A Matter of Forever (Fate, #4)

Jonah takes my hand in his, his thumb running back and forth across my skin. “You can go back to the room and rest, you know. We don’t have to talk about any of this right now.”


It’s so mercenary of me, but I do my best to stuff my sadness and regrets into a box. He’s wrong. We do have to talk about this now. People are dying. Decisions must be made. “I’ve slept enough.”

He accepts this with no argument. Good.

“How did you find me?”

It’s obvious he knows what I’m trying to do, but thankfully, he plays along with me. “When Kellan got back from his mission and you weren’t there, he immediately called me so we could start searching for you.”

A glance across the table shows Kellan hell bent on tugging and stretching his bracelet as far as it can go. I ache to reach out and touch him, let him know it’s okay to stop worrying. It kills me that I have to sit here and pretend that he’s nothing more than my fiancé’s brother, that his concern for me and mine for him are nothing more than an offshoot of our relationships with Jonah.

I count to ten. Will my voice to remain steady. “Did you see the bridge?”

Kellan refuses to look at me as I ask this, though. “Not at first. I knew you were nearby and in ... pain, but that fucker hid you guys behind a bunch of plants. It took me too long to figure out how you got over there once I realized where you were.”

I don’t need to be an Emotional like him to feel the guilt pouring off of him, like he failed me somehow. It’s so ridiculous I want to take him by the shoulders and shake him into sensibility. He has nothing to feel guilt over. It’s not like he stood back and allowed his father to be brutally murdered.

I blink back my own remorse and shame threatening to spill over my lash lines. My father died, and we were estranged. He died alone. The thing is, I barely knew him. He was my father and I don’t even know what his favorite movie was, let alone how he really felt about me. What does that say about me as a daughter? “Where’s ...” I have to clear my throat. “Where’s Cameron?”

“He and Will are still at our apartment,” Kellan says. He glances at his brother. “We doubled the Guards watching the place.”

He’s being kind, reassuring me of this. The only reason the protections put in place failed is because I chose to leave the safety they provided. It doesn’t ease my anxiety, though. “Did you catch any of them?”

Jonah’s flash of sudden anger is palpable. “Enlilkian got away, if that’s what you’re asking.”

I shake my head. “No. I meant ...” I wish I could just shake the images straight out of my brain. “The other three. The Elders in Harou, Nivedita, and Earle’s bodies.”

Nobody seems to know what to say at that. Shock and then grief fills the small room as what I’ve said sinks in; Iolani’s sudden bursts of quiet sobs yank at my heartstrings.

Zthane covers his eyes for a long moment. “I suppose that answers what happened to the team. At least we won’t have to wonder anymore. The families will have their answers.”

Kellan knocks his mug off the table, sending it crashing against the wall. I jerk back in surprise; he’s normally so good at not letting his emotions get the better of him. Not as good as Jonah, but still much better than the rest of us.

He quickly glances at Jonah with wide eyes and then shakes his head before slumping back in his chair.

“No,” Jonah tells me, an arm winding around my trembling shoulders. “We didn’t see them, let alone know they were there. Just Enlilkian.”

“I’m going to kill that sonofabitch,” Kellan snarls. “First the team, then you two? He thinks he can just—”

Jonah cuts him off sharply. “I said, not now.”

It’s clear they’re arguing in their heads; eventually, Kellan twists his chair toward the front of the room, yanking on his bracelet.

“What do you mean,” I ask slowly, “you two?”

Like in a movie, Iolani, Karl, Kopano, and Zthane get up and quickly exit the room without another word. I don’t care about them right now, though. I’m more focused on these two and what they’re not telling me.

“Kellan,” Jonah warns once the door seals shut behind them.

Kellan must say something in their heads, because Jonah sighs heavily. He’s pissed, though. That much is for sure.

“You’re not the only one Enlilkian tried to kill, C,” Kellan says flatly. “When Jonah went after it, it tried to take him out, too.”

I thought I was scared on that roof, but that fear is nothing next to what I feel right now. That monster tried to go after Jonah?

And then its words come back in startling clarity. It said, “That one is causing too many problems already ... I’ll deal with it personally today.”

White-blue rage flames to life within my chest. First my father, now Jonah?

Kellan’s chair swivels so he’s no longer facing us. “Apparently, Enlilkian hates my brother and feels we’d all be better off if he were gone.”

My stomach plummets; the rage spikes. “What?”

“He didn’t hurt me,” Jonah quickly assures me. “I’m fine. See? I’m fine.”