Falling Into Place (34 page)

“Sorry, Chris. I didn’t do it to freak you
out, I swear it. I wasn’t going to let him hurt you or anyone else
though.”

“Looks like you messed him up good.”
Christian let out a nervous laugh.

One corner of her mouth lifted as her eyes
slid shut. “Yeah, well he deserved it. I’m sorry I freaked you out.
Promise me that you’ll stay at the cabin until we get there. It
might be tonight before we arrive, but you know where everything
is.”

“That’s fine. It’s stocked. By the way, you
were right.”

She sighed. “About?”

“I’m not qualified to battle a mage. I’ve
never seen magic like that. I just about pissed myself.”

Liz held back a laugh. “Well, your gifts lie
elsewhere. Sometimes, I wish I had no power. Would make life a lot
easier.”

“Yeah, well I don’t know about that.”

“Why do you say that?” she asked,
baffled.

“Well, you don’t sound beat up, and I know
Robert had a blade in his chest when he zapped us from the shop to
the cabin.”

“Yeah, well I fixed that, but I’m sure I did
a shoddy job. I suck at healing when I can do it at all.”

Christian chuckled. “I don’t know, Liz. I
had a vision of how you healed him. He seems pretty whole to me,
but it was like you used some of Tremaine’s magic.”

She sat up straighter. “What do you
mean?”

“You channeled some of Trem’s power to heal
Robert.”

“Shit, I need to go. Stay at the cabin, and
call me if you need anything. Please, don’t leave.”

“Yeah, between you scaring the shit out of
me and Delilah talking some sense into me, I won’t be going
anywhere. I have no death wish, believe it or not. I get it now.
This is out of my league.” He sounded resigned, and Liz hated it,
but it was the truth.

“We’ll see you soon, and you may get to meet
someone when we come.” Liz dreaded it, but it was bound to happen
if she could pull this off.

“What do you mean?” he asked hesitantly.

“Well, let’s see how well it goes. Even if I
can save her, I have a feeling Robert may not want to be in the
same room with her. Plus, he’s awfully pissed at me at the
moment.”

The phone was ripped from her hand. “I’m not
mad at Liz. I hate this situation. Emily has done nothing to earn
Liz’s loyalty. I don’t want Liz suffering to help the woman who
brought Liz’s worst nightmare back. Of course, I’m not happy.”

Liz turned around and snatched the phone
from Robert. “Don’t listen to him. I’ll be fine, and maybe if your
mother meets you, and sees what a perfect young man she produced,
she’ll realize how wrong she was.”

Christian snorted. “She gave me away. I
can’t say I blame her because of how I came to be, but I can’t
imagine she wants anything to do with me now. Go, do what you must,
but you better come back in one piece or I will be really ticked
off.”

She laughed then. “Yeah, I’ll see you later,
kid.” Hanging up, she turned to Robert. “Let me see your
shoulder.”

Robert rolled his eyes and pulled his torn
shirt aside. His golden skin looked perfect as always. Liz moved
closer to get a better look and sure enough, he was perfectly
healed. She ran her fingers over where she knew the blade had
entered. “Why couldn’t I do that before?”

Preston sighed. “I felt you draw magic from
Tremaine. Maybe that’s why you couldn’t fully heal your handprints
so long ago.”

She slumped back in her seat. “I shouldn’t
have been able to do that at all. Either time.”

“Maybe it’s a little like Fallon being able
to heal Brody when she sucks at healing everyone else. She can heal
silver damage as long as it’s Brody that she’s healing.” Preston
chuckled. “Surprised the fuck out of me when I saw that because I
remember what shape Trem was in after she tried to patch him up a
bit.”

She shuddered, not wanting to think about
that incident. The bits she had heard turned her stomach. All three
of them had been victims, but the whole situation was more fucked
up than anything she could dream up.

“Well, Robert, I suppose this proves that
you have no reason to stop me from helping Emily.”

He nodded lamely. “I won’t, no matter how
tempting it is. I still don’t understand why you want to help her,
when she was nothing but horrible to you. You never deserved any of
it. I don’t want you to feel like you have to do this for me.”

“It’s not for you, not really.” She swept
her hair behind her ears and leaned against the seat. “I watched a
young woman die of that curse. It ate at her, churning up all of
the pain and horrible things Sinclair put her through. She wilted
away and finally died, but she had gouged out her own eyes,
shredded her face, she’d broken limbs from her thrashing. Your
sister can’t have much longer, and after James abused her for
years, I can’t let her suffer anymore.”

He nodded. “When you put it like that, it
makes more sense. I still don’t like that you have to take it from
her.”

Liz shrugged. “Yeah, well I don’t see anyone
else who can. So you’ll have to deal with it.”

* * * *

At least they were
almost there. The wards gave all but Liz a jolt as Tremaine drove
over the border. She seemed to relax, a deep sigh
escaping.

He drove another two
miles, until he pulled up to a large log building. It looked
identical to the one he had taken Liz to when all those years
ago.

The druids only used
electricity for hot water, not for lights or even cooking. There
would be old oil lamps or candles lighting their
way.

“
It
looks the same as the place you took me.” There was a hint of fear
in her voice.

He nodded. “They’re
mostly the same.” He didn’t bother to tell her that quite a few of
those druids moved here long ago. Nor did he tell her that he
suspected her mother to be there.

Tremaine took Liz’s hand, Robert took her
other, and Preston gave them both a funny look. But he kept his
mouth shut.

They went inside and Liz tried to pull her
hands away but they didn’t let her go. She glared at Robert. “You
better not stop me from doing what I need to,” she whispered
harshly.

“I’m not that stupid, Liz,” he muttered
back.

Joslyn came around the corner. Tremaine had
been intimate with her more than half a century ago. Right around
the time he found Liz. Now he felt a little uncomfortable because
that wasn’t something Liz would forget.

“Tremaine,” she smiled appreciatively. Her
brow arched as she noticed whose hand he held, but her expression
remained warm and welcoming. “Good to see you. Robert, I wish I
could say she was doing better, but Emily seems to be
deteriorating.” She smiled at Liz. “Elizandra, I’m glad to see you
doing well.”

Liz nodded, but she looked a little sick.
She probably remembered the first time she had met Joslyn.

Tremaine glanced over and Robert met his
gaze with a curious frown before turning back to Joslyn. “Can we
see Emily? Liz may have a solution.”

Joslyn nodded. “I certainly hope so. She’s
been thrashing around. We had to restrain her. None of us have a
clue what we can do to help.”

“Has she said anything?”

“She only repeats Lizard’s hole over and
over again.”

Liz flinched, but managed to say, “We need
to see her.”

Robert took in a sharp breath, but he held
his tongue.

Joslyn led them to a door. “She’s been
sleeping for an hour. She won’t wake up for a few more.”

“Thank you,” Robert said. “Can we have a few
minutes alone with her?”

Joslyn nodded. “I’ll be down the hall if you
need me.”

“I appreciate it.”

They stepped into the room as Joslyn turned
to go down the hall.

* * * *

Liz sucked in a breath when she stepped into
the room. She could practically feel the dark emotions swirling
through the air. Emily looked like she was barely hanging on and
ready to let go.

Her eyes jerked around in their bruised
sockets, under papery lids. There was no meat on her bones. Liz
knew Emily didn’t have much longer.

Robert’s hand slid around her waist, pulling
her into him as he put his mouth against her ear. “You don’t have
to do this for her. She wouldn’t do it for you.”

“Yeah,” Liz agreed, but she stepped away and
turned to face him. “I’m not Emily, and that’s a good thing.”

Robert closed his eyes and shook his head,
but he didn’t offer any other argument.

Liz turned to Tremaine. “Make sure Robert
doesn’t stop me.” She glanced at Preston. “You too. Please.”

Preston nodded, but he didn’t look all that
happy about it. Tremaine was calm, and hiding all emotion, which
meant he didn’t like it any better than the rest of them.

Hell, Liz didn’t like it, but she wasn’t
going to let Emily fade away like that. No one deserved what she
was going through. Liz hoped Emily was strong enough to pull
through because her memories were going to haunt her for a long
while.

“Don’t worry, Liz. He’s not stupid enough to
get in your way,” Trem promised, but it sounded more like a warning
for Robert.

Liz took Emily’s hands before closing her
eyes. The vile magic reached for her, and before Liz could think
better of it, she let the curse flow up her arms and pulled hard,
taking all of it from Emily.

Emily’s memories flooded through Liz,
drowning her in shame, guilt, and humiliation. It was horrible,
worse than what Liz had ever endured because Liz always fought, she
never accepted her fate, but Emily hadn’t. Emily never believed she
was worth saving so she didn’t fight, always accepting the
punishment because she was unworthy.

Liz heard Emily pull in a ragged breath, and
then scream. She threw Liz’s hands away from her and scrambled off
the bed and into the corner where she huddled, staring wide-eyed at
Liz who collapsed on the mattress as her body started to jerk.

* * * *

“Liz?” Emily sobbed. She knew Liz saw it
all. She took the suffering from her but she was already shattered.
“Oh, God. No. Liz,” she cried, trying to stand, but she couldn’t
get to her feet.

Robert popped in front of her. The look on
his face was caught between pity, anger and devastation, it froze
her to her spot. Emily wanted to crawl away and hide.

“Don’t you dare blame Liz, Emily. She didn’t
have to do this for you. She shouldn’t have had to.” The anger won
out in his voice.

Tears fell down her face. She wanted to take
it all back. “I don’t. I didn’t ask for help. I was ready to die, I
couldn’t fight it. She should have let me go.”

Robert’s eyes closed, guilt flashing over
his features as he shook his head and then stared up at the
ceiling. “She couldn’t. She didn’t want you to suffer any more.” He
scrubbed a hand over his face and finally looked back at her.

Emily looked around her brother and saw Liz
in Tremaine’s arms, her body seizing, her eyes rolled back in her
head. He cooed at her as he brushed her hair from her face, rocking
slightly.

“Sorry, I’m sorry, so sorry,” Emily
whispered over and over. She couldn’t stop the rush of words from
leaving her lips.

Robert half-laughed, but it was a bitter
sound. “Don’t apologize. I guarantee Liz won’t want to hear it.” He
stood and went to her, sitting down beside Tremaine, putting his
arms around Liz and Tremaine both.

“Baby, don’t you dare give up. Fight it.
You’ve got to fight it.” Robert’s voice broke and Emily’s heart
splintered.

She didn’t understand how Liz was alive but
Robert had spent the last twenty-one years pretending the love of
his life was dead. There she was, suffering with Emily’s memories,
those terrible memories that were no longer suffocating her.

Tremaine shifted, his hand wrapping around
Robert’s shoulder to pull him closer. They were so close, but
holding Liz, solely focused on the woman they always had gravitated
towards.

“She’s pulling through. Look, she’s calming
down. It’s almost over,” Tremaine murmured.

Robert shook his head as tears leaked down
his face.

Tremaine took his chin, forcing his gaze to
his. “Liz will be fine. She’s a fighter.” Tremaine laid his
forehead against Robert’s. “We’ve still got her.”

“I know,” Robert whispered.

Joslyn burst into the room. “What the hell
happened?”

Emily sniffled. “Liz took it from me. Liz
hates me and she saved me. I don’t understand why.”

Joslyn rushed to Liz, but Robert glared up
at her. “You won’t touch her. We’ve got her. Us, no one else. She’s
been through enough and she doesn’t deserve to suffer anymore.”

Holding up her hands, Joslyn backed away.
“All right. I’ll see to Emily then.”

“You do that,” Robert snapped.

Emily wanted to help Liz, but she wouldn’t
take the curse back. She was terrified.

Tremaine looked deep into his Robert’s eyes.
“Go to your sister. Make sure she’s okay. I won’t let Liz go. Emily
is scared out of her mind. You need to help Emily.”

Robert’s eyes closed, but he nodded before
standing.

Tremaine sighed and looked right at Emily.
“For the record, Liz doesn’t hate you. It was her idea to come here
and break the curse when she realized what it was. Her idea to help
you, knowing what she was going to have to suffer. I need you to
understand that if you have any inclination to come between us and
Liz, say one nasty word about her, or try to convince Robert he
should turn away from her, you need to rethink that right now.”

Emily nodded, but she felt like she was
missing something.

Robert crouched beside her. There was
disgust mixed with the sympathy. “Em, why the hell did you bring
James back? After what he did you to you, why?”