Falling Light (Game of Shadows #2)(71)

Astra nursed a glass of tea while Michael and Mary ate their meal. Michael’s bowl of stew disappeared fast, and he polished off a second helping before Mary had a chance to finish hers. Meanwhile, the silence stretched out between the three of them, and it was not a calm, peaceful one.

Astra was the one who spoke first. “You’re a pair of damn fools. And the risk you took yesterday was inexcusable.”

Mary set her spoon down on the table and met the older woman’s hard, angry gaze.

Somehow she managed to wrestle her own anger under control. She kept her tone soft and even as she said, “We didn’t agree on this subject yesterday, and we’re not going to agree today, so let’s just cut to the chase. Do you want to waste time going over who should have done what? Or do you want to talk about something relevant? And by the way, Jerry’s just fine, but Jamie’s dead. Thank you so much for asking.”

Astra’s expression underwent a drastic change. “What are you talking about—Jamie’s dead? I called Jerry this morning, and he said Jamie was just fine.”

Mary sat back in her seat. She and Michael exchanged a look. Michael said, “That’s not Jamie. It’s Nicholas.”

Astra’s gaze narrowed on Mary. “Well, that’s unprecedented,” she said, almost to herself. “And potentially very, very useful.”

Mary closed her eyes and pinched her nose. “Just don’t go there. Nicholas gets to do whatever he wants with this second chance. He’s already lost his life once. I hope he stays the hell away from all of us.”

“He won’t,” said Astra. “He’ll come back, and when he does, I’ll make use of him again.”

She knew better. She knew she shouldn’t engage, but she just couldn’t help herself. “People are not your tools to use as you see fit.”

Astra leaned forward, slapping her flattened hands on the table. “Do you know what you did yesterday? You and Michael risked your lives for two people. Two people. Do you know what the Deceiver did yesterday? He killed at least twenty that I know of. And that is NOTHING compared to the kind of destruction he has wreaked on this earth.”

Mary blinked. “What are you talking about? Who did he kill yesterday?”

This time it was Astra and Michael who looked at each other. Astra said, “She hasn’t heard the news.”

She looked from the old woman to Michael, who leaned back in his seat. His pewter gaze darkened, one of his hands resting beside his empty dish. His hand balled into a fist. “I haven’t had time to tell her.”

Mary’s stomach clenched. “Whatever it is, I think you’d better tell me now.”

Michael’s mouth tightened. “He massacred eight people in a restaurant not far from the cabin and framed us for it. That was how he mobilized the authorities to look for us.”

Mary felt the blood leave her face.

Astra watched her closely. “Those weren’t the only people he killed. The body that he left in your old house was that of a computer salesman. The man had a wife who was searching frantically for him. The Deceiver took that man like he took your ex-husband, and he makes drones as casually as other people make scrambled eggs.”

Michael said, “Astra.”

“No, I’m not going to shut up.” Astra’s expression turned ruthless. “Meanwhile you two chose to risk your lives on just two people. Don’t get me wrong. They are nice people. But they are just two. If the Deceiver had destroyed you, everybody else that he would kill would be your fault.”

Michael slammed his fist on the table. “Stop it.”

Mary stood and listened to the echo of her chair as it clattered backward onto the floor.

“I’m going to take a few minutes,” she said. The words scraped her throat raw.

“Mary,” Michael said. He reached for her.

She threw up her stiffened hands as if to push away the news or keep Astra’s words from hitting her, but she couldn’t reverse time, or save any of the people, or erase anything that Astra had said. All she could do was stop from hearing more.

“Stop,” she said. “I’m going to take a few f**king minutes.”

He rose to his feet as she headed blindly for the door.

Astra said, “Let her go.”

“You had to push it, didn’t you?” Michael’s voice was savage. “What the hell is the matter with you?”

Mary didn’t wait to hear anymore. She wrenched the door open and ran outside. But she couldn’t run away from what was already inside her head.

• • •

MANY LONG YEARS ago, Astra had made up a pretend mate who cared.

See, she said to her pretend mate. This is why I keep wondering if I have to kill them.

If they are not with me, they are against me in a thousand ways that matter. They distract me. They drain my energy. They keep me up late at night, sleepless with worry, when I should be working on other things. They present targets to the Deceiver for manipulation and corruption, and they might possibly turn into outright enemies.

She couldn’t kill them just because they drove her crazy, could she?

No, she could not. That was something the Deceiver would do. Not her. If that was her line in the sand, then so be it.

She and the Deceiver had once been young. Yes, she remembered the early days of their first life all too well. As all mated pairs of their kind, they had been born together, and they had known each other from early childhood.