8
Tarnley
“This is brutal. We’re just supposed to stand around and wait?” Rainey demands, pacing back and forth. From what I’ve learned of the huntress, even with her current profession as a homicide detective, her patience could still use some work.
Granted, I’m feeling just about as irritated as she is. Only, my century and a half of living has taught me it does no good to outwardly worry. Therefore, instead of vocalizing it, I simply mentally freak the fuck out—as she would put it.
The door opens, and Elijah steps inside, a tray of coffees in hand. He holds them out and both Astor sisters take what’s offered. I shake my head, so he sets the tray down and takes one of the last two out for himself. “Any updates?”
Rainey opens her mouth to respond, but the air around us charges with magic, and Bronywyn’s body jolts off the table. We lunge toward her as something hits the wall behind us with a heavy thud. We whirl, prepped for a fight, only to find a gasping Ridley and pale Fearghas grunting from the ground.
“What the bloody hell happened?” Elijah demands as he pulls Fearghas to his feet. Blood trickles from their noses, and Ridley smears his when he wipes the sleeve of his jacket across his face.
“We can’t get in,” Ridley growls as he stands. “The shadow magic is blocking her mind somehow, making it impossible for either of us to remain.”
“Has that ever happened before?” I question, fearing their answer.
“No,” they both reply in unison.
“Granted, this is not a regular hobby of mine,” Ridley adds. “Though it did confirm what I thought. That’s definitely a rogue soul. And she’s fucking psychotic.”
“Great. So, now we’re back at square one. How very wonderful.” Rainey shakes her head and places both hands on her hips. “How are we supposed to save her?”
“You aren’t going to like this,” Ridley warns. “But I don’t know that we can.”
I blur across the room and grip the fae by the throat, slamming him back into the wall. “You said you could help her. That you could save her.”
“If she wasn’t dark,” Ridley all but spits in my face. “Which she clearly is, given the shadows fogging up her mind. That parasitic soul has a death grip on your girl.”
“She didn’t seem dark,” Fearghas shoots back. “Not entirely.”
My heart seizes. “You saw her?”
Fearghas turns toward me. “Briefly. She appears to be just as trapped inside as we are out here.”
“Fucking figures,” Rainey says softly. “Heather used my emotion, my distress over losing Ramirez, to put me on the back burner, which is more than likely exactly what they did to her in that chamber. I’m willing to bet the shadow magic is trapping her inside her own mind just as Heather did to me. Which makes sense, especially given that it’s a rogue soul in there, not just dark magic.”
I drop Ridley and walk back toward where Bronywyn sleeps.
“Which still doesn’t help us save her,” Ridley replies. “If we can’t make it past the fog, how are we supposed to help free her?”
“Maybe we send someone else in.” Fearghas draws his brows together and begins to pace.
I glance up. “You said we couldn’t.”
“We can’t,” Ridley snaps.
“Maybe we can,” Fearghas replies. “Something she said just before we left… Did you hear it?” he asks Ridley.
“I was a bit preoccupied with keeping my brain from boiling,” he snaps.
Fearghas’s brows draw together. “She said, ‘She keeps throwing memor—’ She must have meant memories.” He glances my way, then shifts his focus back to Ridley. “If she is using memories to keep Bronywyn buried within her own mind, we might be able to reach her by sending someone who is an intricate part of those memories inside.”
“Except memories do not have a soul.”
“No, they don’t. But my father used a technique to free Rainey of her Lunar side—and the very same one to help Delaney get rid of the block placed by Agatha on the body she inhabited. What if we use a similar technique to separate Tarnley’s consciousness from his body and soul? He could slip into Bronywyn’s mind because he’s already in there. He would simply be taking conscious control of the version of him within her memory.”
“Wait a damn minute. You want to not only separate Tarnley from his physical body but his soul as well?” Rainey glances back at me for a moment. “Isn’t that dangerous?”