Deceiver's Bond: Book Two of A Clairvoyant's Complicated Life (58 page)

“I will tell you anything you wish to know.”

I huffed. “This isn’t an interview, Kieran. I’d hoped it might be the start of a relationship. Relationships are about trust and sharing the things that define us without needing to be asked.”

“Indeed.” He evaluated me for a moment before pronouncing, “Then …
yes
.”

“Yes? Yes … for what?” I asked, now too exasperated to sound reasonable.

“I’m answering what you are unwilling to ask but desperately want to know.”

“Really? Wow. Thanks for your honesty. It takes a gutsy guy to admit to having sex with farm animals.”

He barked out a laugh but sobered quickly. “You and I both know that is not the question you most want me to answer.”

“Yeah? Suddenly you’re telepathic? Then tell me, Mr. Smart Guy, what’s this supposed question?”

Barely two strides and he was right up in my personal space. He cupped the side of my face in his palm and leaned down to whisper next to my ear, “Do you care for me, regardless of my abilities?”

I gasped and jerked my head back to consider him. The tenderness I found shocked me.

“Lire, you have my heart as well as my desire. Truly,” he said, brushing his thumb across my bottom lip. “Never doubt it. I will stay at your side for as long as you wish, whether we bond or not, if only for the pleasure of being near you.” He smiled and moved his hand from my jaw to trace his index finger across the bridge of my nose, studying me. “And I find your freckles most endearing. Although, I’d hardly say that six constitutes a faceful.”

“Seven,” I mumbled on a breathless exhale, too dazed to do anything but blink up at him. There was no catching my heart; it soared far out of my reach. I nearly dove into his tightening embrace, but caught myself before getting carried away. I pressed my hand against his chest. “Oh, no you don’t. Just … back off. This conversation’s not over.”

He eyed me the same way a cowboy might observe a skittish horse and released me. He retreated two grudgingly small steps. Half the size of the ones he’d taken earlier, I noticed.

Whatever. It was good enough.

It wasn’t lost on me that he’d managed to avoid sharing his dark secret with me. The guy was as evasive as a filthy cat in a room full of soaking tubs. Maybe if I approached the subject obliquely …

“Will you come with me if I go to the Amhaín’s territory?”

He stilled for a moment, clearly not expecting the question. “Yes … if she allows it.”

“Why wouldn’t she? Because of your allegiance to the King?”

His gaze slid away from me. “Yes.”

“But that’s not the only reason.”

I swear I heard his teeth grind together.

When he didn’t elaborate, I said, “In case you were wondering, this is where you share things without needing to be asked twenty-seven hundred questions.”

He blew out a heavy breath. “Nuala was one of the Amhaín’s apprentices.” His gaze returned to my face, to meet my eyes. “As you know, Nuala was my prior mate.”

“Yes.” I drew out the word, eyebrows raised.

“Maeve asked me to seduce her.”

Aha.

“Fisk said something about you living a fraud under the Amhaín’s nose. Tíereachán told me that Nuala was far beneath your station, but he refused to say anything else.” I tilted my head to the side as I examined him. “You pretended to be one of the Amhaín’s subjects, didn’t you? You manipulated Nuala into bonding with you, maybe even pretended to be someone you weren’t, so you could bring her under the King’s command. That’s why you’re called ‘the Deceiver.’”

The muscles along his jaw twitched. “Yes.”

“And that’s the real reason your family ostracized you. It wasn’t just because you married a woman well beneath your rank.”

He nodded.

“Did you lie to her?”

His expression solidified. “No.”

“Then how did you convince her to bond with you. She must have known what that would mean.”

Frowning, he didn’t answer. Of course, he didn’t need to.

“You deftly evaded her questions and gave her the truth whenever it would drive her toward you, just like you’ve done with me.”

“Lire—”

I strode closer and pressed my fingers briefly over his lips. “No more evasions, Kieran. Yes, or no.”

He breathed deeply and then replied, “Yes.” And there was as much pain voiced in that one word as was keenly visible in his doleful eyes. Whether this was for me or the memory of his prior mate, I didn’t know.

I remembered the tone of his voice when we’d been on the ferry and I’d asked him about Nuala. He’d called her a treasure.

I caressed his face. “In your pursuit of her, something happened that you didn’t expect.” I lowered my arm and took a small step back. “You fell in love with her.”

He studied me before nodding.

I wanted to be jealous, but I didn’t have it in me. She’d been dead for almost two thousand years and he’d been living with the burden of his mistake for all that time. “Did she ever forgive you?”

“If she did, she never told me.”

“Was she in love with you?”

“In the beginning,” he answered and then shrugged. “After she learned the truth … I don’t know. She never opened herself to me again.”

“Did she never ask to break the bond?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Honestly,” he said, frowning, “I don’t know.”

I nodded. “I’m sorry, Kieran. Thank you for telling me.”

“Lire, you must know, from the beginning, I’ve sought to protect you. I’ve taken every measure to avoid unfairly influencing you. But, no matter what I do, it seems the past seeks to repeat itself. Instead of being the King’s pawn, you could become the Amhaín’s. I wanted to keep you away from all of this. I’m sorry I failed you.”

I stared at him and shook my head. “Baby, you haven’t failed me. You make me soar. Haven’t you figured that out? I’ve never met anyone who makes me feel the way you do. I know you’re not perfect, but neither am I. You made a mistake, a grievous mistake, but I can see the goodness in you. More than anything, I just want you to be happy and at peace.”

Before he could respond, the ward fell. Its absence hit me almost as starkly as a physical blow, as though my body had been a limb that had fallen asleep and now it tingled and burned with the return of blood flow.

I jumped and glanced around me, in spite of there being nothing to see.

“The telepaths will want to come in, now,” Kieran commented.

“Yeah.”

Behind us, Fisk and Wade returned from the basement. When they stopped near us, I considered Wade and fought the impulse to smooth my hair. “You’ll have to forgive me if I’m not being formal enough about this … I’d like to petition the Amhaín for asylum. But only if Kieran can accompany me free of reprisals.”

“No. You can’t—” Kieran began, but I overrode him.

“And we can come back to Earth at any time,” I added, folding my arms. “I’ve sworn myself to fight the demons. With help from Michael and the telepaths, we can find and close their gateways. We’re going to do everything we can to thwart their invasion.”

“Lire, think about what you’re doing,” Kieran said. “Don’t make me your impediment. You need to do what’s right for you.”

I glared at him. “I’ve made up my mind. This is the way it has to be. I can’t explain why. It just … it feels right. I know it.” I turned back to Wade. “We come as a package. I’m not going anywhere without Kieran. If it means I have to forego training, then that’s what I’ll do.”

“Are you really that stupid?” Fisk muttered.

“I don’t care. Think whatever you want,” I snapped, his disdain sparking a rush of possessiveness. “Right now, Kieran’s welfare is my primary concern. I won’t do anything to endanger him and you can bet your ass I’ll cut anyone who tries to harm him.”

“Déjà vu,” Fisk snarled. “The Deceiver strikes again.”

I gripped Kieran’s arm before he did anything rash and stepped between their tightly coiled bodies. “I’m aware of what happened and I am
not
Nuala.”
Jerk
. “I have my own life to live and I won’t be bent to someone else’s will. Not the King’s, not the Amhaín’s, not even Kieran’s. I make my own decisions and I won’t be bullied.” I raised my chin. “Go ahead. Keep acting like an ass. See what it gets you.”
A swift kick somewhere tender for starters.

“The Amhaín expected nothing less,” Wade interjected, flashing Fisk a warning glare. “You have her assurance that both you and Kieran are welcome in her territory. She wishes to thank you personally for freeing her son.”

“Does that mean … Tíereachán will be able to come too?” I asked. It was almost too good to be true.

Wade adopted an amused expression that sat oddly on his face. “My dear, do you wish this for your pleasure, or his?” he asked, sounding nothing like himself. A small smile played on his lips.

A shiver went through me when I realized it was the Amhaín speaking through him.

I considered the question and answered honestly, “Both.”

He nodded. “This pleases me. It shall be done. I look forward to meeting you in person, Lire. You are an intriguing individual. My son is fortunate, indeed, to have been the beneficiary of your good grace.”

Although Fisk scowled, I couldn’t dampen my growing excitement. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was on the right path, a worthy path.

“Actually, I prefer to think it was the other way around,” I said.

The opening of the front door drew our attention toward a stream of somber-faced men and women making their way into the house. Michael came inside amid the crowd, along with Kim, Jackie, and Tíereachán. Before I could speak with them, a brunette, about my height with curly, shoulder-length hair, approached us.

“Thank you,” she said, her red-rimmed brown eyes scanning each of us. “Michael told us what all of you did. I don’t think there’s a single one of us who doesn’t wish we’d tried to intervene sooner, but we’re going to focus on moving forward. We have to make sure this doesn’t happen again. To anyone.” She pierced me with her stare, jaw set in determination. “We’ve heard what you have in mind, Lire, and we’re all for it. All of us. I know Daniel would have wanted it too. I’m Teresa, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Teresa. You’re right about Daniel. Pretty sure he knew things were going to happen this way.” I caught Michael’s eye and he gave me a melancholy nod.

“How are you guys going to deal with the bodies?” I asked, glancing from Michael to Teresa.

To my surprise, Fisk answered, “With the help of the telepaths, we’ll tie it to the FBI’s case against Evan McLean.”

“You’re going to risk this coming out in a trial?”

“You haven’t been watching the news.” He smiled maliciously. “He died in a prison fight, yesterday.”

I frowned, putting my hands on my hips. “Speaking of which. Why’d you set me up so I’d read the necklace?”

He stared down his nose at me. “You needed a wake-up call.”

I gasped and then growled, “Of all the heavy-handed … egotistical … reckless—”

Teresa backed away, glancing nervously between Fisk and me.

My body set to explode, I scrambled to contain my surging magic. As it was, the temperature around us increased by a good five degrees.

Kieran slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me back against his body. He murmured next to my ear, “If he hadn’t done it, we’d not have known about Kim. Let it go.”

I considered all of the non-lethal things I might do to Fisk, like sidestepping all of his clothes and leaving him jaybird naked. But knowing him, he’d just stand tall and leer at me. Anyway, the thought of seeing him nude gave me the creeps.

I burst out laughing, still staring at Fisk, which had a delightful effect on him. For once, he looked uneasy.

After a lengthy discussion with Michael and the others, it was decided that Fisk would stay long enough to play his law enforcement role and help orchestrate the discovery of the bodies downstairs.

As far as living arrangements went, the telepaths would make arrangements for Kim and Jackie to take over house-sitting for Jerome and Peter. This way the two women would have a place to stay while their house was being rebuilt. Michael would return to living here at Invisius headquarters and lead the telepaths. Before I could suggest it, Michael offered one of their rooms to Tíereachán, who graciously accepted.

Soon, we would decide how best to go about fighting the demons, but first, the Amhaín would train me. Invisius was being reorganized and, even though I hadn’t set out to do it, I’d been instrumental in fulfilling the Invisius diviners’ prophecy.

In the back of my mind, I wondered about the sidhe oracle’s presage, but then scolded myself for being self-centered. Just because it was a prophecy, didn’t automatically mean
I
was its subject. Besides, the Amhaín already had a half-blood for a mate. It seemed logical that she’d be the one to mend the rift. Hard to imagine the King bowing out, but one thing was sure—stranger things had already happened.

If Kim (or Brassal), had anything to say about Kieran and I visiting the Amhaín, she remained quiet. The silence made me uneasy, but it was one can of worms I absolutely did not want to open.

Kim did mention, however, that the King had discharged Lorcán and ordered him and his contingent back to the Otherworld. They would stand alongside Maeve at the Tribunal to assess their complicity in her various schemes. As I anticipated, the King hadn’t repealed Maeve’s outcast edict against Kieran. I hoped it wasn’t because Brassal had spilled the beans about my adept abilities. Although, with Azazel in the mix, it probably wouldn’t take long before the King learned of this news.

Before we left for my apartment, Wade pressed something into my hand. “My card. When you’re ready to visit the Amhaín, I will escort you.”

He tipped his head at Kim. “It was pleasure to meet you, Emissary. As the Amhaín’s Liaison, I extend well wishes to your King. The Amhaín is pleased the demon gateway was so efficiently dealt with by Earth’s first adept and extends an open invitation to Ms. Devon for training, free of debt or obligation. It is the Amhaín’s hope that a partnership among our three peoples, to defeat the shared demonic threat, might foster improved relations for all of us.” He leveled me with a meaningful look and added, “The Amhaín believes implicitly that, when a relationship is built upon a foundation of mutual trust, bending an individual’s will is unnecessary.”