“No,” she whispered. “I’m sorry for what’s about to happen.” She tilted her head, drawing it from beneath his chin to look again at the amber of his eyes, the glow that was within them before suddenly stronger than she’d ever seen it. “I’m sorry for what I’ve set into motion.”
Logan’s brow drew down, and the stab in her chest redoubled. She was going to have to tell them. They had thought they were finally free, finally able to find genuine happiness, and she was going to have to tear it away from all of them. Because her powers had been restored, and they were showing something she couldn’t face alone, something that none of them had expected. She knew the four of them didn’t stand much of a chance of fighting this future, but she felt the difference in herself. In their situation.
Because the shadows hadn’t died with the prophecy. They were still out there, trying to shift the fate of the world.
But now, Brianna Drake could see them.
Chapter Two
Shadows
“I’m ready,” the dark-haired man said, hands fisted at his sides. He was a complete contradiction to his audience, but he didn’t care. He wanted her. He would take her himself. “Let me at her before she has the chance to get any stronger.”
“Don’t be a fool,” the other man said. He waved a hand as he reached for a glass of aged Scotch. “You have no idea what she’s capable of.”
Two chairs sat at the center of the room, a small table on either side, the fireplace a deceptively serene backdrop in the dim light. The man in the second chair didn’t speak, merely rolled the edge of an empty glass in its place on the table. He didn’t drink. And he didn’t waste his time on the likes of this weak-blooded man currently pleading his case before them.
The dark-haired man straightened, coming to his full height, and said, “Then what shall be my next step?” He didn’t say our. He knew better than to assume so much. This was their game. He was no more than an underling. A pawn.
But he would do anything to play.
“Keep an eye on things for now,” the first man answered, still not bringing the glass to his lips. “And see what else you can get out of that Samuels boy.”
The dark-haired man glanced at the edge of the hand-woven rug inches in front of his feet, then back at his audience. It was a boundary, a line that was not to be crossed. “I’ll see what we can do. There’s not much hope of his recovery after the last time.”
The other man tilted his head, a small shift that served as a warning, and the dark-haired man dropped into a nod, nearly a bow, and walked from the room.
But he could still feel their presence behind him.
A team of men stood waiting in the vestibule, a uniform of black-clad soldiers awaiting the dark-haired man’s instruction. He held in a sigh. Torturing Brendan and the blonde was the last thing he wanted to do today.
What he wanted was Brianna.
Chapter Three
Aern
“What do you mean?” Emily asked again. “That’s not—” She stopped, shaking her head. “Brianna, that’s not possible. There can’t be more of them.”
Aern’s weight shifted toward her. He’d known the battle with Morgan was not the end. He’d seen it in Brianna’s eyes, felt it in her apology. They’d set some new chain of events into motion, brought some new fate down upon them all.
“How long do we have?” he asked.
Brianna shook her head. “They’re waiting on something.” Her eyes went briefly out of focus and the skin of Aern’s arms tingled. An instant later she was back. “I can’t quite find it. But I feel like once I have full control, I’ll be able to see.”
He understood without her having to explain in detail. Brianna had broken something free in all of them, given them powers that were long ago taken away, and they were hard to grasp. It was taking time to regain their control, to relearn the motions of it. Like a muscle after years of disuse. After a terrible, crippling accident.
“There’s something different about the visions now,” Brianna said. Her gaze skimmed the surface of the table. She didn’t want to admit what she was about to say. What she had to say. “It’s not like the prophecy, this is something else. And it’s not what’s to come.” She locked eyes with Aern. “It’s now.”
He sat, suddenly intent on having this conversation at eye level, and braced his elbows on his knees to lean toward her. “So you’ve seen these other shadows?” He was careful with the word, unsure of what it would mean to them, to Emily.
“No,” Brianna said. “They aren’t clear. There’s something fuzzy”—she paused, finding the right term—“foggy about them. Blocking them. But I know they’re there.” She pulled her lip beneath her tooth, then purposefully freed it. “What I’m seeing now, though, I’m not sure what he is.”
“He?” Emily asked, pacing behind Aern’s chair, arms wrapped around herself. It wasn’t a look of fear, it was agitation. Readiness.