Falling Into Place (15 page)

Tremaine looked over, capturing her gaze
with a sinful glint in his warm brown eyes. A smirk lifted one side
of his full mouth.

Liz looked away, imagining his taste,
longing to run her hands down his ribbed abdomen to his heavy cock.
And she would know because she had walked in on him having sex
several times in the last few years. It was always a different
woman.

She couldn’t complain about his habits, it
wasn’t much worse than her own. The only difference was that she
seemed to be pickier about who she took to bed, but it was never
more than a release.

Maybe it was wrong to stand and watch as he
pleasured another woman, but she knew she couldn’t have him. So she
became a voyeur, watching when the opportunity presented itself,
wishing he turned to her for his pleasure.

The bells rang. With a sigh, Liz dragged her
gaze to the young nymph with the cheeky smile and sparkling
lavender eyes. Amethyst swept her purple hair behind her ears
before she climbed onto a stool.

“I take it Hayden came to see you?” Liz
asked with a raised brow.

Amethyst swallowed hard, a blush coloring
her face as she nodded slightly. “By the way, thanks for the spell
in my room. At least the sound stays in, even if we shake the
walls.”

Liz shook her head, trying to block out the
image of the big muscular sheriff taking tiny Amethyst against the
wall.

Tremaine strode to the counter with a
chuckle, “Soundproofing with a spell is doable, warding walls from
an Earth Fae, not so much.”

Fallon hurried inside, shaking her head.
“Seriously Ame, if you’re going to go at it like bunnies, don’t do
it against the wall in the shop. I had to explain to Erik why the
walls were shaking but there was no sound.”

Amethyst pouted. “It’s not like I can resist
him.”

“Resist him?” Fallon
balked. “You grabbed him by the belt and dragged him into your
room. I saw
you
slam the door shut. That was all you, sweetheart.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Amethyst
looked up at Liz with pleading eyes as she changed the subject.
“Can I please have a cherry orange smoothie?”

Liz nodded slightly. “Sure thing.”

“Should I make myself scarce so the ladies
can have some girl talk?” Tremaine waggled his brows.

“No,” Amethyst squeaked. “I’m quite happy to
change the topic.”

Liz met Tremaine’s gaze, silently begging
him to stay.

He wet his lips, and there was mischief in
his gaze. “You all know about Christian’s party tomorrow
night?”

Christian was like family. After Tremaine
took her from the cabin, he brought her to Old Lady Murdock because
he was still a part of the Council and didn’t want to draw extra
attention by quitting after Liz’s supposed death.

The old woman took her in, but she had
adopted a newborn days before Liz got there. Old Lady Murdock never
would say where the boy came from, but she still remembered the
first time she saw Christian.

Tremaine stood next to Liz as he pressed the
doorbell. Old Lady Murdock came to the door with the same gray
streaked mahogany hair. She wore an apron over her house dress and
carried a swaddled baby.

Liz’s eyes went wide, and she turned to go,
maybe run. Trem caught her before she could bolt. There was an
equal look of surprise on his face.

“
Hey, I didn’t know about the baby,” he
told her.

Liz let out a strangled moan. It wasn’t
fair, she wanted to curl up and cry.

“
Child, look at me,” Mrs. Murdock
said.

She turned, and found the babe in her arms
as Mrs. Murdock took a step away. “I can’t,” she whispered.

“
Elizandra,” she snapped. “Look at that
child and tell me you can walk away from the precious boy.”

Tears spilled over as she looked down and
was met with amber eyes and a head of golden hair. His little hand
reached up to touch her face and she pulled him closer, letting the
tears fall.

“
I need help with him. Why don’t you
stay?” Mrs. Murdock asked.

She nodded dumbly and followed her
inside.

Amethyst perked up. “Party? Oh yeah,
Christian’s turning twenty-one tomorrow. Right?”

Fallon nodded. “We’ll be there. Jess
wrangled me into helping decorate.” She shot a glance to Amethyst.
“You too, so you better warn Hayden your naked fun time is limited
tomorrow afternoon.”

Amethyst spun in her seat to glare at
Fallon. “Please, it’s not like you and Brody aren’t constantly
going at it. You called me over yesterday, and I walked in on him
bending you over the dining room table while he gave it to you good
and hard.”

“Shit, is that why you didn’t show up?”

“Uh, I um… may have watched a moment before
I hustled my butt out of there and found Hayden.” Amethyst looked
up at the ceiling innocently.

Fallon laughed out loud. “At least we
weren’t trying to bring Inktastic down around us.”

Tremaine cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’ll be
in the back, working on inventory.” He ducked his head before
walking down the hall.

Liz watched him go, wishing he wouldn’t
leave her with the two happiest women she knew. Oh, she was
thrilled for them, but it was depressing when she was in love with
a man who didn’t feel the same way.

She went to work on making Amethyst and
Fallon’s drinks.

Fallon changed the subject. “How are you
holding up, Liz?”

Half a laugh escaped, but it was a bitter
sound. Tomorrow was the anniversary of when her whole world fell
apart. “It’s that time of year.” She could remember the tears in
Robert’s dusky blue eyes when he let her walk away. At first she
believed he would come for her, but he never did.

“What is it, Liz?” Amethyst asked softly,
concern etching her face.

“Just the past haunting me. Don’t worry
about it.” She slid the smoothie to Amethyst.

* * * *

Rough needy hands pushed their way under her
nightgown, spreading her legs. All those nights of hell came back
to her. Emily bolted upright, clutching the blanket tight around
her as she cried. There was no one there. She was all alone, soaked
in a cold sweat, and shivering. Drawing the blanket tighter, she
glanced at the clock.

Already noon. What happened to my alarm?

Shaking off her memories, she made her way
to the bathroom and caught her reflection in the mirror. These last
few months had not been kind. She looked like hell from all the
restless nights, her appetite had dwindled to almost nothing. She
felt like she was constantly being watched.

You are,
James’ voice echoed in her head.
You’ll pay for keeping me locked away in my own
head.

“Shut up,” she whispered.

“
I’ll be free soon, and I’ll finally have
my revenge on Liz, but you’ll pay first.”

“She’s long since dead,” Emily whimpered.
James was beginning to break free and she didn’t know how to stop
him. Her attempts to rehabilitate her twin never worked. Now she
was terrified because she knew he would punish her.

His tie to her was too strong, she couldn’t
tune him out. So she turned on the water, wishing she had let him
die all those years ago. She should have known he was beyond
redemption. When she finally realized her error, she found she
didn’t have the strength to end his life.

He tortured her in her dreams for years. In
return, she stopped healing his body once the basic functions
worked, save one. He would exact his revenge, but she made sure he
would never force himself on anyone again.

James had ruined too many lives, not only
hers but Robert and Liz. Liz had driven her car off a cliff, and
Robert was still a wreck.

S
he’s still alive, Emily. She didn’t die.

“She’s gone. Robert still mourns her death,”
she whispered back.

I promise you, Emily, she’s alive. Just wait
until I break free and tear her power from her writhing body. I’ll
make sure your darling Robert has front row seats as I finally ruin
her for good.

If James was right, and he always was, she
needed a way to warn Robert, one James couldn’t prevent.

She shut off the water, skipping the shower,
and rushed into her clothes. Emily grabbed her journal that
detailed everything from the years of abuse, to how she planned to
change James, and finally how it all went wrong.

This was the only way to get a message to
Robert. She wasn’t strong enough to confess her sins face to face.
She prayed Robert would find the journal in time to stop James.

* * * *

Robert sat at his desk, staring at his
favorite picture of Liz. Her multicolored hair was fanned out over
the pillow. She stared up at him with desire filled hazel eyes, her
plump bottom lip caught between her teeth.

It was one of the very few pictures she had
allowed him to take, but she was still too blissed out to move, let
alone form an argument. He brushed his thumb over her cheek and
sighed. Not a second went by that he didn’t miss her being in his
life.

She was a diamond in the rough, never
refined, she always said what she thought as long she wasn’t in
front of his family. Liz was the most loyal person he had ever met.
She owned his heart and soul, and he would do anything for her.
Even walk away when she begged him to, no matter how much it tore
him to shreds to do so. More than two decades had passed but he
couldn’t let her go.

The door opened and Magister Draecyn slipped
inside and took a seat across from him. Robert ran his hand over
the picture, and it was replaced with a family portrait that was
taken before he and Liz left for the Enforcer’s training
program.

“I fear time is running out,” Draecyn said.
“Jarvis is plotting something, and I fear your sister may be
involved.”

Robert’s eyes closed as he sighed. “What is
it now? Her appearance?”

“You have seen her, haven’t you?” Draecyn
shook his head. “She’s gaunt, her normally vibrant hair is dull,
her sparkling eyes look dead, and there are deep bruises under her
eyes. She’s skin and bones now.”

These were all things Robert knew. He didn’t
know how to help. Emily had grown more and more distant since Liz
left. “Look, as much as I would love to help my sister, I can’t do
anything if she won’t talk to me.”

“Jarvis has been visiting her.
Regularly.”

Robert sighed heavily. “I don’t know what
you want me to tell you. She hardly speaks to me anymore, and once
upon a time she was friends with Jarvis. Until I can find evidence
that he’s been forcing himself on any nymph or siren we hold, or
convince one of them to testify, I can’t do a damned thing about
Jarvis but keep an eye on him. Trust me, Preston and I will nail
him.”

“I know that you will. I grow impatient when
I know he will continue to abuse these women.” Draecyn stepped out
of the office as Preston rushed in.

“Draecyn,” Preston said, tipping his head as
he fell into the seat the same seat the Magister vacated.

The door shut and Robert asked. “Everything
okay?”

Preston leaned forward with arched brows.
“Emily was driving up your driveway this morning. I know she hates
that place because she’s convinced it’s tainted by Liz’s
presence.”

“It’s her house too.” Robert shrugged, not
knowing what else to say. Of course, it was weird. She hadn’t set
foot in the house in twenty-two years. “Look, she won’t talk to me.
I don’t know what to do anymore.” Frankly, he was tired of trying
when she constantly shut him out.

“I could talk to her,” Preston snorted,
“even if I can’t stand her snotty attitude.”

“No. She’ll talk when she’s ready.”

Preston shrugged, and changed the subject.
“So, no leads?”

“Unfortunately not. Why? You have something?
I know you want Jarvis to pay for what he wanted to do to
Amethyst.”

Two months prior, Amethyst was held for
questioning when her ex-boyfriend accused her of enthralling him.
Preston proved that to be false, but if Preston hadn’t stepped in,
Amethyst would have been another of Jarvis’ victim. She told
Preston that she suspected Jarvis had done something to the Siren
who was being held in the cell across from her, but she had no
proof, and Lillian wouldn’t talk.

Preston sneered. “I’m going to bust his ass,
and I’m going to laugh when that slime bag answers for his crimes.
I may be a womanizer at times, but I respect women. I don’t abuse
them.”

Preston was many things, but he didn’t use
women.

“I know. I never said you did.” Robert
sighed. “I need lunch. You want to come along? I have something I
want to check, but I can’t call it a lead yet.” Still, he wanted to
check on Jarvis’ current whereabouts. He knew the mage was hiding
something big, but he didn’t know what.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Preston stood up and
looked over at Robert. “And maybe I’ll still talk to Emily. She may
be a selfish twit, but she’s still like family.”

* * * *

Sensation slowly trickled into James’
withered limbs. Not true feeling. He couldn’t tell what he wore or
what he lay on, but he felt a dull pain pulsing through his
body.

Then he heard the chanting and his lids
snapped open to find Jarvis standing over him.

Jarvis looked older, much older than he
remembered. The bastard had never been one of the stronger mages,
but a nymph had stolen most of his power twenty-six or so years
before. Somehow Jarvis was still climbing ranks. He had taken his
father’s role as the head of the Silver Council’s Internal Affairs
division. He was now ranked a step below the Magister of the
Enforcer division. What Jarvis lacked in power, he made up for in
persuasion and manipulation, gently using magic that went
undetected by all but the most powerful mages.