AS SOON AS WE GALLOPED into the barnyard, Glunk ran toward us, but he didn’t stop. Instead he hopped, bareback, on a little bay horse the stable boy held and took off at a gallop down the path.
Xamien leapt off Kos before the horse stopped, and I jumped off after him. We ran to the house. “Xamien, what about Xade.”
“Glunk will see to him.” He threw open the kitchen door.
Waleron and Jasper stood waiting in the kitchen. Xamien obviously had been speaking telepathically with them. Jasper leaned his butt against the counter, his hands resting on the edge while his ankles were crossed.
Xamien glared at him. “You’re supposed to stay out of sight. I told Max you left. She doesn’t like you.”
He smirked. “She’s not here.” Xamien stiffened. “Don’t worry, your precious pet is fine, she walked into town. She doesn’t know about the package.”
Package?
Waleron hovered near the marble island, his stance stiff, his hand resting on a piece of paper. It was crumpled, as if read a dozen times. Even the paper looked worn and yellow, like it was old, and there was a familiar tear in the top corner.
My eyes widened and I gasped, hand to my mouth. No. That was impossible. Why…. How did he get that? I’d left it in my book on the nightstand.
When my gaze darted to Waleron, he looked different. Impassive, yet it was mixed with a deadly glint in his eyes. Then he spoke and it was steady and calm, but I knew he was anything but.
“Tarek knows you’re here,” Waleron said, then glared at Xamien. “You sent your butler after whoever attacked you in the orchard?”
“He knows what he’s doing,” Xamien replied.
I didn’t know if Glunk did or not. He had always been quiet and stayed out of Xamien’s business, but he was a Scar.
“This arrived at the same time you were attacked.” Waleron’s finger slid over the edge of the paper. “It was sent in a package. How did Tarek have this, Delara?”
“It was in my book in my nightstand.” But why would he risk breaking into the Talde house to get it? And how was that even possible?
“Jasper?” Xamien questioned.
“Impossible. Been all over this place. No one has been in this house.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “In Toronto. I left it in Toronto.”
Jasper’s brows rose. “So this Tarek asshole managed to get in a Talde house with how many Scars? And Ryker lives there. Can’t see anyone getting past him.”
“They can’t,” Waleron said. “It’s been on lockdown.”
Jasper was right. After Ryker’s maite was killed, it was unlikely anyone could get past him. The guy was a killer and vigilante, rabid about protecting the Scars.
“The importance of this piece of paper?” Xamien asked. “And what do you mean, package?”
“Package arrived,” Jasper said. “Inside, a venomous snake and the note. It was delivered by courier ten minutes ago.”
“What’s in the note?” Xamien asked again.
Tarek was playing with me. He wanted to unsettle me and the Scars without even touching us. “That letter is from—”
“I wrote it to her.” Waleron flattened the paper on the island, his palm smoothing over the creases. “I wrote to Delara before I was taken by the Lilac. It allows me to Trace with her. A blood oath.”
“What?” I gaped at Waleron. The second half of the note, the words I didn’t understand. A drop of your blood within me—that day he’d given me the note, he cut my finger. He’d put it in his mouth and tasted my blood, and then he’d read me the words from the note.
He’d bound us with the blood. “But how?”
“My mother was one of the most powerful witches in Zugarramurdi before she was a Scar, as you know,” Waleron said. “The Goddess made her one of the first Scars. But she didn’t like the Goddess’ stipulations that came with Tracing, so she wrote this spell. I imagine it took her years to figure out. I found it after she died, when I was burning her belongings. You may only cast the blood oath once and it will only work if you—” He stopped, clamping his jaw.
“If you have undying love for the person,” Xamien finished for him. “You’re willing to die for this person. Sacrifice all others for them.”
Oh my God. My chest tightened and I had trouble breathing. I grabbed the edge of the counter for support as my knees weakened.
Waleron nodded. “My mother never knew if it worked. It said in her journal she’d tried with several different men. But my mother could neither love anyone more than herself, nor would she die for anyone.”
But I’d Traced with Waleron even after he’d claimed he’d never love me again.
I closed my eyes and swallowed the lump in my throat. All this time, Waleron had been able to Trace with me because of a spell with my blood and those words. Because he loved me. I’d memorized the letter, knew every ink blot on the paper, but I’d never known what those words meant until now.
“I kept it in my book while living with Tarek,” I said quietly. Waleron stood cold and unmoving, his eyes glued to me. “He found it the day he nearly killed me. He sent it to me as a reminder of what he’s capable of.”
The note crumpled in Waleron’s hand on the counter. The urge to run and grab it from him was immense. My muscles quivered with need. It was the last thing I had of him from our past. His words to me from so long ago, and now they meant even more than they ever had.
“He beat you because of my letter?” Waleron ground out.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jasper slip out the back door with his cell to his ear.
“Answer me.”
“I read it every night before bed.” He balked, eyes widening. “It was stupid. I shouldn’t have left it there.” Tarek had never looked at my books.
Waleron bowed his head. The snake eyes on his Ink turned red, and it slithered across his throat, curled around his ear, and then disappeared beneath his shirt.
I waited for him to reach for his candy dispenser, but he didn’t.
“Tac, this has nothing to do with you. If it weren’t the letter it would’ve been something else to set Tarek off.”
His voice shouted in my mind, “You read my note every night. He tried to kill you because of it, Delara! This has everything to do with me.” His control faltered as he slammed his fist on the counter. “Fuck.”
I jerked, but straightened my shoulders and said, “He’s playing with me and he enjoys it. This is what he does. But we can use me to draw him out.” The longer it took to find Tarek, the more chance Waleron would act irrationally and the Wraiths would take his Taldeburu.
“No. Absolutely not,” Waleron said.
“Waleron, it might—”
He cut me off. “No!” Waleron repeated, then shoved the ruined note in his pocket.
My head snapped to the stairs. “Xamien. Watch out.”
Damien flew through the air and dove on top of Xamien. The sound of muscled bodies smacking the floor echoed off the hardwood as they crashed together.
Damien punched his brother in the jaw and Xamien grunted, but didn’t hit him back. Instead, he held him off with his hands on his shoulders.
“Stop! Damien, stop it.” I ran into the fray and pulled on Damien’s arm, raised to throw another punch.
It was as if Damien didn’t even realize who I was, mad fury raging through his body. He spun, fist flying toward me.
But it was Waleron who intervened. He threw a blast of energy at Damien before he could hit me. Damien’s body crashed into the kitchen cupboards.
Waleron was furious, his eyes the coldest blue I’d ever seen while his jaw was tight and lips pursed. He remained controlled, but the power behind him was unyielding.
Xamien got to his feet and hovered over his brother, then slammed his fist into his jaw. “You ever hit her or any other woman, I will kill you, brother or not,” Xamien’s voice was unrecognizable. I’d never seen him this angry before.
“Delara, fuck, it was an accident.” Damien appeared stunned at what he’d nearly done.
“I know, Damien.”
Damien stared at me for a moment then climbed to his feet.
Waleron glared at him, temples throbbing. “You’re on a flight to Toronto when I return from the Realm. And call your Ink, he is too attached to Abigail and should not be alone with her.”
Shit, Damien had left his Ink with Abby.
Damien’s Ink, Simian, had grown as devoted to Abby as Damien had in the months they’d been together. The Ink protected Abby, but an emotional bond between an Ink and someone outside of the wearer of the tattoo was unheard of.
Damien’s chest heaved and his fingers curled then uncurled as he glowered at Waleron. “You lied to me. You said she was dead. I begged, damn it, I begged you to take me with her and you refused. Why? Why did you lie?”
“She asked it of me.” Waleron’s answer was calm.
Damien’s eyes were unbelieving as he backed away to the stairs. “No. No. She’d never do that to me.”
His devastation, his pain, it leaked from his pores like blood.
“Damien, attacking your brother—”
Damien interrupted Waleron. “He’s not my fuckin’ brother.”
Xamien scoffed, but I saw the hurt on his face. It was just a flicker, but he was stung by Damien’s words.
“Damien,” Waleron said. “You attacked a Taldeburu, brother or not—”
“He’s keeping the woman I love a prisoner. Yes, I fuckin’ attacked him, and I’ll do it again.” Damien’s eyes shifted between Waleron and Xamien.
“You know the penalty for attacking our own,” Waleron continued.
“Put me in Rest. But you better pray you aren’t anywhere near me when I rise because I’ll fuckin’ kill all of you.” Damien was wild; his lips were twitching and his jaw clenched.
Jasper returned through the kitchen door and stopped, taking in the scene with lifted brows and a smirk. “Trouble in reunited brotherly paradise?” He shoved his phone into his pocket.
“Fuck you,” Damien said, then turned and stormed back up the stairs to Abby’s room.
“He won’t let her go this time,” Xamien said. “And Abby needs someone she can trust. She’ll come around faster if he stays and helps her.”
“After he threatened to kill you, you want him living in your house?” Waleron asked.
“He’s my brother. That will never change, no matter what he does.”
Jasper opened the fridge and pulled out a beer. A hiss sounded as he cracked the cap and tossed it in the sink. “Glunk is back. No sign of anyone, but he collected the arrows. And the horse is dead.” God, Jasper was a total dickhead. “No sign of Tarek. Not liking the no scent thing. He either masked it better than anyone I know or he wasn’t here, someone else was.”
“How did he know I was here? Only the Talde knew,” I asked.
“That’s why you’re going to the Realm,” Waleron announced. “Tarek is trying to draw you out and he has help. Someone we trust is helping him. Until we find him, you’ll remain in the Realm.” Waleron held his hand out to me. “Let’s go.”
I glanced at Xamien. “I’m so sorry about Xade.”
He nodded.
I walked over to Waleron and slipped my hand into his, and we Traced.
Being in the Realm brought back memories I didn’t care to think about. Walking through the garden and seeing Waleron’s face when he’d found out about me with Edan.
The hurt and anger blazing in his eyes and then his promise to try.
I stopped.
Waleron paused a few feet ahead and turned, a frown on his face.
Xamien was right. Even if we were no longer together, we’d really never left one another. He never left me. And I ran, but I always came back—to him.
A cool swirl of air drifted around us and Zurina appeared. “Waleron. Delara. I hadn’t realized you were coming to the Realm.” She bowed her head.
“Why are you here again, Zurina?” Waleron asked.
“I came to speak with Genevieve regarding a private matter.” She smiled at me, and goose bumps rose on the back of my neck. I shivered. Something was wrong with her smile. It was… too satisfied. “Is Delara staying here?”
Waleron nodded. “Tarek or whoever is helping him was in Spain. Delara will stay here until he can be found.”
“Well, then, I will help get her settled in.” She lowered her voice and winked at me. “Edan will be pleased to hear you’re here.”
Why the hell would she say that in front of Waleron? She knew damn well that would piss him off. Fuck, it pissed me off.
“Zurina,” he ground out.
She waved her hand at Waleron, as though swatting away a fly. “Go, Waleron. I will see that she is settled.”
Waleron hesitated. His intense eyes lingered on Zurina as he clenched and unclenched his hands. I caught a glimpse of his Ink slithering up his neck then disappearing beneath his shirt.
“It’s okay. I’m good.” I squeezed his forearm. The last thing I wanted was to piss off the Wraiths.
He nodded to Zurina, then his gaze shifted to me.
My breath hitched as desire swam in the depths of his eyes, and for a second I thought he’d kiss me. But his jaw clamped and then he disappeared in a cloud of mist.
“He never likes to leave you, does he?”
I didn’t say anything. I was trying to decipher the scent leaking from her pores, because it was harsh and tainted.
“His oath to his mother faltered long ago.” Zurina tilted her head to the side as she peered at me. “He should have let you go after Tarek tried to kill you. I warned him. I told him to let you die, but no, he wouldn’t, and now look where this has led us.”
What the hell? No. This couldn’t be happening. Zurina was a respected Healer. She sat on the Deaconry. She was a Taldeburu for the United Kingdom.
Oh no. God. No. This would kill Waleron. He trusted Zurina. She’d been his mother’s friend. Why? Why would she do this?
“It’s you. You’re helping Tarek. You told the Wraiths that Waleron was irrational. You told them to separate us.” The realization was like ice settling over me. “You want him imprisoned.”
Zurina sighed. “Yes. It would be much easier to take you if Waleron were incarcerated. Since the Wraiths have decided to not act on my suggestion, I had to make other arrangements.”
“You Traced into the Talde house and took my letter. You sent the packages. You knew exactly when I went to Spain because Waleron would’ve told you. You told the Wraiths lies in order to separate us. To put doubt in their minds about Waleron. To send me to another Talde.”
“You understand I never wanted to do this.”
I frowned. “Do what?”
She sighed. “But my oath to Waleron’s mother takes precedence. You’re a distraction from his oath. Have been for a very long time.”
A shiver ran down my spine.