Worlds Apart (34 page)

He found him in the orangery, lying on the couch in his jeans. Bare chest, no shoes and the jeans weren’t fastened.

Taylor slapped back a surge of lust. “I remember.”

Niall turned to him and smiled, but the smile faded as he stared at Taylor.

Taylor clenched his fists at his sides. “I remember that you were my friend, and when Stephanie disappeared, you did too. Did you hurt her?”

Niall pushed himself to a sitting position, his face grave. “No.”

“Do you know what happened to her?”

“Yes,” he said in a resigned voice.

Taylor couldn’t help himself. He flew at Niall, knocked the couch over and rained punches on him.

“You bastard,” Taylor yelled. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, worming your way into my parents’ lives, into my life, into my bed? Why the fuck didn’t you come forward at the time and tell me or the police what had happened?”

Taylor registered his hands were around Niall’s throat, choking him, that Niall wasn’t fighting back, and he let him go. Blood trickled down Niall’s face from a cut at his temple. He looked…gray.
Shit.

“What happened to my sister?” Taylor snapped.

“She followed me over the wall.”

“Did she hit her head? Is that how she died? It was an accident? Why didn’t you tell someone? Jesus Christ, Niall.”

“She isn’t dead.”

Taylor slumped onto his backside in shock. “What?”

“Stephanie’s in Faery…land.” Niall gave a gasp of pain.

Hope evaporated and Taylor groaned. “Niall, you’re crazy. Is that why you’re hiding out here? You escaped from a mental hospital?” Taylor’s mind jumped from one thought to another. “You killed my sister and your family took you away.”

“No,” Niall said, panting. “Well, no and yes. I didn’t kill Stephanie, but my family did take me away. They stopped me coming over the wall by threatening to kill her.”

Oh God. The guy’s delusional.
Taylor thought his heart was going to explode in fury, sadness and confusion. Last night, everything had been perfect. Now he was in the middle of a nightmare. And where the fuck was Roo? Why hadn’t she come back to the house?

“What do you remember?” Niall asked.

Taylor swallowed hard. Remembering Niall had brought back memories of the time Stephanie disappeared. Not that he’d forgotten any of it, but it all seemed clearer, closer, more painful.

“You climbed into the garden over the wall,” Taylor said.

Niall frowned. “Before that.”

Taylor shook his head, trying to sort out his thoughts. “My plane went over, I got it and brought it back. You came too.”

Niall pushed himself to a sitting position and wiped the blood from his mouth. “And?”

“And what? You came over. We hung out. You said you lived locally but you were home-schooled. We played in the evenings and at weekends. You were my best friend.”
Christ, a best friend who killed my sister?
Niall seemed completely sane and utterly insane at the same time, and Taylor’s heart verged on collapse.

“Did you introduce me to your parents?” Niall asked.

Taylor frowned. “You…wouldn’t let me. You said you’d be in trouble if your mother found out you’d come into the garden.”

“Did Stephanie see me?”

“Course she did, she must have, but she always claimed you weren’t there. She was just jealous.”

Niall’s shoulders sank. “Did you tell the police about me?”

Taylor faltered. “I-I must have done. I don’t remember. I’ll tell them now. You need to speak to them.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Christ, Niall. Why did you come back? You’d have got away with it, but you—”

Niall bristled. “I didn’t lay a finger on your sister. She’s not dead, but it’s my fault she was taken, my fault you don’t remember.” Niall looked around. “Where’s Roo?”

“She showed me the mark on the wall. The entwined NT. I remembered then.”

Niall’s eyes widened. “She didn’t come back with you? We need to find her.”

“How is she involved in this? Did you know her before she came for the interview?”

Niall shook his head. “I’d never seen her before and she’s not involved.
Wasn’t
involved. We need to look for her.”

“You have to tell me everything,” Taylor said. “Does your family have Stephanie? Whereabouts in the country is she being held? Does she remember me?”

“She’s in Faery…land.” Niall gritted his teeth and cried out as his body spasmed.

Taylor groaned. “If you care anything for me, tell the truth.”

Niall started to shake. “It is the truth.”

His back arched and Niall groaned. The beads of sweat and the agony on his face told Taylor he wasn’t pretending. Fury and worry competed in Taylor’s gut and worry won. Niall was sick, both in body and mind. Taylor had no idea how he’d come up with the fantasy of Stephanie being in Faeryland, but the physical issues he had were real. And what was it with this room? The vegetation smelled wrong. It didn’t seem a healthy place to be.

Taylor reached out and stroked Niall’s face. “What can I do? Is there something you need?”

Niall stared into his eyes. “I’m dying.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Taylor pulled his hand away from Niall’s face. The scorn in his expression made Niall flinch.

“Dying?” Taylor snapped. “Another lie to make me feel sorry for you?”

“It’s not a lie.”

As Taylor stared at him, disappointment deadened every one of Niall’s senses, even his pain receptors, which should have been a blessing but wasn’t because he deserved to hurt. What the hell had he thought would happen when Taylor remembered? That everything would suddenly be bright and beautiful? Well, yes, that’s exactly what he’d hoped, that Taylor would remember him, realize he loved him and they’d live happily ever after.

“Niall, mate, you need help,” Taylor said, his voice quieter.

“Yes.” He did, but not the sort of help Taylor had in mind.

Niall had been under the mistaken belief that deep down Taylor must have known Faeryland lay the other side of the wall, and with the right memories triggered, everything would become clear as if he’d emerged from a fog. After all, Taylor had been over the wall and found his plane not in the forest he could see from his side, but in a sea of grass, so surely Taylor had realized Niall came from another world.

The answer was no, he hadn’t. He’d believed Niall’s lies about home schooling and living like a gypsy, he’d not wondered why Niall never invited him to his house, he’d not wondered anything. It was amazing the guy had ended up as a private investigator.

“Christ, what a mess.” Taylor slumped and put his head in his hands.

Now Taylor not only thought Niall was crazy, but that he’d killed Stephanie, and pretty soon Taylor would call the police and that’d be the last time Niall would see him. Death held Niall in its claws. Until now, he’d kept to the agreement with his mother and stayed silent, knowing that with a few words he could so easily forfeit his right to live on this side, but Roo had spoken out, talked about Faeryland and Niall assumed that would allow him to speak too. The pain told him he was mistaken.

The orangery could sustain him no longer. The plants were dying, the smell of decay grew stronger. The tattoo had tightened its strangling hold and now Niall walked toward death knowing Taylor didn’t love him. How could he? Why should he? Niall clenched his jaw. Roo’s love wouldn’t save him, but he wished she was here.

“Where’s Roo?” he asked.

Taylor lifted his head from his hands. Dark shadows bloomed under his eyes and Niall’s heart ached that he’d caused more pain to the man he loved.

“Did you watch her get down from the wall?” Niall asked. She’d fallen before. She might again. His heart beat faster. “Taylor? Go and see if Roo’s okay.”

“Only if you come with me.”

It hurt not to be trusted, but Niall knew he deserved it. He pushed himself up on shaky legs, pain skittering down his spine, and forced himself to follow Taylor outside. Niall pulled up short when he saw the devastation in the walled garden.

“Fuck,” Niall muttered.

“Looks like your past’s catching up with you,” Taylor said.

It didn’t need to catch up. It was always here. The destruction was borne of anger and a reminder of time running out.

“There’s no sign of Roo,” Taylor said.

There was no place to hide inside the garden.

“Check the other side of the wall,” Niall said, his pulse racing. He stumbled to lean against the tree.

Taylor climbed the ladder of the tree house, hopped onto the wall and looked down. “She’s not there. She must be in the house.”

Niall really wanted her to be in the house, but by the time he’d staggered after Taylor through every room, and returned to Taylor’s bedroom, it was clear Roo was nowhere to be found.

“Has she run now that the gig’s up?” Taylor spat. “Left you to face the music on your own?”

“All her things are still in that bedroom,” Niall pointed out. “And there’s no plot here. I’d never seen her before she came for the interview.”

“So where is she?” Taylor asked and Niall was grateful the guy at least looked concerned.

Taylor’s face hardened. “I’m taking you to the police.”

“If you do, I’ll be dead before the end of the day.”

“More dramatics?”

“If I leave Sutton Hall, I’ll die.”

Taylor snorted.

Niall sagged with disappointment that Taylor didn’t believe him. It wasn’t going to happen anyway, not the taking to the police. Niall was weak, but this close to Faeryland he was not without power, only heart sick and struggling with a tattoo that burned as if phosphorus licked his body.

Taylor picked up his phone and a few minutes later, it was done. Niall had sat on the bed and listened to Taylor report he had a man in his house who knew something about the disappearance of his sister sixteen years ago, and in addition, another woman appeared to have gone missing.

Niall’s choices were few now and he didn’t want anything to remain hidden between him and Taylor. He watched Taylor get dressed, aware that was the last time he’d see him unclothed. Painful as that was, Niall braced himself for further hurt and said the words he’d held in his heart for so long, “I love you.”

Taylor’s face showed nothing but derision. “Yeah right. Great timing, you sick fuck.”

Niall gritted his teeth. “When my mother discovered I’d been coming over the wall to play with you, she told me to stop. I didn’t. She beat me. She…found other ways to punish me. I still came. Then one day, Stephanie saw me, caught sight of my wings.”

Taylor snorted and headed out of the room. Niall followed.

“My carelessness cost everyone dear. Stephanie came over the wall to look for me and she was found. Her return was then impossible. My mother made me come back one more time. She wanted me to see you and your family drowning in despair, suffocating in sorrow and know that it was my fault. My selfishness in wanting to keep playing with you, my carelessness in letting myself be seen by another mortal.”

“You making this up as you go along?” Taylor barked as he walked downstairs.

Niall took a deep breath, fighting against the pain that was now so fierce his vision wavered. “It’s rare for any mortal to enter the faery realm. Those who do are usually killed. My mother wanted me to see the consequences of my actions. You sat next to me and cried and said you’d give anything for Stephanie to be alive. I went home and pleaded with my mother for your sister to be returned with her memory wiped, so she’d remember nothing of Faeryland or me.”

Taylor turned to stare at him, but Niall knew he didn’t believe him. Taylor walked into the drawing room and dropped onto a couch. Niall sat opposite.

“My mother said she’d spare Stephanie for a price, but the girl had to stay in Faeryland. The price was yours and mine to give, willingly or not.” Niall’s spine felt as though it was cracking. “My mother removed your capacity to accept love. Your life was to be one where no relationship lasted.”

Taylor raised his eyebrows and sprawled like a starfish, spreading his arms. “Maybe my relationships don’t last because I haven’t yet found the right person. I work a job that shows me the so-called value of love, how people lie and cheat on those they’d promised to love forever.”

“We’ve had this discussion before. You’re blind to the other side of the coin and it’s my fault. I thought I could teach you to love again, not just another person but to love life. We were happy here.”

Niall saw Taylor swallow hard and a spark of hope struggled to gain strength in Niall’s weakening heart.

“And what did your mother want from you?” Taylor asked, though Niall knew he still didn’t believe.

“My love for you couldn’t be revealed until you loved me. If I kissed you first, I’d suffer intense pain and the time I could spend here would be adversely affected. If I told the truth, if I mentioned Faeryland, the deal I’d brokered would end and I’d die. I thought I had a year, but turns out that’s not true. The destruction of the garden is a final message from my mother. My time has run out.”