by Leigh Fallon
“You’ll figure it out, Áine,” I said.
She arched her long neck over the bird, her dark hair falling onto his black feathers, and sighed. “I hope so. It’s only three months to the alignment, and we need to all be at the same level for it to work.”
I was itching to move my hand. The feeling of her fingers brushing mine left me with a fizzing sensation, like the blood supply had been cut off.
“Anyway, tomorrow’s another day,” she said, getting up. “I’ll figure it out.”
I watched her walk back toward the house, then looked down at my still-tingling hand. Beside my fingers, where Áine’s hand had rested, was an imprint of where she had leaned. A perfect handprint of daisies and buttercups. She had more power than she realized.
I leaned over to brush off my jeans. As I did, I noticed another outline, right beside Áine’s, where my hand had been. It was another perfect print of daisies and buttercups, identical to hers—only smaller. I gasped and put my hand back over it.
“What’s up?” Adam asked, looking at my shocked face as he approached me.
“The flowers!”
“Yeah, looks like Áine’s work.”
I lifted my hand. “Yes, but what about this one?”
“What exactly am I supposed to be seeing?”
“The flower print.” I pointed to where my hand had been, but all that remained was crushed, scraggy grass. “I . . . there was another one.”
“I think someone’s been working too hard. You’ve got double vision.” He leaned down to kiss me, and within seconds, all thoughts of flowers were gone. I was enveloped by a tidal wave of energy, and this time, I was able to keep Adam conscious. I pulled him onto me, and as our hips connected, I felt him give in. His mouth left mine to explore my neck. He gently pulled open the top few buttons of my blouse, and his lips rested on the hollow of my collarbone before moving downward. I enjoyed every tantalizing sensation. His hands worked their way under my shirt. I followed suit, allowing my own to creep up under his shirt, reveling in the hot smoothness of his back. I ran a finger under the waistband of his jeans and built the courage to reach for the top button when his hand grabbed mine.
“Stop.”
“Why?” I said breathlessly, trying to pull my hand from his grip.
“We have to stop.” His voice softened as he took my hands in his.
“But I’ve got the power under control.”
“I know, but we’re lying on the grass behind my house!”
“So what?” I asked, pulling away and tugging my shirt back over my shoulder. “You said you wanted this. You said you wanted what Chloe and Rían have.” Leaves lifted off the ground, along with loose, thin blades of grass, dust, and dirt. They floated around us in an eerie dance.
“Megan, I’m not saying no. I’m saying not here, not now.”
All the energy swirling around me came to a complete halt, like I’d stopped time itself. The debris surrounding us froze, suspended in the air. My element pulsated in my chest, demanding that I continue.
“Megan, look at yourself—you’re barely in control.”
“I’m in control,” I whispered.
“If you could look at your eyes, you’d see you’re not.”
Anger flared inside me. I needed physical contact with him more than I cared to admit. The tightness in my chest threatened to crush me. I closed my eyes, pushing back the tears that gathered. It scared me how much I wanted him.
“Megan, please don’t be upset.”
I nodded, still not opening my eyes.
“Look at me.”
I couldn’t.
“I need you to look at me.” He took my head in his hands and rubbed away my tears with his thumbs.
“Please?”
I finally gave in to my tears and leaned into him. As soon as I did, everything that had been caught in frozen stillness fluttered for a second before falling to the ground.
“I’m sorry,” Adam mumbled into my hair. “I’m so sorry. Come on, I’ll take you home.”
I pushed myself up and gasped as I lifted my hand. There, where my palm had been, the grass was dead, earthy brown, and rotted. I quickly stepped on the dead patch and averted my eyes, pulling Adam toward the house before he noticed. Something was wrong with me, and I didn’t want him to know. I didn’t want any of them to know.
Ten
BAD BEHAVIOR
As the weeks passed, Chloe and Rían got even more intense, but Chloe remained freaked out about her dad finding out, so she and Rían were always slinking off for secret trysts. The sexual tension they oozed when in each other’s company was hard for me to stomach.
Because Chloe insisted they try to keep the relationship semi-under wraps, Fionn didn’t realize how involved Rían and Chloe had become. All the same, maybe he wouldn’t have cared—as far as I knew, he hadn’t found anything suspicious in Chloe’s background. It also meant that she was never at the DeRíses’, which left our daily elemental training blissfully free of tension. I still found myself drawn to Rían when Chloe was around, as much as I tried to pretend it wasn’t true. It was comforting in a strange way, though. It meant it had to be some sort of weird jealousy thing.
With April came the Easter break—two whole weeks off. Chloe had gone to visit family in the UK, leaving Rían lolling around the house, feeling sorry for himself. He was sprawled out on the sitting-room floor talking to her on his cell. Adam rolled his eyes in exasperation and stepped over him on the way into the kitchen.
“Couldn’t he spare us and make the call in his room?” Adam said loud enough for Rían to hear him.
Áine glanced up from her laptop. “There’s a classic example of the pot calling the kettle black. We’ve had to put up with you and Megan mooning over each other half the time and groping each other the rest of it. Give him a break.”
“But Chloe is the subject of an ongoing investigation, which he is failing at miserably. Am I the only sane one around here? What the hell’s next? Oh, I know—maybe we should invite her and her family over for the alignment!”
“Hey, that’s not a bad idea,” Rían said, walking into the kitchen balancing what looked like a white-and-brown baseball on a strange wooden club. “Honestly, bro, you have to let it go. I haven’t come across anything dodgy.” He started tapping the ball in the air with the club.
“Except maybe her taste in men.” Áine laughed.
Adam scowled. “Your relationship puts us all at risk.”
“Jesus, bro! Why do you have to take something fun and make it sound so . . . middle-aged? It’s hardly a relationship, it’s just been a couple of weeks.”
“Try six.”
“I like her. And if you made any effort at all, you’d see she’s pretty cool. So stop bad-mouthing her.”
“Rían, we need to be sure.” Adam put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Look, Meg and I have to go; we’re doing the airport pick-up.”
“Who’s arriving?” Rían asked, scratching his head.
“Your head is so up your arse, Rían,” Adam snapped. “It’s Thursday! Hugh is coming down to start preparation for the alignment.”
“So we have another exciting holiday ahead of us?”
“Sulking is a very unattractive trait, Rían,” Áine said, sounding just like Sister Basil, the school principal. “Besides, Matthew is coming too, so you can be entertained as we put on a lovey-dovey act for Hugh.”
Rían perked up. “At least there will be someone to poke fun at. But why is Matthew coming here for Easter? Doesn’t he have his own family to bore senseless?”
Áine giggled and then gave him a reproving look. “He wants to make sure he’s playing his part sufficiently well by showing how ‘committed’ he is to our relationship. I promised him I’d put on a good show.”
I doubled up laughing. “The poor guy doesn’t know what he’s in for.”
“So do you think you’re ready for the alignment?” Adam asked as we pulled into the parking lot at the air
port.
I shrugged. “I suppose so. You don’t sound too excited.”
“To be honest, I never thought it would happen. I don’t know if I’ll ever really be ready.”
“It’s what we were given these elements for. I’m sure we’ll be able to pull it off.”
“It’s good that you’re confident. I guess I’ve had more time to doubt myself than you have.” He sighed. “Come on; Hugh should have landed by now.”
We got out of the car and walked toward the terminal. Even though it was crowded, Hugh was easy to spot, looking more like Dr. Watson from Sherlock Holmes than ever.
“Adam, Megan, hello,” Hugh cried with outstretched arms. He gathered me up in a bear hug.
“Hugh! It’s great to see you,” I said when he finally released me.
“And you too, my dear. I hope you have all been keeping well.” He turned to Adam and clamped his hand down on his shoulder in a fatherly gesture.
“We’re fine,” Adam said. “Have you any news for us?”
Hugh frowned. “All in good time, my dear boy, all in good time. Tell me, where is the strapping young Matthew? We hear he and Áine have hit it off better than anyone could have hoped for.”
Adam smirked. “Oh, they hit it off, all right. Áine can barely control her excitement at seeing him today.”
When Matthew’s flight arrived twenty minutes later, he loped over to us with a smile.
“Megan, hi,” he said, wrapping me in a cloud of alcohol fumes.
I took in his glow. “You’re looking well.”
His eyes crossed for a second, and he staggered a bit. “Having a generous trust courtesy of the Order has its advantages,” he stage-whispered in my ear. “I’ve been skiing in Austria for the past week.” He must’ve caught the look of death Adam was giving him, because he pulled away from me and nodded in Hugh’s direction. “Tweed suit, pink bow tie, and an old leather bag full of books. . . . I’m guessing you’re Dublin Order?”
“You’re Áine’s intended?” Hugh asked. His face turned several shades of red before settling on flushed pink.
Matthew gave an exaggerated bow. “The one and only.”
“Let’s get you a cup of coffee before we go anywhere,” Adam said, grabbing Matthew by the sleeve and dragging him away.
Hugh’s eyes bulged. “That is what Áine is expected to marry? It can’t be. He was hand-selected! We were assured, nothing but the very best would be considered for—”
“It’s all right, Hugh. He’s not normally like that.”
Adam and Matthew, now clutching a coffee cup, rejoined us.
“Let’s get going,” Adam said, grasping my hand and leading the way to the parking lot. As soon as we were out of earshot of Hugh, I started talking. “He has a trust fund from the Order?”
“It’s an incentive, I guess.”
“He’s paid to be Áine’s intended? You can’t be serious.”
“We all know how much it sucks to have your future decided for you. I’m sure having the Order pick up all your bills is major incentive not to opt out.”
“I guess so, but he’d be staying for all the wrong reasons.”
Adam shrugged. “There are no right reasons when it comes to arranged pairings. It certainly isn’t for love, so why not money?”
I felt my skin begin to crawl. “I thought it was more about honor and obligation.”
Adam glanced at me squinting against the sun. “Once upon a time, yeah, but times have changed.”
I rubbed my arms as if it would wipe away the dirty residue the conversation had left on me. “So why don’t the Marked have trust funds? Surely you deserve what the intendeds get, if not more.”
“We do.”
“You have a trust?”
“The Order sees that we are all financially taken care of, but we don’t use it.”
“What?” I gasped, turning to him in surprise. “You mean, you’re loaded, but you don’t use the money?”
“You know how Fionn feels about the Order. He doesn’t want anything from them, so he never accepted any money. We didn’t have personal access to our trust funds until we turned eighteen.”
“But you’re eighteen now. You could spend it on anything you want!”
“We don’t, out of respect for Fionn, and because we don’t need it. He looks after us.”
“Do I have one?”
“I guess.”
“So you’re telling me I’m rich.” I stopped walking, my thoughts churning.
When Adam realized I was no longer beside him, he swung around and exhaled heavily. “Potentially, yeah, when you turn eighteen.” A sly smile crept across his lips. “Until then, you’re still a pauper.”
“And it never occurred to you to tell me?”
“Nope. As I said, I don’t think about it; it’s just there. We respect Fionn’s decision.”
“Think of all you could do.”
Adam’s eyes narrowed. “Megan, the Order is a twisted organization built on centuries of corruption, betrayal, and power. Everything you take from them comes at a price. Don’t let the Dublin Order lull you into a false sense of security. They’re not all like that.”
His words lingered in my mind through the entire ride home. There was so much I didn’t know about the Order. The depth of the distrust and the scars of betrayal went far deeper than I thought.
As we got out of the car at the DeRíses’, Matthew stumbled and fell against me. “You know, Áine doesn’t want me.”
“It’s not like that, Ma—”
He shook his head. “Nope, she won’t have me.” His sandy hair flopped down over his crossed eyes. “You could have me . . . if she won’t, you can. I can be . . .” He turned his head slightly to the side and burped. “S’cuse me.” He giggled. “I can be your intended.”
“Tempting,” I muttered as my eyes darted to Adam. He approached Matthew with a face that could sour milk.
Áine came running out, pushed past Adam, and threw herself between Matthew and me. He looked winded for a second, then locked his arms around her, diving in for a killer, full-on kiss.
Áine fought him off. “Matthew! Not . . . in front of everyone.”
Hugh smiled uncertainly. “Um, well, I’ll leave you youngsters to catch up,” he said, and shuffled across the yard to the scullery door.
As soon as he was out of sight, Áine shoved Matthew. “What the hell was that?”
“I was role-playing.”
“Ugh!” Áine wiped her mouth again.
Adam’s hand slipped into mine. “Don’t mind him, Áine. He’s langers. You better sober him up before dinner—otherwise, he’ll open his big fat gob.”
Áine grabbed Matthew’s sleeve and pulled him toward the house.
“Oh, and Matthew,” Adam called after him. Matthew turned slowly, suddenly looking a little less drunk. “Stay the hell away from Megan.”
Inside, Fionn was ushering Hugh down the hall to his study. “Megan, any chance you could have dinner with us tomorrow?”
“I would love that, Fionn. Thanks.”
“Excellent,” he said, disappearing from view.
Adam shook his head, leaned back against the kitchen table, and gazed into the hall. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s been making a big deal out of every family meal, like each one is our last. It’s beginning to freak me out.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
“That’s because you don’t know him like I do.” Adam’s troubled eyes met mine.
“There are going to be some huge changes over the next year,” I said. “Once the alignment is done, there won’t be anything tying you all here anymore. You guys are all he’s ever known. When you think about it, it must be fairly daunting.” As I said the words, the realization hit. Áine, Adam, and Rían had their own lives to lead, loves to be found, and families to be had. Where did it all leave Fionn? I felt a sudden rush of compassion for the man
who had dedicated his entire life to them . . . to us.
Adam’s face softened. “I never really thought of Fionn’s future or our future without him. He’s always just been there.”
Áine trundled down the stairs and stopped at the kitchen door. “Hey, guys, fancy going out later? I don’t want Matthew talking to Hugh tonight—he could wreck everything.”
“Maybe. Where is he?” Adam asked.
“Passed out on my bed. What was he thinking? He knew Hugh was going to be here!”
“Maybe you two should talk some more about this whole intended thing,” I said. “He doesn’t seem too happy about it.”
“Nah, he’s fine,” Áine said.
I scrunched up my face. “Trust me, have another chat.”
“Not now. The last semi-coherent thing he said was ‘digia know b-b-bannnnanash wash a herb?’”
I laughed. “Oh god, he’s a mess.”
“So are you up for tonight?” she asked again.
“Sure, but I promised Caitlin I’d drop by.”
“Bring her along as well.”
I turned back to Adam. “You want to?”
“Sure.”
“Okay, Áine, you’re on. I’ll call Caitlin.”
Matthew sobered up by the evening. Looking a little sheepish and nursing a massive hangover, he came out with us and actually seemed to fall for Caitlin. The speed at which he could swap affections left me dizzy.
We went to a local pub called the White Lady. It still felt weird to me that we could all hang out in a bar. I kept expecting to be carded. Tonight there was a cool band playing, and the place was buzzing. The only thing bringing me down was Rían, who sat in the corner of our booth, looking miserable. I imagined myself running my finger over his angular profile. His eyes met mine. For a moment, I couldn’t look away. A crooked smile worked its way across his face, and the bottom fell out of my stomach. What was wrong with me? I had to get a grip. I got up.