Ana Mourns (The Clermont Coven Trilogy Book 2)

by Alina Banks

  “Damien…”

  “I know. I’m not going to set foot in there if any of the souls in there don’t want me to, but I need to speak to a couple of people, and I can’t do that anywhere else.”

  For a moment, I didn’t know what to say. With my teeth buried in my bottom lip, I studied him. “Okay.” I nodded. “This probably won’t work, but I can understand why you’d want to try, so…” My eyes met with his. “Violet and your cousin.”

  “Plus a couple of others, from when I was here before.” He looked down. “We all made bad choices, Ana. It’s something we all have to learn to live with, and I think it would be useful for me to apologize to some of the people I hurt, if only to get some of that weight off my shoulders.”

  “They may not forgive you.”

  “Honestly, I don’t expect them to. I’m not going to ask for forgiveness. I’m going to apologize, which is a different thing entirely. I have no expectations.”

  “The best way to be.” I smiled. “Do you want to go now?”

  “Now’s better than later, because if I give myself any more time to think about this, I’m just going to talk myself out of it.”

  “Come on, then.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “With Maddy and Jessie gone, I was thinking we could start using the Eason place for planning.”

  “Planning?”

  “Don’t act as though I don’t know what’s coming next, Ana. The demon will find a way to break through again, to make you pay for everything you’ve done, and we need to be ready for that.”

  “There are three of us, Damien, and you don’t even have any power.”

  “No, I don’t, but I can at least try to do something. In some small way, I was connected to the demon for a very long time, so I might be able to help you by telling you how he thinks. I need to do something. I can’t just pretend that everything is going to be okay.”

  Alex met us outside the cemetery. I looked at him, more confused than anything.

  “Damien asked me to be here.” He glanced at the stones inside the fence. “I have no idea why, but I’m sure he has his reasons, so…” He shrugged. “Here I am.”

  “You two should get back together.” Damien smiled. “You know as well as I do that nothing about that relationship was real. I like Ana a lot, but she’s really not my type when it comes to relationships.” He looked into the cemetery too. “There was one woman I fell in love with and she’s gone now. I just hope she can forgive me for being an idiot.”

  Before I had a chance to say anything, Damien opened the gate. I waited for him to stop and say there was no chance of him being able to get in, but then he made his way through the gate, walking past the majority of the stones without even looking at them. I watched him move through them, more surprised than I thought I’d be. Finally, seeming like he knew exactly where he needed to go, he stopped. I doubted he could see that Violet was there, but she was, and that made me smile. She put a hand on his shoulder, listening as he talked, which was when I made the decision it was more like I was spying on him. I turned to Alex, his eyes meeting mine.

  “Do you think he’s right?”

  “Possibly, but you have to keep in mind the fact that there are still things you don’t know about, because that was the choice you made.” I ran my tongue over my bottom lip. “What I did before was hard, but it’s going to get harder, and if you can’t deal with that, you need to make a decision.”

  I turned to look at Alex directly. “You know that there’s no chance of me being able to walk away from anything that’s coming.”

  “I know. That’s something I worked out a long time ago. Ever since we split up, I’ve been thinking about things a lot. I’m not certain what I really should do, but I know what I want to do.”

  “Wanting this doesn’t mean it’s right for you.”

  “No, it doesn’t. Only, I can’t see too many other options in front of me. I could give up on us, which means giving up on a chance to really be happy, and that’s not what I want to be doing. I could see where things go without asking you to answer certain questions, but I think that would be as big of a mistake. I can’t keep pretending things are normal. Not when I’ve seen so many things that aren’t. Whatever happened in the Eason place definitely wasn’t normal.”

  “Most things recently haven’t been normal.” I was about to say something else when my attention was caught by what was happening in the cemetery. “Okay…”

  With that, Alex turned to look too, but I had no reason to think he was able to see what I could. There were several spirits, all standing around Damien, and it was possible to see the way they were giving him power, which was something that technically shouldn’t have been possible. I raked a hand through my hair, trying to work out what was happening.

  “Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?”

  Blinking, I glanced at Alex. “That depends on what you think you’re seeing.”

  “Spirits.” He shook his head. “I just…nothing about that makes any sense, and yet it makes so much sense.” He looked at me. “You see them. I know you do. That’s why you were confused. Something like that isn’t supposed to happen, is it?”

  “Not normally.” I nibbled my bottom lip. “This is one of the many things that make my life unusual.”

  “I can imagine it is.” He turned his attention back to what was happening. “Are you willing to tell me what they’re doing?”

  “Yes, and no. I’m not entirely sure what they’re doing, because what they’re doing is something I didn’t think they could do, especially since he’s a Conway.” I shook my head, not certain if that even meant anything. “Not that it matters who he is.” I tried to make sense, because I was talking to Alex. He didn’t know everything I did. “Basically, it looks like they’re giving him a gift they shouldn’t be able to give him, because he’s male, but maybe they can, due to before. None of this is what I expected to happen today.”

  Eventually, it was done, and then Damien was walking toward me. I could see the bubble of power within him. His eyes met mine for a moment before he shook his head, looking as confused as I felt.

  When he reached us, he almost smiled. “I think they wanted to even up the odds a bit.” He looked at me. “They said it was a gift, more for you than for me, because they don’t want you to walk this path alone. They know how hard it is.”

  “Alone?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know, Ana. All I know is what they told me, which was mostly whispers, so I couldn’t entirely hear them.”

  “They’ve always known more than we have. I just have to accept that.” I looked between Alex and Damien. “You heard what he said. The spirits were evening up the odds. You need to decide if that’s something you want to be a part of, because this is your last chance to walk away. If I tell you everything I know, it will change your life for good.”

  “Everyone in Clermont should know.” Damien shrugged. “The fact that it’s been kept a secret for so long seems wrong, but at the same time, I can understand the fear of those who made that decision. You’re the one who makes the choices now, so you’re going to have to work out how this is all going to be.” His eyes met mine. “I’m willing to help, but I’m never going to take your place.”

  Afterword

  If you enjoyed this book please consider leaving a review. Reviews help independent authors more than you know.

  I love to chat with my readers and welcome feedback at:

  hello@AlinaBanks.com

  Also by Alina Banks

  Please look for the final book of the series coming out mid 2020.

  Ana’s Revenge

 

 

 
-o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share