Chapter 34

ASH

Something feltoff about Maeve and Tobias when they returned with their findings—maybe someone bothered Maeve at the club? Or Tobias again? The guy frustrates me because I witness how confused Maeve acts around him sometimes. Tonight, they returned with a definite edge to them that wasn"t with the pair when they left.

Maeve and Tobias didn"t stay away as long as I imagined either, but Maeve dug info out of a girl"s mind: new recruits are meeting at a location nobody recognises—dim, dirty brick walls and arches leading further into darkness. Another part of the place in her vision? More significantly, she told another that those who pass a test will be advised of the next stage.

Tobias remained silent, apart from briefly mentioning the recruiters" names but surprisingly had less to share and paid attention to Maeve"s findings, as if he didn"t know.

Weird.

Afterwards, Maeve headed upstairs alone, and Tobias poured a drink before walking into the small garden behind the house. Jamie disappeared upstairs too, excited by the new information, researching as usual, and since Andrei followed, I stayed away.

The place that we"re staying has an awesome TV. Expensive. Big screen. All the streaming channels. Nobody else shares my enthusiasm, but then nobody else relaxes. Ever. At night I stay down here, and watch shows, anything to get my mind off the shit that follows me around most of the day.

Andrei"s the only other one of us who switches off, but on his own. I"m unsure what to say to him now that he"s changed, still annoyed with what he put us through because he"s so bloody blasé about what happened. I heard about Andrei"s behaviour shortly after he returned, when he attacked Tobias, and I"m on edge. Andrei lost his temper big time the day Anastasia took Maeve and frightened the hell out of me when he threw Jamie to the ground and threatened him. Now he"s more unstable?

I take a swig from my beer and flick through shows, searching for one that"ll occupy me until I fall asleep. I"m half an hour into the action movie when someone heads down the stairs. Soft footsteps. Maeve. Light sneaks in from the hallway as she opens the door.

"Sitting in the dark again, Ash?" she says, a smile in her voice.

"Yeah." I twist around to look at her. "I thought you"d be asleep or something by now."

""Or something"?" Maeve chuckles.

Instead of walking to the kitchen, Maeve flops onto the sofa beside me and rests her head against my shoulder. I lift an arm so she can snuggle into my side, and her arm drapes across my waist.

"What are you watching?" she asks.

"Some dumb cop movie." I pause the screen. "You"re not tired?"

"Not really." Maeve takes my beer and sips before pulling a face.

"Want me to make you a drink?" I ask, preparing to sit forward.

Maeve places a hand on my chest to stop me. "You"re sweet. No, a cuddle will do."

"Easy." I hug Maeve closer and rub my nose against her hair. She"s sweet; smelling gorgeous as usual. But why hasn"t she changed out of the clothes she went out in? Maeve loves wandering around in comfy PJs, and I rarely see her in a skirt.

"Good job on getting the information tonight," I say, and she laughs softly. "Why"s that funny?"

"No reason. And yes. We"ve moved forward; now we need to find out where the kids go and what the hell Gabriella"s planning."

"What was the club like?" I ask cautiously.

"Why?"

"Dunno. Thought maybe something happened."

Maeve pulls away and tucks her legs under her on the sofa, looking at me. "Why do you say that?"

"Tobias. You. I can sense things in people, y"know, even if I can"t mind read." I run a finger from her forehead to chin. "Did he piss you off? Again."

"No. Not really." Maeve picks at the edge of a cushion.

I groan. "Please tell me Tobias isn"t triggered and back to his "I"m such a bad guy I need to leave" bullshit. We need him around."

"That"s exactly what I told him."

"Then what happened?" I put in sharply.

Maeve"s shoulders sag. "We met someone Tobias once knew."

"Shit! Dominion?" I place my beer on a table beside me. "Who? Did you sort them?"

"No." More picking at the edge of the cushion. "Someone he knew from his past."

"Oh..." I straighten. Nobody touches on Tobias"s past and for good reason. "Do you want to talk about what happened or not?"

Maeve leans forward and kisses me gently on the mouth. "I love that about you. If you were one of the others, you"d demand I tell you everything."

"Yeah, honestly I don"t want to know unless it affects you. We all know he"s a witch killer with a dodgy past." I take the beer again and drink. "Or is the situation worse than that?" For fuck"s sake, please don"t let anything be worse than that.

"If I tell you, promise not to say anything to Jamie or Andrei. I know for sure they"ll lose their shit, but I need to speak to someone tonight." She touches the side of her head. "If I do, I can get everything out of here."

Oh, fuck, no. "Tobias is leaving, isn"t he?"

"I hope not. I don"t think so."

"Did this guy tell you things about Tobias that upset you?" I take Maeve"s hand.

"No. But I read his mind." She rubs her lips. "Unpleasant memories of his time with Tobias."

"Shit," I mutter. "I can see why you were awkward when you returned tonight."

"Mmm. But I can"t match the Tobias in the guy"s memories to the one I know, which helps a little, but I don"t like that he hid something from me again."

"I kinda understand why he did. We all know what Tobias was like back then, just never specifics. Knowing exact details won"t change anything. Unless…" Shit. "Did he kill someone else we should know about?"

Maeve drags hair from her face, silent long enough for my heart to beat faster. "No. But Tobias once had a relationship with Anastasia."

I blink. "He what? What type of relationship? When?"

"Before the killings." She snorts. "Well, before the Winterfall killings."

"Not since?" I ask, voice hardening. "Because if he had anything to do with the shit at the academy, I can"t deal with him being here. Was he their spy?"

"Tobias says not, and I believe him." She hugs the cushion tight to her chest. "But why didn"t he tell me?"

I bark a laugh. "Because he"s Tobias Whitlock? That guy will take his secrets to the grave."

"Apart from he"s immortal," she reminds me.

"As is Gabriella and we"re gonna kill her." I pause and study Maeve closer through the dim, and my chest grips tight. "Have you been crying?"

"This seems like such a big thing to hide from me. Us. It hurts." Her throat bobs. "And I know that sounds weird when Tobias has done so much worse."

Like killing her whole family? Yeah, that tops everything in my books. But whatever, this upset Maeve and weighs on her. She"s bang in the middle of bullshit that"ll drag her down. Again.

"Right." I stand and hold out a hand to pull Maeve up. "Get your shoes on."

"What?"

"We"re going out. To that cafe we passed the other night."

Maeve stares as if I"m insane. "Now? We can"t."

"Uh. We can. It"s five minutes away."

"No. But we can"t."

I beckon her to take my hand. "Why? Because we"ll be alone? I"ll tell Jamie." As I pull Maeve to her feet, she looks at me doubtfully. "Hey, if we"re really lucky we might find a Dominion or two to take out."

"You"re serious?" she asks.

I stroke hair from Maeve"s pale face, heart tearing for her again that she"s hit with one more thing to deal with. "You didn"t want me to fetch you a drink, so I"ll take you to one." I sigh. "You"re not going to bed with all this in your head; you"d never sleep. Get your shoes on. Now."

I scout around the room until I find her black sneakers. Pointedly placing them at her feet, I leave to head upstairs.

"Don"t say anything to him about what I told you," she says from behind me, and I smile to myself that she"s agreed to leave.

I pause and look back. "Him? Jamie or Tobias?"

"Both."

Darkness shrouds the second floor apart from a soft orange glow from Jamie"s room. As I tell him, he"s curious why, asking if Maeve"s okay, but doesn"t try to talk me out of going—probably because he knows I"ll ignore him. I"ve left Jamie"s room before he can protest anyway, heading back towards Maeve before she changes her mind.

As I stride towards the stairs, I spot Tobias standing in the doorway to the bedroom he took. I bite down hard on my lip to stop me saying anything but meet his eyes. I"ve no doubt the guy sweeps my mind the moment I look at him.

Here"s a thought for you, Tobias: yeah, I know.

I"ll never understand everything, including how Maeve can forgive Tobias for the Winterfalls, but I do understand that sometimes keeping secrets is worse than telling lies.

He half-smiles at me. "Do you really think so, Ash?"

I"ve nothing to say to Tobias"s mind reading, or to him, and I walk away.

* * *

At 10pm,the streets around the centre of the suburb still bustle with people, some visiting the cafes and bars, others heading towards the Thames for evening river walks. I spent my childhood and teen years in a small village, and the number who live and work in just a small space feels as alien as when I moved to the academy.

I"m struck by one thing above all others: those wandering around this evening aren"t bothered by what the night might hide—they"re enjoying just being. There"s no hint of threat to those sitting and holding lively conversations outside cafes filled with laughter, or those pausing to listen to live music spilling from a bar. Their biggest concern is the best way to spend the evening.

Maeve says little as we wander towards the cobbled street that runs close to the café she longingly looked at the evening after the dragons. She hesitates as we reach the edge of the mismatched tables and chairs, watching those around with nervous suspicion.

"I"ve changed my mind about the coffee," she says.

"Don"t you dare go back to the house yet." I frown at her with mock seriousness.

"No. I want to take a walk. Hopefully one where nobody stalks us this time."

"Sure." I kiss her forehead. Maeve"s more shaken by tonight than I realised. "We can walk along the river? Maybe we really will find a stray Dominion member to attack?" I whisper.

Maeve smiles weakly and we wander onwards.

I"m happy we"re not more central to London; that would overwhelm me. Here, the night air is fresher, and the river lined with pathways and benches amongst trees, and not the city"s Thames that I"d seen in photographs.

Other couples smile and greet us as we pass, following the well-trodden pathway along the river"s edge. As I walk with my arm wrapped around Maeve, I"m again struck by how small and delicate she is. Does Maeve seem smaller because she"s more vulnerable this evening? Or do I forget until I see other couples and the guy isn"t almost a foot taller than the girl?

Maeve pauses and tips her head to the sky, eyes closed as she breathes deeply. I move to hold Maeve around the waist and look down, and her eyes open. She"s smiling, and my heart swells—I did that.

"Good plan, Ash. Thank you."

""Course it was." I poke her nose. "You need to breathe more. Everything"s suffocating you."

She tiptoes and places a small hand against the nape of my neck, kissing me before running the back of her fingers along my stubbled cheek. "I prefer the time spent with you this evening than the time with Tobias."

"Uh huh." I lace my fingers together against Maeve"s back and pull her closer. "Do you want to talk now? Or not? I"m happy either way."

"Yes."

Maeve explains about the old friend Tobias encountered and what she saw in his head. Not everything—she frequently hesitates, but I know enough about our world to fill in the sick gaps. We all know Tobias killed and once worked with the Dominion, but I"m shocked at how out of control he sounded. Groups living in that underbelly exist all over the country, as witches seek out vamps too, with a mutual desire for pushing boundaries to a dangerous edge.

But when things get out of hand, witches die. I almost don"t ask the next question. "Did Tobias assault the witches? Like things happened that the witches didn"t agree to?"

"I don"t think so. I don"t know." Her lips tremble. "I didn"t see everything in Silas"s mind, but consent would be a fine line considering Tobias"s powers."

A line he crossed? That would be a game breaker if I were Maeve.

"Did you ask Tobias outright what he did to the witches?" She shakes her head. "Why?"

"All my questions dropped away as soon as Tobias admitted his relationship with Anastasia."

I move a hand to brush hair from her cool cheek. Maeve came to me because she knew I"d react differently than Andrei and Jamie, but what does she want to hear?

"You need to ask him that question. If I were you, Maeve, Tobias assaulting people and killing your family would be a much bigger deal than his relationship with Anastasia."

"I"ve known for a long time that Tobias worked with the most powerful Dominion, but I never imagined he"d be that close to one of them." She sighs and meets my eyes. "I need to get to grips with all of this, and I will, but it"s the lying that bothers me most."

If she"s seen the worst of Tobias"s past in someone else"s mind, and he"s told her about Anastasia, another crack appeared in the ground between the pair tonight. Dumb bastard.

"Maeve." I hold her face in both hands. "We move on. We fight the Dominion, and the First, and anything else that threatens us. And then? If you want Tobias to leave, I"m sure he would."

I understand Maeve"s sense of betrayal because Tobias lied by not telling her about something significant, but I can"t lose the thought that his relationship with a dead witch isn"t relevant to the present. Because it is that relationship bothering Maeve more than anything else she discovered tonight. Nothing about the old Tobias"s behaviour should surprise or shock any of us, including her, because he stopped hiding that truth a while ago.

Maeve"s breaths come faster after telling her story, widened blue eyes looking to me for answers. "You don"t know what else to say to me about all this, do you, Ash?"

"Well, I do have one thought." I tip Maeve"s face upwards with my thumb beneath her chin. "I killed Anastasia. She"s out of the picture now."

"Ash... I didn"t think." Maeve steps back. "Crap. Hearing Anastasia"s name must be hard for you."

"I"ve accepted what I did to her, and Ione, and I"ll kill again. Dragons protect what"s precious. That"s one reason I wanted to leave the house tonight," I admit, looking back. "I struggle when I see you like this, especially if I know that the person responsible is nearby."

Maeve bites her lip and falls silent at my admission. "What do you think about Tobias and Anastasia?" she asks a few moments later.

I drag a hand down my face, worried I"ll say the wrong thing. "Anastasia helped plot your family"s... that night… and her Blackwood blood"s influence partly explains how Tobias managed to kill that many witches so fast." I wince at the words, but Maeve doesn"t react. "I don"t know what to say, apart from the dumb bastard shouldn"t have kept that secret from you, or at least kept his mouth shut about it when we"re in the middle of this bullshit." She watches my face, tears brimming her eyes. "Shit, Maeve, you know that I don"t always say the right thing."

"That"s why I ask you."

I warily press on. "There"s nobody left from the Blackwood family. Nobody could influence Tobias again, if that"s what worries you." She looks away. "Or are you upset because you"re imagining him and her together?"

"I never think too hard about what Tobias did in the past. I can"t go there. But I never imagined this." She squeezes her eyes closed. "Can we stop talking about him now?"

"Sure. We"re taking a walk, remember?" I pull on her hand, relieved the conversation ends, and we continue along the path by the river.

She pauses, and amongst the people passing by, beneath the stars that look down on both worlds, I turn Maeve to me and lean down to kiss her. I"ve no magic to take away the emotional struggles or calm Maeve"s mind, and I"ve probably said the wrong thing in response to her questions. But the girl whose heart holds part of mine knows the promise held in this kiss. That I"ll love and keep her safe until the world no longer threatens us. As her small fingers run across the nape of my neck and she returns the soft kiss, Maeve silently understands.

She looks up at me with another smile that I placed on her lips. "I love you, Ash."

"And you know I love you. Fiercely. Forever."

"How else would a dragon love but fiercely?" replies Maeve and laughs when I fake growl at her. "We could go back to the house?"

"Already?" I frown until I see the glint in her eye. "Ah."

Maeve digs her hands into my jeans back pockets. "I"d like some Ash time. To forget about everything else from tonight."

"And avoid awkward conversations with Andrei and Jamie about Tobias, if you come to bed with me?" I raise a brow.

"Like I said, Ash time." She smiles. "I want to wipe away tonight with something better."

I switch direction and tug Maeve behind me. "I"ll happily make sure you forget everything if you"re in my bed." My lips twitch into a smile. "Even your own name."

She hugs my arm and rests her head against me. "Promise?"