Keeper(91)

I couldn’t speak, my heart trapped in my throat. I knew I’d never forget that sound; it was tattooed upon my soul.

I waited until I could breathe again, choking down my tears, and looked back up at the stranger in front of me.

“He tortured you to death.”

Gareth nodded, and the Master gave a delighted giggle. The sound was a slap in the face. I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I cried out, unable to stop the tears. “Gareth,” I sobbed.

I put my face in my hands and let the tears take over. It was all over now. “I’m so sorry. . . . This happened because of me. . . . I’m so, so sorry.” Each word punched a hole in the fragments of my heart.

“Lainey?” The voice that called to me was soft, familiar.

I looked up from my hands. Gareth was staring at me. My Gareth.

“I’m still here, Lainey,” he whispered. “Underneath the darkness and beyond death, he has me bound. He promised to bring me back to you if you just do what he says.” A tear rolled down his cheek. “We can be a family again.” He took a step toward me, his hand outstretched. “Please, Lainey, I don’t want to die. Do this for us, Lainey. Do it for me.”

The tortured expression on his face broke me in two. My hand started to lift to meet his.

But another voice, from another time, echoed those same words in my head. I clenched my hand into a fist and forced it down to my side. I looked over at Josephine. Her hand was pressed against her heart, and she was staring at me with such understanding eyes that I nearly lost it completely. “I don’t know what to do,” I whispered.

“Just unlock it, Lainey. Give him what he wants,” Gareth pleaded with me, thinking my words were meant for him.

Josephine’s face was smattered with tears, but she nodded resolutely at me. What you must, her face seemed to say. What I could not do.

A fresh wave of tears poured down my face. It was all I could do to keep my face from showing the anguish that was ripping me to shreds on the inside.

I stepped forward, closing the distance between Gareth and me.

I stared into his face, looked at the man who’d been my only family for my entire life. I could hear his voice in my head, hear his laugh. What I would’ve given to have him wrap his arms around me one last time, to go back to the way things used to be.

As I looked into his eyes, what was left of my heart shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.

“Gareth.” My voice was low, but he could hear me. “I love you so much.”

His eyes softened and he reached for me, pressing his palm against my cheek. “I love you, Lainey Bug.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, pulling back just far enough to reach the dagger I’d hidden in the bodice of my dress.

When he reached for me again, to pull me close, I yanked the blade from its hiding spot and pointed it at the soft skin of his neck.

The kind face went flat, and my Gareth was gone. The face that looked at me now was one of pure evil, the eyes full of hatred and cruelty.

He grabbed my wrist and pushed the blade in just enough to send several rivulets of blood coursing down his skin, where a brand new triangle tattoo was branded into his skin.

“Do it,” he sneered. “Go on.”

My hand was shaking, and the tears made it hard to see. I gripped the handle of the dagger.

He laughed seeing my struggle and released my hand. “You’re weak. You always have been.”

The Master’s face came into view over Gareth’s shoulder, his eyes alive. He was positively gleeful.

“Poor little Lainey,” Gareth continued to taunt me. “Such a scared, weak little girl.”

Just as I was about to lose my nerve, my fingers already loosening on the hilt, a hand reached out and touched my back. Lainey.

I didn’t hesitate.

With renewed strength flowing through me, I let out a wail and thrust the dagger up under the corner of Gareth’s jaw.

You must strike hard and fast, he had once said in our training session. Never lose the opportunity to take down your enemy. He won’t hesitate and neither should you.

The memory was sharp and clear as a spray of warm blood coated my hands and ran down my arms—the very maneuver he had taught me.

Gareth’s eyes went wide as blood gushed from the wound, the color immediately leeched from his skin. His legs gave way, and he swayed forward.

He would’ve fallen face-first, but I caught him and wrapped my arms around him. I couldn’t hold his weight, so we sank to the floor, blood pooling around us.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered over and over again, rocking back and forth, choking on my own tears. “I’m so sorry.”

“Lainey.” His voice was faint, and there was a sickening gurgle as Gareth suffocated on his own blood. I stared into his eyes, and as the last bit of darkness faded away, he was my uncle again. My Gareth.

The room was silent. The crowd stared at me as I held my dead uncle.

Maggie had both hands clamped over her mouth, and tears streamed down her face. Serena was standing a few feet away, at the front of the crowd. Her head was down, but her shoulders were shaking with quiet sobs. Ty stood a few feet away, stoic and unfeeling. I hated him, hated everyone in the room.

I would’ve sat there forever, the whole world titled on its axis, if it hadn’t been for the laughter, such delighted, overjoyed laughter.