Page 73 of Birthright

Jordan scowled at the closed door. I should have been embarrassed, but I wasn’t. He rose to a sitting position, bringing me with him, and kissed me on the forehead tenderly. “We should get you dressed and go see Manus.”

I gave him a questioning look. “I knew you’d want to, so I checked with Bevin. She said we could see him around lunchtime.”

I rested my head against his chest, and it felt good. Right. Why did I have to fight everything so hard? Why did he accept who I was, and I couldn’t? Would he accept all of my life? “Jordan…” I began softly.

“You have not closed your mind to me, Keena. I know who you are and I understand your responsibilities. My human, possessive side will not like you in the arms of another, but I will accept it. I’ve had relationships with Witches before.”

“Is it the Witch in me that makes these demands?” I nuzzled closer.

He tightened his hold on me. “The Witch makes the demands, the Demon and your legacy make them urgent. If I’m able to regularly satisfy those demands, urgency won’t overtake you so badly. Your magic abruptly lost its connection to Tynan, which heightened the need. It won’t be so bad again. The shock from his loss only made the rest of it worse for you.” He lifted me to my feet with a sure-of-himself smile. “Let’s go see your overstuffed kitty cat, Priestess.”

CHAPTER 31

After we returned to my room to clean up, Jordan escorted me to the healing ward. I walked confidently next to him. He towered over me, but his presence no longer intimidated me. I heard Doran and Bevin before we got the waiting area, no tension in their voices. That was a good sign.

When we came around the corner, they both stopped talking and looked at us. I fished the amulet out of my pocket and handed it to Bevin. “Thanks for the control,” I said without letting any embarrassment into my voice.

“That wasn’t much time.” The old Witch wiggled her eyebrows.

“All I needed.” I glanced back at Jordan to see that he was actually blushing. Doran was doing her best not to laugh. She coughed into her hand. Jordan blushed even more. It was too cute to see the hulk who had forced me to talk dirty to him, embarrassed.

Doran looked back at me. “I feel a change in you, my niece. I like it. What is it?”

I went to Manus’s door without saying anything. He came first. Then I was going to have a talk with Doran. They all followed me in.

He was sitting up and conscious. His bright green cat eyes met mine with a small smile, the movement tugging on the cut and making him flinch. The nasty gash started at the bottom of his chin and wound itself into a big, grotesque question mark that stopped at his navel. Bevin had it coated in herbs, but I could see under the treatment, and it was bad. I felt hot tears at the backs of my eyes.

“Don’t, Keena. I’ll be okay. Bevin is sure I’ll be able to shift again.” He talked by moving his mouth as little as possible.

I looked back at Bevin as I sat on the side of his bed. “Was there a question of that?”

“The cut was deep and went through a great deal of muscle tissue. If that tissue was too damaged, he couldn’t shift. We are healing it from the inside out in hopes he won’t have that problem. The stabs in the back weren’t so bad. They’ll heal fine. This one,” she motioned to the huge question mark, “it’s almost as though they put some sort of poison on the blade to make sure the tissue died.”

“So they wanted to make sure he couldn’t shift if he survived?” I glanced from Jordan to Doran. “And the Witch, Deirdre? Was there anything specific about her injuries?”

Doran nodded to Bevin as if giving her permission to tell me. Bevin took in a deep breath. “She was decapitated, probably with the same poisoned blade.”

“Jesus Christ!” I had to close my eyes. “And you think that was meant for me?”

“Especially after your visit from Dannaiva. We are going to have to intervene soon,” Doran said. “I have contacted the one who is claiming leadership on Thule now. He is coming tomorrow evening. A formal meet, Keena. You will be there to assist me. Something has them very frightened of you.” She waited for me to say something, but I held my knowledge as well as her gaze and offered nothing in return.

Manus broke the stare-down. “Can I talk to Keena alone for a minute?”

Doran just turned and left. She knew I was hiding something. Too bad. She did the same often enough. When the others were gone, Manus took my hand.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, kissing his knuckles. “This is my fault. I should have stayed with you.”

“Stop it. I failed in my duty. If you had been with me…I just…you would have…”

“Now you stop it. We’re both alive.” I sighed. I’m very sorry about your friend.” I kissed his knuckles again.

Manus pulled his hand away. “You have to tell them, Keena. You have to tell them about the deal with Karackos.”

I thought quickly to make sure my wall was up to block Jordan, but it was too late. He had been there and gotten part of the memory, part of the worry brought to the forefront of my mind. Jordan flew around the corner. His strong face looked harsher than usual. He was red-faced again, but this was not a blush.

“What deal did you make with that monster, Keena?” His voice was as unforgiving. The words were clipped and harsh. Doran and Bevin had followed him back in.

“Damn it,”