Amanda Stevens - The Kingdom

Was that Devlin’s little girl?

She beckoned desperately and my desire to go to her was nearly irresistible.

Suddenly I was being pulled from the other direction and I found myself once again in a fierce tug-of-war. The guardian stepped aside then, as though he could no longer guide or protect me. As if the decision had to be mine.

When I reached for that tiny hand, a claw shot out from the tomb and curled around my wrist. For one brief moment, I stared into the monstrous countenance of something ancient, smelled the fetid breath of pure evil… .

Even as I thrashed and tore at the arm clamped around my neck, I felt myself swathed in something warm and peaceful. Like a baby being cradled in her mother’s arms.

To this day, I’m not sure how I lasted so long underwater. Maybe I didn’t. Maybe I really did cross over. But the will to live is a powerful instinct, even for someone born on the other side. Even for ghosts.

I never remembered breaking the surface or the resuscitation. My first recollection was staring up into three pale faces.

Later, I would learn that exhaustion had driven Thane back to the Covey house, a dream had awakened Tilly and a suspicious Sidra had followed Ivy out into the night. As the three of them converged on the lake, Ivy had fled.

Their faces floated above me now, and when they spoke, their voices were like distant echoes.

“Amelia, can you hear me?”

“He brought you back, girl.”

And Sidra’s cold lips against my ear, “I saw your ghost.”

I looked past them to the end of the pier where Freya wavered in the moonlight, and I somehow knew that she’d helped Thane pull me back from that abyss. And now she’d come to say goodbye.

The sun was shining when I left Asher Falls the next day. I hated to abandon Thorngate before it was completed and I was sorry to leave Thane when he needed me the most, but it was too dangerous for me in that town. Acting as executor of his grandfather’s estate—soon to be his estate—Thane had released me from my contract and promised to hire a new restorer.

He and Tilly and Sidra had all come down to the dock to see Angus and me off.

Tilly took my hand in both of hers. “Keep safe, girl.”

“I will, Grandmother.”

Her eyes glistened as she glanced away.

Sidra looped her arm through Tilly’s. She would be staying with her for a while, and I liked the idea of her in Freya’s little blue bedroom. That somehow seemed right to me. And Thane would be nearby in the Covey house. That seemed right to me, too.

After we’d said our goodbyes, Thane walked with me to the ferry.

“So this is it,” he said. “Full circle.”

“I’m worried about Sidra,” I said. “I don’t think Bryn’s death and Ivy’s arrest have really sunken in yet.”

“Maybe the funeral will help,” he said. “I’ll be there to look after her.”

“And Tilly?”

“Of course, I’ll look after Tilly.” He bent and scratched behind Angus’s ear nubs. “And you take care of her, ” he said to the dog.

“He will.”

Thane straightened. “Are you sure you’re okay to drive?”

I brushed a hand against the mark near my temple left by the oar. “It’s just a bump and a bruise. No concussion. I’m fine.”

“Still, I wish I could convince you to stay. At least for a few more days. I don’t like the idea of you being on the road alone. It’s too soon.”

“You know I can’t stay,” I said softly. “It’s too dangerous for me here.”

“Yes, I know.”

But I wasn’t just running scared. I was going home where I belonged. We both understood that. We each had unfinished business.

“Thane…I need to tell you something your grandfather said to me about Harper… .”

“I heard.” Anger flashed across his handsome face. “Don’t take this on yourself, Amelia. He had no right.”

“I wish there was something I could do.”

“There is. Go back to Charleston and find a way to be happy. That’s what I want for you.”

“I want that for you, too.”

Thane tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Maybe if we’d met before…”

“Maybe. But things happen for a reason. And we’ll always be connected. You saved my life. You brought me back from the other side.”

His eyes were very green in the sunlight. As lush and deep as a Carolina marsh. “If you ever need me…”

My throat tightened. This was harder than I thought it would be. “I’ll miss you.”

“This isn’t goodbye,” he promised. “I’ll see you again.” He smiled then, bringing us truly full circle. Only this time, I knew that behind that deceptively charming smile was a complex man, one who cared very deeply. One who would move heaven and earth to find the woman he still loved.

A little while later, I stood at the rail and watched the shoreline recede. Thane towered over Tilly and Sidra, and I knew that I would always remember him that way. Not as an Asher. Not as a pawn in his grandfather’s cruel game. But as the protector of strays.

Farther down the shore, I saw a shadow emerge from the trees, coat flapping in the breeze. Was he real or had I dreamed him? Was he a guardian or a watcher like the old white-haired ghost of Rosehill Cemetery? Whoever he was, whatever he was, I had a feeling our paths would cross again someday. He was there one moment, gone the next, and I turned to face the other shore as we inched our way home.

Halfway across Bell Lake, my phone dinged, alerting me to an incoming text.

My heart quickened as I opened the message from Devlin.

It read simply: I need you.