stuck to her body and her hands were chilled to the bone, the tips of her fingers red and numb.
‘I didn’t come here for tea,’ Evie answered, ignoring the chill and hoping the coldness of her body carried all the way to her eyes. ‘I came here for information.’
Jocelyn pursed her lips and then, after a beat, nodded. ‘Let me at least get you something to dry your hair with,’ she said, moving quickly past Evie to a closet at the end of the hallway. She pulled out a small towel and handed it to her.
Evie took it reluctantly and started absently patting the ends of her hair. When she was done Jocelyn led the way into the front room.
Two overstuffed sofas covered in knitted blankets took up most of the space. Paintings of what appeared to be foreign landscapes hung on the walls. Books filled the bookcases, but the mantelpiece was bare. There were no photographs on display anywhere. Jocelyn had no family, a choice she’d made which had once seemed tragic to Evie and which now seemed damn sensible.
‘Why are you still here?’ Evie asked, rounding suddenly on Jocelyn. ‘I don’t need protecting anymore. There’s no reason for you to stay in Riverview.’
Jocelyn seemed taken aback by the question. She took a while to compose herself, staring at her hands, which were now clasped in her lap. ‘You’re still my responsibility,’ she finally answered, looking up.
Evie rolled her eyes. ‘Oh please.’
‘Your parents …’ Jocelyn began.
‘Again, oh please,’ Evie shouted, cutting her off. ‘You betrayed them. Don’t you dare talk about them.’
‘I didn’t betray them,’ Jocelyn burst out, anger sparking like flint and flaming across her face.
Evie grimaced. ‘Well, why didn’t you stop Victor from killing them then? You said they were your friends.’
Jocelyn took a deep breath. ‘Evie, you of all people should know that we can’t always protect the people we love. That sometimes, despite our best efforts, we fail.’
Evie’s legs actually went from under her. One moment she’d been standing in front of Jocelyn and the next she was sitting on the sofa, staring at her knees, the room spinning wildly.
‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ Jocelyn said, pulling a blanket from off the back of the sofa and draping it over Evie’s shoulders.
‘If you knew what Victor had done,’ Evie whispered, gripping hold of the sofa arm, ‘how could you let him take me when I was a baby, how could you let him come back and train me to be a Hunter?’
Jocelyn drew back. ‘Evie, please,’ she said. ‘I asked you once to try to understand. I’m asking you again. I was barely twenty-two. I’d seen what Victor was capable of. I was terrified of him.’
‘And you also wanted the way through closed,’ Evie reminded her.
Jocelyn shrugged, her chin lifting. ‘Yes. I’m not going to lie. I wanted the way through to close. We all did! The realms needed to be severed – unhumans don’t belong in this realm. But believe me when I say I had no idea that it would involve you getting hurt. If I had known about the prophecy – if I had understood what it meant – I would never have let Victor near you, I swear.’
‘You let him get away though. When Lucas and I left him tied up in his store, you let him escape.’
‘No,’ Jocelyn interrupted. ‘He was already gone by the time I got there. I had to take care of Risper’s body before it could be found.’
Evie squeezed her eyes shut, trying to banish the image that arose of Risper lying in bloodied, scattered pieces across the alley. It didn’t make a jot of difference though. She could see it with her eyes open and with them shut.
‘I’m sorry,’ Jocelyn finally said. ‘I’m sorry for my part. For making you believe that the White Light was you. I thought it was true. And I’m sorry about Lucas – I know what he meant to you. And I know …’
Evie shot Jocelyn a look so fierce that she fell instantly silent. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Jocelyn finally worked up the courage to speak again. ‘I know,’ she said, ‘that he loved you and that he wanted this.’
‘Oh really?’ Evie shouted, leaping up from the sofa, unsteady on her feet. ‘He wanted this, did he? He wanted to be dead?’
Jocelyn winced as if Evie had kicked her. ‘No,’ she said quietly. ‘But he wanted you to live. And he was prepared to