Page 58

Kate tried to process exactly what the woman meant, but the harder she tried, the more it made no sense. Instead, she changed her own tactical direction.

“Why did you make the offer to begin with?”

“We’d reap the rewards mutually. You would have your fiancé back at the time the man who belongs to me is returned to my custody.” The woman released a dramatic sigh and shrugged a narrow shoulder lazily. “Alas, if you don’t wish to reunite with Bryce, then this meeting is pointless.”

It wasn’t until the woman started to gather her coat and purse that Kate dropped back into the chair.

“I’ll hear you out. That doesn’t mean I agree to any of this,” Kate said.

The woman thought for a long moment, stroking the supple leather of her coat before she finally folded the item over her lap and faced Kate.

“’Tis I who make the rules, Katherine. Should you stay, you shall agree to help me.”

Whatever.

Like this woman could control her.

Kate flipped her hands up to the ceiling. “Fine. Sure. Who are you?”

“You can address me as Di.” The woman draped her purse on the side of her chair. Her movements were utterly graceful, even more than a ballerina’s. She moved with a fluid, airy grace that Kate had never witnessed before. Surreal. “Please, tell me about his scar.”

“I already said, it’s not a scar. It’s a birthmark. He was born with the mark. His mother consulted a few surgeons about it when he was a child, but none would operate on it.”

Di nodded slowly, “’Twould only return. Surgery can’t remove a scar.”

Kate groaned. “It’s not a scar.”

“But ’tis a scar.” Her obnoxious smile stretched across her red-painted lips. “You see, ’tis from a century ago, his previous life.” Di raised a hand when Kate began to argue the absurdity of her suggestion, immediately silencing her. “Aye, the Bryce you know lived before. And in that life, Katherine, he swore his heart and soul to another woman.”

“You’re speaking nonsense.”

“Nay.” Di tilted her head, lowering her gaze to the wine in her glass. Her unassailability put Kate on the edge of her seat. She didn’t like the idea she might very easily have no control over this woman. “You see, Bryce was once a man named Mikhail. Mikhail was naught more than a mortal store owner and earned a bounty on his head when he won Rihanna’s heart. They were—what do you mortals call it?—soul mates? Aye, soul mates.”

She laughed and shook her head, like the very idea of soul mates was nothing more than a joke.

Kate, on the other hand, considered taking her leave.

Again.

This woman was nuts.

“Poor Rihanna. She nearly lost her life to heartache when Mikhail was murdered mere hours after they swore their blood bond.” Di snickered, turning her hand over. She traced an invisible line across her palm. “A blood bond, Katherine. You see, death can’t erase the magic of a blood bond. ’Tis why Bryce retains thescar.”

Kate’s head spun at the nonsense. She could barely understand why she remained at this damn table. This woman obviously had a few screws loose.

And yet, despite the absurdity of her claim, something deep down inside her recognized the possibility of truth in the words.

That damn gut instinct her mother always warned her to pay attention to.

“Rihanna, Katherine, was the woman who caused his death a century ago. Do you want to hear how he died?” Before she could answer, Di continued. “Her attention toward him made him the most hated man in his town. Many more prominent men in town believed he had overstepped his bounds when he took Rihanna as his, and they retaliated. Instead of leaving Mikhail be, abandoning him for the sake of his life, she selfishly bound them by blood. And so, jealous mortals decided to trap him one day. They lured him from his cabin and when he was alone on the trail into town, he was ambushed. Oh, they beat him terribly. Terribly. Then they slit his throat.” She pulled a finger agonizingly slowly across her neck. “Deep. So deep they nearly separated his head from his shoulders. Could you imagine the pain and torture he endured in those final moments? Choking on his own blood in a forest, alone? Meanwhile, the woman who brought this upon him rested safely at home.”

The red-hot rage that began to boil shouldn’t have been so vile. Not over a questionable story about a man who lived a hundred years ago.

But if Bryce suffered such a horrifying end…

“For decades after his murder, that woman stole my man. Her grief went on far longer than was acceptable. Decades, Katherine. Decades of grief that demanded my husband’s attention to keep her from doing something foolish.” Di wiggled her fingers and reclined in her chair. “He finally returned to me, only to have a mortal woman snatch him from my hands. So if you wish to discuss betrayal with a womanwho understands the heartache you’re suffering, you’ll remain.” She leveled her sinister gaze on Kate’s and grinned. “And you’ll accept my proposition to help me in my endeavors. You help me and I’ll help you. You and I, Katherine, shall have our men back.”

Fine. She’d bite. Even if this woman’s claims of reincarnation were absolutely ridiculous. Seriously, a century ago? Hermotherwasn’t even a thought in her grandmother’s mind at that time!