Free Underworld Queen by Sharon Hamilton Page B

Claire,” she whispered as she bent down to brush the dried leaves and debris off her sister’s name. She traced the letters on the cold stone. Her heart felt cold as she relived the pain she’d caused them both. Had she known, would she have acted the same way? Done Josh’s bidding to try to plunge Daniel into darkness?
    Kneeling on all fours, she looked up at the face of the Guardian above her, basking in the gaze of her sister’s protector. She couldn’t remember ever being loved like this by anyone in her life—anyone but Jonas.
    Perhaps Jonas has awakened this part of myself I never knew was there. She wondered what her childhood would have been like if someone had cared for her like this Guardian, if someone had looked down upon her like this stone angel watched over her sister. She searched her memories and she saw Claire’s face again, smiling down at her.
    If Claire had lived, would I have become something other than a dark angel?
    Were there seeds of goodness that went unwatered?
    She lowered her lips to the cold stone and kissed it. “Thank you. Thank you for saving my life,” she whispered.
    Audray stood up and dusted her palms against her thighs. She wiped her cheeks with the backs of her hands and straightened her clothes, brushing her hair back off her forehead. A funeral procession was making its slow way up the hill, but at the last minute, the black hearse diverted to the other side, a long trail of cars following behind.
    Someone else’s family in pain.
    She took one last look as her car passed by the gravesite. No one would ever know that a dark angel had stopped, kissed the stone of her long-lost family and was humbled at the thought of an ever after filled with warmth and love.
    She knew, if she had to make the decision today, she might choose a different life for her and Jonas. But that’s silly. Dark angels don’t have hope. They just have forever. We have forever to be together.
    And for the first time in her life, she was full of remorse for her actions.
    It was getting dark when she drove down the freeway and came to the Riverbend exit. A large traffic jam impeded her progress, so she was stuck on the two-lane road, searching the horizon. A pyre of smoke ahead of the string of waiting cars told her an accident had happened. She checked her watch. She wanted to get this meeting with her mother over with as quickly as possible. Then she could get out of this dusty town.
    Should I tell her I took care of Burt, that I found Claire?
    Audray thought about Burt and what her mother had told her.
    “Because of your little wings. You used to dance around all the time with those little wings. Sometimes, you’d get so furious at Claire when she made you take them off for bed.”
    She’d forgotten this until today. She heard the buzzing and some giggling and for the flash of a second saw a young beautiful face with short blonde hair smiling at her.
    Claire. I do remember you. I loved you once. I love you still.
    A car horn interrupted her reverie. The trail of cars began to move and there was a gap. Her Maserati roared to life, and she soon exited. A handsome uniformed policeman gave her a polite bow and smile as she passed.
    The smoke was not coming from the freeway, but off in the distance a short way. Like a beacon, her car followed. It was on the way to the trailer park. The closer she got, Audray realized it was coming from the park itself. Red fire trucks had blocked the entrance, and men in yellow slickers were running like ants all over the area. A white Coroner’s van with flashing lights pulled in front of her and was admitted to the park.
    Audray stopped in the middle of the road, causing a loud cacophony of honking behind her from impatient drivers. But she barely noticed. She was staring at the sight of her mother’s trailer, fully engulfed in bright orange flames, sending thick black smoke up to the darkening sky above.

Chapter 11

    C arl finished up his third class at two