Chapter 32
“Let Anne see to Natalie. Natalie has nothing to do with this, and Anne…”
“I care very little about Natalie. Anne is staying right where she is.”
“Cornelius…”
Eyebrow raised, Cornelius shook his head. “You’re really going to pretend, Titus?”
Titus looked at Anne, who hadn’t yet moved. “Julian.”
“At least you haven’t entirely forgotten me.”
“How could I?”
“No one else knows anything about my existence, thanks to you.” There was a fury in Julian’s voice which was to be expected. “Cornelius is more interesting than you think, but then it’s not as though you actually care. Only Anne matters.”
“You took him to make use of his belief he’s in love with Anne, drawing me here, right where you wanted me to be.”
“Focusing, once again, on you.” Julian laughed. “Like there couldn’t be another reason for my choices.”
“Getting close to Anne won’t help you, especially now. It’s not as though you haven’t heard.”
“Dante’s not going to be a problem.”
Julian was the element Anne knew nothing about, another one of Titus’s many secrets, and someone she’d never heard of before.
“Why didn’t you choose him?”
“Cornelius was the easier option, after what happened with Jonathan. He’s been disconnected from his life.”
“Making the process of taking him over much simpler, but I know he’s still in there. The timing doesn’t work for you to have full control.”
“How would you know anything about the timing?”
“You weren’t in Cornelius the last time I spoke to him. It probably happened when he left after seeing Anne.”
“Certain of that?”
“Yes, Julian, I am. Even without being an Ember I have more knowledge about souls than most.”
So, Julian was an Ember. Leonora said she thought there was someone not mentioned in the journals. If it was Julian… Anne closed her eyes.
“True. I should never have taught you.”
Anne was a child when her world changed. Glimmerbrook was transformed by magic, taking everyone she loved, and she hadn’t paid much attention to the other families.
“Maybe not, but you did, leading us to where we are now. I gave you a chance to move on last time you tried something this foolish.”
“Why would I do that? You’re still here, Titus, and if I moved on I’d lose my memories of our time together. How easy it was for you to let me die.”
“All I asked was for you to keep the bond a secret. Nothing more.”
“Yes, just hiding a soulbond from the other party, as though that’s moral.”
“Coming from someone who stole the body of another person in order to get close to my sister that doesn’t mean much, Julian. Did she know when you kissed her you weren’t Cornelius?”
“It wasn’t the right time.”
“No, of course not. You aren’t who you were, however much you might wish otherwise.”
“Being close to the Lockwood house for as long as I have been was always going to have an effect.”
“Move on, Julian, or I will make you.”
Anne stared into the distance, memories of her first life far less easy to connect with than the more recent ones. Was there anything to tell her who Julian was?
“Threatening me will get you nowhere. I’m not scared of you.”
“You never were. Are you going to make the same mistake twice, because you know what I’m capable of?”
“What you’re capable of is less important than what I can do now.”
“Cornelius wasn’t strong enough to stop me, so he chose not to try.”
“How about the two of us together, Titus?”
Until Julian acted there was no way to know how the strength of the first Ember mage would combine with the strength within Cornelius’s body. It was unlikely to be enough. Cornelius wasn’t as strong as the earlier Darkholmes, Anne right about magic fading.
Whoever Julian truly was, the longer the argument went on the more certain Anne was she needed to step in, only it could cause more problems than it would solve. Julian was furious with Titus. Cornelius might be too. It was hard to know who felt what, or who the power belonged to.
“I’m happy to test the theory, Julian, if you really think you’re going to be able to win.”
Those words weren’t ones Anne wanted to hear, when they were all still in the basement.
“Julian, let me check on Natalie.”
He turned to her. “No.”
“Why not?”
“You’re asking me to trust you.”
Anne kept her eyes on Julian’s. “I give you my word I won’t leave this house. Natalie will be better off upstairs, away from all of this. Even now I don’t think you hurt her on purpose.”
“Cornelius would have.” Julian shrugged. “He’s furious with her.”
“He still wouldn’t want her dead. Please.”
“Titus, stand by the desk. I don’t want you anywhere near Anne.”
For a moment Titus stayed right where he was, before doing as he’d been commanded, and Anne kept her relief from showing, as she took a step closer to Natalie, away from Julian. At the same time she let her hand brush against his.
Julian needed to trust her, and she could tell the kiss was as much him as it was Cornelius. Maybe more. Natalie was still unconscious as Anne crouched beside her. The darkness used against her was fading. A little more time would get her back to normal, so the only thing to do was move her.
Letting Anne help Natalie was the logical thing to do, yet there was an anger Julian knew didn’t belong to him taking over, Cornelius wanting his wife out of the way. She was the reason Jonathan left. Without her still around he’d have been able to convince Anne he was the one for her.
Ignoring the emotions swirling, Anne used her magic to take Natalie up to the bedroom she shared with Cornelius. Fortunately there was no sign of the two girls, so Anne didn’t need to explain what happened, instead able to focus entirely on Natalie. Getting her onto the bed was the easiest part.
Anne sat on the bench at the end of the bed, mind back on the memories she had of the life she’d lived so many centuries ago. Julian Ember. The name kept going round, but she still didn’t have the answers she needed, and it was possible she wouldn’t. Titus never wanted her to know about him.
Julian stepped closer to Titus. It was another body, but the soul within was the same.
“Were you ever planning on telling Anne the truth, Titus?”
“The truth?”
“You don’t need the rituals to keep your memories. Magic transformed you in a way it didn’t anyone else, because you were closest.”
“She doesn’t need to know.”
“Like she didn’t need to know about the bond. Or the choices your father made for her.” Julian sighed. “Then you wonder why I chose to stay, rather than move on.”
“No, I don’t wonder. You made the decision in the mistaken belief you’re going to be able to stop me.”
“Someone has to.”
“Did Cornelius let you take his body? I expected him to be fighting against being possessed by another soul. Yet you’re still in control.”
“That matters?”
“Oh, it matters, because if he’s chosen this path it means he did make the decision to work against me, in a different way.”
“No, he didn’t choose to let me take his body over.” Julian shook his head. “This is me being more in control of it than you want me to be. Some of his emotions bleed through occasionally, but that’s about it.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Why not? Last time I didn’t ask either. Claiming a body is easy.”
“How long?”
“A couple of days.” Julian shrugged. “Every time I do it the process gets easier. I’m stronger, and much darker. So’s Cornelius. That helps.”
“You chose him due to his disconnection with life.”
“He cared about one thing – Anne. With her being disinterested he lost his hope.”