A Curse of Shadows

It’s not possible. They couldn’t have both been reborn to Earth without any of us knowing. Right?

The implications hang heavily between us. “You think Elodee might be Estee.” Saying the words out loud sends a shiver through me. “Gods. After all this time.” I run a hand through my dark hair. “I was just going to talk to my father about bringing Elodee here so that Isla might feel more comfortable. Assuming she was human, I was hoping an exception could be made, but if you’re right…”

“We need to go find her,” he pleads, the color already returning to his cheeks as he finishes the cup of my blood.

I clasp his shoulder and nod confidently. “We will, but we need to handle this carefully. Just as Isla doesn’t remember her past life, I don’t assume Elodee will, either. She’s going to wonder why her friend has been missing and not trust us.”

“We’ll bring Isla with us,” he suggests, and while I don’t want to force my mate to stay anymore, I don’t know that’s a good idea. She’s only just had her first glimpse of a memory. What if going back to Earth, even for a short period of time, ruins that? Worse, what if we’re wrong about Elodee?

I don’t want to hurt Isla and, selfishly, I don’t want to set back any progress we made today.

“This isn’t my favorite choice, but what if we just take Elodee, unconsciously, and have her wake up in Isla’s room? Once she reappears in our world, we’ll know right away if she’s Estee, then we can explain what we’ve confirmed to Isla and let her handle the rest,” I suggest because it seems like the best way to avoid the most drama. Magic may not work on Earth, but not everything we use is made from our unique energy. Our sleeping potions would be enough to knock out a human.

Grayson seems to seriously consider this idea but doesn’t readily agree. “What does your father know already?”

“Not enough,” I admit. “Come with me. I’m meeting him now.”

I give Grayson a third cup of my blood as he nods and carefully gets out of bed. He’s still much too thin, but his body doesn’t tremble like before. He holds up the glass. “I may need a few more of these before we leave Polaris.”

“You can have as many as you need.”

We move swiftly through the castle and I’m impressed with how quickly his strength is coming back, considering he looked worse off when I entered his room. Still, I appreciate his urgency because if he’s right…

Someone murdered my family.

I don’t know how or why, but if both Blackwood sisters had the same fate, what else could it have been?

Even thinking that, I still don’t know how it could be possible, but I’m certainly going to find out and when I find the person who took my mate from me… They will be begging for a fiery afterlife by the time I’ve finished punishing them.

My father is already waiting for me, speaking with Malimorte outside my office when we arrive. I barely nod at them as I shove my door open.

With every passing second, knowing that there’s a possibility someone purposely stole the lives of these women, my ire becomes more tangible. I can feel the blood rushing to my face and the tensing of my shoulders increasing tenfold. I don’t know how I’m supposed to suppress this rage when I want to rip the heads off anyone who could be responsible for this.

“Asher, what’s wrong?” my father asks, but I don’t answer him first.

“Malimorte!” My voice booms louder than I intend, and he enters behind Grayson, closing the door.

“Yes, Your Majesty?” His eyes meet mine, unafraid of the wrath I’m barely containing.

Good, that should hopefully mean he has nothing to be guilty about.

“I need you to stay here and take notes about everything we speak of on paper, then give them to me,” I tell him. I might be furious, but I’ve been doing this job long enough to know that no matter what’s decided in this room right now, we could miss something important with emotions so high.

I’ll want to review everything more than once until we know the truth.

Mali comes around to my desk, grabbing what he needs to take notes, then stands at the back of the room before I address my father.

“Grayson believes that Isla’s friend from Earth is actually Estee,” I state clearly.

My father’s jaw tightens and his eyes narrow, glancing between the two of us. “Why would he think that?”

Good, he’s as angry as I am.

Grayson answers first. “Isla considers this woman she calls Elodee her family, more especially her soul sister. On top of that, I’ve never understood why Estee would have left us with only a note. It never made sense, but then Flo gave up her life to the grief and I realized that we all needed to process in our own ways, and nothing had to make sense. Except the moment Isla mentioned Elodee, my same suspicions came back, stronger than ever.”

Dad nods and drums his fingers over the arms of the chair beneath him. “Well, that’s not something we can ignore, can we?” He looks at me. “I assume you already have a plan?”

“I do,” I say gruffly, but Grayson cuts me off first.