Sefton steps out of the room at the end of the hall. "Come inside and join me by the fire. I know it's summer, but a crackling hearth is soothing."
He sounds calm and almost friendly.
Dax doesn't move. Neither do I.
Sefton waves for us to follow him. "Come, join me in the drawing room. We have much to discuss."
Discuss? The man who brought hell to earth wants to sit down by the fire and have a chat.
I glance at Dax.
He shrugs.
We shuffle down the hall to join Sefton in the drawing room. Our host sits in an armchair while Dax and I settle onto padded wooden chairs.
"Thank you for coming," Sefton says. "I assume you, Allison, are responsible for getting the two of you here. I hadn't anticipated you would share in the power of the Echo."
"Uh-huh." I squirm in my seat. It's not uncomfortable, but I feel uneasy about everything right now. Especially Sefton Stainthorpe. Considering what Dax told me about his brother, I decide playing nice is my best move. "Didn't mean to horn in on your power. You must be annoyed."
"On the contrary. It's perfectly right that you and I should control the Echo together." Sefton leans forward, his dark gaze pinned to mine. "But I can't have you defying me."
No, I won't comment on that. Instead, I clear my throat and ask, "Where's your golem?"
"Sleeping. I will rouse him when it becomes necessary." Sefton keeps staring at me with unnerving intensity. "But do not ever run away from me again. If you try, you will wish you hadn't. The world outside this sanctuary will grow even worse as time goes on and the alchemy of worlds reaches its conclusion."
"But your sanctuary will be untouched."
"Precisely." Sefton leans back in his chair, resting one ankle on the opposite knee, wincing slightly. He sets both feet on the floor. "Would you care to join me for dinner? Or are you both too knackered? I can take you straight to your quarters if you prefer."
"Sleep sounds great." I glance at Dax. "What about you?"
"Not hungry. Your idea is best."
Sefton rises, wincing again as puts weight on his leg, clearly favoring his left knee.
Dax and I both stand up. He eyes his brother with a narrowed gaze and tight lips.
"Come," Sefton says. "Let me show you to your quarters, where you will sleep every night for the rest of your lives."
Chapter Seventeen
Dax
My brother is insane, beyond redemption. But then, I'm prejudiced because he ripped me apart and remade me into a monster, without my permission, without caring what damage his spell would do to me or anyone else caught in the crossfire. Allison was in the crossfire. She might've died, and Sefton did nothing to protect her. He claims to love her, yet he left her alone and defenseless during a catastrophe of biblical proportions.
He created an apocalypse. My brother. Quiet, shy Sefton Stainthorpe has turned the entire world into his own demented experiment.
Sefton mounts the stairs one step at a time, favoring his left leg.
"How did you injure yourself?" I ask.
"During your transformation, you thrashed like a mad beast and kicked me hard in the knee."
I will not apologize for that. He deserved much worse.
We reach the landing, and Sefton pauses to catch his breath. Mounting those stairs seems to have left him winded. That's odd, since he had seemed quite spry earlier, aside from his bad knee. He leads us down the hall toward my old room. I remember this house better than I wish I did, and every room seems filled with the ghosts of the past. I would never have chosen to come back here. This place reminds me that I am not the man I was and never will be again. Isn't a five-year sentence in the Echo enough punishment? Haven't I earned my freedom? But I won't be free, not ever again. Sefton has made certain of that.
At the door to my old room, Sefton halts with his hand resting on the knob of the closed door. "This will be your quarters, Allison. It used to belong to my parents, the Earl and Countess of Fallenmouth."