‘Any reason I should?’ Xan didn’t need to know that her palms were sweating.
‘You really have nothing to say to me, Deirdre?’
Dee stopped, her focus firmly on the steeple of the Third Baptist Church that thrust through the trees down the block. ‘Besides “you two-faced, venomous murdering bitch,” no. I really don’t.’
‘You don’t want to know why I’m here?’
‘Nope.’
God, she could hear Xan smiling behind her. ‘Believe it or not, I’ve come to tell you that you won.’
Okay, that got Dee to turn around, if only to gauge the look on Xan’s face. ‘It wasn’t a game,’ she said.
Xan took a step toward her. The grass didn’t even seem to bend beneath her. ‘No,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t. It was a sincere difference of opinion. You never understood that I would never have hurt you, and I couldn’t believe you would shatter your family the way you did. But I can’t discount the fact that you did keep your sisters safe all these years. You did a good job, Dee. They’re exceptional women.’
Dee couldn’t even find the breath to answer. How did she do it? How, after all these years, did she know just where Dee’s weakness was? She was saying everything Dee had yearned to hear all these years, in those moments when she felt small and selfish and put-upon. Just to have one person appreciate what she’d done.
And it had to be Xan. Damn, damn, damn.
‘They are,’ Dee said. And without you.’
‘And whether you believe it or not, I want to say thank you. I love them, too.’ Xan considered her a minute, obviously gauging back. I’m not going to insult your intelligence by trying to convince you there was never any animosity between the two of us, Dee. You do have a legitimate case against my behavior all those years ago.’
Dee couldn’t move, mesmerized. ‘You mean the part about your murdering my parents?’
Xan waved an elegant hand, as if discounting bad grammar. ‘No, dear. I didn’t murder anyone. They simply didn’t have the stamina for what they asked. They wanted their powers gone. They had misused them and thought it would be an appropriate penance. I… obliged them.’
And they died.’
‘Well…’ Xan sighed, actually frowning. ‘Yes. I’m afraid I wasn’t as proficient then. I couldn’t pull away in time. They surprised me. I learned a terrible lesson that day.’
‘Yes. How to cover up a crime.’
‘The verdict was death by accident, Deirdre.’ Her voice was so gentle, so understanding. Dee wanted to break something. And it was just that. I’m sorry. And I hope you’ll be able to accept my gift in the spirit it was intended, as a gesture of reconciliation.’
‘Gift?’ Dee demanded. ‘Like a fruit basket?’
She got Xan to smile again. ‘If you’re getting fruit baskets that are nearly as delicious as Danny James, I need to stop in for the holidays more often.’ She looked down the street in the direction Danny James had just disappeared. ‘I looked all over the world for him. I wanted to find someone who would help you free yourself from all your responsibilities, and every search led to Danny James. He’s your true love, Dee.’
Again, a thrust straight through the heart. ‘He can’t be. He doesn’t even believe in what we are.’
Xan actually looked a bit regretful. ‘I know. I didn’t realize that until I saw him here with you. I talked to him this morning, but I just don’t think that’s going to change. He’s been too hurt.’
‘Then how can he be…?’
‘Your true love?’ Xan shrugged, looking disconcerted. ‘Truly? I don’t know. I just know that this chance comes along once in a lifetime, and that you can’t throw him away.’
Dee wanted to close her eyes, to stick her fingers in her ears. God, Xan was good. Satan in Chanel.
She shoved her hands in her pockets. ‘Why should I listen to a word you say?’
‘Because you know I’m telling the truth.’
‘A lovely thought. But what if I feel I can’t accept such a generous gift?’
Xan walked right up to her. ‘Do you really want to find yourself my age and all alone?’
‘Like you?’
Xan’s eyes sparked red, betraying her frustration. She looked away a second, and then faced Dee head-on. ‘Yes. Like me. I chose power, Dee. It’s too late for me to change that. It’s not too late for you.’ Dee could smell the cinnamon and sulfur that was Xan’s power signature. It made Dee want to sneeze. Even so, she couldn’t look away from those mesmerizing black eyes.
‘Why am I seeing a Trojan horse in my head?’ she asked.
Xan laughed and shook her head. ‘You don’t have to trust me. Go to him and you’ll know. I’m just hoping you don’t throw away the best thing that ever happened to you because I brought him to you. I hope you know just what he’s worth.’
‘Because he’s my true love.’
‘Yes.’ Xan took Dee’s hand before she could stop her, twining their fingers together until Dee could feel the warmth of Xan’s skin. ‘Get out of this town, Dee. Go travel the world and find out who Danny James is. Love him. Have babies with him. And if you have to compromise to get him, you should. I promise you, there isn’t anything too great to sacrifice for this chance.’
Dee was shaken to her toes. Shed never heard Xan sound so sincere. So passionate about anything. She’d never seen ghosts of any kind in her aunt’s eyes. She saw them now. She felt such warmth spread through her, as if Xan had poured it from her fingers.
Xan straightened, retrieved her hand. Dee stumbled, suddenly off balance and shivery.
‘It would be nice to reestablish a relationship with my nieces,’ Xan said. ‘After you think about this, after you decide what you want to do about Danny, let me know. I’ll help any way I can. I’ve spent the last long years making sure I learned how. Correctly, so I can’t hurt anyone else.’
And just like that, Dee was alone once again with nothing but a sense of sudden cold and the growing suspicion that for once in her life, Xan had told the truth.
Elric really was gone. Lizzie couldn’t believe it – when she went through her deserted bedroom back into the workshop, there was no sign of him. She’d assumed he’d just been masking his presence, and she closed her eyes and tried to sense him, tried to conjure up the flowing colors he seemed to emanate, but the air was flat and still. She looked down, and she was barefoot. How odd – even when she didn’t deliberately put shoes on, she always ended up with something interesting on her feet. But ever since she took her shoes off last night, she’d stayed barefoot.
Never in her life had she gone against her sisters’ will -she was the peacemaker, the problem solver, the one to figure out something that would make everyone happy, or at least marginally satisfied. She’d automatically stepped into the middle of the array he’d drawn on the floor the night before, and she could practically feel him around her, hear his voice in her ear. The rat bastard. He’d told Xan where they were. For all his ‘oh, I’ll help you,’ he’d turned around and given them up. He’d lied and betrayed them. Not only that, but he’d sent her fiance off to the ends of the earth, and probably given him amnesia, as well, at least as far as she was concerned.
Bastard. All that shimmering charm was nothing but a charade, just like her father’s facile charisma, and beneath it-
‘Stop thinking so hard.’
She whirled around. He was standing in the entrance to her workshop, as if he thought he’d be welcome. He’d changed his clothes – whether he’d literally changed what he’d been wearing into something new or had somehow found a new set of clothes, she didn’t know and she didn’t care.
‘You son of a bitch,’ she said.
He seemed undisturbed by her greeting. ‘Don’t overreact. I’m not the only one who’s arrived in this godforsaken little town. If I hadn’t told her, somebody else would have.’
‘Who else has she sent?’
‘Didn’t you listen to your sisters? Xantippe understands people far too well – she sent exactly the sort of men who’d most distract your sisters. Their soul mates.’