A strangled sort of squeak escapes my lips as I pull back from Flint and try to leave his lap. His arms are still around me though, holding me fast. His eyes seem aflame with passion as he studies me in my panic. “I have to go,” I manage, and he drops his arms from around me with a small sigh. However I am far from stable, and without his support, I find myself falling backwards off his lap and the sofa; landing in a heap on the floor. My mortification complete, I ignore Flint’s query about my well-being and flee the scene; almost plowing into my brother on the stairs in my haste to put distance between myself and the Autumn Fae I left looking immensely kissable in the library.
Eirnin reaches out to steady me when I move to go around him on the stairs. “Whoa! Where are you running away to?” There is a chuckle in his voice and my temper rises in response.
“Shut up Eirnin! I’m going to bed. I’ll see you in the morning,” I say; slapping away his hands and hurrying away towards the sanctuary the first floor and my bedroom provide. I hear my brother’s laughter follow as I literally run from him.
I close my bedroom door a little harder than is necessary and lean back against it, trying to catch my breath. My hands are shaking and there are a thousand thoughts chasing each other around my muddled brain. To say I don’t have the best track record when it comes to anything of a romantic nature would be an understatement, considering my first and last boyfriend had to be executed for his treasonous behaviors. Hugh’s actions have scarred me in ways I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to recover from. Flint isn’t Hugh, and I know it isn’t fair to compare them. But it doesn’t mean I’m not scared of making another huge, life-altering mistake.
Maybe it didn’t mean anything to Flint, though. He is a faery, after all, and my mother always told me they use humans and then toss them away. He doesn’t care for me that way. We are just friends who shared a terrifying experience. That’s it — leftover adrenaline. It was just a kiss, yes; a very intense kiss, but still — just a kiss, really. Or maybe that wasn’t quite as intense as I believed it to be? I don’t have any experience with kissing to draw from, so I don’t know for sure. Can friends kiss each other like that and still be just friends?
Then I hear his voice in my head saying, "Of course I had a choice. I chose you. And faced with the same choice I wouldn't do anything differently," and I know I’m lying to myself.
Chapter 20—Lumi
July 2102
I am lying on the bed in the late evening with my nose buried in Fi’s old, repeatedly-read copy of Little Women when I hear the commotion begin downstairs. I was very much enjoying learning of this Jo March girl until I heard what sounded like Flint and Eirnin shouting something along the lines of “Damn it!” and “Breathe!” For a moment I lie frozen on the bed and hope I’m imagining things, but when the sounds don’t stop I slowly stand up and head to the door, peeking out to see Aodhan straining his neck to see what is happening down the stairway.
“What’s going on down there?” I ask him quietly, and he startles at my appearance.
“No idea,” he says, shaking his head. “Fi was rasping at Flint and then my dad came in and now I can’t hear a damn thing.”
“Should we go see?” I ask him. I’ve never been one to run directly into the action; preferring to hang around the edges and collect information to be filed away for later use, but I don’t have enough knowledge of this house yet to be doing that. Plus, I wouldn’t want to get Aodhan in trouble, sneaking around on his watch. Back home my parents never assigned guards to me or the other girls. All of us could die for all they cared, so long as Khan, the proper heir, remained unscathed.
“I think Dad can take care of it,” he says, but I hear the curiosity in his voice. He’s a well-behaved young man and he certainly won’t break his father’s rules, and I have to admire that. There’s a large part of me that wants to plow downstairs and find out what is happening, though.
“Alright,” I reply, and smile up at him. He returns it. “I’ll call you if it gets interesting again.”
“Excellent.” I strain to hear anything from the lower level, but when I’m met with senseless murmurs I retreat to my room. I scoop up the book again and attempt several different positions before finally realizing I won’t be getting back into the novel again until I know what has happened down there.
Half way through a devious plot to jump out the window and peek in the kitchen’s back door, I hear a small knock on the doorframe. I yank my head back inside the building and whirl around, expecting to see Aodhan standing there with news, but I’m greeted by a very tired looking Flint.
“Hello,” I say slowly, offering a smile so maybe he won’t comment.
He smirks at me and shakes his head, but looks like he’d like to crawl under the sheets and sleep for about ten years. “Don’t worry about it,” he says with his heavy Scottish drawl. “I sneak out for fresh air all the time.”
I snicker and pretend that’s exactly what I was doing. “There is a lot of iron around here,” I admit and shake my head. What’s the harm in telling the truth? I cringe a little, because that question has gotten me in so much trouble already. Flint isn’t like my parents, though, I remind myself. “That, um…that wasn’t why I was sneaking out, though.”
“Not leaving us so soon, are ya?” he asks, taking a seat on my bed.
“No!” I exclaim. “Of course not. I just…I heard all the yelling downstairs and got worried. And nosy.”
He laughs; a tired, worn sound and I blink, moving to lie on the bed behind him. “Fi fainted.”
“Oh no,” I gasp. “Is she alright? What happened?”
“There was a security breach,” Flint says, and turns so he can look down at me. “A Winter Fae broke in and went after Eirnin. When Fi tried to stop him, he took away her oxygen supply.”
The look on my face must convey absolute shock, panic and revulsion, because he shakes his head at me. “It’s been taken care of, no need to fret.”
I nod, but still feel my heart beat in my stomach. “Why did she pass out? Is Eirnin okay?”
“Too much stress over a fifteen minute period,” he answers lightly, and I roll my eyes at his jovial demeanor. “Yes, Eir is fine.”
“I appreciate you trying to show peace through this, but you can’t play me, boy. You’re shaken,” I say. I feel a bit calmer knowing my new friends are okay, but not much. So I decide to thrust all my worry onto the kitsune—because he is the closest target right now and because I am honestly concerned for his wellbeing. He’s always so mischievous and excitable and seeing him look so exhausted and ill concerns me.
He narrows his eyes at me but there’s no hate in them. “I didn’t like seeing her like that, is all.” He glances down at his hand, flexes his fingers a few times and I crane my neck to peer over his shoulder. There are two fresh triquetra-shaped burns on his hand that will surely scar, and the remnants of blood are still visible in a few places.
“You killed him,” I state.
“Yes,” he answers flatly after a moment, even though it wasn’t a question. “He would have killed Fianna and Eirnin, otherwise.”
I can almost feel the guilt pouring out of him, but I use every ounce of willpower in my tiny body to not pry into his intentions. I’d already scrambled his brain when I implied he and Fianna were an item, and poking him to tell her about it might actually make his skull explode. Instead, I go with my gut and believe he actually realizes, deep down, he can’t live without the spunky teenage girl downstairs and squeeze his shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to do that.”
He shakes his head and smiles at me, again looking completely spent. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he says. “Quincy could have just been a diversion.”
“I doubt you’ll have to worry about anyone looking for me. I wouldn’t be surprised if my parents have yet to notice my absence.”
Flint stares at me. “That’s really awful, you know.”
I shrug. “It is what it is.”
&n
bsp; He sighs and ruffles my hair. “Get some sleep, Mother Theresa. It’s the middle of the night.”
I giggle and swat his hand away as he stands up. “You, too, Hellboy. You look half dead, yourself.”
“Hellboy?” He gives me a look an older brother would shoot his snarky younger sister. “Honestly, Princess.”
“Would you prefer Sparky?” I offer. “Flamethrower? Ooh, maybe Twinkly Bottom. Marshmallow Roaster. Flick McAlester.”
“Oh good God.” He sighs and shakes his head. “Hellboy is fine, Your Highness.”
I beam at him and he makes a half-amused, half-disbelieving snort. “Goodnight, Lumi.”
“Night!” I call back, and he disappears from vision toward the library. I roll onto my back and snicker to myself for a few minutes before cracking my book open again and resting it over my face. I fall asleep to the smell of old book, and I believe it’s the calmest I’ve been in centuries.
It’s late in the evening the following day when I hear a soft knock on my door. It’s almost midnight and I’m wearing a short, navy blue nightgown Fi found for me before I’d arrived. It’s satin and lacy and I can almost hear my brother calling it ‘suggestive’, but in the summer heat I just don’t care. It’s keeping me cool and I refuse to be embarrassed by how much of my legs or back is showing. “Special delivery!” calls the sweet voice of Fi’s younger brother, and I honestly contemplate throwing myself under the sheets before granting him entry.
But no, I can’t figure out a good reason for pulling the blankets up to my shoulders and not sitting up to talk to him. So I let out a giggle over his words and push my feet into the little white slippers with bunny ears on the toes and pull open the door. “Hi, Eir.”
He pauses and looks me over, flushing deeply and then smiling at my feet. Good job, Lu, I think. You’ve embarrassed him. “Hello, Lulu,” he says in a low voice. He’s holding a giant box in front of himself and his black tee shirt is speckled with dust. There’s a white tote bag slung over his shoulder that’s not nearly as dirty as he is. I suddenly remember Fi telling me Eir would go up into the attic and fetch an old stereo for me and excitement bubbles up in my chest. “You got it for me!” I exclaim; bouncing on the balls of my feet. “Oh God, that must be heavy. Come on in, put that down.”
“It’s not that heavy,” Eir says in typical I-am-man-hear-me-grunt fashion. He’s smiling at me as I bounce around the room. “And yes, of course I got it down for you! Where would you like it, milady?” he adds cheerfully.
“Um…” I pause and look around the room. It’s still pretty empty, with only a dresser, bed and nightstand with a lamp, so the stereo could sit wherever I’d like it. I gesture to the empty wall to the right of the window and say, “Right there works if you don’t mind. Thank you so much for doing this!”
His face is flushed as he smiles at me and sets the box where I pointed. He lets the tote bag drop off his shoulder and into his hand before offering me a shy smile. “You’re welcome.” He looks like he’s considering something as he sets down the bag and starts to pull the stereo out of the box. It’s not overly large; just three black rectangles all jammed up next to each other. The two on the outside have two giant circular speakers in them, and the one in the center has a slot for CDs and for a music player from the twenty-first century.
“I brought something else for you, too,” he says shyly as I kneel down to look it over. It appears to be in pristine condition, and I have to wonder how it has survived the last hundred years without even collecting a scratch—
Then I register what he said. “You do?”
He pokes out from behind the stereo system and smiles at me, amused by my disbelief. “I do,” he says; twisting to fetch the tote bag he’d been carrying and carefully offering it to me. “Fi told me to grab you some of her CDs that she thought you’d enjoy, but I thought you should have your own copies…so Aodhan and I took a little trip yesterday while Uncle Sea was guarding you, and well…” He bites his lip and looks at the bag as I take it from him. He’s quiet for a moment and he pulls in a sudden, sharp breath before blurting, “Well I got you some CDs so you can start your own collection.”
I feel emotion prick at my eyes and blink a few times to clear them out. He went out of his way to do something special for me, rather than taking the easy way out and letting me borrow his sister’s music, and that really makes me want to hug him for the rest of the night. “You did that for me?” I ask, and then want to punch myself for doing so. I ask too many questions. “You are so sweet, Eir. Thank you so much.”
The blush on his cheeks gets hotter and he beams. “You’re welcome. I hope you like them, but if you don’t, you can tell me — I won’t be upset. And if you tell me what else you like, I can get you more the next time I go pillaging.”
My hand stalls opening the zipper of the tote bag and I giggle. “Pillaging?” I ask.
His face flames purple and he coughs; looking down at the stereo and immediately throwing himself back into setting it up. “Uh, yes…uh…I call it pillaging.”
I laugh and he seems to think it’s at him by the ashamed look on his face, and that isn’t my intent. I think ‘pillaging’ sounds hilarious. “I would love to go pillaging with you.”
His eyes snap up and he smiles at me like I’ve just given him the winning lottery numbers. “It makes Fi laugh,” he says slowly, and watches me with an intensity I’ve never seen before. “I would love to take you with me once Fi isn’t so insane about security.”
“I can understand why she’s a bit…strict about it. If the Courts were to find out about this place…” I shudder at the thought. My family would never come to find me here, but it would be a good excuse to swamp the place with warriors and take all of these people as their own. The thought of someone putting a hand on Fi makes me sick, and Eir… I clear my throat, try to distract myself from my vision and force a sad smile. “Well it’s just dangerous, that’s all.”
Eir seems to notice my faraway look and starts putting wires into the back of the speakers. “I know. That’s why I’ve been trying not to give her too hard a time about it. Well, lately,” he says with an almost evil-looking smirk. “So, take a look at your haul there and tell me what you think!”
He’s obviously excited and I remember the bag in my hands. I laugh and shake my head at my own stupidity and tear the bag open; my mouth hanging open when I see the mass amount of music inside. Old CDs from Florence + the Machine and Ingrid Michaelson, to some people I’ve never heard of fill the bag. “Wow,” I mumble, flipping one of the disks over and gasping when I see what’s under it. “Where the hell did you get a Joan Jett album?!”
The look of relief that crosses his face almost distracts me from the awesome piece of memorabilia in my hands. He opens his mouth to speak when I hear a voice in the hall and hold my hand up to stop him. “Wait a minute…”
“How’s everything going over here?” the voice says; tough with an Irish lilt that I rarely hear anymore. “Do you need anything?”
I hear Aodhan replying to him and look at Eir. “Who is that?” I ask quietly.
Eirnin looks ridiculously confused at the change of topic. “Who? Joan?” he asks, and I hear a laugh coming from outside. That has to be him, I think. Who else could sound that similar? Without another thought, I bounce off the bed and dash into the hallway.
The man standing in front of Aodhan is not whom I expected and I feel my heart sink a little before confusion spikes through me. He looks almost identical. A little shorter and beefier, but otherwise the prisoner back home and the man before me could be twins. He looks at me with mild worry and I try to work words from my mouth.
“That’s my Uncle Seamus,” Eir says, suddenly right behind me. Aodhan looks confused and embarrassed by his presence but doesn’t point it out. “He isn’t going to hurt you, Lu.”
“I didn’t think he was,” I say in a strangled voice. Seamus’ brow furrows at me. “What did you say your last name was, again?”
; “Dolan, lass,” Seamus replies, and in that moment I could’ve been knocked over with a feather. He sounds just like him…
“D-Does the name ‘Patrick’ ring any bells to either of you?” I ask before I can stop myself. This is too coincidental, isn’t it? It’s impossible altogether to even think—
“Patrick is my father’s name,” Eir says. When I look up at him he is scarily pale, watching me for answers. I feel like I’m going to be sick.
“Can someone go get Fianna for me?” I ask. “And Flint, too.”
Seamus looks really confused, but he pushes Aodhan gently. “Would you go get them? I think they’re in the library.”
The young man nods and runs past us like someone lit him on fire. I clutch my head with both hands and try to block out the voice yelling at me that this is completely and utterly impossible right now.
I feel a hand brace against my side suddenly and look up to see Eirnin studying me. “Are you alright?” he asks, and I lower my hand to hold onto his arm. He looks so innocent right now. How am I going to tell him what I believe to be true? It could shatter them all.
“I’m okay,” I tell him quietly; squeezing his forearm. Flint and Fi round the corner with Aodhan then, who rushes past us to Sea. He pats his son’s back and looks at his niece and her not-boyfriend.
“What’s going on?” Flint asks, and Fi bites down on her tongue before she can echo him. She scratches her chin and makes a show of stretching her jaw, as if Flint didn’t just steal the words out of her mouth.
“I think we should head to the kitchen table,” I say, glancing between Eirnin and Fi. “You two might want to sit down for this.”
Chapter 21—Flint
July 2102
The sun is just creeping in the windows in the bedroom when I hear a thump above my head, somewhere in the library. Knowing full well Fi’s OCD has kicked in and she started searching for journals without me (again), I let out a sigh and decide the ass crack of dawn is as good a time as any to go help my particularly stubborn friend dig through dusty old boxes. I groan internally and roll out of bed; tugging on a pair of sweats before exiting the room and heading up the stairs.
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