“A circle is used to amplify a spell. An unbroken circle will contain the magic wrought within its confines. If she’d gone back into the circle, spoken the words again, focusing on you, and spilled her blood, then yes. I believe it would have strengthened the original binding she placed upon you.” He paused, “Now, if the circle had been ruined, broken or marred in anyway, I would say it wouldn’t have worked.”
Garvin stood abruptly, leaving the room. I sensed he was upset, so I slid from Luke’s lap and followed him.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized, not even turning when I entered the room. I wrapped my arms around him, leaning into his back; my turn to comfort him.
“No need, no reason to be sorry,” I told his back, my nose firmly in the middle, since he was so tall.
“Oh, don’t even! I put my foot in my mouth, and your lover was going to rip me from limb to limb,” he trilled, as his voice becoming more animated. “And don’t think of denying you’re lovers. I can tell.”
“As if I could keep a secret from you,” I replied affectionately, poking his stomach from behind and making him giggle. He turned around and gripped my arms, his look unaccountably serious again.
“But you did,” he said, frowning unhappily. “You’ve kept your mother’s death a secret for a very long time.” He shook me slightly when he could see I was going to deny the words. “You can’t lie to me about this. I’ve seen the shadows in your eyes, and I let them be, afraid to stir them up, but they were always about your mother.” I nodded, his perception causing me to tear up. He swiped the tears from my eyes before they fell. “Did I let you down? By not fighting the shadows I could see?”
His eyes were intent on mine, as I answered him honestly, “No, you didn’t. You’ve never let me down. Not once in five years.” His smile was relieved, as he leaned down to me and our foreheads bumped.
“Good to know, Roe. You’ve never let me down either,” he added, with a wink.
“I should think not.” I retorted, poking him in the belly again and earning a deep laugh in return.
We head back to our little Scooby Squad arm in arm, attempting to skip, but our strides were so off kilter we almost wound up in a pile on the floor. Luke saw us and grinned, our happiness contagious. My emotions had been up and down over the last several days, but happy felt better than sad, so I chose to be happy.
“No more doom and gloom,” I declared, looking around at them. “Aren’t we supposed to be having dinner at your mom’s?” Luke nodded, and I asked. “Think she’ll mind a couple extra guests?”
“Nope. In fact, I think she’ll be thrilled,” he answered, standing up from the laptop he’d been glued to. “Let’s go.”
“Are you sure?” Portia piped up, looking doubtful that anyone would want to see this group descend on their family dinner.
“Trust me, the more distractions the better,” he replied cryptically.
We all piled into the bulletproof SUV, my affection for it growing daily. It was a twenty-minute ride to Luke’s mom’s, and he called her to let her know he was bringing company. Her excitement was clear, and I smiled over at him. He gave me a rueful look, “She enjoys cooking for people. I think we just made her entire month.”
“And it has nothing to do with you bringing a girl home?” I asked, archly, his sister’s comments from the day before still fresh. He shrugged slightly, not denying my words.
When we pulled into the driveway, I saw a pretty two story brick Colonial house. Containers of geraniums lined the small white front porch. The front door flew open before we could knock, and a willowy woman stood in front of us.
“I see where the good looks come from,” Garvin muttered behind me, forcing me to elbow him, while keeping a smile plastered on my face. I wanted to try and make a good impression on the mother of the man I loved. He was right though. I could see Luke reflected in her dark blue eyes and the subtle shape of her cheekbones.
“Welcome,” she cried, her smile wide and open, as she gestured us in. “I’m so glad you could come.” Her honesty was apparent, as we passed a dining room table set for seven. I quickly added everyone up and there were seven of us gathered, including Luke’s sister, but I didn’t see his dad.
“Where’s your dad?” I whispered to him.
“They divorced a couple of years ago,” he replied, surprising me. I didn’t know why I had thought his parents were still together. “It’s no big deal,” he assured me, seeing my consternation. I nodded, and we joined the others, gathered around a plate of appetizers.
“Mm, delicious,” Garvin gushed, causing Luke’s mom to blush. He shot Luke a triumphant stare, his irritation over his own Momma’s obvious affection for Luke lingering apparently. I shook my head before saying, “Thank you, Ms. Spencer. We appreciate you having all of us for dinner.”
“Call me Monica, my dear, and I’m thrilled you’re here.” She clasped her hands together in joy.
“Sinclair,” I replied, smiling.
“What a pretty name,” she commented, as we went around and introduced ourselves.
Dinner was delicious, and we remained at the table chatting when we were done. Garvin waggled his eyebrows at me, darting his eyes toward Monica and Patrick at the end of the table, their heads bent together in conversation. I purposefully widened my eyes and shook my head, before catching Luke’s eyes and smiling sheepishly at him. Portia and Jessie were talking animatedly about college life, when Jessie stopped talking and exclaimed, “I’ve got it!”
“Got what?” Luke drawled, glancing over at her.
“Why Sinclair looks so familiar to me,” she replied, to which Luke answered, “Because you’ve met her before?”
“No,” she retorted tartly. “It’s her eyes!” The table grew quiet at her exclamation. She had unknowingly caught our complete attention with the implication of her words.
“What do you mean?” he asked, slowly, the words heavy with expectation.
“There was a girl in my sorority, a year or so older than me. She had eyes just like yours,” Jessie told me. “Her name was a little funny too.”
“Kincaid?” I whispered, my throat suddenly dry at the thought of finally finding my sister.
“No,” she answered slowly, tapping her chin. “It was Jenny, Gina, maybe?”
“Guinea?” The word came out, before I could think about it, and she smiled at me.
“YES! How did you know?” She shook her head. “It was spelled strange too. I think I remember something about a coin. Anyway, you look nothing like her, but your eyes … you have the same eyes. Difficult to forget eyes like yours.” She turned back to her conversation with Portia, whose own eyes were enormous, understanding Jessie had just given us the piece of the puzzle we’d been missing. It had never occurred to me Kincaid would change her name so drastically. If it wasn’t for Jessie’s revelation, we might never have found her.
Luke, Garvin and I traded weighted looks, as the others continued to converse. We all felt the tension from our new knowledge, and I bounced in my seat restlessly, ready to go find her. Luke attempted to search on his phone, holding it under the table, since his mother insisted no phones at dinner. I peeked over at him, but he shook his head, frowning at the screen. He told us in a low voice, “I need my laptop to do a proper search. We still don’t know her last name, but she may have kept something familiar.”
A few minutes later, Patrick told Monica they needed to leave for a prior engagement. I breathed a sigh of relief, desperate now, my sense of urgency oddly out of proportion. It seemed the closer I came to finding her, the more eager I was.
We exchanged the normal pleasantries, Monica insisting we come back, and we all agreed, Patrick a little more readily than Luke appreciated. I guess I could understand his reluctance for his mother to date the man who had shot him only two days before. We piled into the car and immediately Garvin said, “Guinea? We never would have found her.”
“I tried to get more information from Jessie about her, but she rea
lly didn’t seem to remember much. We’re lucky she remembered what she did,” Portia interjected.
“Momma used to call Kincaid her Guinea girl, because her hair gleamed like the gold coin,” I replied absentmindedly to Garvin, the echo of my mother’s voice in my mind as I said it. My anxiety only continued to increase, my desire to protect her, my only thought. The idea of someone shooting her in the back terrified me. My father’s attempts on my life were never far from my thoughts, and the fear of Kincaid being unable to even ‘see’ her own danger terrified me more.
“I just want to get to her before he tries to kill her too,” I murmured to myself, but Patrick heard me.
“If he realized she’s a seer, he won’t kill her,” he commented, drawing my attention. I turned in the seat to look at him.
“What do you mean?”
He looked surprised at my question, so I said, “He wanted to kill me, and in fact he tried before even introducing himself. Why wouldn’t he try to kill her?”
“Seers are extraordinarily valuable. He would never waste her talent by killing her. I imagine he didn’t even know your mother was a seer ... but it could explain why he killed your grandfather.” The last part was almost indistinct, as he pieced the past together, but I was impatient to know what my father would do to Kincaid if killing her wasn’t an option.
“Kincaid! If he won’t kill her, what would he do?”
“He’d keep her,” was Patrick’s startled reply. His words sent an icy chill through me, and it only got worse as he continued. “Seers tend to hide their gift, because others covet it. Often through our history we’ve found accounts of seers being ‘protected’ within the confines of palaces, their talents used by kings, their lives very much resembling that of a bird in a cage.”
My thoughts spun, as I slowly turned back around in my seat, instinctively reaching for the comfort of Luke’s hand. His fingers curled around mine, as I contemplated the idea that there were worse things than death.
“Guinea Kincaid,” Luke announced an hour later, after doing extensive searches on his laptop. He turned the screen to face us, a picture of a gorgeous young woman stared back at us. Garvin whistled at the sight, “Good looks do run in your family, Roe.”
I stared at her, comparing the picture to the woman I’d seen when Quinn came into her power. They were exactly the same: long, curly, golden blonde hair, and enormous blue eyes, identical to mine. She almost looked unreal, like a doll come to life, her features delicate and her body small and thin.
She didn’t look strong enough to protect herself, to stop our father if he came for her, and I knew we had to find her first.
“She went to the University of Tennessee, graduated last May with a degree in Finance, and currently works as an investment banker. Humph, she’d probably be good at that, being able to see the future and all,” Luke commented and a flicker of a smile crossed my face. “She does live in Tennessee, in Chattanooga.”
“We need to go.” My thoughts were far away, as I considered meeting her again.
“Not tonight,” Luke replied, ripping my attention from my thoughts and back to him. I glared, ready to go now and protect her. He held his hands up in supplication, “Its eight o’clock at night. It’s a four, maybe five-hour drive from here. She may or may not know we’re coming, and we have no idea what her response will be to us showing up. Let’s wait till morning, to get a fresh start.”
“I have to agree with him, boo,” Garvin mentioned, sliding away from me as he said it. I jerked my glare to him, but not before noticing Portia and Patrick nodding. I was outnumbered apparently, and while I could go off on my own, I knew they wouldn’t let me. They would come too, and Luke was right. I didn’t know how she’d react, and I wasn’t willing to chance anyone’s life, because of my impatience.
I nodded, and Garvin sighed in relief, happy I hadn’t lost my temper, or gone off half-cocked.
“We leave in the morning.”
Kincaid
I sat up, my eyes sightless as I saw her coming. She was so much older than the last time I’d seen her, but there was no mistaking the determination on her face. She hadn’t lost her mutinous expression in the years since we’d been separated, and I smiled, happy at the knowledge. My hand went to my wrist where a partially formed trinity symbol marked my skin. I wrapped my hand around the symbol, my eyes unblinking, in case my vision of her disappeared. I studied her, memorizing the familiar features set in a grownup face. My own blue eyes stared back at me from an oval face, framed by wavy chestnut hair, her body longer and sturdier than my own.
I swallowed hard at the realization she looked like our mother. A woman I didn’t remember very well, only one vague memory of a laughing brunette woman calling me, ‘her Guinea girl.”
As hard as I tried to keep it, my vision began to fade, and I blinked, becoming aware of my surroundings. I was in my bed, and it was still dark outside, so the vision must have pulled me from sleep. Excitement bubbled inside of me, and I looked down at the symbol I unconsciously stroked. The missing loop must be Quinn, I thought to myself, knowing Sinclair’s blue eyes meant she’d come into her powers as I had.
A snort came from next to me, and I pounced on him, eager to share my news.
“Huh? What? Genny?” Scott muttered, disoriented, as I shook him.
“She’s coming,” I told him excitedly, bouncing on the bed.
“Who?” He’d thrown his arm over his eyes when I’d woken him, but moved it when I squealed, “My sister!”
“You have a sister?”
“Yes, I saw her and she’s coming here,” I replied, not thinking about the fact I’d never told him about my sisters, or my past.
“You ‘saw’ her?” His tone hovered on disbelief, before he switched to humoring me. “Well, I hope she doesn’t show up this weekend. We have the fundraiser at work and need to make a good impression.” He glanced at the alarm clock and groaned, “We also have work in the morning, so back to bed. Don’t want to have droopy eyes at the office. No one wants an ugly banker.”
My eyes narrowed at him, as he turned over and went back to sleep. He didn’t believe in my visions, and his obsessive concern about work and my looks was frustrating. I felt the weight of the rock he’d put on my finger just a few weeks earlier. Its weight became heavier every day.
A low whine caught my attention, and I looked across the room. A pair of beautiful blue eyes met mine in the darkness. They weren’t quite the same color as mine, but close.
“She’s coming,” I whispered, knowing he heard me. A soft snuffle was my reply, and I flopped back on the bed, my smile huge, as I considered seeing Sinclair for the first time in eighteen years.
Found
Kincaid’s Story
Once upon a time …
In a time, not so different from our own, two daughters were born. Their family was overjoyed to have two daughters when magical children were so rare. However, not all were content and one lusted after the power a third daughter would bring. The years went by, though, with no more children, as the two sisters basked in the joy they brought to their mother.
When the oldest daughter turned six, they learned a third daughter would be born. Their mother rejoiced in the blessing of a third child, and excitement filled their small home. The two daughters couldn’t wait to meet their newest sister, unknowing of the dark portents that would accompany her birth. As the birth of the third daughter grew nearer, the two sisters discovered they possessed magical gifts, one the gift of illusion and the other the gift of sight—both rare and powerful magical abilities for ones so young.
Their mother grew concerned and hid her daughters’ gifts, knowing they would be coveted. On the cusp of the third daughter’s birth, their mother discovered the most horrifying of truths. These three daughters were conceived to be a prophesied trinity, their combined gifts powerful beyond measure, and a singular darkness stalked their home. She knew the danger they were in, and raced to make preparations. Her beautiful bl
ue-eyed daughters could never be allowed to fall into the cradle of darkness, their souls destroyed by one man’s lust for power.
Finally, the time came when she knew she must act. She disappeared into the night with her three daughters, fleeing the darkness that had invaded their home. Under the full moon’s light, she created a magical circle, and within it bound their powers. She hid the magic inside of them, banishing the blue light reflecting from their eyes, placing a spell so only immense danger would allow their magic to come forth again.
Then, she separated them. Her pain was so great at this action; it tore her heart into three pieces. Seeing the pieces of her destroyed heart, she cast one last spell, binding the pieces to her three daughters and thereby giving them each a portion of her heart. It was the only gift she had left to give them.
She knew the darkness would attempt to find her hidden daughters, craving the power they possessed, so she committed one final act to keep them safe. Within the circle she’d used to bind them, she laid down—spilling her blood to empower the magic she’d wrought and taking her own knowledge with her.
Three little girls woke alone, separated from one another and the mother they adored, their destiny sealed by one fateful night.
Chapter One
Kincaid
My fingers drummed on the table as I gazed out the window, lost in thought.
“Ms. Kincaid.” An irritated voice called my name.
A kick to my shin drew my attention, and I realized everyone was staring at me. Scott frowned at me ferociously as our boss gazed at me.
“Care to join us, Ms. Kincaid?” His smile was mocking, and even as I smiled apologetically, my eyes narrowed. Pompous ass.
“So sorry for woolgathering. I was completely distracted by a call I received from Mr. Marshall right before the meeting. He wanted to reallocate some of his investments.” I left it at that, seeing his discontented look. Everyone in the room knew Evan Marshall superseded any meeting. He was a ridiculously wealthy client, one who would only invest with me, to the absolute fury of the senior investment partners.
The Trinity Sisters Page 16
