Of Water and Madness (12 page)

“No, but she is.” Blythe whirled around and pointed at Rhiannon, who was standing between Lucian and Jax, her arms crossed over her body as she stared at him in disbelief. His eyes met hers, and for a flickering moment a memory flashed in his mind of her smiling up at him, his lips warmed from touching hers as he cupped her face in his hands and felt his heart fill from the sight of her. And, as quickly as the memory had come to him, he felt as though someone had invaded his mind and snatched it away again. The haze crept over him once more, and he heard the voice echo loudly in his mind.

She doesn’t mean anything to me anymore…just a girl, I don’t want to be with her now, she didn’t make me happy. Stella is so much more beautiful…

“I wasn’t happy.” he heard himself say hollowly, and the second the words came out of his mouth he felt a stinging pain stab through his heart, and he reached up to clutch his chest, momentarily confused and startled. But words kept pouring out of his mouth before he could stop them, and he had no grasp on what it was that he was saying. “I met Stella on the beach, and we really hit it off. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted. I told her about Euphora, and she thinks it’s great.”

“
What?
” Blythe shrieked, her eyes bulging as she spun back around to face Lucian, throwing up her arms in complete and utter disillusionment.

“Liam…” Lucian stepped forward then, meeting his son’s eyes cautiously, unsure just what was going on.

“Damnit, Jax, check the sensor and see if he’s possessed. Something’s wrong here,” Blythe barked out, her temper flaring viciously to mix with the fear in her gut. What the hell was going on with her brother?

“I’ve already checked, he’s clean. So is she,” Jax confirmed, nodding to Blythe. While she launched herself back at Liam, he stayed quietly beside Rhiannon, though he had no clue what to do for her.

So far, she hadn’t moved an inch; she’d only stood there, frozen in place, feeling God only knows what. Jax felt disgusted and helpless all at once, knowing just how difficult it had been for her to give her heart to Liam in the first place…and now this?

“Dad, I’m fine, why are you looking at me that way?” Liam asked, shaking his head. “I don’t see what is so difficult to understand here. I met this girl and we’re enjoying each other’s company. End of story.”

Rhiannon decided she had heard enough. She whirled around and fled, pushing her way through the crowded club and out onto the dark street, clutching her chest to will away the pain.

This had to be a nightmare, it just had to be...there was no way this was real. Liam couldn’t possibly be doing this to her, not this way. He hadn’t been happy? How was that even possible?

While she raced off to the nearest tree, needing to disappear, to get away from the memory of him kissing that beautiful blonde, back in the night club Blythe grabbed Liam by the arm and yanked him off the sofa.

“You’re coming with us, buddy. Your little slut can stay behind,” she ordered, glaring down at Stella, who looked amused and ridiculously entertained. “I’m glad to see you find this all very funny, bitch.”

Stella made a point to make eye contact with Liam as Blythe dragged him out of the club, and he was stuck with the haunting memory of those cornflower blue eyes as his family led him away.

When she reached
Euphora her father was waiting for her.

“Did you find him?” Rohan asked, instantly alarmed by the dull shock and pain on his daughter’s face. “Rhiannon, what’s wrong?”

For a moment she stood completely still, the surrounding meadow glowing like always with soft sunlight, the cheerful sound of birds filling the air. She met her father’s eyes and felt the first tear slip down her cheek.

“He’s fine,” she heard herself say, her throat tightening around the words like a fist. Her knees trembled beneath her and the words Liam had spoken resounded in her mind.
I wasn’t happy…

Troubled, Rohan stepped toward her and wrapped his arms around her, unsure what was wrong. He only knew that she looked paler than the dead.

When her father pulled her against him and held her close, she gave in to the pain and cried, deep shuddering sobs that wracked her body and hurt so deeply that she wondered if she would ever recover from the pain.

Curse this heart and curse Liam for encouraging her to feel, only to annihilate everything so callously, so cruelly.

She didn’t care now what happened. She only wanted to stop feeling.

“I don’t understand all of this.” Liam shook his head, a confused smile curving his lips. “What’s the big deal?”

“What do you mean, what’s the big deal?” Blythe spat, rounding on him where he sat on one of Thea’s long sofas. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Liam stared at her, though for the life of him he couldn’t grasp just what it was that he was saying. He knew he could see, knew he could hear…but words were flashing in his mind that weren’t his own, at least he didn’t think they were. And when they poured out of his mouth, he wasn’t sure just why he was saying them. He was unhappy…right? Had he been unhappy? He couldn’t really be sure, but his mind seemed to have decided that, so it must be true…

But he couldn’t shake the ache in his heart, as if that part of his body was rebelling against his brain, attempting to fight back. And yet he had no grasp on just what it was that he was fighting for. In truth, he felt like he was nothing more than a mere shadow of himself, hiding out inside his own body but unable to control his actions. He had thoughts…at least, he thought he could distinguish between what he was thinking and what the voice was telling him. But why did the voice sound like his own, even though he couldn’t seem to control it?

“Nothing’s wrong with me, Blythe,” he heard himself say, even as the voice flashed in his mind again.

I thought I was in love with Rhiannon, but I realized that I was just fooling myself. I’m moving on now.

“I realized that I don’t love her,” he told her, earning a skeptical look from Blythe and a concerned look from his father and Thea. He stared at all of them, unsure why they looked so upset. “I’m sorry it had to happen this way, but it is what it is.”

Blythe’s face flushed an angry red and she whirled around furiously, searching for something breakable to throw. She had to smash something, or the urge to punch her own brother in the face was going to come to fruition swiftly and violently. Her eyes landed on a platter of tea cookies that Thea kept on a small table beside the sofa, and she grabbed it and smashed it aggressively at Liam’s feet, shattering porcelain and cookies everywhere. The look of stunned surprise on his face only made her angrier.

“The Liam I know wouldn’t do this,” she snarled through clenched teeth, ignoring Lucian as he tried to clean up the plate she’d shattered. She felt no remorse over it, not one bit. Leaning in to jab a finger into Liam’s chest, she met his eyes and silently vowed to Hell and back that she’d uncover whatever it was that that human woman had done to him. “You disgust me.”

With that, she whirled around and fled the room, furious tears suddenly streaming down her cheeks.

Liam watched her slam the door behind her, and he sat still and silent for a moment, as if he couldn’t think of what to say. Inside, his heart throbbed with pain, but his mind was oddly clear and calm. The voice crept in to offer words of comfort.

Blythe will get over it. She’ll see, Stella is a great girl.

Feeling his lips curve, he smiled up at his father and Thea. “Can I go now?”

Thea stood with her arms crossed tightly over her chest, her face grim. Something was wrong with him, that much was certain. But just what it was she couldn’t say. She’d never seen something like this…Liam wasn’t possessed, and appeared to be acting of his own will. But every word out of his mouth seemed so out of character, as if his soul had been swapped with another. But at the same time, he seemed to have the same feelings toward everyone except Rhiannon. It was like his love for her had quite simply evaporated into nothing.

“Liam, tell me about this human girl you met.” Thea took a seat beside him, her eyes never leaving his.

Liam grinned. “Her name is Stella and she grew up in New Orleans. She’s twenty years old, has blonde hair and these stunning blue eyes…I had the hardest time looking away from those eyes of hers.” His gaze drifted over Thea’s shoulder as the memory of Stella’s eyes flashed over him, halting all thoughts for a moment as the image penetrated his mind.

I have to see her again…she’s everything I’ve ever wanted.

“I want to go see her again,” he told Thea, focusing back on Mother Earth hopefully. “It’s like I’ve waited my whole life to meet her…she’s perfect.”

Thea’s brows drew together as she glanced up at Lucian, who looked deeply disturbed by his son’s behavior. Both of them knew that they had time and time again heard Liam say those same words about Rhiannon.

“Do you know who Rhiannon is, Liam?” Thea asked, making sure to meet his eyes to see if anything changed at the mention of the Earth Dryad’s name. But there was nothing.

Instead he simply grinned and laughed. “Yeah, I’ve known her my whole life.” He looked up at his father as if it was an old joke. “She’s a nice girl, but I just don’t feel anything for her anymore. We had fun, but it’s done.”

“And were you planning on telling her that you wanted to end the relationship?” Thea’s hands clenched in her lap, her worst fears confirmed. Liam appeared to have truly just stopped loving Rhiannon. “She’s very hurt that you chose to move on without telling her.”

For a brief moment, he felt that stabbing pain in his chest again, but his mind refused to comprehend the feeling. “I know, it was rude of me,” he said casually, the voice in his head feeding the words to him on cue. “I’ll go talk to her, make her see that it’s for the best.”

He rose to his feet, and Thea did as well, turning to face him. She was nearly the same height as he, and as she stared into his face, one she had thought she knew so well, she felt a violent fury rising within her. Her disappointment with him enveloped her like a cloak until she lost all reason, and without thinking her hand whipped out and struck his face in a swift slap, one that left the three of them stunned into silence.

Liam reached up to touch his cheek as his eyes met hers. He suddenly had a flashing memory of her smiling with wisdom and ethereal beauty, with power emanating from her very body in shimmering waves. His heart opened to the image, yearned toward it, and he knew his eyes had widened with the knowledge of what he had felt for her. He had never upset Thea, not once…God, what in the world had he done?