From This Day Forward (10 page)

He was curious
now, though. To see what April found this time. He knew she’d often come to the springhouse for comfort. For her the waters offered solace. Here, on the Conrad Homestead, it was like the spring itself welcomed her home—as an old friend. She often got revelations here her magick never allowed anywhere else.

But he intended to find out.
He trusted her and accepted her magick for what it was—a pure gift.

He stepped onto the cool slate of the mud
room leading to the room housing the wellspring, his bare feet a gentle whisper. Energy pulsed down the long cool corridor. Somehow the spring amplified April’s gifts—she felt more here, saw more. A twinge of fear cut across his stomach, making him nervous. Would whatever she saw create some emotional upheaval he’d have to soothe over?

What he found when he opened the ancient door of the
old wellspring made his stomach plunge even further. April sat at the edge of a pool, hugging her legs to her chest, her forehead resting on her knees. The room was dark other than the unnatural glow that came from the spring itself and the open door.

“
April, honey? What’s wrong?” He crouched next to her and ran his hand over the crown of her head, trailing down the nape of her neck, and caressed her back with his palm.

She flinched from his touch but kept her head buried.

She remained silent.

“
Sweetie? Are you okay?” Noah asked again.

The burble of the water was the only sound in the small womblike room.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood. Danger. Something bad.

She’d seen some
thing she didn’t want to face.

April
trembled. Then she lifted her head. Tears streaked her beautiful face once again. She stared at him in silent accusation, her eyes narrowed, her lips drawn in a straight line.

“
What is it?” he asked again, afraid he didn’t want to know. “Is it the girls?”

“
No.” Her voice sounded cold. Her eyes blazed. Bright. Shiny. Filled with unshed tears and anger. “It’s you. You bastard. You cheated. Broke our marriage vows. In the vision I just got, you cheated on me. You were kissing another woman. And not just any woman, you were kissing the woman who owns the business across the street from The Tea Cozy. Damn your black heart. I hate you for doing this to me—to us—Noah Easton.”

Chapter Eight
: Falling Apart

The rat bastard had cheated. She’d seen it clear as day. He’d been kissing Morgana LeFay in some dark cave in God knows only where in the Middle East. What the fuck? She didn’t even know how it was possible, but she’d seen it. The vision had to be true. “I trusted you.”

Noah narrowed his eyes and cocked his chin.
“I have never broken our wedding vows.” He lifted his hands in defense. “Maybe you’d better tell me what you think you saw.”

“
What I think I saw? What I— Damn you!” She gave him a shove and Noah teetered where he squatted on the balls of his feet and ended up sprawled on his ass. Usually an immovable object, he only toppled because he’d wanted to, not because she was strong enough to knock his balance off. “I saw you. Naked. In a cave kissing Morgana LeFay.”

“
Who?” Noah asked, his forehead creased in concentration.

“
The woman who owns the shop across the street. Long dark hair. Built like a brick house. Big boobs. Curvy. Sexy. Only—”

“
Only what?”

“
Only she didn’t quite look like herself. I mean. She looked like herself, but she was dressed differently. She wore all leather. Leather pants, leather bustier. And, believe me, you looked really into it.”

“
I have never been into
it
with another woman, especially since I met you.”

“
Could have fooled me.”

“
April, honey. You’re being irrational.”

“
No, I’m trusting my visions.”

“
Trusting your visions and your gift over me and my word?”

She ignored the deadly quiet
threat behind his words.

Damn him. She s
quinted, her eyes mere slits. Then opened them wider as if she’d just made an important realization. “Yeah, I guess I am. I am trusting my gift over you.”

She could see the anger rolling off of Noah in waves. He bristled.
“Not just over me. You’re trusting your ability to read signs and see visions—which we know are faulty at times—over ten years of marriage, over my proven track record, and over our bond.”

April considered what he said. Then she nodded.
“Yep, I definitely am.”

“
Really? You want to do this? You want to go there?”

“
Apparently you’ve already gone there.”

“
No. I told you, I haven’t.”

“
But you will.”

“
No, April. I won’t. I don’t cross—” Noah froze. He looked like he’d been struck dumb.

“
What? What’s wrong? You’re remembering something. There was a time you crossed a sexual line. When?”

Noah stood. He rubbed the back of his neck as he paced.
“Shit. You saw the cave?” His words came out a soft hiss. “Look.”

“
Uh oh, here it comes. The bullshit. The . . . I-wasn’t-really-cheating conversation.”

“
I do a lot of things for my job that I don’t ever want to do. That you’re not allowed to know about. It’s a mission.”

“
Oh, so you’re pulling the
in the cause of justice
and the
serve and protect
card? Really, Noah? That’s a little pathetic.”

He stared at her. His eyes blazing. He opened his mouth to say something. Then he snapped it shut. He shook his head.
“I will not defend myself.”

April stood too. She hugged herself, suddenly cold. The long shirt she’d worn over her panties wasn’t much protection against the cold
stones of the wellspring or the coldness that had seeped inside her soul. She hadn’t planned on staying out here this long. It had been maybe an hour since she’d climbed out of bed, since she’d slipped from the warm sensual haze she and Noah had created in that bedroom overnight.

She wished . . . she wished what? That she’d never come to
visit the wellspring this morning? That she’d never seen the truth? Would it have been better to not know? Really? No. She steeled herself. It wouldn’t.

Not knowing would have made it all worse.

“So you admit it? You admit you kissed another woman? That you had sex with another woman?”

“
No. I never had sex with that woman.”

April cocked her head.
“What woman? My neighbor?”

“
I hardly think so.” He considered something for a moment. “Unless she’s magickal or a dragon.”

“
She’s magickal. But not a dragon.”

“
Are you sure? Because the woman I kissed— And, yes, I did cross that line when I kissed her. But—”

“
There is no good reason you can use to follow up that confession.” She raised her hand to stop his next words. “Nope. We’re done.” April stomped toward the open door. “If you brought a bag, you can pack it and head back to wherever it is they found you. Because when I say we’re done.” She wagged her finger between the two of them. “I mean we’re done. Finished. I won’t put up with a philandering husband, a man I don’t trust.”

“
Wait. You need to listen to me. You’re in danger. The girls could be in danger. I swear, April. I can’t just walk away this time . . . I won’t do it.”

“
Why not? You do it all the time. What’s once more?” She huffed. “Don’t come back, either. I don’t want you.” She growled low in the back of her throat. Anger vibrated through her; she hummed like a pissed off tuning fork. She was done. Finished with the rat bastard.

April stormed out of the spring room and back through the
corridor. There was nothing Noah could say that would make her change her mind. Nothing. Not one damned thing he could say or do that would prove to her that what she’d seen wasn’t a full and true betrayal of everything she’d believed about her husband and their marriage.

“
April, wait. You need me. I shit you not. This is fucked up. I need to know what you saw. I need to know if this woman is the same woman who tortured me in Hajar.”

April whipped around. She poked him in the chest.
“There is no way in hell that woman could have been torturing you forty-eight hours ago. She was here in Mystic Springs. She’s been opening her shop. And, honestly, I’ve met Morgana. She’s a healer. Not a terrorist.”

Noah shook his head.
“There’s no way for you to know that for sure.”

“
And there’s no way for you to know that this is the same woman.”

“
Does she have a tattoo of a fox on her wrist?” Noah asked.

April paused in confusion.
He’d followed her back to the kitchen again. “I don’t know. She has some kind of tattoo on her wrist, but she had her sleeve pulled over it. I couldn’t see it.”

Noah braced his hands on his hips.
“Look, April, I know what you think you saw. But this woman is dangerous. What you think you saw was the interrogation— where she tortured me and coerced me—”

“
Who was torturing whom?” She raised a skeptical brow. “And since when did torture involve sex? Didn’t look like force was involved to me. Looked rather cozy and passionate.”

“
You have no idea what torture involves or doesn’t involve and you know it.” He shook his head. A curt, definitive shake. “This woman is deadly. She’s killed dozens of dragons and their families. I’m not entirely sure what she’s doing, but at the very least, she’s amassing power—stock-piling dragon power for something big. And I do know for certain— From kissing her— that she’s dragon. And stealing hoards.”

“
How is that even possible? You can’t steal hoards.”

Noah blew out a frustrated breath.
“Apparently you can. Because she’s done it. And kissing her,” he ground out through clenched teeth, “was the only way to find out.”

“
Really?” She walked up to him and stood toe to toe. Pissed, she glared at him. “Next you’ll say she made you do it.”

Noah hung his head, his shoulders slumped in defeat.
“No. She didn’t.”

“
Well, that’s big of you at least.” She backed herself into the corner of the granite kitchen counter, her hands braced on either side of her to steady herself. “Noah, I don’t get it. How can she steal a hoard? A dragon hoard encompasses everything that’s valuable to a dragon. It’s metaphysical. Not always tangible.”

“
I don’t know. But she’s doing it. Yes, a hoard can be anything we love, anything we value and cherish. Family. Fortune. Skill. Career. Magick. Anything. And hoards always have a physical representation. We dragons protect that object well because we know its power. Yet it exists. Here.” He tapped his chest, above his heart. And then his temple. “And here.”

“
How can she steal something metaphysical?”

“
You’re wrong, it’s not just metaphysical. It does have a physical representation.” He tapped the ring on her finger. The warrior stone. The bowenite rock of her engagement ring.

“
But you gave that to me. And I wear it on the outside. That’s not your representation of your hoard. It can’t be.”

“
No, it’s not. That would be too easy for someone to target or to steal.” He then touched his chest with his fisted hand. “There’s a matching one here.” And as if he were a magician with a black top hat and silk scarf, he opened his hand to reveal a green stone that looked exactly like April’s, minus the platinum setting. “But those of us dragons who find a mate often give a piece of it to our soul mate—an outward symbol of our declaration, our claim, our protection.”

She stared at her finger
then looked up at him, sadness wearing at her like water over a river stone. “Grrr. Lot of good a soul mate bond does me when you’re off bedding someone else. Too bad it doesn’t make it impossible for you to touch another woman. Then it might be useful to me.”

April tried to remove the ring.

“No! Don’t. If you wear the ring, you’re still under my protection. I don’t care what you think about me at the moment, but you must not take the ring off. Do you understand me?”

She stopped tugging at her finger and let her hands fall to her sides. Studying him, she finally nodded.

Noah took a step closer to her and April felt like a caged animal backed into a corner. “Stop. Don’t come any closer. You will not charm your way back into my bed. And you certainly will not touch me.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t like you right now.”

He laughed.
“You love me and you know it.”

April clamped down on anything she would have said.

“Listen, sweetheart, I’m not going anywhere. I did not betray you or our marriage vows. I’d never do that to you or the girls. You mean too much to me.”

“
Then what the hell were you doing with that— that— woman? I’m sorry. I don’t believe you. I need to see proof. And my visions, the signs I see are physical representations of the truth that’s floating around in the world. Until I see signs that disprove what I’ve seen. I’m sorry, but I’m not buying your bullshit.” She shook her head. Grief and sadness threatened to unmoor her, tug her under. She clawed to stand upright.

Her world had not only been toppled once, when she thought Noah had died, but it had been wrecked a second time when she’d watch a vision unfold before her very eyes that
confirmed he’d cheated on her. But could she be wrong? Could this vision be faulty somehow? Doubt niggled at her. Yet she’d drawn the line so clearly in the sand that she couldn’t back down now. Not until she knew for sure.

Noah growled.
“I hate that you’re trusting in your intuition over me. Hate it. And until you can believe me, there’s no future for us anyway. None.”

April hated the ring of finality in his voice. It’s as if he was cutting her off. No. She’d done nothing wrong. He was the one who had kissed, maybe even fucked, some other woman.

She felt sick to her stomach. The green-eyed monster clawed at her, threatening to destroy everything she believed about love and happiness.

“
But I won’t let your pig-headedness kill you. Not on my watch. You are still my soul mate and I’m responsible for you. Happily married or not. You’re still mine. I will not let someone harm you.”

April ground her teeth together.
“I’ll be fine.”

“
No, you won’t. But there’s no changing your mind right now.”

A knock sounded on the door.
“Are you expecting someone?”

“
No.” But April grabbed the door and flung it open, ready to give whoever it was a piece of her mind.

She bit down on the bitter
verbal slam she’d planned for whoever stood on the other side of the damned door, but her face must have reflected her anger because the man at the door didn’t say a word when she jerked it open. David Pearson stood silent, his mouth pressed in a grim line, with his eyebrow raised as he waited to be invited in.