No. He wouldn’t. How could she have doubted him? Wherever or whenever he was, he would return to her. She’d wasted enough time crying and upsetting her mother.
Resigned to trust that he hadn’t dumped her and left to go century hopping, she got out of bed. The first thing she did was check her phone. She hadn’t missed it. She’d never received good news on it. No missed calls. 8pm. What happened to Harper? Aria was tempted to call her. Had she heard anything from Gray? Was he okay? Was Conn okay? Soon, she’d have to tell her parents something about their son. Had they been caught and accused of being witches? Was Harper and Mrs. B. trying to save them, or was it too late and they didn’t want to tell her? Time did not flow smoothly from century to century. Gray could have returned to Dartmouth a year before he left it.
She put her phone down and wrung her hands, then picked it up again, tapped her pathetically short list of contacts. She was about to tap Harper’s name when the front doorbell rang. She heard her mother walk by her bedroom door to answer it.
She almost rushed out, hoping it was Gray, but she heard Harper’s voice and nearly passed out instead. Why was Harper here? Why hadn’t she called? Did she have news she would only give face to face?
Aria’s eyes stung. She couldn’t go out there. She didn’t want to hear.
Someone knocked. She stared at the door, breath stilled.
“Aria, sweetheart. There’s a woman here named Harper Black to see you.”
Aria wanted to cry for her mother to send their visitor away, but she wouldn’t put her mother in such an awkward situation.
She walked to the door. Had her heart stopped beating? Was she breathing? Her mind had forgotten how to continue living.
Closing her eyes, she closed her hand around the doorknob, turned it, and opened the door.
She saw Harper. Her eyes didn’t appear swollen and red. Their visitor looked toward Aria’s mother, who took the hint and excused herself to make some coffee.
When they were alone, Aria stared at her, waiting for her to speak.
Please. Please. Please.
“Forgive me for making you wait. I wanted to make sure what I was telling you was accurate.”
Aria could feel a thick fog settling over her. “Tell me,” she managed.
“Yes,” Harper breathed out, making Aria sway on her feet. “Alright, well, he returned to his father and things got ugly.”
“Ugly?”
Harper nodded and sighed. “According to my grandmother, Gray warned him not to touch his title or his castle and lands or he would go on a warpath and kill Timothy and his mother—and then he’d come for the duke. I don’t think he meant it. Grayson hated killing in the king’s army, but I don’t know what he will do if the duke tries to give everything to Cavendish.”
“Why did he go back?” Aria asked. “Did something happen?”
“Grandmother didn’t say.”
“You haven’t seen him then or Connall?”
Harper shook her head.
Aria was about to ask her how exactly they stayed in contact and could Aria contact Gray in the same way? But she didn’t want to just speak with him. She wanted to fill her senses with him. To see him smile at her the instant he saw her, to hear him say her name in his soft, resonating voice, to smell his scent—that faint scent of forest and fresh air, to touch him, and taste him while he kissed her senseless. If she didn’t do so soon, she’d go out of her mind.
“Tell your grandmother…tell Mrs. B. to take me to him,” she demanded. Then added a softer, “Please.”
Harper gave her a regretful look and shook her head. “She can’t.”
“Why not? I thought she could do—”
“He doesn’t want you there,” Harper cut her off. “He expressly forbade her from contacting you.”
If he appeared and ran her through with his sword, it would have felt the same for Aria. She staggered against the wall, then turned and clutched it to keep her upright. What had she done to make him just completely cut her off like this? Nothing! She’d done nothing for him to have a change of heart. And even if she had done the most heinous thing, she didn’t believe he would leave in the night without a word.
He didn’t want her to go back in case his enemies hurt her. Here in the future, they were powerless against her.
“I don’t know what his plans are,” Harper continued. “But he requested that my grandmother transfer all his assets to you.”