Falling Into Place (14 page)

Liz walked right through the shield, her own
magic sizzling through the barrier.

James looked to Robert, but he shook his
head, his arms crossed over his chest. “You’re on your own. I won’t
stop her.”

“You fucking bastard,” she screamed as she
closed the distance. Her eyes were full of hate as her hands shot
out, reaching for his throat.

Focusing his power at a burst of force, he
pushed back, but she kept coming, completely ignoring the
spell.

“You had to knock me out to get past my
defenses. You stole everything, and now you’ll die.” He hardly
recognized her voice for the wild power channeling through her.

He threw another desperate fireball that
fizzled as it collided with her magic.

Her hands closed over his throat and his
skin instantly blistered under her touch. There was a hiss as his
hair caught fire, his clothes burning, and then the flames flashed
across his entire body as he fell.

Liz followed him down, her knees landing on
either side of his chest as he was engulfed in an inferno that
danced over her without harming her. She wasn’t even sweating.

As much magic as she pushed into him, he
couldn’t glean any as the air exploded in his lungs and his
eyeballs melted.

“Go to hell, James.” There was no emotion in
her voice as she took his life. That was the last thing he heard as
he slipped away.

* * * *

His brother lay in ruins and Robert’s only
regret was that he didn’t have a hand in it. Then Liz started to
cough, and he rushed forward, pulling her away.

“No, Robert, I don’t want to hurt you,” she
spun away, falling to the ground as her eyes closed and her magic
dissipated. She curled up into a ball, her hands covering her
stomach again.

He knelt beside her. “Look, I’m fine, Liz.
We need to go.” This time he scooped her into his arms and took
them back to her room. “He’s gone.”

Liz crawled away, and pulled herself into an
overstuffed chair. “You didn’t stop me,” she whispered.

“I told you I wouldn’t. Liz, whatever he
did, I want to fix it.”

Her laugh was bitter, laced with pain. “You
can’t, Robert. It’s too late. You can’t fix me.”

“Elizandra, you’re not broken.”

“I am,” she screamed. “I have to go.” She
slowly stood, her eyes darting away. “I can’t do it anymore.”

“No. Please, don’t leave. I’m not afraid of
you. I love you more than words can express. You’re the only one I
need. I don’t care about the rest.” Robert pleaded.

“I nearly killed you.” Tears slid down her
cheeks.

Robert closed the distance, his fingers
threading into her hair as he brought her gaze to his. “Tell me
what I have to do. I’ll do anything for you. Anything at all.”

She shoved his shirt up and ran her fingers
over the new shiny white scar over his heart. “Have Emily heal
these.” Her voice broke. “I couldn’t tell you apart after
James….”

“Emily changed her mind. She wants us
together.”

“Robert,” she whispered, staring deep into
his eyes without a shred of emotion. “You have to let me go. I
can’t be with you now. I….”

He pulled her tight against him, crushing
his mouth over hers, but she pulled back and shook her head.

“Damn it, Robert. I can’t be enough for you.
Let me go. I don’t want this anymore. I need to be alone. Don’t
follow me. I’m as good as dead.” She tore herself away from Robert
and walked out of his life.

* * * *

Emily parked in front of the warehouse.
Smoke billowed out of the open door. She almost turned the car
around and drove away, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Panicked, she ran to the building. She
watched Robert wrap his arms around Liz and disappear. Her eyes
fell on the burning body. She could feel her twin, barely hanging
on. As tempting as it was, the healer in her wouldn’t allow her to
walk away.

Swallowing hard, she closed the distance as
she surrounded herself in her own shields. She placed one hand on
his chest, and used the charm Robert had given her, to take him
back to her home in Charleston.

He was nearly gone, but at least the
translocation put the fire out. Before he could gain consciousness,
she put him under. With tears in her eyes, she assessed the
damage.

As gifted as she was, it would take years to
mend his body. She wasn’t sure she could take the scars, but she
already knew she would leave one thing damaged beyond use.

After years of abuse, she couldn’t bring
herself to give him the opportunity to hurt another woman
again.

Liz grabbed her coat from the hall closet
and ran to her car before Robert could stop her. She slammed the
door and tore out of the driveway.

She only had one thought. Make it look like
she was gone forever so Robert could move on, even if she couldn’t.
She was lost without him, but after James took the baby, and she
nearly killed her only love, she couldn’t trust herself.

He needed a fresh start, and this was the
only way she knew to give it to him. She punched the gas and
steered toward the cliff before phasing out and falling to the road
as the thunderbird took a plummet.

The wind was knocked from her, and she
struggled to catch her breath. She pulled the turquoise from her
pocket.
Please, Tremaine, if you never do another thing for me,
please come get me, and take me far from here. I need you, only
you. If you bring Robert, I’ll disappear forever, I swear
it.

Liz picked herself up and stumbled as far
from the wreckage as she could get.

* * * *

Tremaine sat outside the warehouse. It was
surrounded by fire trucks. The firefighters were dousing the
building with water, but the flames weren’t dying. He knew the fire
came from Liz.

Then Liz’s pleading broke into his thoughts.
He knew exactly where she was, and she was stumbling through the
woods, toward her hidden escape. There were only three people who
knew how to find it. Robert, Liz and himself.

Fuck, Liz, what happened?

He couldn’t communicate with her, so he sped
down the road and back onto the Interstate. There were a million
questions rattling around his head.

The only thing he knew was that James had
slipped fully into becoming a Dark Mage, and he had somehow visited
Liz. Whatever he did, she fucked him up for good, and now he had a
feeling James was gone for good.

He wouldn’t miss James, but Liz was
suffering. He could feel her anguish through the stone he gave her.
All he could think about was the baby. She wouldn’t be so broken if
the baby were okay.

Damn it, he wanted to kill James
himself.

It took him thirty minutes of hell to get to
her cabin. His only goal was to get to her. Once there, he rushed
up the steps, and threw the door open.

He found her on the bench beside the window.
Her legs were curled under her, her hands over her stomach, blood
seeping through her shirt.

Tremaine ran to her, falling to his knees
beside her. He took her face in his hands and forced her gaze to
his. “Liz, doll, what happened?”

“James took my baby,” she whispered as tears
filled her eyes. “I had to let Robert go.”

“No. You don’t have to let Robert go. He
doesn’t blame you.”

“I nearly killed him. I thought he was
James. He nearly died. I can’t, Trem. I can’t go back.” Her eyes
closed and his heart broke for her. “Please, take me far from here.
Somewhere Robert won’t find me. I already made it look like I’m
dead.”

“What did you do?” he whispered.

She looked away. “I drove the car off the
cliff. It caught fire. I know he won’t believe it, but you have to
make him understand this is for the best.”

He shook his head, his eyes narrowing. “Damn
it, Liz. This doesn’t make sense.”

“He found me after James stabbed me over and
over.” Her gaze dropped to her bloodstained hands that she splayed
out in front of him. “When Robert tried to push my clothes out of
the way, I woke in a panic, thinking it was James come back to
finish what he’d started.” She wrapped her arms around herself and
turned away. “I managed to bring him back, but his heart had
stopped, he wasn’t breathing. I did that. I left scars in the shape
of my hands on his body. I can’t be with him anymore, Trem. I
can’t.”

He wanted to argue, but he knew she wouldn’t
hear him. “Okay, but I need to see how bad you’re hurt before we
can leave. You’re bleeding, Liz.”

She nodded, lifting her shirt and shoving
down her sweats to show him the jagged wounds.

“I don’t suppose you’ll let me take you to a
healer?”

“No,” she shouted, and then whispered, “I
remember last time. I can’t go through that.”

Tremaine growled, “Did he rape you? Is that
why his dick looks like bloody coleslaw.”

“He tried. He didn’t like being hit with
fire infused lightning. That was when he got the knife. But I made
him pay.”

“And the factory. He’s dead, isn’t he?”
Tremaine asked seriously.

“Yes. I couldn’t let him live. Not after I
nearly killed Robert because of him.”

“Good. If he wasn’t, I’d hunt him down.” He
reached for her stomach and looked into her eyes. “Trust me,
Liz?”

“You know I do,” she answered as she held
his gaze.

He placed his hand over the worst of it and
whispered a spell to seal the wound. It wasn’t pretty, but it would
help to heal her wounds a little faster. He wished he could do more
for her.

He sat back on his heels. “It’s the best I
can do.”

“Thank you. Now, can we go before Robert
changes his mind about letting me walk away?”

Nodding, he stood and pulled her to her
feet. He murmured, “I’ll take you because I know you’ll go anyway,
but I this is not the right decision.”

“It’s the only decision.”

* * * *

Robert sat in his office at the Headquarters
in South Carolina. He couldn’t bring himself to go back to their
house in Edenton after she walked away.

He left after she drove away. He’d been
sitting in his chair for hours when Preston walked into the
office.

“Hey Robert,” he said lamely as he slumped
into the seat.

Robert nodded. “Hey.”

His brow wrinkled. “I take it you heard
about Liz?”

“What?” He whispered, his heart
plummeting.

“Shit,” Preston scrubbed a hand over his
face. “You didn’t hear, did you?”

Robert slammed his hands on the desk as he
sat forward. “Just tell me. What happened?”

“Her car went off the side of a mountain.
She’s gone.”

“Where?” he demanded.

“Up past Edenton, out near where you said
her cabin was.” He stood and held out his hand. “I’ll come with
you.”

Robert was on his feet. He took Preston’s
hand and he flashed them back to the exact location. The guardrail
was ripped open, and he could see the wreckage far below.

The Thunderbird had gone off all right, but
he felt her presence still. Whatever Liz did when she healed him
had formed a connection, and he still felt her presence. He had the
sense that she was shattered, broken, and it killed him that she
wouldn’t let him help her piece herself back together.

Tears streamed down his face as he stared
off into space. He knew she did this to help him let her go, but he
never would. He didn’t know how.

It was what she wanted though, so he took
Preston back to the office.

Robert fell into his seat and buried his
face in his hands. If this was what she needed, he’d give it to her
even if it broke him.

* * * *

It was the middle of the night when Robert’s
phone rang. He’d been staring at the ceiling. He rolled over and
answered, “Hello?”

“Robert, if you’re smart, you’ll flash out
here to Boise, and talk to Liz. She needs you. Only you.”

“She doesn’t. She told me she didn’t want me
anymore.” His voice was empty. Her words had cut like a knife.
“She’s done with me. She begged me to let her go, Trem.”

Tremaine’s voice was quiet but held warning.
“She was grieving, Robert. She’s a mess. She isn’t thinking
straight. You need to get your ass over here and talk some damned
sense into her. You’re the only one who can fix this.”

“I begged her to stay, Trem. She told me she
was dead to me. She left anyway.” Tears fell and Robert wiped them
away. “I tried, but she said this was what she needed. She’s never
lied to me, Trem. She’s left things out in the past, but she
wouldn’t lie about what she needs.”

“She’s lying to protect you, but that’s not
what she needs, Robert. Don’t be stupid. Don’t let her go. She
thinks she’s doing the right thing, but she’s not. She needs
you.”

“She doesn’t. I’ve always given her anything
she has ever asked for, anything she’s needed. She needs me to let
her go, so I am. If she changes her mind, I’ll be right here
waiting.” Robert hung up before Tremaine could argue. He prayed
time was all Liz needed.

Sometimes it all has to fall apart to fall into
place.

Liz couldn’t tear her eyes away from
Tremaine’s hard body as he stretched to place a book on the top
shelf. His shirt rode up, displaying that perfect V she found
herself wanting to lick.

For the millionth time in the last twenty or
so years she found herself wondering if she should feel guilty for
lusting after him. At first she did, but as the reality that Robert
was never going to come for her sank in, she gave up hope.

Her reasons for denying her feelings faded
into oblivion as she fell further in love with her avenging angel.
Still, she held her tongue, afraid of what he would think when he
kept telling her to go fix things with Robert, but it had been
twenty-one long years without any contact. It was too late to pick
up the shattered pieces.