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“I’m sorry I snapped.”
Touched, she ached for him. His whole life, his past, his history, his future, and his prospects had all just gone up in smoke. Olympus was his family. Harry his touchstone. If she could take his pain and shoulder it for him, she would do it in a heartbeat.
“I’m not going because of that,” she said. “I don’t care about that.”
She leaned in, tempting him to look her in the eye. It had been a long time since he’d avoided her gaze. Since the days just after the truth came out. She hadn’t liked it then and didn’t like it in that moment either.
Still, she smiled, because he needed support not judgment. “I’m the one you snap at,” she said. “Always. You’re allowed to talk to me any way you like, allowed to show me your emotions. You don’t have to be measured, or patient, or unfeeling with me. In fact, I discourage it… completely… Whatever the emotion is, I’m your freedom. You’re free with me. Always.” He still seemed hesitant. “I told you that I would never make you choose between me and your integrity. I am making that choice. It’s mine. I want you to go and be with them.”
Whether Harry went down or not, the survivors would get a lot of strength from seeing Daire return to stand with them, to fight with them. Like he’d said, it was about trust. They trusted him to be there. To be their leader if Harry was gone. They trusted him to be by their side in battle.
“I don’t know what went down or how it went down. We have to know if the threat is current or if it’s been eliminated.”
“Go, Agent,” she whispered, widening her smile. “Go be what he trained you to be.”
Kissing her fingertips, she touched them to his lips. His eyes closed and he grabbed her wrist to hold them there. Grief dammed her throat. He was in all kinds of agony. For what had happened. What would be. One way or another he would feel he was abandoning a mission, whether that mission was avenging Harry or protecting her.
The next time she sidestepped, he didn’t fight and let her arm slip out of his grip.
As she unlocked the door, Daire spoke. “I said never again,” he said, flat and emotionless, staring at the kitchen counter. “I said no one would ever take you from me again.”
“No one is taking me,” she said. “You have bigger things to worry about than me. This is a decision to go our separate ways… I promise we’ll find a way back to each other somehow.” Leaving him didn’t feel right, but she had no choice. Styx, if he was at Fox Den, wouldn’t wait indefinitely and those keys were more crucial than ever. “I love you, my Heart.”
After a couple of beats, his focus ascended to her. “Right back attcha.”
Showing him a final smile, she kissed her fingertips, holding them there for a second, savoring where they’d just been. Time was against them, so she opened the door and jumped down into the parking lot. From then on, she’d be on her own.
TO BE CONTINUED…
