Embrace of Darkness
Page 19
His hand gripped mine and I glanced down to find his eyes open. “I can see you,” he said softly, his voice so quiet I wasn’t sure if he had actually spoken aloud or not. “I can see you without my glasses...”
Keith and Harrison started laughing as they swooped in over their friend. Only Paolo was silent, his dark eyes watching me.
“You killed him,” he said. “That man. You killed him and brought Xander back.”
I flicked a look in Rikerson’s direction, he was face down on the road, his body unmoving.
“I did...”
He nodded, his expression solemn. “Thanks...”
Pushing upright, I swayed on my feet and only Victoria’s hand on my arm stopped me from tipping over completely.
“What did you do?” Nic asked, moving up beside me. “You killed someone, murdered him...”
“He deserved to die,” I said simply.
“You don’t get to make those choices,” he said, “he needed to be brought to justice but not this... Not like this...”
“I saved a boy,” I said. “It was the right thing to do.”
“Not like this, Amber,” he said again and I could feel his sorrow as though it were my own.
I reached out to him but the world tilted violently beneath me and before I knew what was happening I started to fall.
24
I awoke in the hospital. The distant sound of beeping the only giveaway to where I was. Opening my eyes, I found Nic studying me.
“How long have I been out?”
“Twelve hours,” he said. “We brought you here because I thought maybe you were hurt but when they checked you over they said aside from some dehydration and a little malnourishment you were fine.”
“Malnourished?” I pushed upright. My body felt stiff, like I had done an intense work out the night before. In a way I had...
The memory of what I’d done came back to me but as much I knew I should feel remorse, I couldn’t bring myself to feel it.
“The fae are pissed. They believe we deliberately broke the treaty and they want someone’s head.”
“I saved them,” I said, “I did what needed to be done.” My voice was calm, measured, and felt as though it belonged to someone else entirely.
“So you said.” Nic looked away. “Do you love him?”
“Who, Alastor?”
Nic nodded but he couldn’t look at me.
“No, I don’t love him,” I said, the words tasted like ash on my tongue. I didn’t love Alastor but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a part of me that craved him. A part of me that wanted more of what he promised in his kiss. It would be easier with him, that much I was certain of.
“Then why kiss him?”
“It was the only way I could save them...”
“There’s always another way, Amber, you didn’t need to—“ He cut off as Xander and the three other boys peered around the door.
“They said you were in here,” Keith said, strutting into the middle of the room like he owned the joint.
“How are you feeling?” I said to Xander. “No weird side-effects?”
He shook his head. “I feel great. Doctors told my mom it was a miracle.”
“Something like that,” Nic said beneath his breath. “I’m going to get something to eat and stretch my legs. I’ve been here all night. I’ll leave you with your new fan club...”
He left without looking back and the hollow pit in my stomach grew larger. Would he ever forgive me for what I’d done?
Alastor poked his head around the door as Harrison plopped down into Nic’s vacated seat.
“I thought he’d never leave,” he said dramatically.
“I didn’t think you’d be here,” I said.
Alastor shrugged. “There’s nowhere else for me to go now. We’re irrevocably bound.”
I opened my mouth to answer him when Paolo cut in.
“We should go,” he said. “We only wanted to drop by and see if you were all right.”
“It was good to see you,” I said, noting the way Paolo refused to meet my gaze head on. He glanced at Alastor with fear in his eyes.
“Man, we just got here,” Xander complained.
“We need to go and let them talk,” Keith said, nudging Paolo in the ribs.
“Hey,” I said, as the boys headed for the door. “You wanted to know who did the magic show in the tunnel with the trolls.”
Three of the boys turned back, eager expressions on their faces. Paolo looked less than thrilled about it all.
“Well,” I said, gesturing to Alastor. “This is him. He says he wasn’t there but we know—“ I cut off as Harrison started to shake his head.
“It wasn’t him,” he said. “It was an older dude.”
“Show her the picture, Xander,” Keith prompted.
Xander pulled his cell phone out from the pocket of his robe and scrolled quickly through the images.
The hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach grew larger as I watched his finger flick by. If it wasn’t Alastor, then who the hell was it? Xander paused and then held the phone out to me.
The image was a little grainy, due to the lighting but there was no mistaking who the man was. He was older, his hair greyer, face a little more haggard than I remembered but it was still him. I would have bet my life on it.
My heart stalled in my chest as I stared at the image. It couldn’t be him. It simply wasn’t possible.
“Where did you get this?”
“He followed you into the tunnels, we snapped him just as he was about to head in after you and... hey, are you all right?” Harrison said, sounding concerned.
“That’s him,” Alastor said, “the one who has been following me too.” He met my eyes. “Who is he?”
“That my father,” I said. “But he’s dead...”
“Well so was I,” Xander said.
I shook my head. “No, he really is dead. I watched him die.”
“Maybe you’re misremembering,” Keith said, sounding a little spooked.
“I know he’s dead,” I said, “because when I was twelve I summoned a demon and sent him to Hell.”
Also by Bilinda Sheehan
Jenna Faith Series
Cast in Stone
Stakes and Stones
Heart of Stone
The Shadow Sorceress Series
A Grave Magic
Blood Craft
Grim Rites
Wild Hunt
Touch of Shadow
Embrace of Darkness
A Wicked Power
Bones and Bounties
Banshee Blues
Huntress Moon
Kiss of the Banshee
Roll the Bones
Book 5 - Coming Soon