Esha stared at her sister, comprehension dawning. “You’re scared.”
“What? No!”
“Oh my gods, you are. You’re scared to go back to Scotland.” Of course it made sense. When Aurora had been free in the seventeenth century, she’d been hunted. Then she’d been locked up. There were only bad memories there. Here, she had complete control.
“Come on!” Esha cried. “You’re better than that. You’re a freaking soulceress! We aren’t afraid of anything.” Which was a lie, because she was afraid for Warren. But it was a lie that had gotten her through a lot of hard times in her life, times like those Aurora was going through.
Aurora suddenly looked smaller sitting next to her, and her heart clutched at the sight. For Aurora to let her see her like this, without her hard shell, meant Aurora really cared for her.
Aurora straightened. “I’m no’ afraid, I’m smart and wary. There’s a difference. I broke out of prison. They’ll throw me back in if I return to Scotland.”
“What if I can get you a pardon?” She’d need Warren’s help, and Aurora would definitely have to give up her souls. But she’d wait to mention that part.
“I’m no’ interested.”
“Yes, you are. You’ve got to be bored here. But you’re scared to leave. I could never really understand what your life has been like. But I understand being afraid of what I am because other people fear me. But I know you, Aurora. You’re like me. You’ll hate yourself for cowering here. This isn’t you. Prove me wrong. Come back with me.”
Aurora’s soul shadows were now vibrating. Were they becoming agitated? Should she be nervous? No. She was no longer afraid of her sister. Aurora was volatile, dark and light, with a serious ruthless bent. She was older and stronger. But it didn’t matter. Because Aurora wouldn’t fight her. She was her sister. Anyone else would be right to be afraid of her, but not Esha.
“Come on,” Esha said. “Come back with me. I’ll get you a pardon, and you can rub your power in the witches’ faces. You can even work with me at the university—there’s an awesome salary, by the way—and it will be great.”
“Great? Great to be back among people who hate me and want to toss me in jail? I suppose the price for their grudging tolerance is for me to give up my souls as well.” The soul shadows vibrated more quickly.
“Warren really needs his soul back. It makes him ill when you use it. If it goes on long enough, he’ll be worse than dead. Just give it back. You can get power the way I do, by borrowing it.”
“You care for him!” Aurora’s eyes blackened. “How could you? After what he did?”
“He tried his best to save her! It wasn’t his fault.” Esha had no doubt of it. He was too good to have let her mother die.
“No’ hard enough!” Aurora leapt off the counter and backed away. Her familiar ran to her, no doubt trying to calm her, but it did no good. Aurora’s short hair was now whipping around her head as her shadows writhed and swirled around her. “Our mother is dead because of him. And you want me to give up his soul? To become powerless?”
Esha flinched as the lights in the room flickered and thunder boomed outside. The Chairman hissed and arched his back.
“They’re making you crazy, Aurora! Soulceresses aren’t meant to possess so many souls. It’s driving you insane! Your eyes are black. And look at the house!” Esha waved her arm. The appliances were rattling on the counters, dancing with excess energy thrown off by Aurora’s rage. It was really starting to freak her out. “I’m just making suggestions, and you’re flipping out. It’s not normal!”
“We’re no’ normal! We’re soulceresses. I’m just doing what soulceresses are supposed to do!” She waved her arms in front of her and a blast of power sent the appliances off the counters and threw Esha against the wall. The Chairman howled.
Aurora grasped her head and shook it, as if she were trying to silence the voices inside. The floor shook, marble cracking beneath her feet. Glass shattered in the cabinets as the walls warped.
Oh, shit no. “Chairman, come here.”
He hurtled toward her, a black flying blur. As soon as he reached her, she envisioned their base in Iceland, and they disappeared.
When she opened her eyes in the main foyer of the house, she grabbed the Chairman and hugged him to her, soft and warm and alive. She set him away from her and stared hard at his furry little face, lit by the soft dawn glow through the windows. He looked disgruntled but uninjured.
What the hell had happened back there? Aurora had been overcome by her shadows. The sister she’d gotten to know had been completely consumed by her madness.
Esha had spoken too soon when she’d declared herself unafraid of Aurora. Perhaps she’d been right—Aurora wouldn’t hurt her. But when she was overtaken by the madness from housing too many souls? She was an entirely different person.
That was the Mythean that Warren had warned her about. In that moment, when Aurora had been in the depths of her rage, she hadn’t been her sister. She hadn’t even been Aurora. She’d been a Mythean wi
th unimaginable power who was completely unpredictable and totally under the influence of the madness of the souls she’d trapped.
Esha’s shoulders drooped. What would she do now? Convincing her would never work. Was killing her really the only way to get back Warren’s soul?
She shook the horrible thought away and ran up the stairs to the bedroom, only to pull up short when she saw the empty bed. A quick search of the house revealed that Warren was gone. Shit!
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE