Shades of Blood

  But there was no ugly knot in her chest anymore.

  She had a home to return to, where people loved her. Where Noah loved her. They had a future together. She needed that more than she’d ever need revenge. She just hoped he knew that.

  Romany clicked off the phone. “They’re on their way. We should get out of here.”

  Eden nodded and made a move towards the door. Romany stopped her, holding out a hand.

  She wanted to shake hands?

  Eden contemplated it a moment. She’d let her anger go. For everyone’s sake not just her own. But she hadn’t forgotten. And she wouldn’t anytime soon.

  Looking up slowly from the hand that hoped to shake hers, Eden’s expressionless gaze met Romany’s hopeful one. The hope dissipated at Eden’s stony look and she lowered her hand.

  Smart girl.

  Eden grunted and brushed past her. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Promise

  “Noah!” Jack burst into the training room where Noah was pummeling the shit out of a boxing bag, Tobe and Cameron watching worriedly from the sidelines. He stopped at Jack’s uncharacteristically dramatic entrance.

  “What?”

  Jack smiled. “Eden’s at the gate. And she’s not alone.”

  Noah flew past him, boxing bag forgotten.

  “They’ll be happy to see you,” Romany assured her. Together they stood at the first gate at Cyrus’s estate, the cab having peeled away from the curb, the driver throwing the security point a dubious look. Probably thought they were mafia or something.

  Little monsters were playing kickball in Eden’s stomach and laughing every time they made her feel sick. Cyrus was probably so pissed at her for just disappearing like that. They’d probably assumed the worst. Noah probably hated her.

  She took a deep breath. “We’ll see.”

  The gate swung open and Eden glanced up at the guard. He nodded them through and together they began striding forward, the gravel driveway kicking up under her combat boots. They had been walking for a few minutes when Romany said, “I really do appreciate what you did for me.”

  “I didn’t do it for you.”

  “I know. I get it.”

  Eden grunted, her chaotic mind kind of preoccupied with other stuff. Like how her Ankh family were going to receive her.

  “You don’t forgive me, do you?” Romany asked quietly, guilt threaded through the words.

  Before Eden could reply the gates up ahead swung open and through them she saw Darius and Cyrus heading towards her, Val and Alain and Emma at their back. Noah too. His pace quickened as he caught sight of her.

  Her heart thumped at the sight of them all. Darius there to make sure she’d passed his test. Cyrus to make sure she was still the adopted daughter he loved. Val to make sure Eden had acted with honor. Noah to make sure she was the girl he’d always known she was. And his parents to make sure he’d been right.

  Head still forward facing, Eden slanted her gaze, staring at Romany from out the corner of her eyes. “I won’t ever have to see you again after this… right?”

  Realizing that was as close to forgiveness she’d ever get, Romany nodded quickly. “Right. I promise.”

  The sound of gravel kicking up under speed drew Eden’s gaze straight ahead and she saw Noah was actually jogging towards her. She took a step forward, relief flooding her at the love in his eyes. Two more steps and they were colliding, breath knocking breath out as they embraced. His familiar scent relaxed her as she pressed her face into his shoulder, relishing the feel of him wrapped around her. She felt his lips in her hair and the ragged rise and fall of his chest.

  “I knew it,” he whispered, squeezing her tighter. “I knew it.”

  Just as his head lowered, his lips reaching for hers, Darius’ pulsing presence drew them apart. His dark eyes scrutinized Eden and then Romany. “What happened?”

  Eden looked past him to Cyrus, her guardian’s face taut and expressionless. She felt her heart suspend in her chest, disconnected, waiting for a sign of affection from him to settle back in place and start beating again.

  “Eden helped me kill the soul eater who murdered my mom and sister.”

  Everyone eyed each other in surprise, Noah pulling back to look down at Eden, his gaze searching.

  “Eden?” Cyrus was standing next to her now, towering over her, his chocolate eyes warm but questioning.

  She pulled away from Noah and turned to face him. “I needed closure. It was the best I could do.”

  He didn’t say anything. Instead he pulled her into his arms and she felt his shoulders shudder as she hugged him back. Cyrus had been scared. He’d thought Darius was going to have to kill her. Guilt as well as overwhelming love for this Ankh only underlined how right the move to let go of revenge on Romany had been. For the first time in her life she had a home she could always come back to. A home she would always want to come back to.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” He pulled back and stroked her cheek. “I should have known there was too much of your mother in you for you to hurt the girl.”

  “Well…” Darius was grinning, that off-kilter wicked grin. “All is well that ends well. I’ll be off then, my friend.” He clamped a hand on Cyrus’ shoulder. “Call me if you need me.”

  “I will.” Cyrus nodded and as Noah pulled her back into his arms, she felt her own relief that Darius was leaving. Just because she’d escaped his judgment didn’t mean he was any less unnerving. As the ancient warrior strode past Val they shared a longing look and Eden’s chest ached a little for her mentor. To not be with the one who was everything to you… she buried deeper against Noah and his familiar, comforting warmth… she couldn’t imagine.

  “I better get back to my Councilman,” Romany said softly, drawing their attention.

  Val stepped forward, finally dragging her gaze away from Darius. “I’ll drive you.”

  Romany smiled at her and then looked back at Eden. “I promise.”

  Eden nodded back at the Neith. After all the pain and turmoil her appearance had caused, her promise to stay away was the best one Eden had received in a long time. She was at least grateful to the girl for that.

  Exhaustion gripped Eden as they all turned and headed back for the house. She strode between Cyrus and Noah, her hand in her boyfriend’s, her other resting affectionately on Cyrus’s arm. Alain and Emma fell into step beside them as Romany and Val hurried up ahead.

  “Eden, I had the television in our rec room changed to a full HD and the DVD player is now a Blu-Ray player,” Alain suddenly said to her, his voice softer than it had ever been when directed at her. “Noah tells me you like movies and the shop assistant assured me the package I bought was the best in home cinema entertainment.”

  Shocked, Eden nearly stumbled. Was Alain holding out an olive branch? She looked up at Noah, eyes questioning. He smirked at her, silently telling her just to go with it. She cleared her throat and looked over at the French warrior. “That sounds awesome, Mr. Valois.”

  “Please, call me, Alain.”

  She almost passed out.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  The Only Ones that Matter

  At the sound of the soft knock on her bedroom door, Eden sighed. She really didn’t want to leave her bed. She looked down at the heavy arm lying across her stomach and felt a rush of breath-stealing relief. Her eyes slid along the arm to the body that was curled into her side, the face that was pressed against her shoulder. Even in his sleep Noah tried to burrow as close to her as he could. His long lashes rested against his cheeks, his features soft and relaxed in slumber. Eden could have watched him sleep forever.

  The knock sounded again. “Eden?”

  Val?

  With another sigh Eden shed her exhaustion, using her graceful Ankh stealth to slide out from under Noah’s arm. He made a grumbling noise but continued to sleep. She threw him a smile over her shoulder as she pulled on her jeans.

  “Val???
? she whispered, opening the door and stepping outside, shutting it silently behind her. It had only been fourteen hours or so since her return to the estate with Romany. Romany was thankfully gone and everyone else was probably still in their beds, sleeping off one of the most grueling weeks ever.

  Val arched an eyebrow. Her mentor had gotten a peek of Noah in her bed before she’d closed the door. “We’ll let that one pass as long as Cyrus doesn’t find out. No sleepovers in one another’s room until your eighteen, Eden.”

  Grinning at the rule – one that Eden was afraid had come far too late – Eden nodded her head down the hall, quietly suggesting they take this conversation away from her bedroom.

  Val shook her head and jerked a thumb in the opposite direction. “Cyrus wants to see you.”

  Uh oh. That can’t be good.

  Brow furrowed, Eden followed Val down the vast hallway until they reached Cyrus’ suite. His door opened as if he had been waiting for them. The gentle smile he gave her as she stepped inside with her mentor relaxed her somewhat, but Eden was still wary. What was so important they couldn’t give her some time to chill out with Noah?

  When she was seated in front of them, Eden felt about five. They stood facing her, side by side, their arms crossed over their chests, like two parents who had caught their kid trying to put the cat in the washer/dryer. “Uhh… what’s up?”

  “We thought we better discuss this with you before everyone else awakens,” Cyrus replied.

  Eden gulped. God, this didn’t sound good at all. “Discuss what?”

  Val narrowed her eyes. “Your use of your gift.”

  Oh.

  “My gift.” She thought about that goth girl she’d changed in Cambridge. The fanatical feeling of rightness that had taken over Eden as the thing inside her had transformed goth girl into a human. That thing was like a sentient being, something separate, something powerful. If Eden were honest it had been quite the rush.

  “We told you not to use your powers and we understand that it was in the heat of the moment.” Val nodded, her face still stern. “But you have to promise us, Eden, to not use your gift again.”

  She blinked. But… the threats were gone now. Was that really necessary? Her gift… it was important… it freed people. “It shouldn’t be wasted.” Eden shook her head. Her eyes shifted to Cyrus, pleading. “I don’t understand.”

  Cyrus sighed. “It is still not safe for you to use it, Eden. We are not saying forever, we are just saying… not now.”

  OK. A part of her felt surprisingly sad over the promise they wished to extract from her. However, if these last few weeks had taught her anything, it was to trust these two implicitly – despite appearances, their motives were born out of protecting her. “So… how long?”

  Her guardian and mentor looked at one another as if coming to a silent agreement on something. Cyrus’s gaze slid back to Eden. “Three or four centuries.”

  Her mouth fell open. “What?”

  He shrugged. “Neith memories are long… but hopefully by then the Neith will think of the tales of Eden MacDouglas as myth and legend. That is usually the way of things.”

  Three or four hundred years?!

  “It’s not that long, Eden,” Val assured her. “Not to an immortal.”

  “It still sucks ass.”

  Cyrus grunted. “My daughter, ladies and gentlemen.”

  Despite the sarcasm, Eden felt that mushy warm glow within when he called her his daughter. That would never get old. She grinned, despite herself. “OK, OK, I promise.”

  “Really?” they asked unison, disbelief coloring the word.

  Eden rolled her eyes and she stood to her feet. “I promise. It sucks but… I can live with it.”

  After holding eye contact with her for a minute they seemed to relax, reassured she was on the same page as them. The two older Ankh asked for a few more promises from her: she was never to disappear, always to let them know where she was going, to keep her cell switched on at all times, and to try not to venture anywhere alone. That last one in particular stuck in Eden’s craw but to appease them she nodded along with a lot of ‘yeah, yeah, yeahs’ and ‘I promises’. Finally, they let her leave… but not without one last word from Cyrus.

  “And Eden,” he called as she opened his door.

  Not liking the very father-ish tone in his voice, Eden tensed, throwing him a tentative look over her shoulder. “Yeah?”

  He scowled at her now. “I would prefer it if Noah refrained from sleeping in your bed.”

  Embarrassed, Eden threw Val a look of betrayal. Val held up her hands. “I didn’t say a word.”

  Cyrus sighed. “You really think I do not know exactly what is going on in my own home. I am all knowing, sweetheart.”

  Flushing, Eden nodded, hardly able to meet his eyes. “It won’t happen again.” She stopped and turned back. “Not until I’m eighteen… right?”

  “Not until you are eighteen hundred.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me?”

  “I never kid.” He shook his head, completely immovable.

  “Well that’s just ridiculous.”

  “That is ridiculous,” Val agreed, making a face at Cyrus. “Loosen up.”

  “I am loose. I am completely loose. My daughter, however, will not be.”

  Cheeks burning, Eden decided she’d had enough mortification. “Alright, I’m out of here.”

  “Remember… not until you are eighteen hundred!” he called from his suite as she strolled down the hall back to Noah.

  “Sorry, Princeps,” she muttered, smiling when she opened the door and found Noah awake and waiting on her. “That’s one rule I’m going to have to break.”

  “You all packed?”

  Tobe had been so busy checking her room over to make sure she had everything, her mind crammed full of so much that had happened over the last few weeks that she hadn’t even heard Eden approach. She smiled up at her, still tripping from fatigue. “I didn’t really have much with me.”

  Eden nodded, stepping into the room, glancing around. “Where’s Cameron?”

  Tobe grimaced. “Councilman McLeish wanted to have a word with him before we fly back home. I think about his mum and… well… the whole him being psychic thing.”

  “And your parents?”

  At the thought of her parents, Tobe relaxed, the tension that kept creeping back up on her dissipating when she remembered that they were safe and here with her. “Getting as much sleep as possible. We talked last night. They’re… getting there.”

  “They went through a lot. It’ll take time.”

  That was an understatement. Not only were they reeling from having been taken, and at having not been able to protect their own daughter, but also from having played their part in setting up Adam Lincoln. Tobe’s parents were honest, genuinely nice people… it didn’t sit well with them to lie about anything, especially not something so huge. But… they had done it for Cyrus. For the relationship between the Ankh and Neith. “Yeah.” She nodded and then smirked, remembering last night’s conversation. “On the plus side, they’re going to let me start patrolling.”

  Eden grinned back at her, understanding how exciting it was for her. “About time.”

  “Yup. I’m a big girl now.”

  They sniggered and Eden drew closer. “I can’t believe you’re leaving already.”

  “I know… but… it’s only a few months until Christmas. Maybe you could visit?”

  “I’d really like that.”

  “Good.” Tobe saw a flash of melancholy in Eden’s eyes and frowned at her. “Come on, it won’t be for that long.”

  “I know.” She nodded. “I’m just… gonna miss you. You were, like, the only person who had my back even when I was being a crazy bitch.”

  “That is true… you were a crazy bitch.”

  Eden punched her in the arm. Hard.

  Tobe was still rubbing the bruised flesh and whining when Eden sat casually down on the bed and grinned wicked
ly up at her. “So… you and Cameron huh? That all back on track?”

  “Is it true Noah spent the night in your bed last night?”

  “Hey, don’t change the subject. And yes. Now you answer.”

  Feeling a pang in her chest, Tobe tried to ignore her own feeling of sadness that she and Eden wouldn’t be able to see each other every day, that they wouldn’t be able to hang out and mock and support the other. She sighed and flopped down beside her. Her friends back home didn’t understand her like Eden did. Although… she did have Cameron. “He’s going to be OK.” She nodded. Eden and Noah weren’t the only ones who’d spent the night together, although Tobe and Cameron had spent it talking and just being happy to lie next to one another. “He’s a bit freaked out, naturally. It’s not every day you find out you’re an effin’ psychic but despite everything… I think he knows his Uncle Neil will protect him. We’re kind of intrigued to see what it all means though. It’s really cool.” She cocked her head, thinking about all the things they might discover with Cameron’s new found abilities. Now that he was reassured she still cared about him. “You know I think he was more scared that I was mad at him about the whole soulless thing. Which is completely idiotic. You’d think I was prone to holding a grudge or something.”

  Eden snorted.

  “Shut up.”

  “I didn’t say anything.” Eden held up her hands, her mouth quirked up in the corner as if she were desperate to laugh.

  Tobe rolled her eyes. “Like I’d hold a grudge against Cameron for something he couldn’t control. He was trying to save my life at the time.”

  “I know, I know. So you’re all cool?”

  “We’re getting there. Now it’s just returning home to bitchy Neith like Shona, who no doubt will have something to say about me and Cameron dating.”

  At the mention of Shona, Eden curled her lip. Her cousin really hadn’t liked her fellow Neith. Not that she did either, but Eden particularly despised her for the way she talked to Tobe. She huffed, “Shona’s a shrew. Anyway…when’s your flight?”