* * *
Our strange,tense reunion continues for a few more minutes before Ragnor tells me that now that I’m here I’ll have to stay until ‘the ritual’ is done. He doesn’t seem to care that he hasn’t explained what the ritual is or that we’ve been reunited after twenty years apart. He also doesn’t give a shit that Nico, as far as he knows, just found out he has a half-brother.
“We begin at midnight. I want you all there.” Ragnor scowls at Kayla, then gestures to the door.
As we file toward it, I try to muster something close to annoyance and turn back to him. “That’s it? I can stay and watch your freaky ritual, whatever the fuck that’s about, but you don’t have time to speak to me? You can’t give me more than five minutes aftertwenty years? Do you know what happened to me? Do you know where I ended up? Do you care?”
Waiting for his reply, I’m not sure whether what I just said came from a place of truth or if it’s an act.
Before Ragnor can reply, Eve wraps her fingers around my wrist. She squeezes hard, nails dig into my flesh. “You shouldn’t speak to your father that way,” she hisses. “Not when he’s—”
“Eve. Stop.” Ragnor steps in. His eyes flicker with something gray and ice-cold. “Let’s leave it as a surprise, shall we?”
It takes a few seconds for Eve to let go of me. When she does, she speaks through gritted teeth, “Fine. As you say, Master.”
When the study door closes, Eve blows Kayla a kiss and trots back in the direction of the garden. Kayla’s face is pale. Tugging Nico toward the front door, she heaves it open and shoves him outside. I follow them.
When it has closed behind us, she puts her hands on his shoulders and barks, “What is this? What did you do, Nico? Did you bring him here?”
“How could I?” Nico stutters, wincing under his mother’s grip.
She blinks at him, then looks at me.
“I didn’t know he existed until about ten minutes ago,” I tell her. “I came here looking for my father. I had no idea I had a brother.”
“He’s not your brother,” Kayla spits, rounding on me. “He’s nothing to you. Do you understand?”
“Mom…” Nico tugs her arm gently. “It’s okay. I’d like to…” He pauses, chewing the inside of his lip. “I’d like to get to know him. I always wanted a brother—”
With an exasperated eye roll, Kayla turns back to the door. Her hand is on the doorknob when she says, “Fine, play happy families for tonight, but don’t get attached. Ragnor won’t want him around once—” She stops and looks at me over her shoulder. From her expression, it’s obvious she wants to tell me what Ragnor’s planning. That she wants to be the one to tell me he’s going to bring my mother back to life, just so she can see the hurt and confusion in my face. But she must be scared of him too, because she says nothing.
When she’s gone, and we’re alone, Nico nods toward the steps. “If we head round this way, we’ll reach the kitchen,” he says. “Andre never did appear with that coffee.”
As we walk side-by-side, I look up at the house. It’s huge and imposing and cloaked the kind of darkness that seeps into your bones. Not literal darkness—a darkness that threatens to eat at your soul if you let it in.
“So, it’s happening tonight?” I ask quietly. “Do you know how?”
Nico shakes his head. We’ve rounded the corner of the building. In front of us, I see the fountain and the back of Eve’s altar. My mother’s coffin is obscured from view. “I guess it involves that stuff,” he says, pointing to the two long rows of skulls that form a kind of aisle in front of the coffin. “But she’s been rearranging it for days. Not sure she even knows what she’s doing.” A little hopefully, he says, “Maybe it won’t work. Maybe she’s not as powerful as Ragnor thinks.”
Reaching the steps that lead up to the kitchen, Nico leads the way. The room is a mess. Windows blown in, broken glass underfoot, dirty dishes piled high in the sink.
Nico ignores it all and puts the kettle on the stove. As I lean back against the counter, he does the same opposite me. We don’t speak until the kettle has boiled and he’s made a fresh pot of coffee. Pouring us each a mug, he gestures back to the garden. We’re on the lawn when he says, “We need to stay where they can see us, but preferably far enough out of the way that they can’t hear us.”
I nod, even though I wish we could have found somewhere without a view of my dead mother’s coffin.
“Where have you been?” Nico asks, holding his mug close to his lips. “What happened after I left?”
I hesitate, unsure how much I should tell him. At this point, I don’t suppose anything I tell him will matter much; it’s not as if we have a grand plan that could be foiled if Ragnor knew about it. Our only plan is to walk up and hope Nova’s powers kick in enough to stop what’s about to happen. “We went to visit the seer who was first sent the prophecy.”
Nico watches me intently. “Did they help you?”
“She showed uswhywe’re involved in the prophecy. Us and Nova. But I’m not sure how it helps.”
Nico stares down into his coffee. When he takes a sip, he winces. “Usually take sugar, but we’re out,” he says.
“Me too,” I reply, my eyes landing on the birthmark on Nico’s wrist.
“I really have always wanted a brother,” he says.