A Thin Line (15 page)

Now she could feel them building.
 
Her lids fluttered rapidly as she tried to hold them at bay.
 
In her mind everything came back to her.
 
The explosion.
 
The doctor’s pronouncement of her condition and not knowing if it would be permanent.
 
The confrontation with Derek, Gabe and Justin.
 
Now this.
 
She did not want to show any more weakness, and took a deep breath hoping it would help.
 
Instead it came out more like a sob and she lost the battle as tears streamed down her face, burning her eyes.
 
She doubled over at her waist letting out a growl of frustration that quickly turned into deep, uncontrollable sobs.

Dru looked at Kala in shock.
 
In her entire life she had never known Kala to cry.
 
Not even when her broken arm had to be set after falling out of a tree.
 
This Kala was not the girl she knew.
 
She stood there unsure what to do, afraid that if she touched her Kala might break into a thousand pieces.
 
She had never seen her so brittle.
 
Dru watched in shock as Kala fell to her knees rocking back and forth, wailing.
 

Footsteps pounded up the stairs and the door flew open.

“Derek,” Dru looked at him helplessly, shaking her head holding her hands out to encompass his sister.
 
She noticed Tessa enter the doorway a few moments after Derek.
 
“Tessa, thank God.
 
I’ve never seen her like this before.”
 
Kala vaguely heard voices talking above her, but couldn’t make out what they were saying above her own sobs.
 
She felt someone sit beside her and heard Dru whisper soothingly in her ear.
 
She could only cry harder, if possible.

“Derek, go away,” she thought she heard her sister-in-law’s voice from the doorway.
 

“But. . .”
 

“We’ll take care of her, I promise.
 
Go do what you need to do.”
 
She heard the door click shut and then someone sat on the other side of her.
 

“I can’t see,” she sobbed out.

“I know darling,” she felt Tessa wrap her arms around her, rocking her.

“I don’t want to be blind,” she wailed.

“We know,” they both whispered in unison, letting her cry.
 

“Damn him.
 
Damn them all.
 
They should have told me, trusted me,” she gasped out between sobs.
 
“An invalid.
 
That’s what I am now.”

“No, you’re not,” Tessa soothed.

“A person to...rely on charity...the rest of my...life.”

“Never you Kala,” Dru whispered against her ear, pressing a motherly kiss to her temple.

She cried until she became physically ill, and then she cried some more.
 
Finally, wrung out both emotionally and physically, she fell asleep in Drucilla and Tessa’s embrace.
 
Her hair stuck to the sweat and tears that covered her face.
 
Tessa brushed the hair back in a gentle manner.

“What exactly caused this?” Tessa maneuvered her head to indicate the sleeping Kala.

“I told her this was as much her fault as anyone else’s right before you and Derek arrived,” Dru told Tessa worriedly.
 
They were talking over the sleeping woman, who still gave an occasional sob, even in her sleep.

“She probably needed to hear it.”

“Perhaps another time would have been better.”

“Is there ever a best time?” Tessa paused a moment, anger building in her.
 
“I told Gabe to leave her alone.
 
He had hurt her enough already.
 
I thought she had finally given up on him, decided to move on.
 
Why didn’t he just listen to me?”

“Do men ever listen?”

***

“Why didn’t you punch me last night?”
 
Gabe demanded attempting to pick himself up off the floor of his study.
 
Derek had struck before Gabe knew what happened.
 
He rubbed his tender jaw.
 
Derek’s fists were still formed, ready to hit him again. “Well, are you going to answer me?”
 
He found himself a little shocked by Derek’s reaction.
 
They had been best friends since Derek’s dad was hired to tutor him and his two brothers.
 
In all that time they had had their share of fights.
 
None had contained as much anger as this one, at least on Derek’s part, who often seemed the more easy-going of the two men.
 
In fact, Derek even defended Gabe last night.

“Because I walked into that house this morning,” he pointed across the square, “to hear my sister wailing and sobbing.
 
When I ran up to her room you know what I found?”

“No and I don’t want to,” Gabe turned away.

“But you bloody well are going to hear it.
 
I saw my sister collapsed in the middle of the floor.
 
Her arms were wrapped around herself and she rocked back and forth inconsolably.
 
My sister, the hoyden, reduced to a sobbing mass of hysteria.
 
It made me angry.”

“So of course that led you to me.”

“Seemed logical.”

“Of course.”

“Now, tell me about last night.
 
Accidents like that don’t happen.
 
You and I both know that.”

“Dammit, Derek, I pulled her back before she could be hurt worse, or possibly killed.”

“What do you mean?” Gabe watched carefully as Derek relaxed his stance a little more.

“Someone had set enough gun powder that it blew a marble statue into bits.
 
She had turned and begun studying said statue very closely for some strange reason.
 
If I hadn’t pulled her back as far as I did, she might not be here now,” he bit out.
 
That thought had haunted him well into the night.
 
It still did, if he allowed himself to be honest.
 
No amount of drink had been able to chase away his nightmares last night, and only served to create an incessant pounding in his brain.
 

Kala had been like a sister to him for years, and then things changed.
 
Deep down, he knew that Kala cared for him deeply.
 
He had even thought that after he had finished living his adventures he might go back home and marry her if for no other reason than they knew each other so well and got on famously.
 
He could have been living a comfortable life, but fate had intervened.
 
It always did.

“Dear God,” Derek shook now.
 
Gabe moved quickly, standing up and nudging Derek over to a chair, knowing that the realization just hit him.
 
Yes, Drucilla alluded to it last night, but only a man who had seen battle knew what the true effects could have been.
 
Both of them had seen death first hand too many times.
 
He had tried to chase it away with a bottle of brandy, but halfway through realized it wouldn’t help.
 
Thank goodness I stopped there
, he thought.
 
The ringing in his head had increased tenfold after Derek’s punch.

“We shouldn’t have kept her in the dark.
 
She kept our secrets before.
 
We should have trusted her.”

“We can’t change the past.”

“And Southerby showed up there as well?”

“He said that he saw her slip off before the fireworks started and decided to follow her.
 
Knowing now his connection to the Foreign Office, I’m just not sure.”

“Richard didn’t seem to be the least bit surprised by any of it last night.”

“No, he did not.
 
I know he is your uncle, but the man has too many connections to my liking.” When Derek didn’t respond he posed his own question.
 
“What else do we know?”

“Southerby escorted Kala to the masquerade last night.
 
After following her, it seems he hid as well to figure out what exactly was going on.
 
He also claimed to have given chase to the person responsible for the explosion.”
 

“You seem a bit hesitant.”

“I have a feeling this is all tied to that traitor McKenzie informed us about.”

“Have you had a chance to look into it?”

“Not yet.
 
I am going to have to start soon.
 
Now you understand why I don’t know if I should believe Southerby or not.
 
We believe it is someone of rank, a member of the
beau monde
.
 
You see why I had to see the meeting through, don’t you?
 
If it is a member of the
ton
we must act quickly.
 
We have a month to flush this person out before everyone disperses to their country estates for the holidays.”

“I understand.
 
What about Kala?
 
Does she remember anything of significance?”

“I don’t know.
 
I haven’t been able to question her.”

“You won’t either.
 
At least not today.”

“I understand.”

“When you do, you need to ask her what she knows about the Holy Grail.
 
She loves Arthurian legend and considers herself quite an expert.
 
I seem to recall something about the Holy Grail ending up in Camelot, which is why King Arthur became so powerful.”

“I will consider it.”

“Gabe, I have never seen her this way before.
 
She seems so despondent.
 
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried.”
 

Gabe felt as if he died a little inside with the words Derek spoke.
 
Not a reflex on his person betrayed the way he felt right now, except for the clenching of his fists and his locked jaw.
 
He stared out the window considering what measures he should take next.
 
A light knock sounded on the study door and he called for the person to enter.

His grandmother walked in and her eyes lit on Derek.
 
“Derek, it is so good to see you,” she gave him a warm hug as he stood to greet her.
 
“I thought you and your lovely bride had left for the country.”

“We are in preparations, Your Grace.
 
However, they have been put on hold momentarily.”

“Oh?”

“Grandmother, Mikala had an accident last night.”

“Oh no,” she sat quickly on the chair across from Derek.
 
“I had a dream that something happened, but couldn’t quite determine what.
 
I saw a bright light and heard a loud pop, but again it is too little too late.”

“Grandmother,” Gabe said a bit irritated.
 
As long as he could remember, she always seemed to
sense
when something was wrong.
 
The only problem was she never let anyone know until after the fact, so no one knew if she really had any special ability.
 
Her friends just accepted it as part of her eccentric character.
 
Gabe often wished she would not mention it at all.

“What happened to her?” The dowager asked, truly concerned.

“She has lost her sight.”

“The poor child.”
 
Gabe had walked to the decanter and now returned with two glasses of brandy.

“Here, I had my share last night.”
 
The dowager took the glass and threw back the liquid in a decidedly unfeminine gesture.
 
Derek followed her move.
 
Gabe walked over to the window and stared out once more.
 
His hands were fisted together behind his back, and he kept replaying the scene from last night over and over.

“Grandson, what part did you play in this?”

“Better you not know, grandmother,” he answered, while silently berating and damning himself.

Chapter 12

Kala sat up in bed, startled.
 
She looked anxiously around the room, but darkness greeted her.
 
How could she stand this suffocating inkiness the rest of her life?
 
She felt herself gasping for deeper breaths, trying to calm her racing emotions.
 
Then from a corner, she heard a familiar voice.

“It’s near midnight, you are in your room, and you are fine.”

“Derek, is that you?” she squinted her eyes in the direction of his voice as if that would help her to make out his face.

“Yes.”
 
He watched as she stacked pillows behind her and relaxed into them.
 
She lifted her hands to rub at her irritated eyes and Derek quickly crossed the room to stop her, “No, that will make them worse.
 
We should really have something tied around them for protection.”