elizabeth closed her fist with a snap, the vision ended, and she collapsed back in her chair, cheekbones stark in her drawn face.
Kay knelt beside her, gently lifting her hands to hold them in hers. “Granny?”
“I’m okay,” Elizabeth murmured, cupping Kay’s cheek with her hand.
But she didn’t look okay to Riley. She looked overwhelmingly exhausted… and deeply distressed.
David grunted, his face looking almost as haunted as Elizabeth’s. “What do you need, Liz?” he asked. “Can I get you anything?”
Elizabeth gave him a shaky smile. “Maybe some water in a minute, thank you. But first—” She turned back to her granddaughter. “Kayleigh,Cariad, I saw Gordon on the summer solstice. He was Archdderwydd, with the full power of Westminster behind him.”
“The same thing Emma saw,” Kay said, rocking back on her heels.
Elizabeth nodded, squinting as if she was fighting a severe headache.
Riley stepped closer, holding her hand out as she began to gather her Shadows, ready to help relieve the pain. “Elizabeth, would you like Healing?”
“Don’t worry, it’ll fade soon.” Elizabeth reached out to clasp her hand instead. “And this concerns you too.”
Elizabeth sat up straighter, visibly bracing herself. “I saw Gordon surrounded by darkness and Shadows. And I also saw death. Two men fell, but never at the same time. I think one of them will die.” She swallowed heavily and looked at David for a moment before looking away, face shuttered. But when she faced Riley once more, her eyes were full of sympathy. “James is in danger.”
The words filtered into Riley’s consciousness like shards of ice, frozen and hard, and she found herself clinging to the steady strength of Elizabeth’s hand as memories flooded her. James laughing down at her. James kissing her. James promising her that he was working on something that would save their Order. James telling her he would make her proud. James asking her to keep their relationship a secret. James disappearing. James telling her she was beautiful. Telling her he wanted her. That she was like home to him. James whispering,“I did lie to you. I did walk away from you.” James sliding slowly into her body. James holding her like she was a treasure he’d never imagined discovering. James walking away. James’s last words to her.“The time we had together… I’ll never forget it. Goodbye, Riley.”
God. She hadn’t wanted to see him. She’d wanted to run in the opposite direction. But she couldn’t imagine him gone forever.
Riley didn’t stop to think. She sped up the stairs, the others following close behind her. She had to get to James and see him for herself. Bryn called out which room was James’s, and she banged on the door and then banged on it again. He didn’t answer.
And she knew—deep in her heart, she already knew—James wasn’t there.
She couldn’t delay any longer. Panic swirled through her. The feeling of desperation and doom was thick in the air around her. Her Shadows danced frantically as she gripped the handle and pushed.
The door wasn’t locked, and it swung open easily. The bed was neatly made, a blue blanket folded at the foot. Clothes were left hanging in the wardrobe, abandoned, as if they were unnecessary for whatever James had planned. The desk was empty of any books or papers.
The air felt still and undisturbed as Riley spread her Shadows, looking for resonance. No clear images revealed themselves, but a sense of despair threaded with conviction filtered through along with something sharper. James had been miserable in this room. He’d felt helpless and alone… and then afraid. And then determined.
Something had made him leave. Something that changed the long slow grind of misery into something far more frantic.
“There’s a note,” Kay said, looking into the desk drawer and pulling out a scrap of paper bearing James’s scrawled handwriting along with his abandoned mobile phone.
Kay unfolded the note for them all to see.
I have to go back. Please forgive me.
Tell Riley I did love her.
James
Riley hauled her Shadows in, holding them tight against her body as they tried to pour out and search for James. He’d gone back. Back where? Back to London? Back to Gordon? Why the hell would he do something like that? God. He would be hurt, that was inevitable. And—despite everything—she couldn’t bear it.
Kay settled a hand on her shoulder, their earlier sharp words forgotten as she immediately offered her support. “There’s only one reason James would go back there,” Kay murmured.
Riley blinked up at her, heart thumping heavily as she waited. She already knew what Kay was going to say. And she wasn't sure she wanted to hear it.
“Because he thinks he’s protecting the people he loves,” Kay said quietly. “And that includes you.”
