Rituals (Cainsville 5)

"It wasn't a threat," he said. "It was a warning. A..." A nervous glance at Gabriel. "A respectful warning. Whatever your mother has gone to do, Matilda, it is for you. It is always for you."

"Gone to do?" I slowed.

"Ignore him," Gabriel said. "His very phrasing makes it clear he doesn't know what she has in mind."

"But she has a purpose," I said. "Beyond simply escaping from prison."

The fae laughed, finding his arrogance again. "Escape? To what purpose? She can better protect you in jail than on the run from the police. No, Pamela will bide her time until she is legally freed. This is merely an excursion. The undertaking of a task. She'll be back before dawn, no one the wiser, and I would suggest you leave her to whatever she's doing."

"You have no idea what that is, do you?" I said.

"I don't require a reason. She was concerned for you, and she needed to leave briefly, so I manufactured an opportunity, putting her in my debt." A pleased smile. "Putting you in my debt, too, I'll wager."

I started to answer, but Gabriel's hand gripped my shoulder.

"Whether you have earned Olivia's regard--and mine--remains to be seen. You said Pamela was concerned for her daughter? Perhaps it's not what I thought it was. Is it something we should be worried about? A new threat?"

"Relatively recent," he said. "Not urgent, though. She contacted me two days ago, saying she feared a new threat against Matilda, and asking if it might be possible for me to orchestrate a temporary departure." That smug smile again. "She'd asked Tristan the same this spring, but he couldn't manage it. That's why he had to act for her. I provided, though. She asked, and I provided."

--

"She's going after Seanna," I said as we got into the car.

When Gabriel started the engine without answering, I said, "No, that's a wild guess, isn't it?" I took a deep breath. "Okay. Calm down. Talk it out. She said she's doing something for me, but that might not be true."

"It always is."

"It could be for Todd. Not breaking him out. Like that fae said, escape is pointless. It would mean life on the run, when they have a genuine shot at getting out legally."

"It's Seanna."

I looked over at him.

"Seanna is in Grace's building," he said, "with the dryads watching over her. Pamela can't simply slip in and kill her."

"But you agree that's what she's planning."

"It's the most obvious answer. Seanna visited her a few days ago, shortly before Pamela contacted that fae. Pamela's version of the conversation didn't match Seanna's. Seanna told you the sluagh provided a script for her side of that conversation, which amounted to thinly veiled threats against you."

"Seanna was supposed to upset Pamela, which supposedly would upset me."

"No. The real goal was to anger Pamela. The conversation was carefully orchestrated to convince Pamela that you are in danger from Seanna."

"Not just me," I said. "My father, too. That was the whole point of bringing up Kirkman. To threaten Todd. Either he'd read the note and tell my mother, or I'd get the note and ask her what it meant. The sluagh threatened me and Todd. Loading a double-barreled shotgun. Pointed squarely at Seanna."

"As the sluagh said, she's played her role. That means she has outlived her usefulness and is now more trouble than she's worth. A wild card, so to speak. She has only one final role to play: leverage against you. As far as Pamela knows, Seanna is the threat."

"We know b

etter. Kill Seanna, and the sluagh still hold their ace on my father with Kirkman."

"Kill Seanna, and they gain another--a murder they can squarely pin on your mother. With that, they can guarantee that both your parents will remain in prison for life."

"Patrick," I said.

Gabriel's brows arched as he turned onto the highway.

"We need to tell someone in Cainsville. Someone who can help," I said. "He's the most obvious choice."