Court the Fire (Son of Rain #3)

by Michelle Irwin

  When Zarita first bounded up to us, with the enthusiasm I was used to after my time with her in Cyprus while I learned Evie’s secrets, Evie backed away a little. Her warmth spiked, and I wanted to comfort her, to grab her hand and tell her it would be okay, but Zarita beat me to it. She clasped both of Evie’s hands between her own. “I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to meet you.”

  I introduced the two of them before turning to whisper to Evie an explanation of how I knew Zarita. “Zarita spent hours interpreting the old texts and artifacts to help me. Of course, she didn’t believe any of it was based on actual fact.”

  “Nonsense,” Zarita said, her hearing clearly better than I’d expected. “I just allowed you to believe that so you would let me help. After all, what academic in their right mind would think that the personification of Ba`alat Gebal walking the Earth could actually be true.”

  “Who?” Evie glanced at me and then back to Zarita.

  “Ba`alat Gebal? Anat? Hathor? Astarte?” Zarita’s eyes narrowed at me before she listed the other names for the ancient god who apparently resided within Evie. “Didn’t he tell you any of this?”

  She clucked her tongue and led Evie away as she explained the legends of the origins of the sunbird.

  “Wait,” I called after them as my brain caught up with what just happened. She knew? Through it all, she’d known the truth that the texts she was translating were at least partly based on reality? That Evie was a phoenix? “You knew what you were reading was true?”

  If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have asked for her help.

  “What’s true?” She waved off my concern as though it were nothing. As though she hadn’t misled me the entire time we’d known each other. “I’ve had a few encounters with the supernatural in my time. Why else do you think ancient mythology interested me so much?”

  I ran through every conversation I’d had with her, and in hindsight, I could almost see that she’d been willing to accept so much on faith. Too much maybe. She’d allowed me to believe that she was clueless mostly because I’d needed her to be. I wouldn’t have shared so much with her if I’d known she’d believed in the creatures I hunted.

  Following the pair of them to the parking lot, I was struck with guilt as Zarita asked after Evie’s father. Evie’s face grew ashen at the question, and all I could do was shake my head to let Zarita know he was gone.

  I didn’t say the words that were on my tongue—that it was my fault. I dropped my head and watched my feet as I continued to walk, lost in thought. The depth of my selfishness and stupidity hit me like a slap in the face; Zarita had gone to university with both of Evie’s parents, of course, she’d want to know how they were. She had to have known Emily’s fate but would have never learned about David’s death.

  During my last visit, I’d been too wrapped up in my own guilt and anger, my own desire to prove Evie was some kind of monster who’d ensnared me, to take even a single moment to let Zarita know that David had been killed. That my family had killed him. I was just thankful Evie didn’t let slip that I was responsible for his death.

  After loading our bags into the trunk of Zarita’s VW Polo, Evie moved to climb into the backseat, but there was no way I was going to let her. Zarita seemed to be of a similar mindset, waving me into the rear. I was long used to cramped car rides, having ridden in the back of Dad’s Chevelle for so many years.

  Once Evie climbed into the car, she went to adjust the seat forward. It was such a simple movement and yet the love it evoked in me was astonishingly strong. My heart swelled, and a lump took up residence in my throat. She was one of the only people who’d ever tried to accommodate me or make me more comfortable. One of very few who cared. It may have been over something stupid like leg room in the back of a car, but it meant more to me than I could ever explain.

  The knowledge of how far she would go out of her way to make me comfortable made me feel like a total dick. That feeling only grew stronger when she started to praise my actions of traveling through Europe to find out more about her and of stealing the artifacts from Oxford—not that she knew all the details there.

  Turning to look out the window, I tried to control my breathing. I didn’t want her admiration for a choice I’d made in anger. “Don’t, Evie. Don’t worship me for things you think I’ve done.”

  “Clay, not now. Let’s wait until we’re out of the car,” Zarita said with a shake of her head. It was clear she was worried about the heat that was already rising rapidly, but she didn’t know Evie like I did. Evie wouldn’t let her fire take her over in the small, confined space, especially not while Zarita and I were with her.

  “I don’t understand,” Evie murmured.

  “I have to say it,” I told Zarita, ignoring the quiet plea in Evie’s voice for just one second. When Zarita’s gaze left mine in the rearview mirror, I turned back to Evie. “I have to tell you the truth.”

  I had to tell her everything, the good and the bad. I just had to trust that she’d be able to control her fire through it all.

  “The first time I came here, I didn’t come for you. I didn’t do it with any reunion in mind. If anything, it was the exact opposite of that. I thought us being together was impossible, and for a while, I wasn’t even sure it was what I wanted anymore. In fact, I had planned never to try to find you again because that is what I thought you wanted. Instead, I came for me. I needed . . .” I trailed off, worried that maybe I was putting too much faith in her self-control. The temperature in the car was steadily rising. I couldn’t stop though, or I risked making it worse. “I needed to know.”

  “To know what?” Her voice was a breathless and confused whisper.

  I couldn’t find the words I needed to say.

  “To know what?” she asked again, her tone leaving no room for denials.

  “You have to understand. From the very first time I tried to find you, Dad was convinced I was under some sort of spell,” I explained. “Lou too. They all . . . they thought I changed too much too quickly to have actually been in love. They tried for so long to convince me that you’d somehow ensnared my heart. When you left, when I saw your fear and desperation to get away from me, the hole in my chest was so gaping that I began to wonder . . .” I couldn’t finish the sentence. I couldn’t even voice the incorrect accusations I’d had just a few short months ago.

  How could I tell her that I’d wondered whether she was the monster they’d accused her of being? Even though she was supposed to be the evil one, she’d suffered so much because of me and the danger I’d brought to her life.

  “You had to find out whether it was true? Whether I’d forced you to have feelings for me?” She turned away from me, cutting me off from her expressive eyes, and making me wonder whether my statement had hurt her.

  Knowing I’d already angered and saddened her, but feeling cleansed by the cathartic nature of my confession, I told her the worst of it. “And I wanted to know how to break it if you had.”

  “Then you found out about the sunbird mating for life thing,” she whispered to the windshield. I wanted to be able to erase the agony in her tone, but the only way to do that would be to hurt her more first.

  I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against the back of her seat as she correctly guessed at my frame of mind when I’d learned the truth.

  “I was so angry when I first found out,” I admitted. “I thought it confirmed everything my family warned me about. There was a time when I wanted to hate you because it would have been easier.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know I did anything.” Her tone was one of horror and shock; I’d picked the wrong words, but it was too late to take them back.

  “You didn’t, Evie,” I whispered, pressing my hand onto the back of the seat, wondering if I should risk reaching for her, which was all I wanted to do. “I just didn’t know that then. I’d just lost you and my sister within a short space of time. I wasn’t exactly thinking straight.” Before I’d actually decided I would comfort her, m
y fingers reached for her arm, running smooth trails along her skin.

  When Zarita saw that Evie wasn’t going to fill the car with fire and incinerate us all, she took over the rest of the tale, explaining to Evie what she’d shared with me when I’d been at my darkest.

  After my admission and Zarita’s details to help Evie understand, the rest of the trip went smoother, and I began to relax, secure in the knowledge that whatever else life had to throw at us, we’d find a way to make it through.

  Hours on the road passed in a relative blur as lack of sleep, combined with a minor case of jet lag settled in. I dozed on and off in the backseat while Evie and Zarita talked in the front. When we closed in on Zarita’s house, I sat up and forced myself to shake off my remaining lethargy so that Evie and I would be ready to move on again as quickly as we could. I wasn’t comfortable staying in one place so soon after we’d landed.

  Once Zarita had parked the car, she led us up to her apartment. I’d planned on showering, changing, and being back on our way within an hour. Before I could tell Evie my plan, she moved through the house.

  Evie’s eyes were wide as she took in the furniture, and her voice wavered when she offered Zarita a compliment about the tasteful design.

  Her words forced me to glance around the room. I hadn’t really paid much attention to it the last time I was there. I’d been far too focused on getting into the Oxford headquarters and learning what I’d need to look for once I found the private collection hidden there.

  “You don’t live here all the time?” Evie asked Zarita after the older woman waved off the compliment. The idea that such a beautiful house would stand vacant for so many months of the year was clearly a foreign concept to Evie. It was understandable given she’d barely even had a roof over her head most of her adult life. The sorrow buried deep in Evie’s tone made me want to give her a slice of relative normalcy even though it was impossible.

  One day, I would find something permanent like that for her. It wouldn’t be soon; there was too much for us to fight through first, but one day. Clearly sensing the weakness in me, Zarita had used Evie—specifically her desire to learn more about her heritage—to try to coerce me into staying for a few nights. Between that and my desire to give Evie a taste at normalcy, I gave my reluctant agreement to stay. Just for a few days, long enough to take Evie to the La Vieille Charité to view the items I’d procured from Charles Harrison in Oxford.

  Once it was agreed that we’d stay for a few days—a week on the outside—I decided it was time to call Eth to let him know we’d arrived safely. I trusted him to keep our secret, but I didn’t want to give him a reason to doubt Evie. That meant keeping him in the loop as much as I dared, especially when I’d promised I’d call after we’d landed. After I’d assuaged Evie’s fears about Eth finding out where we were, Zarita gave me directions to the nearest payphone.

  The night was somewhat cool when I headed out into the inky darkness. The intermittent street lights did little to fight back against the darkness. The moon was hidden behind clouds and did nothing to help. I dug my hands deep into the pockets of my jeans as I covered the steps to the phone as fast as I could.

  While I walked, I thought to myself just how goddamned lucky I’d become. Twelve months earlier, I’d been in such a dark place—on the run from both love and the Rain. Now, everything was almost perfect.

  Soon, Evie and I would disappear completely, and the rest of our lives would begin. I was lost in fantasies about what that would entail when I found the phone Zarita had directed me to. Using the international phone card Eth had put into the envelope he’d given Evie, I dialed his mobile number.

  He didn’t even say hello. “Everything went to plan then?”

  “Everything went great. Evie played her part to perfection. I was a little worried she’d fall to pieces at the airport, but you should have seen her, Eth. She charmed her way through, and they didn’t even look twice at her.”

  “You sound . . . happy.”

  Happy? I supposed I was, although happy didn’t really cover it. I laughed. “I’m over the fucking moon.”

  “Huh,” he said quietly. “You know, even though you tried to make me see, I never realized just how much she means to you.”

  A smile curled the corners of my lips. “She’s everything to me.”

  “If that’s the case, keep her safe, because I don’t want that moody fucker you’ve been lately turning up on my doorstep when you screw it all up.”

  “Trust me, her safety is my number-one priority. That’s something I needed to talk to you about actually.” I mentioned the guy that Evie had seen at the airport, even though I had nothing concrete to work with. I hadn’t recognized the description as a Rain operative; in fact, it sounded suspiciously like something much worse, but I wanted to see what Eth’s take was on it.

  “That’s no one I know. If anything, it sounds like that case a few years ago, back in New York.”

  “The shadow people?” We hadn’t been involved in it, but Ben—the son of the leader of the New York division—had told us all about it when we’d visited. It was one of the last times I’d been out socially with him.

  “Yeah.”

  Neither of us mentioned the obvious. According to all known lore, once a shadow started to pursue a victim, there were only two ends—madness or death. Was he part of the reason Evie had felt hunted?

  “I’ll keep her safe,” I said after a beat of silence, promising us both. “Whatever happens.”

  “I’d expect nothing less.”

  “You know we’re going to have to disappear, right?” I was sure he understood on some level that it was likely to be our last phone call, but he hadn’t said anything to indicate that he did. “It might be months, maybe even years, before I can get this information out and know that Evie will be safe.”

  “I get you an all-expenses-paid trip to Europe, and this is how you thank me? By telling me that I have to choose between having a moody, morose prick here and an entirely absent brother there?”

  “No. I’m saying there isn’t a choice. I just wanted to tell you that so you don’t send in the cavalry thinking that I’m in trouble.”

  “Dude, this sucks.” It was as close to a teary good-bye as we’d get.

  “I know. I’ll call if I need you.”

  “Yeah, I know how it is.”

  “Sorry.” I would have felt guilty that I was so willing to use him, except I knew he would be the same if the roles were reversed—only he’d never have fallen for someone who wasn’t human.

  “You’re not really, and we both know it. Now go get yourself some hot sex. Get it? Hot? ‘Cause she’s a—”

  I growled, cutting off his words. “Shut up, man.”

  He laughed.

  “Well, I guess this is good-bye,” I said with more sincerity.

  “Just remember, this ain’t Oprah. There’re no bullshit tears, no matter how manly it might be to cry these days.”

  “Fuck off.”

  “You too.”

  As I ended the call, my stomach twisted. It was possible it would be the last time I spoke to Eth. Even though I’d miss him, and all my family to a degree, I kind of hoped it would be. I was determined to do exactly what I’d said we would—disappear and only contact him if there was trouble.

  At the thought that Evie and I were so close to our possible happily ever after, I practically ran back to Zarita’s house, covering the distance as quickly as I could without drawing undue attention to myself.

  It was only once I was at the door, greeted by screams and my name shouted in terror by Evie, that I had any indication that maybe we were already in trouble. My heart pounded as I threw open the door to the building.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  I TOOK THE stairs two at a time, charging up them with desperation. I needed to find out what was happening and help.

  “No!” Evie’s scream was bloodcurdling, bouncing around the walls and into my heart, causing my feet to move quicker st
ill.

  When I reached the top of the stairs, the sight was almost enough to bring me to my knees. My heart leapt into my throat as I took in all the gory details of the scene.

  She knelt in a pool of blood near the large, white table. The high-pitched keening she issued was intermixed with broken sobs that made me certain she must’ve been hurt. Without a thought for my own safety, I rushed forward to see what injury she’d endured and offer what help I could.

  “Evie! What happened?” Moving closer, the table revealed the secret it hid, and I met Zarita’s lifeless gaze. A laceration had been torn across her stomach, the contents of the cavity spilling out of the wound onto the floor. A knife with a curved blade, at least eight inches long—without a doubt the instrument of Zarita’s destruction—rested in the pool of red viscous liquid. The light in the apartment glinted off the blade as though it winked conspiratorially at me.

  I lifted my gaze back to Evie, who was doubled over on the floor, sobbing with a sorrow I would have thought impossible to feel for someone she barely knew—except it was for Zarita, and I knew firsthand how quickly she was able to find a place in your heart.

  Unwilling to trust that Evie was unharmed, I looked for any signs that she was wounded. A sigh of relief left me when I saw none.

  Only once I was satisfied that Evie was unhurt and certain that there was nothing more I could do for Zarita, did any concern for my own well-being strike me. I glanced around for an assailant and listened for any sounds besides Evie’s desperate sobs.

  “Are you okay?” I asked when I was certain we were alone.

  Her face turned up to look at me, but I didn’t think her eyes saw me. Even though it was fresh, her sorrow ravaged her features. Tears soaked her lashes and glued them closed for a beat longer than normal when she blinked. Her normal olive complexion was washed out and ashen. Her hands, drawn tight into her lap, were coated with blood—bright red in places and already congealing into a deep maroon in others. It covered her hair and stained her singlet.