Belmary House Book Three (9 page)

Oh, he must be suffering, she thought, longing to put her arms around him. Something continued to keep her from turning the door handle until she finally shook off her hesitation, angry with herself for feeling it at all, and threw open the door.

As she suspected, he sat on the edge of the bed, hands in his lap, eyes gazing toward the fireplace. Suppressing a sigh, she hurried over and poked at the logs, looking for the gas knob. Of course, it was an old school fireplace and she sat there trying to decide if she should try and light it with a match. She felt his presence beside her, he was still so cold, and gently pushed her aside. Crouching next to him, she watched him set the fire, but he refused to look at her. He continued to sit and stare at the flames as they licked to life, but didn’t say anything. She knew him well enough by now not to be frustrated by his silence, and sat next to him, waiting and thinking.

As she’d watched him stoke the fire, she’d started thinking about Kostya. They needed powerful witches and hadn’t been able to recruit any. She still didn’t know if she trusted Liam, and for some reason, Ashford and Piper seemed angry at him right now. Piper herself admitted to being unpracticed, saying she hated everything to do with magic, and she seemed perfectly happy here in her castle with her new husband. Tilly didn’t think they’d be able to convince her to take a time travel adventure to engage in a fight with the most feared coven in Europe. But now, it seemed they had someone powerful. Ashford himself had single handedly, well, she corrected herself, he’d used both hands, gotten rid of Solomon Wodge. It looked like he’d hardly tried.

Of course, he’d been completely stunned by his actions, and now sat here in a dejected funk about it, but she could only see it as a good thing. Now she had to convince Ashford, and he could be the most stubborn …

“I’m sorry,” she said suddenly, grabbing his hand.

Though they’d been sitting less than a foot away from the fire for the past five minutes, she still felt a chill from the odd cold light he’d produced. His hand was still icy and she forced his resisting arm closer to her so she could tuck it in her skirts.

“Whatever for?” he asked, dumbfounded.

She hid a smile, pleased her devious plan to get him to talk had worked. “For distracting you. You seemed to have it under control until I shot up the joint.”

He frowned. “The gun,” he said. “You had my gun. How?”

“I was worried about you, so I got over myself.”

He shook his head. “Thank you, but you shouldn’t have put yourself in harm’s way. You’re wrong, Matilda. I didn’t have anything under control.” He wrested his hand from her and held them out toward the fire, shuddering at the memory. “I have no idea what I did.”

“Well, both Piper and Liam said they saw you had some power in you. You just need to learn how to use it, I guess.”

“Absolutely not.”

Silence descended again and she cast around for another way to pry him out of his shell. Finally, curiosity overcame her.

“What happened? Why did Piper seem so mad at Liam?”

He scowled, and scooted away from the fire, stopping when his back hit the bed frame. He reached up and pulled down several pillows, propping them up behind him and setting a few up beside him. It was all the invitation she needed, and hurried over to nestle in beside him. He remained stiff and still next to her, not putting his arm around her or taking her hand, but he didn’t push her away either.

“Everything Liam told us was a lie. He wanted to corner Solomon so he could kill him.”

“What? You mean he wasn’t really his son?”

“No, that part was true.”

“Oh my God, Ashford, do I need to use tools? Why did he want to kill his own son?”

Ashford looked down at her, a ghost of a smile passing across his tense features, but sadness quickly erased it. “Solomon used to use the portals to travel, much like I do. It seems he fell into one quite by accident, just as I did, and learned to utilize them for his own purposes.”

“Also like you,” she said. He frowned, not liking how similar they were. That was the extent of their similarities however, as Ashford used the portal in his house only to rescue people who’d fallen through accidentally. He never used them to harm another. “But, then what?”

He grimaced, not wanting to continue the story, but she nudged him gently with her elbow and he continued. “Wodge went mad wanting to rid the world of witches, you know all that as well. He spent years jumping from time to time, killing anyone he heard either practiced or used the portals, even people like you who went through quite against their will.”

She tucked her head so he wouldn’t see her smile, and he huffed slightly, both of them recalling how he’d dragged her through the portal, thinking she was someone else. Ashford leaned his head against the edge of the bed and closed his eyes.

“It turned out, one of the witches he targeted happened to be his own mother. He either didn’t know or didn’t care. It was while Liam was looking for him as a baby.”

Tilly’s head spun. “How is that even possible? He’d already grown up and then traveled back? Ouch.”

“Ouch, indeed. He used the spells in ways they were never meant to be used, jumping around where he had no business. But once it came to light, Piper didn’t want any vengeance taking place in her house. I was angry at Liam for lying as well, but of course I only wanted Solomon gone. But then we figured out he’d done something, linked himself to Emma or the house, I’m not sure which. The bastard was awfully sure of himself though, in knowing we wouldn’t kill him when we found out.”

“Poor Liam,” she said.

He goggled at her. “Poor Liam? He’s the one who turned everything sideways.”

“Still,” Tilly said. “How awful, to lose your wife like that. It’s bad enough she was murdered, but by his own son, and while he was looking for him. All those years he spent wondering what might have happened if only he’d found him. He must at least partly blame himself for all those people Solomon killed.”

“Heavens, Matilda, now I feel sorry for the man, and I wanted to stay angry at him for a while.” He sighed and pulled a blanket down, wrapping it around his shoulders. She would have liked him to let her get under it with him, not so much for warmth but to be close to him. He didn’t.

“I’m glad he’s gone,” she said, feeling around to see if it was true. She found it was. After everything she’d learned of Solomon Wodge, she couldn’t spare him any compassion or regret.

Ashford shrugged. “So am I, but that doesn’t change the fact that now Miss Saito is in danger, and it’s all my fault.”

“Partly my fault,” she reminded him. “You truly don’t know what you did, or how you did it?”

“I truly don’t.”

He leaned away to look down at her, acting like he wanted to say more. His face was drawn, and when she reached out to touch his brow, he was still cold. How long was it going to last? Tilly felt close to a comfortable temperature again, sitting as they were with their feet close to the fire, but Ashford could have been carved from ice. She continued to sit by his side, resting her head against the bed, and waited.

***

Ashford sat warily next to Matilda, wanting nothing more than to take her in his arms. He longed to wrap himself up with her in the blanket and try to regain his lost warmth, but feared his lack of control. He never wanted anything like that to happen again, and the thought of it happening around Matilda, possibly harming her, was untenable.

If he’d had any reservations about leaving her behind, they were gone, now that he was possibly dangerous to her. How could he continue living as he had, knowing what he was capable of now? He’d never been so enraged as when he’d looked at Wodge’s smug face.

It had been burning within him for days, unable to stand the thought of that man having control over his house, and the portal, and all the people who might come through it. He’d been causing him trouble for as long as he could remember, and he should have been happy, or at least relieved that it was all over. But he’d never expected it to be like this. Many times he’d thought he might end Wodge by his own hand, but never like this.

His sour thoughts turned to the father of his troubles, Liam. As disgusted as he was by his deception, he still needed him to get him back to his proper time, and then seal up the Belmary House portal in this time for good. He might never be able to travel again, but at least he’d know Matilda was safe. Safe from him, safe from foolishly trying to come after him.

He glanced down at the top of her head, not understanding why she was with him, why she didn’t recoil in horror at what she’d seen him do. She sat beside him as if nothing at all had happened, as if he hadn’t zapped a person into oblivion by the force of his anger. And she’d tried to apologize for it as if it was her fault. God, he wanted to kiss her.

A tentative knock sounded at the door, and Evie poked her head in. She frowned at them, but it was one of concern. He didn’t think she liked him anymore than she did the day before, but she’d been reasonable after the explosion, calm when everyone else had been in a daze.

“Piper thinks you should come down,” she said, looking as if she disagreed.

“Is my cousin here?” Matilda jumped up. “Emma?”

“Yes. Emma’s unconscious, won’t wake up, though there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with her. I mean, she’s breathing normally and her pulse is regular.”

Ashford didn’t want to argue with her, but he didn’t want to face the others yet. As cowardly as he knew it was, he couldn’t look at Miss Saito, knowing how badly he’d failed her. Matilda reached down and tugged at his hand to get him to stand up. It was clear how badly she wanted to see her cousin, but she wouldn’t leave him. Feeling as if he had no choice, he rose to go downstairs.

“I don’t know what I can do,” he said, certain he would be a worse hindrance.

“Me neither,” Evie said. “But Piper thinks you can help.” She studied him openly and asked, “How did you do that?”

He shook his head. Hadn’t he already told them all he didn’t know? Did they think he was lying? “Nothing like that has ever happened before. My sister had all the power in our family. I never did.”

Matilda stopped short in the hallway, her already pale face going dead white. She grabbed his arm and he wanted to touch her cheeks, try to put some life back into them, but was still afraid to touch her. He should have recoiled from her touch, but it was so warm and calming, so welcome, he couldn’t.

“What is it, Matilda? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

She looked around the hallway and shivered. “I hope not, but I just thought of something. Liam got his powers from his wife. Piper said she got her powers from some ancestor, right?”

“Her name was Daria, and she was a piece of work,” Evie said. “But yes, she weirdly passed her power onto Piper when Lachlan killed her. Cut off her head.”

Matilda shivered, and Ashford scowled at Evie for the overshare.

“What if,” Matilda said, swallowing hard and lowering her voice. “Camilla?”

A chill raced through his already cold body. “Surely not.”

“It makes sense,” she argued.

“Was Camilla your sister?” Evie asked, blinking at Ashford’s dark look. “Sorry, didn’t mean to pry, but if she recently died, maybe Tilly’s right.”

He saw Matilda nod surreptitiously at Evie, confirming her questions. How could it be possible? He could barely remember that horrible night. Camilla had been past all reason, almost as if they weren’t twins anymore, but strangers or worse, enemies.

In the kitchen, Matilda ran to her cousin’s side while Evie pulled Piper over to him, quietly explaining what Matilda had guessed.

“Do you think that’s what happened?” Piper asked him.

He barely restrained himself from snorting. Why did everyone keep asking him questions like that, as if he had any clue what was going on? “I don’t know,” he said. “How could I possibly know that?”

She thought about if for a moment, trying to remember her own experience. “Have you had nightmares lately?”

“My sister died in a rather violent way,” he told her. “So, yes I’ve had a few nightmares.”

She shook her head, ignoring his sarcasm and making him feel lower than the bottom of his boot. “Not like that. Nightmares where you’re doing things, things you never did before, but they feel real.”

He shook his head, then recalled one night before they left Rouleney, while waiting for Kostya. “I had a dream I was swimming in the sea, during a storm. I could feel the waves knocking at me. I was holding onto … something.”

That dream had been all too real feeling. Fortunately he’d had Matilda to help him through it at the time. He looked across the room at her, leaning over Emma and holding Dexter’s hand. He was going to miss her terribly.

“Okay, that might be a sign,” Piper said. “Any sleepwalking, or voices?”

“Goodness, no,” he said, praying it wouldn’t come to that.

“What do you think?” Evie asked, causing Piper to huff in quite the same way he’d wanted to earlier.

It seemed she was as clueless as him. They both looked to Liam, sitting alone by the fire. Damn him straight to hell if he’d ask that man for another favor. Noticing their stares, Liam got up and joined them, asking tentatively if he could help.