Stone of Destiny (The Danaan Trilogy) (11 page)

Ethan and I walked to my house in silence. He stopped at the bottom of the porch steps. I looked down at him. “You want to come in?”

He beamed at me like I’d offered him a slice of chocolate cake. “I would, unless you need some time alone?”

I shook my head. “Actually, I
don’t
want to be alone right now.”

I went inside, making sure not to make too much noise so I didn’t wake anyone up. Ethan followed me down the hall to the kitchen. I grabbed two sodas from the fridge and sat at the table beside him.

“You okay?” he asked.

I shrugged and wiped at the condensation on the soda can. “Yeah, I think so.”

He reached over and cupped my hand, pulling it away from the soda. “Come on, talk to me.”

“I’m trying,” I said and took a deep breath. “But it isn’t something that comes easy for me.” My voice trailed off, barely a whisper.

I watched as he lightly brushed his fingers over my hand. His gaze flicked up to mine. “I know. I’m not trying to push you.”

I nodded. “Trusting is... hard for me, too. I didn’t want to trust Liam or any of them. But I ended up with no choice. Now with Samantha and Ciarán, I don’t know what to think.”

“You mean you think they’re up to something?” he asked.

I sighed. “No. I don’t know, not really. But if
I
hadn’t known my mother my whole life and she showed up, I know I’d want her to like me. I’d want to impress her. I wouldn’t blame Samantha if she was trying to help Aoife. But it would
really
suck.”

“I was thinking the same thing, but you said Niamh can read minds. Wouldn’t she be able to tell if Samantha was lying?”

“That’s true, you’re probably right.” I kept my eyes on his hand, still tracing circles on mine.

“Hey,” he said. The fingers of his other hand brushed along my cheek. “We’ll figure this out. Whatever it takes.”

I tried to smile. “My head is all over the place.”

“You know,” he said, walking his fingers up my arm to rest on my shoulder. “I’m not trying to brag or anything, but I’ve been told I give a pretty decent hug.”

I laughed. “Yeah? By who, your mom?”

He unfolded himself from the chair and placed his hand over his heart, shaking his head. “Ouch. That was a really low blow. Come on.” He motioned for me to stand up and held his arms open for me.

I gripped the edge of the table and stared up at him for a moment. “You’re serious?”

“I
never
joke about hugs.” His arms were still wide open and he curved his fingers at me.

I drew in a deep breath and stood. Ethan reached out with both hands and smoothed the hair back from my face. Moving his hands down to my shoulders, he gently tugged me forward.

“It’s okay,” he said, wrapping his arms around me. He held me close as I inhaled his clean, warm scent. God, it felt good. I let myself go, burying my face in his shirt. My arms wound their way up around his back.

For several minutes, neither of us said anything. I felt a fissure crack down on the fortress of my emotions. Things I hadn’t let myself really feel for so long -- fear, love, pain, all of it came rushing over me. There was something right about being here in his arms. I’d been so blinded by my sense of, what -- duty? Responsibility for my mother’s condition? Whatever it was, I’d wasted years hardening my heart when I should have been letting someone inside. Someone like Ethan who was strong and patient and refused to give up on me.

I lifted my head and with one hand, reached up and placed my palm against his cheek. “Thank you. For not giving up on me, even when you should have.”

He turned his head and kissed my palm. “I don’t need magic powers to know you’re the one for me.” He shrugged. “I’ve always known.”

It was crazy to feel happy when everything outside of the kitchen was so uncertain. But I reminded myself, I needed to let that go. There were things I could control and there were others I couldn’t. Right then, where I stood, I couldn’t do anything to change things. And just like that, the weight of all that guilt was lifted from my shoulders. I felt... good.

I smiled, really smiled at Ethan and he took a step back. “I better go. I have to work in the morning.”

I stared up into his eyes, an urge to show him how I felt rose up inside me.

“Wait,” I said, my heart rate picking up. He raised a brow. Placing my hands on his chest, I took a deep breath. I didn’t have a lot of experience with this sort of thing, but it was time to be brave. I stood on my toes and kissed him, just a quick peck on the lips, but it was a big deal for me. As I pulled away, he reached for me. His eyes searched mine before he closed the distance between us. It started out gentle and sweet. He ran his hands up my neck and touched each side of my face. I lost myself in the softness of his mouth as the kiss deepened into something desperate and full of need.

I broke away, breathing hard. I could feel the color spread over my cheeks and when I looked up, Ethan smirked.

“I like it when you blush, I think it’s cute,” he said.

I laughed and shook my head. “You’re incorrigible.”

He grinned. “All part of my charm.”

Smacking his chest, I pushed him toward the door. “Uh-huh.”

Before he stepped out onto the porch, he turned toward me. “I’ll give you a call tomorrow, okay?”

I nodded. “Sure.” I waved as he strolled down the walk to his truck. But what I really wanted was to pull him back and kiss him until he was out of breath.

His taillights disappeared down the road and I went to shut the door when Niamh appeared and put a hand out to stop me. My heart dropped and I stared at her for a minute, unable to speak.

“I just need a minute,” she said, glancing over her shoulder.

“Okay,” I said, stepping aside so she could come in.

I love this house
,
it feels so welcoming.

I didn’t say anything to that, just shook my head a little in surprise.

“When are you leaving?” I asked.

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“All right,” I said, sitting at the table.

Niamh sat across from me. “I think you should come to Tír na n’Óg with me.”

“I can’t go there,” I said. “You know I have school and work. Plus my cousin’s engagement party is next weekend.”

“We have ways to get around that. I’ll send decoys to cover for you. You don’t have to worry,” she waved her hand as though these things were irrelevant.

“Can the decoys teach me what I actually need to know for my career? Niamh, it’s not that simple.”

She sat at the table and leveled her gaze on me. “I know these things are important to you. But we need to find Aoife. We can’t just wait for her to make her next move.”

“You said yourself it could take months for her to prepare a binding spell.”

“If that is in fact what she’s doing. But either way I’d like to be one step ahead of her.”

My whole life had led me to this point. Years of studying and working to save up so I could get into a decent graduate program and eventually earn a living to support my mother.

Niamh couldn’t understand that. She didn’t have to work and if she wanted something, she could just glamour a post-it note to look like a fifty dollar bill. If only I could do that.

“With enough practice, maybe you could,” she said, and I shot her an annoyed look.

“Why do you think I should go, anyway?”

She crossed her legs and placed her hands on the table. “You’re as much a part of this now as any of us. After what Samantha told us, I feel it’s important for us to stay together.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond. Calm, collected Niamh felt we should stay together?

You know, humans aren’t the only ones affected when we spend time around each other.

What’s that mean?

“Think about it. I’ve been spending so much time here, it’s bound to change me on some level.”

I hadn’t really thought about it that way. I knew Liam and Aodhan had become more like the Danaan from being in Tír na n’Óg, so I guessed it made sense for it to work both ways.

“You won’t become like Aengus, will you?” I asked, shuddering at the memory of Aoife’s guard in Thunder Bay. Aengus had attacked Liam and I while we were trying to find Aodhan over the summer. Which reminded me, why wasn’t Samantha’s friend Ciarán like him? He was one of Aoife’s people, shouldn’t he be in the same emaciated state?

“No,” Niamh said. “The only reason he was like that was from drawing magic from human blood. The iron in the blood goes directly into their bodies, poisoning them. As for your other question, Ciarán doesn’t believe in what the others are doing. In fact, he’s firmly against draining humans.”

“That’s a surprise. Why is he staying with them if he doesn’t like what they’re doing?”

“They told me he only stayed because Breanh had sealed the portal while Aoife was trapped in the fey globe. Then he met Samantha and I suppose he didn’t want to stay away from her.”

“Would she become delusional like my mother if he left?”

Niamh shook her head. “I’m not sure. I’ve never known any half-breeds in my lifetime.”

“Anyway, even if it weren’t for school…I can’t miss Nicole’s engagement party, she’d never forgive me.”

“She’ll never have to know. The sooner we figure out where Aoife is the sooner we can break the geis. I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important. And I know Liam wouldn’t dream of asking you.”

“Why?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

She shrugged. “He’s in a very precarious position. He doesn’t want to risk alienating you.”

“I need some time to think about it,” I said.

“Time is something we don’t have. I’ll give you until tomorrow,” she said, her pale blue eyes burning into mine as she rose from her seat.

I nodded. “I understand. I just have a lot to figure out.”

I blinked and she was gone, the door clicking shut the only sign of her departure.

“Come on Beth, we need to board,” a girl with springy copper ringlets says, her voice pleading.

“One more minute, he might still show,” a blonde says, turning as she looks around the crowded airport.

The redhead sighs, glancing among the swarming faces. “He would have been to see you by now. You’re acting crazy.”

The blonde is my mother. Her face is drawn, dark circles standing out under her green eyes. She bites her lip as the other girl tugs on her arm. Tears begin to fall as her shoulders slump.

“Come on, Bethy. You’re too good for him anyway.” The girl’s eyes are darting toward the departure gate where a flight attendant is taking down the sign for Flight 407.

My mother’s eyes drop to the floor and she allows the girl to tug her forward. As the redhead speaks to the flight attendant, my mother glances over her shoulder one last time before they run down the boarding ramp.

Sunlight peeked through my blinds and I rolled over to bury my head into my pillow. My head was pounding and my mouth was dry and cottony. I’d spent most of the night wide awake, only the moonbeams keeping me company. The last time I’d checked the clock, it was quarter to five. It was now almost eight and I had a class at ten.

I’d gone back and forth all night on what I would tell Niamh today. I looked at the corkboard hanging over my desk. A few awards and medals I’d won in high school hung around pictures of me and Nicole at different ages. One was us after a dance recital at six and seven years old, dressed in colorful costumes, our hair in tight curls. Another of us jumping off the diving board of her pool together at eleven and twelve.

Nicole’s engagement party itself wasn’t what was important to me. It was being there for her that mattered. She’d probably never know it wasn’t me if a decoy took my place. Not only would whoever Niamh sent be glamoured to look like me, but the entire party would be compelled to believe it was me, no matter how I behaved. It was what came after — the guilt. I’d never forget I wasn’t there and I hated the thought living with that feeling.

The memory of my mother’s face from my dream flashed in my mind. Her heartbreak and pain at feeling abandoned in every glance.

The difference between my mother’s situation and Nicole’s were astronomical. Maybe the truth was that I was afraid of going back
there
, to Tír na n’Óg. Back to the place where everything felt wrong and perfect at the same time. In Tír na n’Óg the sun always shone, the air was clean and none of Earth’s rules applied. It was all beautiful women and breathtaking men, dancing and feasting and, of course, plenty of seduction. Even the way the clothing felt on my skin was alluring.