she were a normal teenager, she wouldn’t question Morgandy’s intent; she would know that her brother was just overreacting. But she wasn’t normal, and she knew better. What did Ronan and Michael know about Morgandy that she didn’t? Suddenly Morgandy’s silence was overwhelming, and his hand felt very heavy in hers. The connection felt wrong, and she wished that she were back in her room hanging out with Ruby, acting like the stupid little girl that she was beginning to think she was. “He’s my boyfriend,” she replied weakly.
“He was my soul mate!” Ronan cried.
“What?!” Saoirse heard her brother’s words, but they didn’t make sense. There was absolutely no way her boyfriend had once been Ronan’s. That was so ... so ... It was so beyond comprehension that Saoirse didn’t even have a word for it. It was so wrong that it had to be right. She had known all along that Ronan was never going to approve of her boyfriend. She had known he was going to convince her that she was too young to be committed to one person or that because of her unique heritage she should stay away from guys she met at school and only date guys that Ronan handpicked for her, who received her arrogant brother’s water vamp stamp of approval. She had absolutely no idea he would go to such extreme lengths to try and break up her relationship. “That’s flippin’ ridiculous, Ro.”
“It’s the truth,” he replied.
The simplicity of his words and the seriousness of his voice gave Saoirse pause. She didn’t want to believe his accusation, but what was the alternative? That Ronan was staring at her—his face a disturbing blend of compassion and fear—and lying. He would never do that, would he? It took someone who loved her brother just as much as she did to make her understand, as painful as it was, that Ronan was telling the truth.
“You know you can trust Ronan, Saoirse,” Michael said. “He would never lie to you.”
Michael was right, that made sense. Holding Morgandy’s hand didn’t. She let go of it like she had just been zapped with an electric current, without thought, the will to survive taking over. Looking at Morgandy’s angelic face, she couldn’t believe he was the demon from her brother’s past. “He’s the one you and Mum never wanted to talk about?” she gasped.
“Yes,” Ronan replied.
“He’s the one you were living with while I was trapped in France and being ignored?”
“Yes.”
Saoirse’s body started to shake. Her voice grew from a breath to a roar. “He’s the one who was so cruel, your race could never even speak his name?!”
“Yes!”
Michael wished he could reach out and hug the girl. She looked so confused, so young, and he knew exactly what she was going through. Not long ago he had felt the same way. The circumstances were different, but the emotions, conflicting, shattering, devastating, were the same. But Saoirse wasn’t Michael; she really was Edwige’s daughter, and although she looked frail and destructible, she wasn’t.
Even now, gripped by emotional turmoil, she didn’t want consolation; she wanted answers.
“Morgandy!” Saoirse’s voice was part-shout, part-plea. “How could you do this to me?”
Finally, he spoke, his cavalier attitude belying the gravity of the situation. “Seersh, ya got it all wrong.”
“Don’t call me Seersh!” she screamed, her body jerking forward viciously. “Just answer my question! How could you deceive me like this?!” she cried, taking another lumbering step toward Morgandy, the intensity of her movement making him back away involuntarily. “How could you do it knowing bloody well that Ronan is my brother?!”
The sun had already set, and they were far from the brightly lit street, so the only light came from an uncovered work lamp that hung above a loading dock at the end of the taller brick building across from the cafe. Half of the alley was illuminated, the other half was dark, a slant of black that started from the work lamp and ended squarely at Morgandy’s right foot, his body literally cut in half. His face and the right side of his torso were softened by lamplight; the rest of his body was drenched in darkness. “I figured out that he was your brother,” Morgandy said. “Glynn-Rowley isn’t the most common last name.”
Saoirse wasn’t the only one shocked by this revelation. “And you didn’t think that was something you should mention to her?” Michael asked.
Morgandy looked at Michael with pity, his eyes condescending, like an arrogant teacher who knew the truth lay well beyond his student’s grasp. “Ronan and I had a little ... oh I guess you could call it a misunderstanding.”
“Bugger that!” Ronan shouted. “There was no misunderstanding! We share a past!”
This time Michael didn’t try to calm Ronan, not because he didn’t think it was necessary, but because he couldn’t. He was just as angry as Ronan was. Morgandy had betrayed Ronan. He had returned and betrayed Saoirse. And now that he was caught, he was taunting them, making a mockery of their outrage. How much of a freaking jerk could he be?
“You came on to me, and I rebuffed you,” Morgandy said dismissively.
Luckily, Ronan didn’t have to explain what had happened. Saoirse knew Morgandy was lying. She slapped him hard in the shoulder, making him scuttle back awkwardly into complete shadow. “Oh right, you just forgot that you and my brother offered your souls to The Well!”
“What the hell are you talking about?!” Morgandy replied, his face hardly visible, so it seemed like a voice had materialized from the ether. “I don’t know about any well!”
“I don’t believe you!” Saoirse shouted back.
“It’s the truth.”
Now Ronan was defending Morgandy? What the hell
Michael could sense that Ronan was about to reach out to his sister, put his arms on her shoulder, but Michael had an even stronger sense that Saoirse didn’t want to be touched. He applied more pressure to Ronan’s arm and thankfully he got the hint. Keeping his distance, Ronan laid it out as plainly as he could. “When Morgandy betrayed me and our entire race, The Well forbade us to speak of him again, which is why you never knew his name. The Well also wiped his memory clean, which is why he has no idea we were ever soul mates.” Ronan paused, not only to give Saoirse time to digest the information, but to give himself time to breathe more evenly. “At some point David must have found him, I don’t know when exactly, could have been before we were ever joined together or after he was banished, I don’t know, but it doesn’t really matter. All that matters now is that he’s chosen to become one of Them.”
Everything she had shared with Morgandy was a lie. Not one kiss, not one secret conversation had meant anything. Not one daydream that she had had of their future was ever going to come true. All because Morgandy was a sham, a creep, and worst of all, a fool. “I can almost get over the fact that you forgot you were gay and that you now think you’re straight, but you gave up being a water vamp to be like those other ...
As he stepped back into the light, Morgandy’s face was a scowl and had lost some of its innocent beauty. When he spoke his voice wasn’t innocent or beautiful; it contained too much knowledge, it sounded too deep. “You have no idea how incredibly powerful David and his people are.”
Saoirse’s laughter made Morgandy’s scowl harden. “Who do you think you’re talking to?” she asked. “I know everything there is to know about Them.” Her laughter grew louder, so uncontrollable it interfered with her speech. “I know ... that outside this school and this quaint little town ... those oh-so-powerful vampires have to scurry around like cockroaches afraid of the sun!”
When Morgandy spoke his tone had softened, but his face harbored the same harsh look. “No, Saoirse,” he said. “Let me show you Their true nature.”
Now when Saoirse felt Morgandy’s hand on her arm she felt like she was being contaminated; it repulsed her. “Don’t touch me!” But for all of her bravado, for all of her strength, she was still a teenage girl who had just witnessed her first love be exposed for the liar he was. “I’m gutted, Morgandy! Do you get that?” she cried, tears finally spilling from her eyes. “Bloody gutted, and it’s all your fault!” And when Saoirse hit Morgandy again, this
