Cloak of Deceit: An Alex Moore Novel (38 page)

“My Stars, ye look so much like your mother, child.” Geri stroked her hair before tucking Briana into the rose-scented folds of her knitted shawl. “I had forgotten. It’s good to have ye home.”

She smiled and patted the wrinkled hand on her shoulder. “I’m only staying a couple of days.”

“Aye. We’ll see.” Geri sat down. Her silver brows lifted as she blew over the top of her tea. “I suspect those friends of yours will have a might to say about that. Ye’ve been gone a long while.”

Briana studied the nicks in the knotted pine, frowning. It had been hard enough holding Eric at bay for three days. She’d avoided factoring her two oldest friends into the equation. Astrid would want to grieve and console each other. Briana could brace for that. But Kean? Thinking of him just fuzzed her thoughts, her memories smudged from years of trying to rub them out. A cowardly part of her hoped they wouldn’t cross paths at all. “I might not even get a chance to see them.”

“Oh, they’ll make sure you do.” Geri’s left eye winked, a seemingly unconscious gesture. “Especially that Fitzgerald boy. He was just by earlier today, askin’ when I expected ye. I told him I’m an Oracle, not a cuckoo clock. He’s a Taurus if ever there was one, the stubborn brute. All piss and no patience.”

Briana choked on a bite of muffin and had to force it down with a long swig of tea.

Geri chuckled as she got up to clear the table.

“What’s so funny?”

“Come lass, ye know damn well,” Geri scolded. “I told ye — things don’t change much around these parts.”

“That was ages ago.” Briana scooped her muffin crumbs into a neat pile on her napkin. She couldn’t imagine Kean wanted anything to do with her. She’d made sure of it the last time she’d come home after college. When he’d asked her to stay and marry him. Forgiveness wasn’t Kean’s strong suit.

“Dear child. When are you going to learn? Try as ye might, ye cannae outrun Fate?”

Briana opened her mouth to argue, but Geri cut her off with an impatient sigh. “Now then, I’ve stocked the cooler and put fresh sheets on all the beds. Come and collect the ashes when you’re ready. There’s something else of your Legacy we should speak of, but don’t worry on it now.”

Geri pinched her chin and stared into her face with hawk-like scrutiny, clicking her tongue in vague disapproval. “Get some rest, Briana Celene. You’ve a trial ahead yet. I’ll be right across the way if you need me.”

I won’t be here
, Briana thought, watching her go. She couldn’t stay there alone.

“And get the thought outta your head about staying anywhere else. They’re all booked up.” Geri smiled sweetly and swung the front door closed behind her.

Briana shook her head, muttering to herself. She’d forgotten what a pain it was to have an Oracle around. She would have to mind her thoughts better. She stood there for several minutes, shivering in her flimsy sweater, afraid to disturb the air with her presence. A sharp breeze shook the trees outside, moaning as it passed over the steep-pitched roof.

The hair on her forearms prickled.

She crossed into the front sitting room, and confirmed that everything was in fact still in the exact place she remembered. Eventually, she made her way to the center of the room. Her fingers glided over the smooth cherry wood of the piano top. She slid onto the bench, remembering her first lessons, side by side with Ce-Ce for hours. She gently lifted the cover and hovered her fingers over the keys. Her hands shook so badly, she couldn’t bring herself to play. She swallowed back tears and slammed it closed.

A vase of Geri’s prize-winning silver roses sat in the middle of the dusty wood top. Glinting beside them in the late-afternoon sun was one of Ce-Ce’s crystals — a smooth, polished piece of rose quartz the size of her fist. As a child, Briana had inherently known they thrummed with magic, but didn’t know exactly how they were used. She’d never been allowed to touch them. Before she realized what she’d done, she was cradling it in her palms. It warmed.

The curtains fluttered.

Briana…

She gasped and turned around, but there was no one there. Just her, the grandfather clock, and the wind. What she wouldn’t give to speak to Ce-Ce one more time, to tell her how sorry she was. To tell her she’d always loved her. That she ached with missing her so much.

The crystal pulsed with a faint vibration.

“Oh, Ce-Ce.” She squeezed the crystal to her chest. How idiotic to think she could come back here and remain detached. Ce-Ce and Tara were
gone
. How could she not regret every minute she’d stayed away, no matter what it might have cost to come back?

A child giggled.

She turned to see a five year old Tara standing in the foyer, covered in mud and holding up a toad almost as big as she was. Black ringlets were plastered to her rosy cheeks. Her gap-toothed grin flashed with mischief.

Tears sprang out of Briana’s eyes. Her breath hitched.

“Tara Jade!” Ce-Ce’s voice called from the kitchen, “don’t you take one more step in this house soakin’ wet!”

Tara laughed again and lunged up the stairs. Briana leapt from the piano bench to follow, but paused on the bottom step. She was barely holding her nightmares at bay, now ghosts were running amok in her mind in waking hours — not a good sign. Doctor Stevens would say not to indulge in the hallucination. Even knowing it was more than a figment of her imagination, she was inclined to agree.

Tara stopped halfway up the stairs and looked over her shoulder. “I’m gonna put him in your bed, Bri!”

“Tara,” Briana whispered, helpless against the pull of the memory, “wait.”

Her little sister stuck out her tongue and disappeared around the corner. Footsteps echoed down the hall, and a door slammed upstairs. A shroud of quiet fell over the house.

The floorboards creaked as she approached her old room. The last time she’d visited, Tara had taken it over. The walls were covered with posters and graffiti, the floor littered with clothes and fashion magazines. Now the room was clean, painted a cool green, and tastefully decorated with some of Tara’s paintings. Their mother’s dressing table took up the far wall, laden with candles, perfume bottles, and jewelry. Pictures were tucked into the corners of the mirror, of Tara with friends Briana had never met.

Tara wasn’t a little girl anymore. She’d grown up… and Briana had missed it. She had never gotten to know the woman her baby sister had become.

Her gaze swept over her reflection in the mirror. She’d spent hours watching her mother sit at this very table, brushing her hair and singing softly. Now she saw an empty copy of that vibrant woman looking back. Makeup smeared, blouse stained and wrinkled, rebellious auburn curls springing loose. She’d been back a few hours and all the polish and poise she practiced was already melting away. Underneath was the image that had haunted her the last fifteen years — her mother’s forest green eyes, the smooth curve of her cheek, the pout of her lower lip.

Briana bit it until she tasted blood.

This is your baby sister, take care of her
, her mother had said the first time she held the squirming Tara in her arms. She’d promised to. She’d failed. She wasn’t strong enough. She wasn’t brave enough. Tara was gone. They were all gone.

It’s your fault.

“I’m s-sorry.” She clenched her fist around the rose quartz, willing her message into the ether. “I’m so sorry.”

The reflection glared at her.

She would be so ashamed of you.

“I’m sorry!”

She threw the quartz, and the mirror erupted into a web of cracks. Her voice broke on a sob. She’d failed them all, and now they’d left her completely alone in a world that was either tortured with nightmares or drugged into numbness.

She sank to the floor, surrendering to the tears she’d managed to dam up the last day and a half. She cried until she lost her voice. Until she barely had the energy to climb onto Tara’s bed and curl into a ball. Exhaustion made her breaths deep and her eyelids heavy. She fought off sleep for as long as she could, afraid of what horrors awaited her on the other side, but eventually it caught up with her and pulled her under.

The first thing she noticed upon waking some-odd hours later was that night had fallen, and she was frozen through. The second thing was…doorbell.

Her body responded automatically. She tumbled from the bed and zombie-walked towards the hall, tripping on her cast-off shoes. The lopsided bun fell out of her hair as she slugged down the stairs, wiping under her puffy eyes. A few steps later, she remembered the last two days. It wasn’t all a nightmare she could write off. The worst part was real.

A third ring.

“Coming!”

She bounded down the last few steps, swung the door open, and forgot to breathe.

Kean Royce Fitzgerald was on the porch, about to knock.

Chapter Four

B
ri looked spooked — not exactly the reaction Kean had hoped for. It had taken every ounce of his restraint to wait so long to see her, knowing how much she must be hurting. Yet after envisioning this moment for years, the reality of it stopped him in his tracks. He didn’t know her anymore, hadn’t known what to expect.

“Kean.” She sucked in a breath as if she would say more, but just stared at him.

He lowered his arm slowly, a nervous smile tugging at his lips. “Hullo, Bri.”

Seconds stretched into eons as they re-learned the lines of once familiar faces. She looked even better than in his dreams. Her mussed hair and the smudges under her pensive green eyes gave her a sultry edge, no matter how tightly she pressed those curvy lips. She had other curves too, all of them screaming for his attention. She’d left him a pretty young girl…she’d come back a heartbreaker. Desire slammed into him, backed up, and did it again, making it hard to form thoughts, much less words. He cleared his throat. “You look…good.”

Bri slanted a doubtful look at him, but her cheeks took on some color. “Do you always hang on the bell like that?”

“I didn’t ring the bell.” He tried not to scowl. He’d thought she’d be at least a little happy to see him, despite the circumstances.

“Yes, you did.” She sounded eager for an excuse to snap at him. She must have felt it too — that sizzle in the air that was making it hard for him to remember simple English.

“Nope. It’s busted. I just got here when you opened the door.”

“But—” Bri frowned and reached past him to press the button, which hadn’t worked in years.

“I heard it ring. Three times.” She kept pressing, a faint blush spreading across her face. “That’s weird.”

“Not really,” Kean said. “Ce-Ce did that all the time. She always had a place set for me when I came begging for scraps.” Bri’s gran had been the most renowned Oracle in the Northwest. She’d never needed a doorbell to tell her company was coming.

Bri scoffed as she backed into the hallway. He could tell the memory had touched her. Whether it softened her or just hit a tender spot remained to be seen. She blinked, giving no hint. “Did you want to come in?”

He stepped into the house, running his hand over his freshly cut hair. Bri stilled under his lingering gaze. Another awkward silence filled the foyer.

“You really do. Look good, I mean.” Damn. Here she was, a world-class woman, and the best he could come up with was
good
. He sounded like a backcountry hick and wanted to kick his own ass back onto the porch and start over.

She dropped her gaze to the floor before letting it drift up his body, darting glances at first, then with more cling. Kean’s heart gave a heavy thud when she bit her lip.

“You look…bigger.” Confusion flitted across her face, as if she hadn’t meant to say it out loud. Then she laughed — a delicate, musical sound. His shoulders relaxed.

“I missed that.” He’d sworn he wouldn’t come on too strong, even if this was the chance he’d begged the Universe for, but with Bri right in front of him, he didn’t care what had brought her back.

Just don’t screw it up.

“Missed what?” A hopeful lilt laced her question.

His plan to go easy sailed out the window.

“You.” To hell with trying to impress her. It wasn’t poetry, just the truth.

“I—” Bri’s eyes misted over. “I missed you too.”

Kean offered his hand, and the world froze for the heartbeat it took Bri to consider. She answered by wrapping her arms around him and tucking her head into his chest. He didn’t know what to say, so he just held her.

Much too soon, she let go, wiping her eyes. “Sorry. I don’t know where that came from. I guess I’m just glad to see a friendly face.”

“I’m glad you’re back.”

She shook her head and led him into the kitchen. “I’m not really
back
.”

He stalked in behind her and leaned against the counter, watching her sift through drawers. Her movements were jerky, nervous, not her usual fluid grace. Something was wrong, aside from being flustered by the sight of him.

She slammed another drawer closed and scratched her head.

“Third one down on your left.”

Bri clenched her jaw as she opened it, then set the tea out on the counter and turned on the kettle.

“Any other odd occurrences, besides the mysterious doorbell incident?” He leaned in her way and pulled two mugs down. Geri hadn’t given him any details, but she’d hinted that the tides of Fate were turning, that Bri would somehow come back into the fold. Her power had been bound since she chose her path at seventeen, but trauma could sometimes bring on a temporary flare of magic. The soul would tap into the grounding force of the Conduit without conscious knowledge. To the untrained, it could be unpredictable, even dangerous. That was one reason he wanted Bri where he could watch over her.

She circled her fingers around her wrist. That deer-in-the-headlights look came over her again. Spooked. “Well…”

“What is it?”

“I saw Ce-Ce and Tara earlier. Not like live spirits, I mean, they weren’t doing anything new…just an echo of my memories. But it was so real. Just stirred me up a bit I guess.”