“I know you’re angry, Bree, but Orla loves you. She was really hurt when she left. If I had confronted my feelings back then, I would have realized Cody never got the letters. We wasted a lot of time. Talk to your mom. Listen to her side of things. Don’t waste time being angry.” The irony didn’t escape Shay, that she was defending someone who had perpetrated a lifetime of lies.

“I know. I just need some time.”

“Don’t take too long. You can’t get any of it back.”

“You’re right,” Bree said, idly rubbing Edward’s cross.

Shay felt the talisman, warm against her skin, and wondered how Edward had felt having little girls so close in age, but from different mothers. Did the women know about each other? “You’re welcome to share this talisman.”

Bree smiled. “Keep it. That way we each have a piece of him.” She patted Edward’s necklace. “Later, maybe we’ll trade.”

“You said your grandmother gave you the necklace?”

“She did. The night my father died.”

More often than not, Bree still referred to Robert as her father. He raised her from the time she was small, like Nina had raised Shay. Wasn’t that what a father, or an aunt, did?

“I got locked in Faelan’s crypt,” Bree continued. “I’d always been scared of that crypt. I think Grandma thought the necklace would comfort me after the ordeal and help keep the nightmares away. I had terrible dreams growing up, about death and destruction and monsters.”

“You must have been terrified,” Shay said.

“At first. I screamed and clawed the door, and then I heard a voice. It was my shiny man. He used to come to me in dreams, I think to counter the nightmares. He told me I had something important to find. Then, in the crypt, he told me my father was dead, but he had sent me another protector, and he showed me a man’s eyes. Faelan’s eyes. I saw them just as plain as I can see yours now. I wasn’t afraid anymore. I was so sure the necklace had kept the nightmares away and that someone would take it from me, that I hid it under a loose floorboard, where Faelan found it. It was only after I saw some sketches I’d drawn as a kid that the memories started to come back. I think Michael blocked them until it was time.”

“Michael?”

Bree’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“Who’s behind all this, the warriors, the battles, the book. Think warrior angel.”

“You mean Michael the Archangel? He’s your shiny man—” Shay gasped.

“What is it?” Bree asked.

“I think I’ve seen him too.”

Chapter 15

Tristol stepped deeper into the woods. He could feel her drawing closer to him, but it wasn’t working quickly enough. If she didn’t come to him soon, he would have to go inside and take her. If he was spotted, he’d have to kill everyone there, and he wasn’t ready to kill the warriors yet. He needed them to get rid of Malek first. He certainly didn’t want Shay killed. If she was Edward’s daughter, she was too valuable. Tristol waited until the moon shone full, and then he faded into a mist as black as his hair and vanished into the night.

***

Cody tried to work the stiffness out of his shoulders as he climbed the stairs. He needed a shower, and his head felt like a grenade had gone off behind his eyes. The guards were in place, Sam was still trying to locate Ellis’s boss, and the warriors were using every contact and weapon they had, trying to find some trace of Malek. Sean was contacting other clans to see if anyone had spotted the demon. Bree was looking into Edward Rodgers’s past to see what the demon might be after Shay, the book, or both.

He started to his room to shower first, changed his mind, and decided to see if she wanted to conserve water. As soon as he touched the doorknob, the hairs on his arm rose. His body went from tired to alert in an instant. He could feel the danger like a thick layer of fog. He didn’t bother knocking. Her bed was empty and the doors to the balcony were open. Shay stood at the ledge, staring into the night.

“Shay? What are you doing out here?” The night air was chilly, but she wore only a thin nightgown.

She didn’t answer. Usually her hearing was almost as keen as his.

Cody stepped through the doors, but she didn’t turn. “Are you okay? Shay?” He grabbed her arm. “Shay!”

She turned, her face blank, eyes vacant, and then she blinked. “Cody?” She looked at him, puzzled, then saw where she was and hugged her arms to her chest.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked.

She opened her mouth, her expression blank again. “I don’t know.”

“Have you ever sleepwalked?”

“No, not until tonight.”

He would have to watch her closer. Couldn’t have her wandering about the castle at night. “Come on, you’re freezing.” He felt chilled himself, but it wasn’t from the Scottish night air.

They walked into the room together.

“I was dreaming… but I can’t remember what it was about.” She ran her hand over the silver candlestick on the bedside table. “Thank you for bringing it,” she said.

“You’re welcome.” He didn’t know how long she’d had the picture taped to the bottom of the candlestick, but it gnawed at his stomach knowing the clan had stolen her history and her name. He couldn’t imagine finding out his life was a lie. Was he soothing his own guilt by bringing her parents’ picture to Scotland and letting her keep her father’s talisman, which he could see outlined under her gown? He could see more than the talisman through the thin material. “Would you like something to drink? A cup of tea?”

“No, thank you.” She tilted her head. “But I would like to have you, sir.”

His body warmed. “Aye, my lady. At your service.” He grinned and dropped his kilt.

***

Shay touched the imprint on Cody’s pillow. Still warm. Her head was clear of nightmares for once. If she had them, she didn’t remember. After a quick shower—they’d showered once last night, but sweated profusely afterwards—she dressed and went downstairs. The smell of food drew her toward the kitchen. A white-haired man met her in the corridor. His eyes crinkled at the sight of her.

“Ah, there you are,” he said, sticking out his hand. “I’m Sean Connor, Faelan’s great-great-nephew. Coira’s in the kitchen. She’s been dying to meet you. Another body to fatten up. But don’t tell her I said so. Come along, now.” He took Shay’s arm, as if he had known her all her life. “She’s been cooking for two hours, but she won’t hear of hiring a cook—Look who I’ve found,” he said to the red-haired woman bustling around the kitchen.

“She’s awake,” the woman said, beaming. “We’ve been worried about you, sleeping so much, and you haven’t eaten a bite. We’ll fix that. You have to keep up your strength with the way things move around here. Sit, I’ll fix you a plate.” She scurried over and came back with a heaping plate, silverware, and a napkin.

“What’d I tell you?” Sean whispered.

“Thank you,” Shay said, charmed by the couple. “I’ve heard your names, but there have been so many faces to keep track of.” And she had slept a lot since she arrived. “You’re a nurse, aren’t you, Coira?”

“And a bloody good one,” Sean said.

“Thank you for the compliment, but watch your tongue,” she said to Sean. “There’s no excuse for rough language.”

“She’s got a thing about cursing too,” Sean whispered. “Cursing and food. Woman’s obsessed with mouths. Always making us shove food in or walloping us if a rude word slips out.”

“I hear you, dear.”

“And she’s got ears like a warrior,” he said in an exaggerated whisper. “So be warned. Eat in here, if you’d like. The others have eaten and gone or haven’t come down yet.”

“Have you seen Cody?” she asked as Coira filled two more plates. “We have to talk to the police, and then he’s going to take me by my house to get some things.” If there was enough time, she wanted to visit the place where her parents had lived. She had gone to Scotland searching for her roots, never suspecting that she settled so close by.

“Saw Cody earlier,” Sean said. “He’s a good man. I think he was helping Ronan with something. Here’s Marcas. Have you seen your brother, Marcas?”

Marcas kissed Shay on the head and stole a bite of her sausage. “He was headed to his room, I think. I’ve got to run. I’m trying to track down Anna.”

Shay sat at an old wooden table, explaining her story as she ate. Sean and Coira asked questions and sympathized like grandparents. Shay had never had grandparents. Nina tried to cover all the bases; mother, father, grandmother, and aunt, but while she did a good job, Shay secretly longed for grandparents like her friends had, to make cookies for her and take her to the park or the zoo.

Coira refused to let Shay help clean up the dishes, so she explored the castle while waiting for Cody. She roamed halls wider than some of the rooms in her house. Massive rooms and staircases, with stone everywhere, on both floors and walls. It was an antique lover’s dream. Old rugs, ancient tapestries, leather, and antiques everywhere she looked. She rounded a corner and ran into Faelan.

“Whoa, there,” he said, steadying her with one hand. In the other, he held a tray. “How are you feeling?”

“Better. I just ate breakfast. Too much, I think.”

“Coira got hold of you, aye? I just heard the same thing from Bree. No worry of going hungry around here,” he said, smiling.

Cody wasn’t the only one who looked good in a kilt. “Where is Bree?”

“In the library with her nose stuck in a book. Can’t get her out of there.” His eyes lit as he talked. He obviously adored Bree. Would she and Cody be like that?

“Where is the library? I’ll pop in and see her.”

Faelan pointed out a room in the opposite direction and touched Shay’s shoulder. “See if you can get her to rest. She didn’t get much sleep last night. She’s upset over all this. Not about you, lass. She’s glad to have you as a sister, but she feels betrayed. I’m sure you know all about that.”