Bloody hell. “I’m Tobias Whitlock. A professor from the Nightworld Academy.” She cocks a brow. “And I spent time locked up at Ravenhold for murdering the Winterfalls.”
“I saw that you lived. I don't understand why, after the atrocities I saw.”
“You were there?” I ask hoarsely. “You saw what I did that day?”
“No, Tobias. I saw what you did fifteen years before that day. I saw everything in a vision so horrific I’m still haunted today.”
Could Marie have stopped me? Did this woman have the opportunity to interfere in the atrocities? “Fifteen years?” I slump back. “I don't understand. Why would you envision the day they died?”
“I knew them,” she says softly. “I once loved Corin Winterfall with an intensity I’ve never repeated. One day I saw what would happen to his family. I couldn't predict when—there wasn’t enough information in my vision—and the Winterfalls vowed to protect themselves. They wanted to ensure the Winterfall line wasn’t destroyed, and took steps to prevent the magic dying.”
I grasp at her words. “You had Corin’s baby and hid her?”
“No, I told you, Maeve isn't my daughter.”
Exasperation takes hold. “Marie, tell me who Maeve is, because I no longer believe she has human parents. There are secrets surrounding Maeve and she suffers—has for years—and now I’m uncovering lies. The girl’s life has been hell."
Marie closes her eyes. “If you were a powerful family and somebody predicted a massacre, what would you do? Save somebody who has pure Winterfall blood, yes, but how safe would the person be if those planning the murders knew the name of every family member?
Corin’s sister had a daughter and the elders made the decision to take her away from the family and hide her. The birth was never recorded.” She pauses and her hard eyes meet mine. “The child survived the massacre because she lived in the human world, estranged from supernatural society. Nobody knew she existed—they still don't.”
“No,” I whisper and shake my head wishing the words hadn't been spoken. “No.”
“Yes, Tobias. Due to my vision and the Winterfalls’ actions, you never killed Maeve Winterfall, and so Maeve Foster survives.”
The truth smacks into me hard enough that I’m knocked from the world for a moment, where reality is a dizzy place in the distance. “Maeve is a Winterfall,” I say to myself, heart racing with fear.
“Yes.”
Chapter Sixty-One
TOBIAS
I rake a hand through my hair and the answer I wanted—but didn't—rings in my ears. “You hid Maeve with humans? With your sister? Did she know who the child was?” And why the fuck have they lied to Maeve?
“We couldn't allow her to live in the witch society until the danger passed. To be honest, I thought that would be a matter of months, perhaps a year, as I never saw far into the future in those days.” She sighs. “My sister believes Maeve is my daughter. This all happened around the time I struggled with visions—the point my reality began to blur, and Maeve’s mother always thought this was a lifestyle choice.”
“What does that mean?”
She looks to the window, eyes saddening. “Drugs. I played this up because I needed her to help, but obviously she couldn’t know the truth. I told them social services were threatening to take my daughter and begged them to help.” Marie turns her eyes back to mine. “They agreed as long as I promised to have no contact with the family. I also ended my relationship with Corin and walked away from the Winterfalls. There could be no links.”
“Nobody knows?”
“Apart from us and Maeve’s parents? No. But the secret won't remain for long.”
A horrible truth slugs me. “Adeline Winterfall knew. When she cursed me, she knew Maeve existed. Why would Adeline do that to her?”
“Why would she protect Maeve from death at your hands?” Marie scoffs.
I swallow. “No. Why put her in a situation where she’d fall in love because of a curse?”
“She loves you?” I look away from her derision. “Maeve doesn’t love you. How could she? You wiped out her family.”
“Maeve thinks her family are alive and living in the house she grew up in. You’ve lied to her. They’ve lied to her.” Fury heats my blood, my heart rending at what this news will do to Maeve. “How could you plan this? It’s cruel!”
Marie barks a laugh. “You dare sit there and tell me what’s cruel? You murdered the Winterfalls. You know why the Blackwoods wanted the family line eradicated.”
“But all these years.” My chest constricts as the truth sinks in. This will destroy Maeve.
“I expected to take Maeve back after a few months, but the years dragged on. My sister cut me out of their lives after a couple of years, furious that I could abandon my daughter. They wanted to protect her—she was theirs from four months old.”
“And you never once thought to tell her?” I choke out.
“Yes. I did. Many times, especially when her visions started, but her mother refused to allow me in. I went to them after the killings and asked if I could tell Maeve. We argued, but I made them promise if Maeve ever needed help that they couldn't afford, that I would pay.”
“The academy,” I say flatly. “You basically abandoned Maeve there and didn’t tell her who or what she was.”
Her stern manner drops and a confused, unhappy woman looks at me. “I didn't know. I couldn’t remember. Life is a blur.”
“Really?” I scoff. “Convenient excuse.”
Marie stands. “Do you not understand how I’ve paid for this? My interference in keeping the Winterfall magic alive upset the world’s balance. My actions in disrupting something so significant in the future means the magic tore through my reality too. This is why I struggle with what’s in the past or the future. My days blur into one.” I look away as the shame builds and her next words rip through my soul. “Would you rather have killed Maeve?”
“No,” I say the word barely audible. “But she needs to know.”
“And I think you should tell her.” I open my mouth to protest. “You are ultimately responsible, Tobias. You deserve to suffer when you tell Maeve what you did to her family. To experience the pain you’ll inflict on her as if it were your own.”
“But I live to help Maeve. I love her and want to protect her.”
“And you do protect her.” She rubs her forehead. “You ask why Adeline would do something like this to a child? There was another reason behind the curse. She is the last Winterfall witch. Only Winterfall magic can match Blackwood, but Blackwood magic is darker and more dangerous. One day, she could take her revenge on those who plotted the family’s deaths. Maeve could help end the Blackwoods, but she needed somebody to protect her until she grew into her powers.”
Somebody who’d give his life to protect her.
Or suffer if he ever killed the witch he loved.
Me.
I stand and turn away as despair drives me towards something I’ve fought against all my life—tears, the ultimate show of the emotion I always denied. I dreaded that today Marie would confirm she’s Maeve’s real mother, but hoped if I broke the news to Maeve, she’d know that she can trust me. That I would do anything to help her.