Waterfall(37)

In one hasty move, Ferrous vanished beyond the door and closed it. The lock clicked shut.

What had Ferrous done? Why did he want his blood? The four punctures on his forearm turned from red to black. Burning snaked through his veins and up his arm. He screamed as the burning wrapped his neck and rushed up his skull. One more thing to taint his mind.





Ferrous spit the blood from his mouth into his casting bowl on the table before the fire in the library. He drizzled wax on the blood and then lit it to flame.

Sadness crept up Jordan’s throat, and his heartbeat jumped to triple time. Where had that emotion come from? Celeste. He swallowed, but his throat was dammed up, and he coughed.

“Are you well?” Ferrous poured a metallic-looking mineral onto the flame.

“No. Something has happened to Celeste.” Jordan turned away from Ferrous and toward the large open door that led from the library. “Keep trying to break the connection that you found in Hudson’s energy. We can’t have him making good on his threat to harm those we care for.”

Jordan left the room without waiting for an answer and ran down the hall. He tensed and reached out for Celeste. Her sadness ripped through him and stole his breath. He turned into the room that he had found her in earlier that day.

Celeste huddled on the floor, wearing a deep red dress. Astrid paced between her and the fireplace.

He walked to Celeste and knelt down. “What happened?”

She turned her face to his. Deep sorrow etched her features, and her green eyes turned black. “The unthinkable.”

She turned back to stare at the fire.

Jordan looked up to Astrid. “What is she speaking of?”

Astrid held out a piece of parchment. Jordan grabbed the letter and read.

This was not an ability Madoc typically had the strength to do. Stopping motion and time, indeed. But interrupting thought and capturing another’s actions? That required the art and control of all the elements and the power to possess. Madoc simply didn’t have that skill. None of them had.

His brother had not written those words.

He glanced at Celeste and the bleak sorrow on her face. She needed comfort, and he needed time to think.

“Astrid, a plate of olives.” He touched the back of Celeste’s hand. She turned it over, and he rolled his knuckles into her palm. She had said she liked lemon. “Lemon cakes and tea. If we are not here when you return, bring the tray to the library.”

“Yes, sir.” Astrid turned and left the room.

Jordan sat on the floor behind Celeste. “Madoc has never had this power before. While I see his handwriting clearly, I do not believe this was him.”

She sighed and relaxed back against him. “How I wish that were true. But Jordan, I was in the water room and looked at your items…” Her body stiffened again. “Pardon the intrusion. I was curious.”

“There is nothing in that room that you don’t deserve to know about. With me present or without.”

She turned her head and stared up at him with glossy eyes. “I had a vision.”

“Ah.” Without letting go of her hand, he wrapped his arms tightly about her. “Tell me.”

“I read the letter… I saw Hudson kill her.”

“Hudson?”

“I am certain. Yet he was not himself. He had long teeth, and he fed from her blood.”

“That is useful information. I am sure that will help Ferrous. How strong do you feel?”

She twisted around to face him. “Do you think the vision was true?”

“I cannot say.” He wished he could tell her it wasn’t, but so much was uncertain. His fingers gently rubbed her lower back. Damn, he wished he could reassure her better than this. “Your vision could be true. It could also be a mad jest. I hope with all my soul that that is the case.”

Anger lit her pretty eyes. “If this is all a jest, I will of course be relieved, but I will also be beyond vexed. Either way, I need to know what happened to Grandmum and to ensure my family’s safety.”

“Ferrous is working on purging the strange energy from Hudson.” He squeezed her tighter. “I won’t permit anything to ever happen to you. You are now my world.”

She tipped her face up to stare him in the eyes. Tears shimmered on the verge of another deluge. “Jordan. The painting in the water room and the…” She closed her eyes, and tears rolled down her face.

“Her name was Ada. Continue.”

She twisted back around to face the fire, and he wrapped one hand around her waist and the other he let rest on the top of her thigh.

“Continue.”

“The items. You had bitten all those women?”

He frowned. This is that conversation. “Indeed.”