Page 27 of Pure Magic
“You should send me away. He’ll go if I go.” I could have my things packed in a matter of minutes. It’s what I should do, but my heart aches at the thought.
Her lips purse. “Would he? Do you think he’s come to harm you? He said he only wishes to have his family back. It’s not so different from why you came here.”
Fury rises inside me, and I have to close my eyes and breathe through it. “I am not like him.” I get up and pace the room.
Standing, Sara Beth crosses her arms. Her dark-blue dress is a stark contrast to her fair skin. With a narrowed gaze, she studies me. “All right, Adam. Since you won’t tell me how I can help, and you are clearly hiding things, why didn’t you tell me you are a twin?”
“I don’t want to be considered in the same breath as him.” It’s the excuse I’ve always given when my brother and I are compared.
“Because he is bad, and you are good?” Bitterness rings in her tone.
“I never said I was good. I’m the cause of him being here. I never should have stayed this long.” As hard as I try not to raise my voice, it rings off the walls.
“No. I suppose you didn’t.” She turns and walks to the door.
Rushing over, I grab her hand on the doorknob. “My intentions are honorable, even if my character is lacking, Beth.” The scent of woodland flowers and Sara Beth is a heady combination as her hair brushes my cheek.
Regret flashes in her eyes. “Go if you want, Adam. Your brother hasn’t given me a reason to force him from town, but if he does, I am perfectly capable of removing him. If you are his prey, then perhaps you should go. I have a king to protect. I’ll not be distracted by one brother so the other might slip into the castle.”
It’s like a knife to my gut. This is what she thinks of me. Why would she give herself to a man she believed capable of what she accuses? I pull my hand away from her. “I see. You take my silence on the subject of Kaden as proof of me being in league with whatever his purpose is.” I hadn’t expected her doubts to hurt so much, but the pain is palpable.
“You are silent on all subjects that matter. You say the link between us is a gift, yet you close me out of anything important in your past. I see the walls you’ve erected to keep me out.” Her tone is biting and angry, and her fists clench at her sides.
Stepping back, I want to flee as much as I want to fall at her feet and beg her forgiveness. “If you wanted to know what lurks behind those walls, you would break them down, Beth. Clearly, you’d rather be ignorant. Perhaps so you might justify letting me in your bed.”
She gasps, and the muscle in her jaw ticks. “I have a Sabbath to get ready for. You and I should speak when our tempers have cooled. I find I’m unable to think clearly at the moment.”
Her honesty shames me. “I’m sorry, Beth.”
“Perhaps you shouldn’t call me that. Perhaps all of this was a mistake. Even Goddess can be wrong.” Voice soft, she stares at her feet and opens the door.
Aching heart, I can’t bear the idea that she thinks our time together an accident. “Magic doesn’t make mistakes.”
She stills. “That may be so, Adam.” She looks at me, her eyes glistening. “Answer one question.”
Is she crying over me? My heart feels as if it’s being torn in two. “What is your question?”
“Who is Ariana?”
Every hope and dream I may have had for a life in Windsor or a life with Sara Beth collapses into a heap of misery. “Did Kaden tell you of her?”
Standing in the open door, she’s half in and half out of my life. “No. I heard her name in your head when you first saw your brother.”
There is no way to win. No matter what I do, the past always catches up with me. “Ariana is my sister. She is younger by six years. From the time she was a little girl, her intentions were dark. Our parents tried to save her. They sent her to the priestesses and the Order at Glasgow, but it went badly, and lives were lost.”
“Your sister killed your parents, but you blame Kaden.” She says it as if it’s a fact rather than a theory.
“Kaden helped Ariana escape the Order. He didn’t believe her capable of hurting anyone. He brought her to the new home we’d made after we were banished from our clan, and the consequence was our parents’ lives. Ariana had gotten a taste for killing and found it appealed to her.” I collapse on the edge of the bed. “She manipulated Kaden, and maybe she has him in thrall. I don’t really know. He says he hasn’t seen her in many years, but I don’t believe him.”
She dashes a tear away. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Feeling helpless where Ariana is concerned is familiar. “She’s my baby sister. Kaden veers toward dark. I’ve always known. He’s not without magic, but it’s Ariana who holds real power. I had hoped they were left in the past, and I would never have to tell anyone about them.”
“The past has a way of catching up.” She backs out of my room and closes the door.
Chapter
Nine
