Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 29381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Luck is on our side. We rush out, into the winter dusk. I grip her in my protective embrace and think of Ice’s caves in Wales.
A few disorienting moments later, we hover outside Rykard’s dwelling on the windswept rocks overlooking the sea.
Tabby staggers, nearly falling to her knees. I haul her upright, holding her steady. We both pant with exhaustion.
“It’s safe here,” I murmur. “Let’s get inside.”
She nods, glancing over her shoulder as I follow her through the arched entrance. “That was the most frightening ten minutes of my life.”
I agree. I don’t want her anywhere near Mathias or his army again.
She turns to me, fingers tangling in my shirt. “He’s incredibly powerful. How will you and the other wizards ever defeat him?”
The million-dollar question. “Honestly, I’m not convinced we can. But Ronan is devoted to this cause. I’m with him, and now devoted to whatever it takes to keep you safe. It’s another reason you’re safer without me. I don’t know how to be the mate you deserve, and I won’t be alive long enough to figure it out.”
That reality eats at me. The last thing I want is to give her to Sean Blackbourne. But now that I failed her at Lowery’s, what choice do I have?
Her eyes tear up. “Raiden—”
“It’s true. And I’m doubly sorry that you risked your life today, only to come away empty-handed.”
“I didn’t.” She reaches into her shirt and pulls free the family photo that had been on her father’s desk.
She must have grabbed it during the chaos.
My spirits sink. I’d hoped for something useful, rather than sentimental, but I stifle my disappointment and kiss her forehead. “I’m glad you’ve come away with something meaningful.”
She shakes her head. All that gorgeous red hair tumbles from her proper clips and tousles around her shoulders, reminding me yet again of one of the million reasons I always want her.
Tabby grabs my arm. “You don’t understand. I know what Mathias wants. I found the tree.”
Chapter
Eight
Tabitha
* * *
I tear into the back of the picture frame and extract a fragile piece of paper, folded many times over and yellowing with age. Raiden sidles closer, watching my every move.
Once I smooth out the page and lay it flat, neat rows under distinct columns fill the space. Names, dates, and locations on one side. Throughout, a handful of names are highlighted, rows and rows apart, without explanation. On the back of the page, an actual drawing of a family tree, revealing multiple branches stretching back thousands of years.
Raiden scowls. “There’s no family name listed, just the typical recording of births, unions, and deaths. I don’t understand. Why is this family special? Why would your father hide this list?”
Since I don’t understand either, I shrug.
He scans the page again, scowling. I can’t think of a single reason my father would have kept this family tree separate from the others. He mostly worked in secrecy. I helped occasionally…but now that he’s gone, there’s no one to ask.
The reality that I’ll never hear my father’s laugh, feel the safety of his embrace, or look into his gentle eyes threatens to fell me again. But I don’t have the luxury of grief. I need to move on, solve this mystery. Unfortunately, another glance at this paper tells me that I might as well be reading gibberish.
Then I notice that the entry at the bottom was altered. On the very last row, the child’s date and location of birth remain, but the name, once highlighted, was scratched off almost violently—or desperately—given the tear in the delicate paper.
“I know someone vastly smarter about magickind’s obscurities. She might be able to help us.” Raiden plucks up the paper, then reaches for my hand. “Come with me.”
Where? I dig in my heels. “Someone trustworthy?”
He nods. “Besides you and my twin, there’s no one I’d trust more.”
Since I’m out of options, I let him pull me along as he prowls through the caves, tugging me behind him. He stops when he finds a stunning blonde at the kitchen table, drinking tea. Her magical signature proclaims her mated.
“Tabitha, this is Sabelle Rion. She’s Bram’s sister. And, of course, Merlin’s granddaughter.”
I’m a bit shocked. Of course Raiden knows Bram, head of a family of penultimate power and prestige, since they’re fighting Mathias side by side. But the fact that he’s acquainted with the wizard’s sister, the most beautiful icon of magical society… The Wolvesey wizards are notorious for seedy pubs, random hookups, and generations of carousing, focused on wine, women, and song…not necessarily in that order. Yet he’s on speaking terms with the Sabelle Rion?
Because Raiden bedded her before she mated with another? I shove the question aside. It’s not important now.
“How do you do? I’m Tabitha Lowrey.” I hold out my hand.
“Raiden never took me to bed, so you needn’t worry,” Sabelle assures with a smile as she takes my hand. “How do you do?”