Finally his gaze searched out mine. Grief filled his eyes. “Does she know this for a fact?”
My breath caught. I thought for sure Roan would toss out her idea, say my biological mother didn’t know what she was talking about. Instead of pushing the topic, Roan would wrap me in a hug and tell me everything would be fine.
But none of that was happening.
I slowly nodded. “She does know it. Said it’s what happened between her and my father. Demons took advantage of a situation they were in one time. The consequences could’ve been dire, but they managed to get out of it. After that, my mother said it was painfully obvious what was going on—their gifts clashed and caused chaos that was potentially harmful.”
Roan studied me in silence. “I suspected as much, but I wasn’t sure.”
My stomach crashed to the floor. “Yoususpected?”
He nodded. “Yep. Ever since that night when the spirit leaked out of theSpiritusand attacked you.”
Several weeks ago Roan and I had captured an evil spirit in a canister. That night the entity somehow managed to project itself from its prison and attack me.
If Roan hadn’t been there to help me…I shuddered just thinking of the consequences.
“What exactly did you suspect?” The words shot out of my mouth with bitterness. I couldn’t help it. If Roan thought as much, why hadn’t he said something?
His expression filled with kindness. “Don’t get mad at me. I only had the tiniest hint of a theory. I didn’t know if it was right. You didn’t have any more experience with my abilities than I did, so I didn’t know who to ask.”
He rubbed his mouth. “But it didn’t make sense to me that a spirit would be able to leak out of its holder and exert power. Not when it was trapped. It should’ve either been completely in or totally out.”
He drummed his fingers. “But this one wasn’t. Why?”
I pushed aside a slash of bangs. “I don’t know. Since you have all the answers, why don’t you tell me?”
“I’m not saying any of this to make you angry.”
“Well you have.”
Roan extended his hands to me, palms up. I stared at him. He rolled his eyes. “Would you just take them?”
I didn’t want to. I’d be lost as soon as I did.
I remained firm in my resolve. Roan shook his head, sighed and withdrew. “I think…there must be a way for it to work out. Your parents didn’t know it, obviously. But maybe because they didn’t try.”
I shook my head. “We’re talking about a highly religious clairvoyant and a demonologist whose day job was as a priest. I’m pretty sure if they needed a reference to help them out, they could’ve found it.”
“Maybe,” he said slowly. “Maybe not. Maybe they were in too deep to see clearly. She did become pregnant. Maybe all their emotions were tied to the pregnancy. If a solution had presented itself, they might not’ve seen it because of that.”
Roan had a point. My parents may have felt the weight of the situation more because of me. Perhaps what Tart told me was the truth as far as she knew it. But there were still other options, those that she wasn’t familiar with.
I gazed at Roan, and my heart swelled. Sometimes talking a thing over with a person was exactly what was needed.
Without giving him warning, I threw my arms around his neck and hugged tightly.
“Whoa,” he said in surprise. His arms slowly closed over my back. “Did that make you feel better?”
I pulled away and smiled. “Yes. We don’t have a solution, but if there is one, we can search for it. Surely someone has answers.”
“And if I know you”—he brushed hair from my eyes—“you’ll sic those killer instincts of yours on whoever it is we need to find.”
I cocked a brow. “We’re not trying to harm anyone. Only find answers.”
Worry filled Roan’s eyes. “You never know, Blissful. You never know.”
Roan droveme back out to the covered bridge to collect Francine. “Now,” I said as the G-Wagon rumbled over the path made of dirt and pebbles, “I don’t know if you’ll be able to hear or see Francine, but she is something else. Not like most spirits.”
