As Spring stood deeply shaken and paralyzed by shock, Knox sagged against a nearby tree. The power it took to electrocute his mother must have been staggering. His tormented look spoke of a deeper issue. Because of the action he took to save Spring’s life, he would be forever forced to deal with the knowledge that he killed his own mother.
She couldn’t imagine the weight of that burden.
There had been no doubt Marianne had planned to harm her. Intent was in every line of the other woman’s body and in every nuance of her voice. Knox had tried to issue a warning, tried to make it seem like he was an asshole who didn’t care one whit for Spring’s feelings, but leaving him alone was impossible for her. She could no more walk away from him than she could let him walk away from her.
In the short time they’d spent together yesterday and today, she noticed one thing; Knox’s light shone brighter and bolder than anyone else she’d met since waking. While she hadn’t appreciated his caveman attitude where Tommy was concerned, watching him storm away had triggered a pain in her chest. She’d become short of breath, and her heart rate went into overdrive.
In her family grimoire, beneath the family crest with its motto, had been a jotted note. A Thorne will only love but once. They shall know their other half by the warmth of the light emitting from their soul’s mate. Those words had resonated with her when she’d read them. And when Knox had stepped from behind the tree in the garden, he lit up the night with his aura. Maybe that was why she’d given him her immediate trust. Yes, trusting a stranger had been foolish on her part, but she felt as if she knew him. As if he were part of her very DNA. Ignoring their connection would be too painful.
Earlier, when Tommy had claimed to be her boyfriend, Knox’s extreme reaction had forced Spring to ask herself how she would’ve responded should the situation be reversed. She would have snatched a bitch bald. With the realization came a wild urgency to find him.
Now, here they stood. Twenty feet separated them, but it could’ve been twenty thousand. Expression closed off and hardening by the second, Knox was creating an expansive distance between them.
Skirting his mother’s still form, Spring stepped up to him. “Knox.”
His gaze was locked onto his mother.
“Look at me. Please.”
Violently, he shook his head, causing his blond, shoulder-length hair to catch on his beard. With a trembling hand, Spring smoothed the sweat-dampened locks back from his face. Still, he stared at the same point beyond her shoulder. She wove her fingers into the thick hair at the base of his skull and, with great care, applied pressure until he faced her. She pressed her lips to his in a gentle kiss.
“Thank you for saving me.”
He blinked. She imagined she saw a lessening of his pain. She kissed him again. This time, his lips clung to hers.
“You did the right thing. She was intent on harm.”
“I could’ve done something else,” he rasped. “Frozen time, bound her. Anything but kill her.”
“You went with your instincts.”
Wrong choice of words. Knox zeroed in on his mother, and his eyes became glacier-like.
“I have the instincts of a monster.” He jutted his chin toward the body on the ground. “That monster. Between her evil genetics and those of Robert Knox, I’m—”
She placed her fingertips gently against his mouth. “You are not the product of your birth. You are more. You’re better.”
There was a glimmer of hope in the eyes he lifted to search her face. He sought her honesty, and Spring let her true feelings on the matter show. “You saved me. It’s not the first time either, is it?”
“No.”
“How many times have you made sure I never stepped into her crosshairs over the years?”
“Too many to count,” he murmured and closed his eyes. “Too many damned times to count.”
“How?”
“I kept a constant watch over you both. Sometimes in person, sometimes scrying. But I swear I wasn’t stalking you.”
“Go on.”
Knox swallowed and leaned into the hand she pressed to his cheek. “The day I shoved you into the manure? She was watching from beside the barn. I sensed her presence. It’s like a black pall over my soul.”
“So you didn’t reject me because I was too young?” Because she hadn’t experienced the incident firsthand, or at least not that she could recall, Spring could remain detached about the whole situation.
“Maybe in small part.” He nodded toward his mother. “But mostly because of her. When I was a young child, if I showed any type of interest or affection for anything, my father would destroy it. He convinced her to do the same. My best guess was that they wanted to mold me into someone as hateful and evil as themselves.”
In a blindingly fast move, Knox jerked her into his embrace and buried his head in her hair. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned to him the comfort he needed.
“She realized early on how much I cared about you. It took a warning from my aunt Keira to make me see the futility of starting anything with you. My aunt and uncle monitored Marianne’s every move while I was under their care. They knew how twisted she was.”
With the tips of her fingers, Spring wordlessly burrowed her fingers under his long hair and stroked the nape of his neck.
“When I was old enough, they tasked me with the chore of policing her.” He exhaled a ragged breath and continued. “The day you stopped coming around was the best and worst day of my life. The knowledge that you were safe kept me going. Kept me from seeking you out and begging you to love me as much as I loved you.”
“Oh, Knox.”
“A little over a year ago, with the help of your father and my Uncle Phillip, we were able to convince the Witches’ Council to put her away for good.” Knox’s hold tightened, and although a little uncomfortable, Spring didn’t complain. In his arms was the only place she wanted to be. “The day you disappeared in Colombia, I initially feared she’d escaped her prison. Seems my fears weren’t completely unfounded. As you can see, she did eventually escape.”
“She can’t hurt either of us now.”
“She can’t hurt either of us now.” Knox allowed Spring’s words to sink in. For the first time in years, he was free. Free from the evil of his deranged mother and his reprobate father. Free of the darkness shadowing his every step.
“Thank you.” His voice was rough and raw. It matched his emotions to a T. Yet, he suspected she understood. In his need to see her expression and judge her sincerity, he pulled back to gaze down into her face. Her clear eyes stared up at him. No fear. No recriminations. Only a gentle understanding for what he’d done. Goddess, he loved this woman. Even without her memories, her spirit remained the same. Open, good, honest, and compassionate. “I love you, Spring. I always have, and I always will. You don’t have to love me in return, but I want you to hold on to that, okay?”
Lifting up on tip-toe, she pulled his head down to hers and touched her mouth to his. His control snapped. He lifted her against him and ravaged her mouth. She offered up her innocent passion in return. The soft moan of desire she released set him afire. Wanting nothing more than to lay Spring down on the soft grass and make love to her, Knox pulled away and lowered her feet to the ground. The timing was shit again. There was still the matter of his mother’s demise—at his hands. He needed to speak with Coop, Alastair, and Preston to find out what type of punishment he would face in the non-magical world and with the Witches’ Council for his crime of murder. And no matter how he wanted to sugarcoat it, that’s what he’d done. He had murdered his own mother.
“There is no cell phone coverage here in the clearing to call Coop. I need to get you home and clean up this mess. Is it all right if I pop over later this afternoon?”
With a smile and a nod, she clasped his hand and tugged him toward the Thorne estate. He noted she was careful to place herself between him and the body of his mother, a protective gesture on her part. While Spring needn’t have bothered, Knox appreciated her thoughtfulness. He’d stopped feeling anything but disdain for his parents long ago. How could he not? And he experienced no regret Marianne was dead. Maybe that made him a horrible person, but he couldn’t drum up even an ounce of remorse.
By some unspoken agreement, Knox and Spring took their time strolling through the woods. Through the canopy of leaves, the sun shone brightly on the path. Here or there, she would stop and caress the grayed bark of a tree, restoring vitality to the old hardwoods. As Knox watched her interact with nature, he experienced a swell of pride. Other than to give voice to her feelings of emotional suffocation, she had taken her whole memory loss in stride. The speed at which she relearned to use her magic was a testament to her intelligence.
“What are you thinking about so hard?”
Her voice startled him from his musings. He squinted upwards at the mid-morning sun and let the rays bathe his face in their warmth. Spring tightened her hand in his, and he smiled at her impatience. Yeah, some things would never change.
“You.” He faced her and let her see the love he felt for her, allowing himself to be open and honest for the first time in a long while. “I was thinking about you.” She ducked her head, but not before he witnessed her pleased smile. “What were you thinking?”
“That I could live out here. Among all this.” She waved a graceful hand to encompass the trees and bushes on either side of the path. “I…” She halted and cocked her head.
“Sprin—”
She reached an index finger to cover his lips as she frowned over her shoulder. “Someone else is here,” she whispered. “The energy is very bad.”
Trusting her instincts, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pictured the front lawn of the Thorne Estate. Nothing happened.
Fucking Blockers!
Wildly, his head spun left and right, trying to gauge the best route to run. “Can you get a sense of where they are?”
“Close. To the left, I think.”
“That means we’re cut off. Head back to the clearing as fast as you can. You’ll be protected there.”
“I’m not leaving you, Knox.”
“Why can’t you ever do what you’re told?” he growled. “Let’s go!”
“Wait!” In a move that surprised him, Spring faced him and gripped his hands. “Goddess hear our plea and assist us in our time of need. Praesidio!”
She’d requested protection from the Goddess. And as the morning sun disappeared, the entire wooded area was encased in inky darkness. Had Knox not been holding onto Spring, he’d have panicked because he couldn’t see six inches in front of his face.
“Conlumino!”
A faint trail of light appeared. It reminded Knox of small solar lights along a darkened walkway. Careful to keep his voice pitched for her ears alone, he asked, “Can anyone else see this but us?”
“No.”
“Clever woman. Let’s go.”
They hightailed it for the clearing where they knew they’d find the protection of the Goddess and centuries of their ancestors. Roughly ten yards out, Spring pulled him to a halt and ducked into the forest.
“Find them. Conjure flashlights if you have to. They can’t have gotten far.”
Zhu Lin. Why wasn’t he surprised? The only question that remained was if his mother had set him up. It wouldn’t surprise him if she had. The underhanded action fit with her previous behavior.
“Who is that man?”
For a moment, Knox had forgotten Spring had no knowledge of Lin other than what he’d told her. She had no way of knowing what Lin looked like. “Zhu Lin.”
She straightened from her crouched position and stepped forward.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“It’s time to end this.”
The steely determination in her voice chilled him to the marrow of his bones. It was as if she were someone else. Someone other than Spring. Was there a remnant of Isis left in her?