Between the two of them, they got Tarron up the stairs and started down the hall. Tarron stumbled over the rug in front of Alistar’s studio. Damn, he’d forgotten to shut the door. Tarron’s weight sagged against Alistar. Right where his latest work was displayed at a slight angle. Alistar refused to look at it. “Whoa there, chap.”
With effort, Tarron shrugged from his hold and gripped then leaned against the doorjamb, breathing heavily. “You’re Aldis.” He turned and met Alistar’s eyes. “Did you tell her?”
Bitterness at his own stupidity swept through him. “She knows.”
“How did she take it?”
“Not well. She left, remember?” Self-loathing was a useless emotion, Alistar thought with a stab at remoteness. The gods must be furious with him. Well, let them. He was furious with them too. Wasn’t it horrendous enough to be scheduled for madness?
“Oh, right. I think I’d better sit down.”
Alistar and Pelz helped Tarron to the Green room located across the hall from the Lilac room. He and Pelz managed to get him situated in a large wing-backed chair near the hearth.
“Light the fire, Pelz,” Alistar said. “I don’t wish the man to take a chill.”
“Of course, my lord.” Pelz turned to Tarron. “You should attempt to remain awake, sir.”
“What about food? Is he allowed food?” Alistar asked. Concussions were tricky things, but Alistar had never had one. He kicked a hassock over. Pelz lifted Tarron’s feet, and Alistar shoved it in place.
“Let us start with tea, my lord, and go from there.” Then Pelz slipped away.
“That man is unbelievably ghostlike,” Tarron said. He narrowed his gaze on Alistar. Alistar took that as a good sign. “You could have introduced yourself to her at the museum.”
“Yes. But I didn’t lov—like her then.”
Tarron stilled, his demeanor now highly alert. “You best explain your ‘lov-like’ to a great degree. Use simple sentences and talk slow.”
Alistar pulled the journal from his hip and took the matching chair across from him. “I get visions.”
“What kind of visions?”
“What do you mean, ‘What kind?’ They are visions. Most are of some past incident. If I don’t get them down on canvas, I suffer tremendous headaches. I once tried ignoring them and paid dearly. I had to be hospitalized.”
Tarron shut his eyes and gingerly rubbed his forehead. “That sucks, man.”
“The thing is—it seems as if the visions usually have to do with her.”
“Her?”
“Peyton.”
Tarron opened his black eyes and pierced Alistar where he sat. “How?”
He lifted a brow. “Need I remind you of her reaction to the painting of the woman with the diary?”
Tarron’s head tilted to one side, his obsidian gaze never wavering from Alistar. “Yeah. It looked like that locked room in her grandfather’s house that we had trouble finding the key to.” For all the lightness the man portrayed, he was all seriousness now. “You were quite the hero that day, catching her before she hit the floor like that. Sort of like some hero in a romance novel.”
Some hero.Heat crawled up Alistar’s neck. “She told me she believes she’s the child inWithin the Shadows.”
Tarron’s shocked gaze seemed to dip into the past. He spoke softly as he said, “I was in New York when she was working on her MFA. I remember when she was assigned to review that painting. She was beside herself.” His shudder was a visual representation of what Peyton must have suffered. “She almost quit the master’s program over it.”
Regret and anguish rushed over Alistar. After a moment, he shook off the sentiments. There was nothing he could do to change the past. Or was there? He fanned the pages of the journal, not really seeing it. Then he stopped. “You said something about a paper she gave you?”
“Some kind of investigation agency’s report. I can’t quite remember.”
Something was missing that Alistar couldn’t put his finger on. Then it hit him, and he snapped his fingers. “Grandfather!What is this about Skerry being Peyton’s grandfather? I thought she was letting the house.”
“Sheinheritedthe house. Leander was her grandfather. That’s why we were staying there. Apparently, he’d been looking for her for years. He died before she could meet him.”
