Agnes said nothing; she simply held on to Sabine’s hand, stroking it gently.
“I’ve been as much a failure as my mother was. When it comes to matters of the heart, we cannot be trusted.”
“Sabine, your mother was not a failure,” Agnes said.
“She killed herself,” Sabine said.
Agnes sighed heavily. “Yes, she was ill. Even so, you are not your mother.”
“No, but evidently I’m not any stronger. I fell in love with Max despite my best efforts to avoid it and look what happened. I should have been strong like you and ignored my heart.”
Agnes dropped Sabine’s hand. “Phinneas and I loved each other from the moment we met, and he never once sacrificed his duty as guardian to follow his heart.”
“Strength,” Sabine said.
“No, stubbornness,” Agnes argued.
“He made a great sacrifice.”
“He was a fool, and that sacrifice got him killed. Would any of this have turned out differently had he chosen me?” She shrugged. “Perhaps not. But perhaps it would have. I would have been there. I could have helped him fight off the Chosen One.” Her eyes filled with tears.
“And you might have been killed as well,” Sabine said.
“But I would have died with my love. Died after having a lifetime of love. Not simply have love trapped inside my heart, but to love every day. We had letters and we saw each other every once and again, but it was so rare.”
Tears flowed freely down Agnes’s cheeks. “I would like to think that if he had to do it all over again, he might make a different choice. He might choose me instead of duty, then I wouldn’t have been available to be selected guardian.
“In the end, his duty killed him and now I am alone. He could have done both, but he wouldn’t take the risk.” She cupped Sabine’s cheek. “Don’t make the same mistake we made.”
“But our family, our Atlantean heritage, is my destiny,” Sabine said.
“No, child,” Agnes said. “Max is your destiny.”
CHAPTER23
Chapter 23
Spencer waited outside the marquess’s townhome and watched as Sabine’s three aunts climbed into a carriage. A second rig, this one filled with two guards sent to protect them, followed. Then, half an hour later, Max received a summons to report immediately to his club and he left.
He hadn’t left Sabine unprotected. There were guards here, too, that Spencer would have to contend with. But Max’s absence would give him the opportunity he needed.
It was time, past time really, for him and Sabine to meet.
Sabine tore through another drawer in Max’s desk, but still she found no hint of her missing vial of elixir. More than likely, that bastard had it with him. Perhaps he was even now meeting with scientists or a writer fromTheTimes,intending to finally prove the existence of Atlantis. If that happened, she and her aunts would never have any peace, and her attempts to protect the elixir would never be enough. Not against the whole world.
She dropped the drawer on the floor, not even bothering to replace it in Max’s desk. Since he’d departed nearly half an hour before, she’d searched a good portion of his study, but her efforts were proving fruitless.
She turned, and she caught sight of the map. He still hadn’t replaced it in its frame, and instead it draped across his desk. She ran a finger lovingly across the illustration. She should take it. Did it not belong to her people? Had he not stolen it from the hiding place they’d selected to keep it protected?
He’d worked long and hard to find it where other men, grown men, had failed. Phinneas’s vision had called the finder of the map a “great one.” But a Seer could be wrong, couldn’t he? Max had only gone after the map to get approval from his family.
He’d never gotten that from them, though. They’d perished before they had the chance to give it.
She traced one of the water rings. She didn’t want to love Max, especially now. But damned if she didn’t love him. And she’d been right, loving someone else this much hurt.
“Miss Tobias,” a man’s voice came from the doorway behind her. “We finally meet.”
Her blood froze. He was here. The Chosen One. And she was all alone. Slowly she turned to face him, painfully aware that she had nothing of use on her person to inflict any worthy injury.