Everyone remained quiet as Nathanial described the summons from his parents at the behest of Isis. He told them of his leaving his youngest siblings under Evie’s care in America and returning with his brother Andrew to the battleground where the Six were to fight the Enchantress. Once there, he’d caught the attention of Isolde and probably would’ve been her next victim had Damian not shown up when he did.
“I brought Damian to Evie, so she could look after him as she’d volunteered to do for my siblings Chase and Lottie. It seemed I was gone only moments, but when I returned here to help, the devastation was complete.” Deep sorrow was reflected back at them from his darkening eyes. “My father was killed with Isolde’s first strike. Drew, in trying to protect him, was gravely injured.”
Their group remained silent as Nathanial ran his hands up and down his face as if trying to wipe the memory away.
Mackenzie could almost see the scene in her mind, maybe it was a residual memory from when Isolde had possessed her, but it seemed as clear as the brightest day. Bodies lay strewn in the garden. Pillars were overturned, and small fires dotted the landscape around them. Isis looked the worse for wear, and Isolde knelt, bound by a thick chain. It pulsed a dark, glowing red, indicative of the deep magic used to hold her.
“How many were lost?” she asked in a low tone.
Nathanial sat down across from her, resting his elbows on his thighs and dangling his large hands between his knees. His haunted eyes gutted her.
With a light shrug belying the horror he’d witnessed, he said, “I never learned the true count, but it was great. Souls from the Otherworld were obliterated.”
“What does that mean, obliterated?” Sebastian asked sharply. His fierce frown emphasized his worry. “As in no more? Can Isolde do that?”
“She can, and she did to feed her power.” Nathanial looked from one to the other in their small group. “Obliterated, in this case, means no way of reincarnating. The energy of the soul is no more. Think of it like a nuclear-bomb explosion; it destroys everything within a certain radius. I found out later, the only ones who survived were protected by the Goddess’s quick thinking.”
Spring gasped and looked at Knox. Her husband’s face grew pale as he returned her look. These two were true soulmates, and the import of a soul destroyed meant future lifetimes with an empty hole in place of their heart. No true love to guide them or make them stronger. No feeling whole. Ever.
Mackenzie reached for Sebastian’s hand. “We can’t let her be resurrected again. We can’t.”
“Don’t even think it, Mack,” he growled.
“Baz, if I’m the only pawn she has, I have to be removed from the board.” She directed his attention to Spring and Knox. “Their souls have been entwined for thousands of years. One isn’t whole without the other. Can you imagine having that torn away?”
Sebastian placed a hand on her jaw and directed her gaze back to him. “Yes, Mack, I can.”
She pressed her lips into a tight line and swallowed her urge to rage at him. He was telling her he didn’t want to be without her, but she couldn’t risk her family being forever unhappy and alone. It came down to her happiness with Sebastian, or everyone else’s as a casualty of her actions.
“It’s no contest, Baz. I can’t do this to them.”
His eyes cooled, and he dropped his arm to his side. “Of course. I understand how tight the Thornes are.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Isn’t it?” His expression hardened. “I don’t consider myself a selfish person, Mackenzie. I would never put my happiness above the others. But forgive me if I don’t want to see my wife sacrifice her life due to a half-baked idea that may not work.”
Frustrated with his stubbornness, she pulled away and crossed her arms. None of her family spoke, but they each looked at her with censure.
“What?” she snapped. “You all think we should take our chances? Did you not hear Grandpa Nate’s account of the fight? Souls obliterated.” Anger and restlessness drove her to her feet to pace. “Obliterated! Do you think I could live with myself if any of you were to die because I’m to be the key to that psycho bitch’s prison? Do you?”
“Mackenzie.” Alastair’s understanding, love, and compassion were all rolled into her name.
She closed her eyes and swiped at the moisture on her cheeks. Until that moment, she hadn’t realized she was crying. Fury at herself for giving into the useless emotion vibrated in her voice when she said, “I can’t do this, cousin. I can’t. I’m not strong enough.”
“We’re here to help you, sweet girl.”
“You don’t understand. None of you do. I’m strong enough here…” She pounded a fist against the center of her chest, indicating her heart. “But I’m not strong enough magically or mentally. She’s weakened after a two-hundred-year slumber, and yet she’s more powerful than I am. She’s gotten in my head multiple times already.”
Sebastian surged to his feet and wrapped her in his tight embrace. “We will win, Mack. We have something she doesn’t: allies. People who love us. People determined to see she doesn’t win.”
She hugged him back for a brief moment, soaking up his comfort, courage, and strength before jerking away. “But at what cost to our loved ones, Baz? Seeing Spring and Knox separated forever? Seeing your own sister die? Seeing my family cut in half?”
He had no argument, because deep down, he had to know she was right.
“I need a moment alone,” she said.
Nathanial stood and caught her arm as she moved to pass him. “Mackenzie. Don’t go far. Please.”
She shot him a glare, furious to have her movements curtailed. “And why’s that? Are you going to stand there and order me not to ‘sacrifice’ myself, too?”
“No, dear heart, I’m not. I think that should be a decision we make together, when the others are present, but I’ve noticed Isolde can sneak into your mind easier when you are in a highly emotional state. If you’re alone and she gains control, there’s no telling what she can do.”
The wisdom of his words sank in. Mackenzie took a calming breath and focused on his hand on her forearm. With the exhale came visions of Nathanial’s past: On the riverboat when he heard the news he’d been recalled home to battle the Enchantress. His goodbye to Evie. Young Damian, looking up at him with trust and all-seeing eyes. And finally his return to England, to the devastation Isolde had created. The last images were in line with what she’d imagined when he told the story, and it broke her heart to bear witness to the scene.
She met Nathanial’s kind, understanding gaze. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. Please don’t let me.” She lowered her voice for his ears alone. “Please, Grandpa Nate. Don’t let her win. If you have to…” More tears rolled down her cheeks, and she angrily swiped them away. “If you have to, you know, promise me you will.”
He kissed her forehead. “I promise, Mack. She won’t use you to hurt our family. Not while I’m alive.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, dear. Try to calm yourself now.” He ran his thumbs under her eyes and smiled softly. “There’s pictures over on the shelf that you may care to see. Pictures of the family. Of Alastair as a boy.” He leaned in close. “I’m sure there’s one of him with a gap-toothed grin and a dripping ice-cream cone that you can use it to poke fun of him later.”
“I adore you.”
Nathanial grinned. “What can I say? I’m exceedingly adorable.”
She crossed over to the shelves as he turned back to the others, who had been talking quietly amongst themselves. The entire time she wandered and explored Nathanial’s chambers, she felt Sebastian’s sad gaze trailing her. Deep within her, she knew he viewed her potential actions as giving up on them as a couple. But she needed to find a way to show him any steps she took to stop the Enchantress were meant to keep his family safe, as well as hers.
“Grandpa Nate?”
Nathanial held back to speak with Mackenzie as the others filed by them to cross the bridge. He gave her a signal to wait and called out to the others. “There is an elevator to the left. Save yourself the trek up the stairs.”
As one, the group spun back to face him. He found it difficult to hold back the laugh at their disgruntled expressions.
He shrugged. “Yes, I could’ve told you before you came down, but where’s the fun in that?”
Spring gave a chirp of laughter.
Mackenzie simply shook her head and stared at Nate. “You really are Alastair’s twin. It’s eerie.”
“Who do you think taught him how to make the most of life?”
As Nate watched her beautiful, animated face turn serious, his heart grew heavy. Poor Mackenzie bore the weight of the world on her shoulders and was having a difficult time coping with the eventual possibility that she’d fail in the fight against Isolde.
“What is it, dear?”
She shot a glance toward Sebastian, who stood on the opposite side of the bridge. “Will you find a way to make sure he doesn’t suffer should the worse happen to me? I don’t want him to be alone as he was before I came.”
“I can’t make him fall for someone else, Mack.”
“I know. But maybe you and Damian can remove his memories of me. Make him whole so if he meets someone, he’s not haunted by what went down here.”
Nate lifted her chin with his knuckle. Her earnestness spoke of her pure soul and honest intentions. Mackenzie wanted nothing more than for those around her to live their best life and be happy. “I don’t think Isolde could’ve chosen a witch any more opposite than she is.”
She gave him a tight smile, and Nate felt a pang. Like her, he’d had to make tough decisions. One had cost him his father’s life and his brother’s respect. Another had made him miss out on knowing this generation of his family.
“I wanted Damian to do something similar for me once.”
“You did?”
“Yes. I asked him to take away Evie’s memories regarding the death of our children. I wanted her to believe they lived somewhere else in the world, happy and healthy, because no parent should outlive their children. That rawness never goes away.”
“And did he?”
“No. No, he magically tied me to a chair and made me listen to his lecture for a solid hour on the foolishness of my request.”
Mackenzie’s lips twitched, and humor came back to her eyes. “Damian did that?”
“Indeed. He felt I was dishonoring our children by even making such a request. He was right, but you see, I couldn’t bear Evie’s pain. I told myself it would be better if, whenever she thought of our sons, a false memory of a happy phone call or letter supplanted the truth.”
“She would believe they’d already been to visit or were at least planning to?”
“Yes.” He closed his eyes for a moment and allowed the haunting memories from long ago to wash over him. “Damian was right. It was a foolish request. Evie deserved better than lies and half truths.”
Nate sensed his wife’s presence a few seconds before she placed her hand on his lower back.
“And it’s a damned good thing you didn’t take my memories, because if I’d ever found out, I’d have skinned you alive, Nathanial Alastair Thorne.”
A smile tugged at his lips, as it always did when she scolded him. “Ah, Evie, my heart. You’re just in time to be properly introduced to Mackenzie.”
His vision blurred as his two favorite women hugged. After he dabbed his eyes, he tugged at his cuffs and cleared his throat of the overwhelming emotion.
“He’s what you would call a big softie, dear,” Evie said with a fond look back at him. “My Nathanial.”
“I confess, I’m going to miss the antics of Teddie and Leopold,” Mack told them. “I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my life as when Baz and I found the pickle sock on the bedroom floor.”
Evie’s light, breathy laugh—the one that always squeezed his heart and made his dick stand up to take notice—rang out. “He has an entire dresser drawer full of those socks. Each has some sarcastic saying or another.”
Reaching down, she lifted his pant leg. The quote on the purple sock read, “Don’t worry. It only seems kinky the first time.”
Nate shrugged and turned his ankle to model the sock. “Should we show her your favorite embroidered pillow, Evie, my love?”
Mack’s smile was open and engaging, and Nate was happy to have her mind off the subject of the Enchantress for the time being. He nodded to Sebastian as he joined their small group.
“What’s it say, Grandma Evie?”
Evie arched a brow and conjured the pillow with Nate’s image pressed upon it. Underneath his grinning mug, it read, “I’d totally sit on this man’s face until I came or he suffocated, whichever came first.”
Mackenzie’s laughter echoed off the grotto walls and triggered theirs.
“Now I know where Mack gets her naughty streak,” Sebastian said with a low chuckle.
Grinning, Nate clapped him on the back. “You have no idea just how naughty ‘Aunt Teddie’ can be, son.”
A sickly pallor came over Sebastian’s visage. “Please, please don’t call her that in front of me. I’m not sure my stomach can handle the idea of her ‘naughtiness’ in Teddie form.”
Evie snapped her fingers, reverting to Baz’s elderly aunt. A puke-green evening gown opened in the front and plunged down to a heavily wrinkled belly button, giving her skin a sallow hue. She placed her hands over pancake-flat, sagging breasts and gave them a quick boost up. “I don’t know what’s wrong with young folk today. How do you think babies are made, Baz?”
Sebastian turned paler when she winked at him, and he pressed a palm to his stomach. “I. Can’t. Even.”
Not to be outdone, Nathanial waved a hand and transformed into Leopold wearing a seventies-style suit in leopard-print material. He hefted Evie/Teddie into his arms and strode toward the door to their underground apartment. “I’m taking you to bed, Evie, my love. And when you sit on my face, I trust you’ll come long before I suffocate.”
Sebastian’s audible gag sounded behind them, and Evie’s breathy laugh rang out, doing what it always did and sending blood straight to Nate’s groin.