Caz and I make our way back to the guesthouse where Rowan, Killian, Lew, Hunter, Jack, and Veno are playing a card game at the table.
The table is topped with crystal tumblers halfway filled with amber liquid and a tray of nuts for the men to enjoy.
I fix my gaze on the kitchen, where Bella and Joelle are tidying up, but I don’t see Danica with them. The women aren’t around either. Juniper, Maeve, Nikita, and Tallulah are gone, as well as Simpson and Paulina.
“Where are the others?” Caz asks.
“Simpson and Paulina had to run back to the tavern. The ladies went to the castle, said they wanted tea,” Rowan answers.
“They aren’t drinking any bloody tea,” Lew grumbles, slapping a card down. This man does a lot of grumbling.
Caz looks at me, smirking. And you think I’m a grump.
I can’t fight my grin,
“Ready to head to the castle?” he asks.
I nod, smiling, and he takes my hand, leading the way out of the guesthouse. As we approach the castle, I hear footsteps behind us, and Rowan dashes past us in a blur, laughing his ass off as Killian chases after him with a gun in hand.
“What is going on?” I laugh as Rowan clambers up the stairs to get inside. Killian huffs like a bull, rushing past us.
“Who knows,” Caz chuckles. “They’re always fighting about something.”
We enter the castle, and music is playing, something folksy but calming. In the kitchen, Juniper, Maeve, Nikita, and Tallulah are drinking tea and chatting amongst themselves. Danica is in there as well, removing a kettle from the stovetop. Ah. So that’s where she ran off to.
“Tea?” Caz gestures to the kitchen.
“Yeah. Let me run to the bathroom first.”
He nods, lifting my hand to his lips and kissing my knuckles. “Make sure you come back to me.”
I smile as he releases my hand. I make my way down the foyer, past the portrait of the horses with manes of fire and the man riding it into darkness. In this dimly lit section of the room, it’s even more mesmerizing than before. The darkness truly does look like a black void a person will never be able to escape.
I find the bathroom, finish up, and wash my hands. As the water pours over my hands, rinsing the soap away, I can’t help smiling like a goof at my reflection. I’m too busy thinking about what Caz and I just did on the beach. I’ve never had an experience like that with anyone, and with him it all comes so…naturally. In all honesty, I’m ready for everyone to leave now so we can go to his room and have more fun. I’m not kidding when I say I want him now more than I did before…and before, I wanted him a lot. Something has changed within me. Something internal and soul deep. I can’t quite explain it, but Caz and I truly feel like one now.
After I’ve dried off my hands, I swing the door open and hear the ladies getting louder and chattier in the kitchen. But as I shut the door behind me, someone grabs my arm and tugs me around the corner and into Caz’s office.
I feel a drop in my stomach as the person’s cold grasp wraps around my wrist, and for a moment I think it’s Mournwrath again, coming back for us—here to demolish all the happiness we’ve aimed to restore—but then I see the brown and gray eye along with the scar on her face. Danica.
She presses my back against one of the shelves and looks me all over, narrowing her eyes. “You’re her.”
“What the hell are you doing?” I snap, shoving her hand away.
“Willow?” Caz calls from the end of the foyer.
“I know where your brother is,” Danica says hurriedly.
My heart drops. “What?”
She grabs my hand and rapidly stuffs something into it as Caz calls my name again, then I hear footsteps thundering.
“Find me at this location tomorrow at noon,” she says. With that, Danica runs out of the office and toward the front door.
“Oi!” Caz shouts just as Danica rounds the corner. He snatches his gun from inside his coat, but Danica’s gone, her footsteps pounding toward the front door. Caz stops at the mouth of the office, glancing at me quickly before running after the woman, and Killian and Rowan are right behind him, guns out and bustling out the front door.
What the hell is going on?
“Willow?” Juniper appears, gripping my shoulders. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“I—I don’t know.” I swallow hard then open my hand, focusing on the crumpled sheet of paper. I blink at it several times, trying to process what Danica just said. I know where your brother is. What does she mean she knows where Warren is? How would she know, and why do I need to meet her to get to my brother? Maeve appears, looking between us, while Nikita and Tallulah stand a few steps back, a mixture of fear and concern on their faces.
“What did that woman want?” Maeve demands, eyeing me.
“I—I’m not sure not sure.”
Maeve comes closer to me, taking the paper out of my hand. She unravels it, her brows furrowing as she reads it. “What is this? What are all these numbers?”
Juniper looks with her and says, “They’re coordinates.” Juniper’s eyes then shift to me. All of them are looking at me, awaiting an explanation…but I can’t bring myself to explain a damn thing right now.
