Page 21 of After Midnight (Skye Druids #7)

Chapter Eighteen

Kurt came to in a strange, dark room. He was tired of waking up in unfamiliar beds.

But for the moment, there was no pain, so he didn’t move.

The lamp beside him had been dimmed, leaving a soft glow that allowed him to see a dresser and the open door.

He listened for voices, but the house was silent.

He recalled his wound bleeding and surmised that he had busted some stitches with his movements. He must have passed out because he had no memories after standing in the kitchen. So , where was he? And how did he get here? Unless …was he dead?

Surely , the afterlife would be something better than a bedroom.

Kurt gradually moved his left arm, anticipating the pull from his injury, but he could raise it without pain.

Next , he attempted to roll onto his right side.

Success , again without pain. He shoved down the covers and pushed up onto his right elbow to find he was naked.

His bandages were gone, and the only indication of a wound was a puckered, pink-hued section of skin.

“ Looks like the Healers did their work,” he murmured.

Kurt swung his legs over the side of the bed and grinned at not losing consciousness.

He pushed to his feet to see how steady his legs were.

When he was sure he wouldn’t fall on his arse, he walked to the door and peered into the hallway.

There were three other doors, all open, and a light coming from the opposite end.

He quietly crept down the hall, searching for other occupants, and passed a bathroom and two bedrooms before reaching the kitchen and a living area past that.

Nothing looked familiar, nor did it appear as if anyone was home.

He walked to the nearest window and checked outside but couldn’t see much in the darkness.

He then headed to the front door and opened it to find the porch bright enough to shine upon the entry and a few feet past it.

Kurt closed the door and ran a hand down his face as he considered things. He retraced his steps to the kitchen and spotted a piece of paper beneath a magnet of Neste Point on the fridge.

Found you unconscious and bleeding. I’m sure you won’t be upset at being healed.

The cottage is heavily warded with Druid and Reaper magic. Will be by soon to fill you in on the plan.

B

Kurt read Balladyn’s note twice. He tried not to read too much into the fact that he had been moved from Rhona’s place, but it was hard not to. It wasn’t enough that he had left the manor. They wanted him farther away.

Would he get a chance to talk to Sabryn ? He hoped so. Kurt was glad Rhona had pushed him to tell her everything, because while he was far from faultless, he knew Parker well enough to know that his brother had twisted things just to cause Sabryn pain and make things harder for Kurt .

Balladyn said he would return, and Kurt believed him. He looked down at his nakedness and saw he still had dried blood on him from the attack and the surgery. There had to be clothes somewhere. But first, a long shower.

He made his way to the bathroom and turned on the tap, putting it as hot as he could handle it.

Then he stood beneath the spray and let the water pelt his body for a long time before washing.

It felt so good, he could’ve remained in there for hours, but his fingers were already pruny. Reluctantly , he turned it off.

As he reached for a towel, he heard something that made him still.

Kurt listened for a heartbeat but didn’t hear it again.

He wrapped the towel around his hips and quietly slipped out of the bathroom.

Another sound came from the direction of the kitchen.

He crept down the hall once more, but this time, magic filled his palms.

He stepped into the kitchen, ready for battle, and saw Sabryn . She had her back to him as she stirred sugar into a mug. He dropped his arms, shock running through him. She tensed as if sensing him but sipped the liquid.

“ You’re the last person I expected to see,” he said.

She finally turned to face him. “ I asked for privacy.”

“ For ?”

“ Get some clothes on,” she stated as she turned her head to the side as if the very sight of him sickened her.

Kurt glanced at the floor before walking to the bedroom he had woken in.

There , on a stool, was his rucksack with the few items of clothing he had stuffed into it.

He dressed and raked his fingers through his wet hair, but he didn’t leave the room.

He had begged Sabryn to hear him out. Whether she came to listen or deliver the words she needed to say, he was getting some time alone with her.

For the first time in years, there was nothing standing between them.

Not Parker , not miles, and certainly not any screens.

It terrified him.

None of the scenarios he had crafted had ever led him to this.

He wasn’t sure what to say to her. The truth, obviously, but would it be enough?

He might not have been the one to kill her father, but he hadn’t been there for her.

He’d left her to deal with the aftermath of her dad’s death alone.

There was no justification or excuse that could make that right. And he didn’t intend to try.

He’d wanted the facts revealed, and they had been, thanks to Parker . Though this wasn’t the respite he had hoped for. Instead , Kurt carried another type of weight now. And this one wouldn’t so easily be shucked off.

Kurt drew in a deep breath and readied himself for whatever would happen, then went to find Sabryn . She sat in a rocker in the living area, drinking her beverage. Her deep blue eyes briefly met his before she focused on something across the room.

The fact that she didn’t immediately lay into him made him leery.

He wanted to get closer, but her body language warned him against it.

Instead , Kurt sat in the overstuffed chair farthest away from her.

He tried not to stare, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

He knew the way she walked and ran and her battle stances from six years of watching her through CCTV footage.

But he also knew every inch of her face by heart.

He knew the mischievous look she got when she was about to do something playful.

The sound of her mirth and how she snorted when she laughed too hard.

He knew that she loved to have her feet rubbed, was extremely ticklish, and had an affinity for olives.

He hadn’t forgotten anything about those months in DC .

Not their first date, their first kiss, or the first time she stood bare before him in all her amazing glory.

He’d never known such passion existed. Experiencing it had changed him; it had shaken him to his core and made him take stock of his life and where he was going.

He’d known then that if he wanted to be with her, he had to get away from his family. But he’d realized all of it too late.

Too late for her father.

And too late for them.

Sabryn set the mug on the table next to her, folded her hands in her lap, and lifted her gaze to him. “ Where’s Parker ?”

“ I don’t know. I can find him, though.”

“ Yes , you will find him for me.”

Kurt didn’t bother warning her against going after his brother. He’d let her have Parker while he tracked down Diana and put an end to everything before his mother could strike again. “ All right.”

“ Just like that?” Sabryn asked.

He shrugged. “ You have a right to your vengeance.”

“ Are you telling me you don’t want retribution? He stuck a knife between your ribs. In case you don’t know, Parker was a hair’s breadth from killing you.”

Kurt squeezed his bare toes into the rug at the realization that he had come so close to dying. “ I didn’t know. But , yes, I want revenge.”

“ Well ?” she asked tersely.

He didn’t know this dance, so he was treading carefully. “ You want me to look now?”

“ I’m waiting for you to try to talk me out of going after him.”

“ I don’t have a reason to talk you out of going after Parker .”

Her eyes narrowed. “ Bullshit .”

“ I know you well enough to know there isn’t anything I could say anyway.”

Her smile was icy when she said, “ You think you know me.”

He knew her better than she knew herself, but he was smart enough not to say that out loud. “ I know all the Knights . It was my job to watch over all of you.”

“ You spied on me.”

Kurt swallowed. His throat was tight. “ I did.”

Her eyes widened, and she laughed. “ The truth. Color me shocked.”

“ I intended to come clean about everything,” he began.

Her voice dipped low with barely controlled fury when she asked, “ Really ? And when were you planning to do that? In another six years?”

“ Admittedly , I let too much time pass.”

“ You don’t say?” she quipped.

He didn’t blame her for her antagonistic behavior. She was handling herself better than he would. “ My plan was to show you what I could do as Saber . And once you accepted me, tell you everything.”

“ But you didn’t.”

Kurt shook his head and rested his hands on his thighs. “ I gave myself three months. When the time came, I convinced myself that I needed to show you more of what Saber could do. Before I knew it, a year had passed. Then two. Then six. The longer I let it go, the harder it was to say the words.”

“ As often as we exchanged texts, why not tell me that way?”

“ I tried a few times. I had it all written out. But I could never hit send. It isn’t the kind of thing someone should read. You needed to hear it from me.”

She blew out an irritated breath. “ There’s a thing called a phone. You might have heard of it.”

“ The only thing I can tell you is that I wanted to say it standing in front of you. I tried to do it at the manor.”

“ Don’t you dare,” she warned, her tone dripping with fury.

He raised his hands, palms out in surrender, before returning them to his legs. “ I wanted you to hear it from me, and I’m sorry I was too afraid to burn that final bridge between us. More than that, I’m sorry Parker spoke to you first.”

“ It should’ve come from you. You owed me that, at least.”

“ I owe you a lot. I know it isn’t much, but I’m truly sorry, Sabryn .”

She rolled her eyes. “ Fine .”

Fine ? Fine ! It was so far from fine that it wasn’t even in the same hemisphere. Kurt had known she was already lost to him, but he still felt her slipping away. And it was crushing, devastating. But he had no one to blame but himself.

“ I want to hear your side. Tell me what happened in DC ,” she demanded.

His heart pumped faster, blood rushing in his ears. He was staring at the love of his life, cutting the final cord, and she wanted him to talk about DC .

“ As you stated, you owe me,” Sabryn said.

Kurt nodded bleakly. “ The London Druids have charged their members with locating Skye Druid descendants around the globe and pulling them into the organization. The moment they learned that an American senator had ties to Skye , plans were made. The elders wanted your father. The thought of a United States senator in their pocket was exhilarating. They decided it would be easier to pull you in first. That way, you could convince your father to join.”

“ Which is where you and Parker came in.”

“ It is,” he admitted.

She picked at a nail. “ You bet on which of you could get me into bed first.”

Bloody fucking hell. He’d forgotten. Of course, his brother would share that. Kurt felt the expanse between them growing even more. “ We did,” he admitted, the words like ash on his tongue. “ Everything was a competition to Parker . One of us was supposed to seduce you.”

“ I made that really easy for you, didn’t I ?”

“ When Parker and I did it before?—”

Her blue eyes blazed with fury. “ You’ve done this to others?”

The revulsion in her tone twisted his gut. “ It’s how we were raised. I know that doesn’t mean much to you, but I’m trying to explain.”

“ Oh , I’m just dying to hear what you’ll say next.”

Kurt had never felt good about the things he’d done, but he hadn’t known shame until Sabryn entered his life. He ran a hand down his face and finished what he had begun. “ I was supposed to seduce you and make you fall for me so you would follow me to London . Instead , I fell for you.”