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She placed a finger against my lips. Her skin was even colder than mine. “I know the risks. I can guess what they will demand. But even if I’m wrong, even if they demand something more of me, it’s a price I’m willing to pay to make Tao well again.”
I gently caught her fingers in mine. “He may never be well again. We both need to face that.”
“I will—but only when we’ve searched every damn book in the Brindle and done everything possible to help him.”
There was no arguing with her. As much as we both knew Kiandra would use this to draw Ilianna back into the fold, if that was a price Ilianna was willing to pay, then there was nothing I could do to gainsay her. I wanted Tao whole as much as she did, but she was the one who’d be affected. If this was her decision—if this is what she was willing to do—then I could only support her—both now, and later, when the Brindle extracted its payment.
I squeezed her hand and said, “If you’re sure, then let’s call them.”
“I already have.” She grimaced and glanced past me. “That’s them coming up the road now.”
I turned around. My ribs—which I’d forgotten about in the agony of changing from Aedh to human form—sent me another sharp reminder that they weren’t yet healed. I winced, blinking back tears as I studied the road below us. Two lights speared the darkness, and the sound of a car engine suddenly rode the night.
I met Ilianna’s gaze again. “Who’s coming?”
She shrugged. “I asked for people versed in healing, just in case his condition worsened on the trip down.”
“So not your mother or Kiandra?”
She smiled slightly. “No. Mom’s in season, so dad’s keeping her busy, and Kiandra rarely ventures out of the Brindle’s confines.”
I said, “Isn’t your mom a little old to still be coming into season?”
She laughed and pulled her hands from mine. “A mare is never too old to come into season, and a stallion never too old to impregnate her. Thankfully, my father has accepted Mom’s desire not to have more children.”
“No doubt because he still has a whole stableful of mares to cater to his breeding instincts.”
“Ten of them,” she said cheerfully. “Some stallions never lose their virility, it seems.”
I snorted softly. At last count, she’d had around thirty-five half siblings. It sounded like that figure was still increasing.
A long, ambulance-like van drove into the clearing and stopped beside Ilianna’s four-wheel drive. She rose and strode over to talk to them. I blew out a breath, then pushed somewhat shakily to my feet and walked over to Azriel.
His presence swirled around me—a blanket of heat and something else, something that was oddly comforting.
And yet it made me ache far worse than any injury, because I wanted more than just a comforting swirl of energy. I wanted what Riley had. Someone to hold me, support me, to kiss me gently when I needed it, or to tell me off when I was being an ass. I wanted someone who loved me for me, warts and all, rather than loving my money or for who my mom might have been.
But I might never find any of that. Mom had never mentioned love and children in my future, and certainly it wasn’t something my visions had ever hinted at. Besides, the depth of love and understanding Riley and Quinn had found seemed to be rare in this world—or at least, that was the way it seemed to me given Mom’s experiences and mine. But that knowledge didn’t dampen the desire.
Still, right now I had to settle for what I had. A fallen Aedh who was an excellent lover, and a reaper who was a protector if not a friend, and in whose presence I at least felt safe.
Even if that odd tension still rode him.
I stopped beside him, rubbing my arms lightly as I turned and watched Ilianna lead the two witches—who were carrying a stretcher between them through the ritual site’s gates.
“If you are cold,” he said, almost immediately, “you should go sit inside Ilianna’s car.”
“I will.”
He glanced down at me. “And yet here you remain.”
“Because I want to know why you’re so tense. Are you expecting another attack?”
He hesitated. “There will be more attacks. We would be foolish to believe otherwise.”
“Yeah, but that’s not the cause of your tension right now, is it?”
“This person you saw stealing the key—was it your father?”
