Free Soul Mates Bewitched by Elizabeth A. Lance Page B

sigh. “I’d better go. I really do need to talk to Nicu.”
    “Tomorrow?” she whispered.
    “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow. Maybe we can do something normal, go to a show or something.”
    Jillian smiled. “Ye know, I’ve never been ta a show…”
    “You’ve lived in New York City for like a year now, how can you not have been to a Broadway show?” I asked incredulously.
    “Always trainin’ or huntin’.”
    I nodded. “We’ll see a show; I’ll get us some tickets.”
    “I know tis sold out, but I’d love ta see Wicked, ” she said with a smile.
    ‘I’ll see what I can do.” I gave her another quick kiss and opened the door. We walked down the stairs together, and I finally let her hand go as we parted at the bottom of the stairs.
    As I walked out the door, I heard her say into the phone, “Hello, Mother,” she didn’t sound like her normal self, more stiff and stand-offish. I shook my head and grabbed a taxi instead of walking back to the bar.
    I found Nicu back in his office doing paperwork, and I threw myself down on his sofa. I had questions I needed answered, and I wasn’t sure I was going to get a straight answer.
    “Where have you been?” Nicu asked, looking up from his inventory sheet.
    “Over at Jillian’s. Uncle Nicu, we need to talk.”
    “What’s up?”
    “Did you know I am the Light Bearer?”
    Nicu looked up, startled. “Well, you don’t look like you’re shining with power; I suppose the Fae got you sealed, then?”
    I frowned. “You knew. Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “It’s a long story, Antony. Your father… Henri was the Light Bearer. I assume they told you that much?” Nicu asked, and seeing my nod, he continued. “He was an amazing man, your father. I could never live up to him. I didn’t know, not then, not until the night he died. He told me he’d made you Light Bearer, that the Chalice we’d used had been the real thing. I don’t know how he got his hands on it or what happened with it afterwards. I’ve always been able to see the Unseelie, and the Light Fae who reveal themselves, but not like your father, not like you. You are special. That night, the night I lost Henri, was the worst night of my life. His Fae protector had vanished, Auberon had closed the Faerie Mound and disappeared, the Unseelie were winning the war. Henri asked me to go out hunting with him, but I wasn’t ready. I didn’t know everything then that I should have.” Nicu ran his hand over his face, remembering that night.
    “What happened?” I asked leaning forward, my hands clasped between my knees.
    “Henri said he wanted to go into the park. He was hunting and looking for his Fae protector, Jace. I’d met him once, didn’t really like him. Now? Well, now I hate him and I’m glad I killed him. He’d turned traitor, disappeared, knowing Henri would go out on his own, he told the Unseelie Maiden how to defeat him. Henri had a weakness, he only fought with the Light, he never relied on anything else. It made him…cocky. Don’t get me wrong, your father was amazing, but he relied solely on the Light to protect him. Henri didn’t tell me to teach you to fight, Tony. I decided that night that I would not lose you the way I lost Henri. So I taught you everything I knew about swords and Karate. I encouraged your mother to take you somewhere safe and to keep you enrolled in Karate, and any other kind of combat class she could think of. Anyway, I had no way of knowing how to contact the Fae, to let them know that Henri had passed or that you had become the Light Bearer. It was only after I sent you away that the Guardians of Ireland started asking questions and then found me. We had no idea what happened to the Chalice, but you were safe. They knew you would be back. They planned for it.”
    “Jillian.”
    “Yes, she is a part of that plan. They sent her here to help you, to be your protector. We are no longer relying on the Fae for that, not after Henri.”
    “Okay, so how did