Chapter 37

Catlin looked so different with her natural blonde hair, but she still wore bright red lipstick. She was curled up in an armchair, sipping tea, in the library of Crofton Hall. "Don't take this the wrong way, but it's strange to think of you as a fae prince," she said with a smile. "And let's not forget a future Dark Earl."

"I would have thought you'd have witnessed stranger things. How are your memories now?"

She wrinkled her nose. "Not great. I remember living here before, I was happy. Content with my role, and I had no interest in becoming the Dark Countess, but I don't remember why I left here, only meeting Ralph and being taken to the facility. Even that's a bit fuzzy."

"Do you want to know? Or would you prefer those memories are kept locked away—they might not be too pleasant."

"I'd rather know what happened, otherwise I will be driven slowly mad by this hole." She stared at him over the rim of her cup. "Do you think you can restore them?"

"Yes." He was certain of it, and he'd spoken to James who had agreed it was possible, at least in theory, that it wouldn't take that much energy and he should follow his instincts. "Whenever you're ready, doesn't have to be now, you can call me at any time and I'll come as soon as I'm able."

She put down her cup and scooted forwards to sit on the edge of the chair. "Now's good."

He patted the space next to him on the sofa. "Come here then. I need to be in physical contact."

"Oh, am I going to get a fumble from a fairy prince?" she smirked as she sat down. "Don't tell Robin, he'll make me disappear for good."

He laughed and took her hand. "No fumbling required. Besides, I don't think you have the equipment to tempt me away from Robin."

"There are such things as strap-ons." She cackled, no doubt seeing his expression. "No fear, Simon, you're safe from me."

He liked Catlin, whichever version he'd met, and he would visit her often, as Ben would have no issue with him being here. "Close your eyes and concentrate on the time nearest before the gap occurs. Describe it to me."

She did as requested and Simon let his magic meander around her. "It's Burns Night. I was at Arabella's house."

"Who is she?" He was trying to link up the faces that swam into his mind. "The little redhead? Or the brunette witchy one?"

"The witchy one? I don't know her…"

Simon delved deeper watching the scene through Catlin's eyes but from the perspective of an outside source, looking for things to go wrong. The woman called herself Suki, she was friendly and keen to get to speak to Catlin. She made Simon's skin crawl, there was something about the way she held herself and her lingering stares, asking questions about the Redbourns as if she needed to confirm details.

"Ben said you were replaced by an aswang, I think this was where you met them."

He probed further, moving forwards in time about a week and another party, and Suki was there again, imposing herself into Catlin's circle of friends. Another shift in time, another meeting, Suki and Catlin getting closer.

"I don't remember anything of this," Catlin said, a tremor in her voice. She winced at the next memory as Suki handed her a drink and everything went dark.

Simon pushed again, but the darkness went on. "I think she kept you sedated, there's a signature through your hippocampus as if someone's rifled through it, I suspect she did so in order to take your place."

A new memory came into view, the face of a man he didn't know, nor Catlin by her confusion, but she was groggy and Simon suspected this was when the aswang had been killed and her hold over Catlin broken. A second person—a young woman—came into view, they were talking and weren't sure who Catlin was.

"Fang, I think," she said. "They can reach a good price."

"She might have people come after her," he said. "Dangerous."

"Nah, she's been here a while, reckon she'd been dumped. The doc will be good for a payout for this one, I reckon. Her blood alone…"

Catlin shuddered. "I've no idea what's going on."

Simon peered around the periphery of her memory and saw a few crates in the room she was in. "I think they're house clearers, some people have them to remove evidence triggering the service when they die. I reckon you were unlucky, whereas they hit the jackpot."

Another hidden memory had her sitting at the back of what looked like a church hall, the sort found in a village where cake sales were a key fundraiser and the vicar had squeaky shoes. She had no idea how she'd got there and Simon could find nothing else to fill the gap. She was in a rickety chair, swaying slightly and not knowing her own name. Mettle had spotted her and her memories from there on in were clear, but she had more questions than the nursing staff were willing to answer.

"They wanted to keep you confused, that way they could siphon off your blood for Mettle's experiments with you being none the wiser."

She sobbed and he squeezed her hand. "No one came to look for me?"

"Oh, no. That's not the case. I know Ben and your House were looking for you, but the lich knew what he was doing. His magic wards were strong, a creature as old as him can spend years perfecting what he needs."

The words were bitter on his lips, he'd been on the lich's radar for decades, and it was only now he was confronting his feelings about it. "He posed as one of my tutors, right under the nose of my family and guards to try to learn how I would react. He even gate-crashed my wedding—so don't think you were in any way to blame, or that you weren't missed."

"I don't know what to think, my memories show what happened but I feel like I should have been able to do more to get home."

He withdrew from her mind, and kissed her hand. "They kept us confused, there was no reason for you to think you had somewhere to go."

"I feel like I have let down my House."

Catlin would have a lot to work through, but she had been given the permission to use the Redbourn name for good reason and he believed she'd recover. He hadn't known her before, but the fondness Ben held for her and his time with her while at the facility meant he was pleased to think of her as a friend. "Never. Now, I have a husband to harass at his fashionable nightclub and I was thinking of showing up with Isaac but how about you come as well? Then I'd have two beautiful vampires with me to make him jealous."

"I don't think I want to make Robin jealous."

"Then how about I ask him to make you a movie star."

She smiled, she was very pretty. "Do you think he would?"

"Sweetheart, I don't think there's anything Robin Flint wouldn't do if I asked him."