See How She Fights (The Chronicles of Izzy #2)(14)

I pulled myself back to the present. I tried to convince myself that I didn’t care what he did to reign in his anger. Unfortunately for me, it was a total lie. I did care.

“Eavesdropping isn’t polite,” I said with a glare in Conall’s direction.

“Aye, but neither is having a public spat with your lover,” Conall challenged.

I glared at him for a moment before making my way back toward the house. I wasn’t quite ready to deal with the implications of taking over the psychic throne or Kennan’s betrayal, so it was a good thing I had a distraction. I just wished it weren’t in the form of dead Seers.

I tried to remember everything that had been said an hour ago. I’d been so busy trying to decipher the subtext of the conversation that I’d missed huge chunks of information. I needed to talk to Isadora, preferably without a huge entourage.

“Can you take me to your mother please?” I asked, putting a cap on my emotions to deal with the bigger problem. Throwing a tantrum about things to come would not protect people from the things happening now.

“It would be my honor, lass,” he smirked before stepping in front of me to lead the way.

“Don’t call me that,” I huffed.

“Oh, but Kennan said you liked it so much.”

“I am starting to really dislike you. I hope you’re aware of that,” I mumbled. Not that he cared.

“Aye, but it is not my desire to make you like me. It is my desire to keep that pretty head on your shoulders in one piece. With your eyes still encased.” He smiled and moved to hold the door open for me.

As we entered the house there was more bowing and simpering. It was driving me mad. Bah, focus Izzy. Dying people. Crazy rituals. There were more important things than my relationship woes and future title at stake. We walked back to Isadora’s office to find her in the exact spot she had been in when we first arrived. It felt like déjà vu.

“Well that took less time than I expected. Come in dear. I am sure you have some questions,” she said, patting the seat beside her.

“I would like to look through the file again if that would be all right. I do have some questions but they are about what is going on now. I really don’t want to talk about the other stuff yet. I, well, I’m not ready yet,” I said, hoping that my cowardice was not as apparent to everyone else as it was to me.

**********





CHAPTER SIX


I sat there, embroiled in the mystery of the killings. Isadora had told me they had found three bodies so far. In each case the evidence had been the same. The Seers had the same runes carved in their flesh, the same sort of white dress, and they were all missing their eyes. I couldn’t understand what would drive a person to do such a thing. I had thought Xavier to be the epitome of evil. This took it to a whole new level. I wanted to know if it was Xavier behind the killings. Perhaps he’d gone mad from losing everything. For all I knew, he was dead and this was an entirely new sort of evil lurking in our midst. I needed answers and I knew one place I could go to find them.

“Isadora, do you mind having Breanan or Conall put me to sleep?” I knew that trying to seek out a man that may or may not be dead was far reaching. It was all I had at the moment.

“Wouldn’t you like for Kennan to be here?” she asked, confused.

“Ma, I think that she would prefer not to see him at present. They have had a lovers quarrel,” Conall stage whispered. Yep, totally did not like him.

“Oh, but they will make up tomorrow,” she said with wild eyes. I sometimes forgot how disjointed Isadora could be. She saw so much. I wondered how she’d kept it together this long. “With the help of Breanan my dear. The same way Kennan will help you.”

Well, that was just peachy, she could read my friggin mind. Why had no one told me about that little trick?

“Because you didn’t need to know, my dear.”

“Could you stop doing that?” I blurted. I knew that I should show more reverence toward her. She somehow always threw me off kilter and I could never control my reaction.

“Oh, right, sorry. I forget sometimes. Don’t worry dear. We will set you to rights. Would you like to lie down here on the couch or go to one of the rooms to conduct this experiment?”

“Here would be fine,” I muttered, trying to calm myself and center my mind. I was far too antsy at the moment to accomplish anything of real consequence. Focus, Izzy, people were dead.

“If you lie down I will lift Kennan’s block,” Breanan said, startling me. I had forgotten he was in the room. He barely talked or moved. It was super creepy.

“Alright.” I lay down and did my best to focus on my objective. I needed to keep my internal chatter to a minimum. Luckily, I’d been practicing meditation and focus techniques for the past few months.

Breanan’s warm hands clasped on either side of my forehead. He began whispering words that I had come all too acquainted with over the past year. I felt my grasp on the dreaming snap back into place. He moved one hand to the center of my forehead and the other to the back of my head before whispering a phrase I’d not yet heard. Suddenly the world started to slip away. I was swallowed by the oblivion of the dreaming and dumped into the foggy miasma where nightmares became realities.

**********

“Hello?” I yelled. Even in the dreaming I knew this was a half-baked idea. I heard moaning in the distance. I moved forward through the foggy oblivion, the sound my only guide. The eerie noise echoed and bounced until I could not find my way. I was lost.