Sarah flinched. “I don’t know,” she murmured. “Try and lie still.”
Niall walked to the window and looked at the sky. “The ravens are still out there,” he said in a low voice, “and so is that bloody demon-bird, and who knows what else. Sean can’t go wandering off on his own like this. I’ll find Mike and we’ll go and bring him back.” He placed a kiss on Elodie’s forehead and strode out of the room.
“Take care!” Sarah called after him.
“Will do!” His footsteps faded into the distance, and then they heard him calling Mike’s name.
“Sarah. What happened between you and Sean?” whispered Elodie after a few moments, her voice muffled by her pillow.
Nicholas’s heart skipped a beat. He waited.
Sarah shook her head, concentrating on the task at hand. “Nothing happened. And nothing ever will.” She kept her eyes solely on Elodie’s wounds, then she pulled the bedclothes carefully up to the nape of her friend’s neck. “Rest now, Elodie. If you need me, just shout and I’ll be straight up. Thank God you’re safe,” she added, and a rare look of affection passed between the two girls.
“Are you OK?” She then asked Nicholas, unable to read the look in his eyes.
He nodded. “Yes. I’ll sit here with Elodie for a bit. If that’s OK with you.”
“Yes. Stay,” murmured Elodie. She lay as white as a sheet, her eyes feverish with pain.
We have done this to her, thought Nicholas in despair.
He made a promise to himself. Never again would he be part of the King of Shadows’ world of pain.
50
Threshold
Same planet, two dimensions
The love that wasn’t meant to be
Sarah
Just when I was about to make my choice, just when I was about to tell Sean that I was ready, that I knew what love was at last, he told me that he’d abide by the rules.
Secret women cannot marry Lay men.
Sean and I can never be together.
But none of those rules make any sense to me now. Everything has changed, the old order of things has crumbled. None of us is who we thought we were, and still, Sean is clinging to the old world as if its laws still stand.
I tried to tell him that it makes no difference to me whether he is a Lay, or half-Secret, or even an Elemental, for all that matters. I don’t care whose blood runs through his veins – he is Sean. My Sean.
But in the garden today, once I’d explained what I’d discovered in the letter, he told me that he believes in the rigid structure on which the Secret Families base their existence. He told me he agrees with Morag that the powers Secret Families hold should be nourished and protected, and that we should breed among ourselves and not dilute our powers. Yes, breed, like pedigree dogs, or prized cattle. When I protested that I didn’t care about my powers, he said that he couldn’t bear to be responsible for the loss of the Blackwater. That I should marry Nicholas, or Niall, or any other surviving Secret heir, but that it could never, ever be him. Never anyone with Lay blood in them.
He held me one last time, and then he walked away.
Nicholas came into my room as I was trying to gather my thoughts.
“Sarah.” He took my hands in his, and without warning he tried to kiss me.
I turned away. “I’m sorry,” I heard myself saying.
I think he understood at once.
To see the devastation in his face broke my heart, but at least I wasn’t living a lie anymore. If Sean and I could never be together, I didn’t believe I could ever love anyone else. I couldn’t deceive Nicholas any longer. I couldn’t deceive myself any longer.
“I’ll wait. I’ll wait for you to change your mind,” he said, clutching my hand.
I had never seen him like this. “Nicholas, I’m sorry, but I won’t.”
“Sean,” he growled.
“No. There’s no one. There can never be anyone, Nicholas. I’m a Midnight, and believe me, it’s a lot better for everyone if the Midnight line stops here with me.”
51
And Then I Found You
Watch while what was in the dark
Is cast into the light
Watch while the secrets we kept
Don’t choke us anymore
While Elodie rested and Sarah and Nicholas talked upstairs, the others were gathered in the living room. Sean and Mike were chatting quietly by the fireplace; Niall was lying on one of the sofas, his arms crossed behind his head; Winter, having entered while Niall and Nicholas moved Elodie