Page 54 of After Midnight (Skye Druids #7)

Later that day…

Kurt fidgeted nervously as he and Sabryn walked to the turquoise door. He stared at it for so long that Sabryn finally knocked for him. The door opened before he had a chance to prepare. Emily MacLean met him with a small smile, her blue eyes moving from him to Sabryn .

“ Please , come in,” she bade them, absently smoothing her hand over her shoulder-length blond hair. “ Reggie is already here.”

Reggie . His father. The only one who had ever called him Reggie was Diana . To everyone else, he was Reginald . To Kurt , he had simply been Dad . He had dearly missed the long conversations he and his father used to have. While far from happy, the family they had been was forever altered.

Sabryn tugged him inside the cottage as she said something to Emily he didn’t pay any attention to.

Emily led them through the house, turning back to look at him.

Her lips moved, but his brain couldn’t make out anything she said.

His last words to Diana had been harsh. He had assumed her guilt without allowing her a chance to protest.

All too soon, they stood outside the bedroom. Kurt dug in his heels as his stomach twisted and blood roared in his ears. He couldn’t do this. If he saw Diana , he would have no choice but to admit she was dead.

His mother. The woman who had been larger than life and never feared anything. She couldn’t be gone. She needed to know what her information had done for them. For Sabryn . She should know that, and he wanted to be the one to tell her. But he couldn’t. Because of his brother.

Sabryn touched his chest. He looked into the deep blue pools of her eyes and saw her sadness and concern. “ You don’t have to do this,” she said.

He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it before linking their fingers.

Then he took a step forward and looked into the bedroom.

He saw his father first. Reginald sat beside the bed, hunched over, his head in his hands and his shoulders softly shaking.

Then Kurt looked at the bed. Diana lay still, a blanket up to her chin.

He could almost convince himself she was sleeping.

Memories of long ago ran through his mind: Diana teaching him how to brush down a horse, how she used to play hide-and-seek with him and Parker in the garden. A smile curved his lips when he thought about the time he had thrown mud at her, and she had thrown it right back.

Tears stung Kurt’s eyes. Where had these memories been the last six years?

Was it a child’s onus to always believe the worst of their parents?

To focus on the things they swore they would never do if they had children of their own?

He’d hated Diana . Yet now, staring at her, he found he would do almost anything to have one more minute with her.

Suddenly , his dad lifted his head and looked at him. The moment Reginald got to his feet, Kurt walked to him. They embraced, both overcome with grief. He had never seen his father cry before, and it spoke to how deeply he had loved Diana .

His dad was the first to pull away and turned his watery gaze past Kurt . “ Sabryn . I’ve waited a long time to meet you.”

Kurt eagerly watched as Sabryn walked to his father and put her arms around him. Reginald held her tightly for a moment. It was no surprise that his father liked her. His dad was easy to like and generally liked others.

“ Diana told me all about you,” Reginald said.

Sabryn glanced at Kurt . “ Maybe don’t believe everything she said.”

“ She liked you a great deal.” Reginald turned to look at his wife as a tear rolled down his cheek. “ She couldn’t tell you that.”

“ Why not?” Kurt asked.

His father’s blue eyes swung to him. “ I know you’re angry at her, but you should also be angry at me.”

“ You ?” Kurt asked, surprised. “ Why would I be mad at you?”

Reginald wearily sank into the chair. “ You think you knew her, but you didn’t. No one did but me. She only let her guard down when we were shut in our room together.”

Kurt shook his head in disbelief.

“ We both knew things needed to change with the London Druids . I preferred to fight behind the scenes, and she liked being front and center and seen. She wanted to lead, and I wanted that for her,” his father continued.

“ It was a perfect partnership in every way. I know others think she married me to control me, but that was never our relationship. From the very beginning we were a team. Every decision we came to, we did together.”

Sabryn moved closer to Kurt . “ So , you knew about DC ?”

“ I knew about all of it before it happened.” Reginald ran a hand down his weary face.

“ She wanted to go against Thomas , but it wasn’t the time.

I cautioned her against it. Maybe we should have.

” He turned his head to Kurt . “ She was a good woman who loved fiercely and did everything she could to keep her family safe. She was strong and determined, but she loved her family above all. Why else do you think she would venture here for you and Sabryn ?”

Kurt shook his head, staggered by what he heard.

“ You knew Parker had changed,” Sabryn guessed.

Reginald shrugged. “ I suspected. I wanted her to wait for me so we could come to Skye together.”

“ I pressed her.” Kurt was going to be sick.

“ Rightly so, if what I’ve heard is true. The blame doesn’t lie with you, son.”

Kurt looked into his father’s eyes and fought against a wave of remorse that threatened to swallow him.

Reginald slid his gaze to Sabryn . “ You were successful?”

“ We were,” she answered. “ Thanks to Diana . She stayed alive long enough to pass along the last bit of information I needed.”

“ Good ,” Reginald said, his voice breaking. His gaze swung back to his wife.

Kurt stared at Diana’s face and saw the blood against her pale cheek. The vibrant, beautiful woman who had always been so put-together was gone. “ I said hurtful things to her.”

“ She knew you loved her,” his father said.

But Kurt wasn’t so sure, and he would spend the rest of his life wondering. “ Are you taking her home to bury her?”

Reginald shook his head. “ She is home. Skye is where all Druids hail from. I’ve spoken to Rhona already.”

“ A fitting place to lay Diana to rest,” Sabryn said. “ She deserves to be honored. She helped save us last night.”

“ To save Skye ,” Kurt added and wrapped an arm around her.

The next day…

Finn tried not to squirm as he stood in the war room, but the jeans rubbing against his legs grew more uncomfortable by the day.

Since jeans were the only kind of pants he owned, he was in a bit of a pickle.

Worse , he didn’t want to tell anyone about his discomfort lest they think something was wrong.

Something was wrong, but that wasn’t the point. He didn’t want anyone to worry.

Most had taken seats around the tables. Finn had tried sitting, but he couldn’t take it.

He curled his hands into fists to keep from scratching.

His skin was raw from him scoring his skin from his ankles to his hips with what little he had for nails.

He’d done some research and knew tattoos had a healing process, but nothing like what was happening to him.

He looked around the room. Kirsi was missing another meeting, but no one would say anything, not when Nora was so ill.

But there was a new face among them. Luke Ryan .

After all the searching, Scott and Willa’s father had found his way to them.

Finn suspected they had been called to the war room to hear about his exploits.

Rhona walked in, drawing everyone’s attention. She nodded to Kurt , who opened a laptop and punched a few keys. A second later, his screen was projected on the wall behind her. In big, bold words, the headline read:

ANCIENT MAGIC AWAKENS : ISLE OF SKYE’S DRUIDS UNLEASH GLOBAL DEBATE .

Below it, the subheading read:

Unexplained phenomena linked to newly exposed Druid community.

“ Fekking hell,” Finn murmured. “ Is that real?”

Rhona released a long sigh. “ I’m afraid so. It went live less than an hour ago, and Chief Superintendent Boyd has already been drowning in calls.”

“ Reporters are arriving on the isle as we speak,” Kurt added.

Elias ran a hand down his face. “ We’re going to be under a microscope.”

“ The chief is doing her best to protect us, but there isna much she can do,” Theo added.

Ariah looked around. “ Is nobody wondering how this was leaked? What proof there is?”

Grim -faced, Kurt hit a button, and his screen changed to a video of the battle at the Fairy Glen .

“ This has to be London ,” Ferne said.

Carlyle nodded. “ I was about to say the same thing.”

“ You’re forgetting George ,” Luke added.

Balladyn shook his head. “ It doesn’t matter who, how, or why. It’s amazing that Druids have stayed hidden for as long as they have. Same with the Fae , and especially the Dragon Kings . Maybe it’s time everyone knew what was out there.”

“ In other words, we need to prepare,” Rhona said.

Bronwyn shook her head. “ Like we needed one more thing to deal with. This is going to hinder us.”

“ Maybe that’s exactly what it’s meant to do.” Sabryn shrugged from her seat near the front. “ Maybe this is the evil and is meant to add another layer of issues.”

Elodie threw up her hands. “ Well , then we do what we’ve been doing. We keep fighting.”

The world looked different now, as if it had dimmed somehow.

Kirsi used her shoulder to wipe at her tears.

She should be there for her dad, but she couldn’t.

Skye was a small place, and it had only taken thirty minutes for news to spread of her mother’s death.

The sight of her father in shambles as the phone rang endlessly had been too much.

She’d said nothing to the nurse as she bolted from the house.

She drew her knees to her chest and watched some seagulls. The boulder she sat on was where she often found Callum , and she had to admit that she had hoped he would be here. She wasn’t exactly up for conversation, though, so maybe it was better that she sat on the beach alone.

What was she going to do without her mother?

Her illness had lasted a long time, but Nora had always been a fighter, pulling through when others had little hope.

This latest episode had been one of the worst, and then her mom was gone before they realized it.

Kirsi would have to return home soon. Her father would need help arranging the funeral.

Her head jerked to the side when something brushed her arm.

She almost couldn’t believe it when she saw Callum sitting beside her.

His light brown waves were pulled back in a queue, his amber eyes studying her.

The tears welled before she could stop them, overflowing and sliding down her cheeks.

He said nothing as he wrapped an arm around her and held her.

Edinburgh

Parker sat with his ankle across his knee as he looked at George across her desk. “ You seem surprised to see me.”

“ I wouldn’t say surprised,” she replied. “ I would put myself more in the confused column. Especially since things on Skye didn’t go as you planned.”

Parker chuckled. “ I wouldn’t say that.”

George quirked a dark brow. “ Mara was the only one to return from the two groups of Druids I sent you. I would definitely say things didn’t go as planned.”

“ London paid for those Druids .”

“ Those were my people,” George stated, her voice rising with her anger. She paused, her glare icy. “ No more Edinburgh Druids will die on Skye .”

Both of Parker’s brows rose at that statement. “ Unless you’re the one sending them, right? Because you’ve sent plenty to the isle. In fact,” he said, twisting his lips, “several have joined the Skye Druids .”

“ How dare you?” she began.

He rolled his eyes and cut his hand through the air. “ Stop right there. You had no problem handing people over as long as London gave you money.”

“ And Elias . He isn’t here,” she snapped.

Parker pursed his lips as he sighed. “ No , he is not.”

“ Why is that?”

“ Because I don’t care about your little revenge plot.”

George’s eyes narrowed as she sat up straighter in her chair. “ And just what do you want?”

“ That seat.”

She stilled, fear flashing in her eyes. George was so focused on him that she never saw Mara coming up behind her with the knife.

“ Your time is done,” Parker said.

Mara slit her throat with one swipe of the blade. George grabbed her neck, blood gushing, as her lips worked, but no words came. Parker cleared his throat as he stood and buttoned his suit jacket before waiting for Mara to join him.

“ Ready ?” he asked her.

She tossed the knife on George’s desk, and the two walked out before the leader took her last breath.

Thank you for reading AFTER MIDNIGHT . I hope you enjoyed the ending to Sabryn and Kurt’s story as much as I loved writing it.