Page 96 of Tin God

Tenzin lifted a finger. “René du Pont once survived a fall from seventy stories in New York. I saw it.”

Brigid snorted. “You prob’ly caused it.”

Ben said, “Seventeen, Tenzin. I don’t think it was seventy.”

“Either way.” Brigid was cringing inside. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“The last I saw your mate, he was climbing onto a fishing boat in rough water.” Ben sat next to Tenzin and stared at Brigid. “You’re going to make Carwyn travel by boat, and you’re too afraid to travel by air?”

“We can carry you.” Tenzin shrugged. “If it comes to it, I can carry you and Ben can carry that block you’re married to.”

Brigid pulled her gun faster than a vampire could blink and pressed it right to Tenzin’s knee. “I told you, insult him again?—”

“It’s not an insult.” Tenzin glared at her. “He’s built like a concrete block and is just as hard to get through.”

“Ladies.” Ben sounded nervous. “Can we not threaten bodily injury while we’re catching up on news? Just a suggestion.”

Tenzin kept her eyes locked with Brigid. “I followed you up here because I know that Zasha wants me dead. I know that I’m the cause of this, and I’m sorry that you and Carwyn got pulled into a mess that I created—even though I thought I was doing the right thing.”

Brigid tried to wrap her mind around the idea of Tenzin apologizing. Had she ever done it before? Brigid couldn’t remember.

“I can’t lose him,” Brigid said. “I could lose my own head, but if I lost him, I’d turn into a monster.”

“No, you wouldn’t.” Tenzin brushed the barrel of the gun away. “You need to leave this thinking in the past. I’ve seen monsters. I’ve been a monster. You’re the opposite of one, Brigid Connor.”

“Who told you that, Brigid?” Ben’s voice was soft. “You’re one of the most honorable people I know, mortal or immortal.”

Brigid blinked back heat in her eyes.

“You love it. Fire, temptation, bloodlust. They’re the only things that make you feel alive.”

“I’m no monster. I am nothing like you!”

“I never said you were. But you said it. Because deep down, you believe it. In your heart, you know what you are.”

“Whoever told you that is playing with your mind,” Tenzin said bluntly. “And it’s working. I’ve used that tactic myself. Was it Zasha?”

Brigid said nothing.

“They are perceptive,” Tenzin said. “If they know you fear being a monster, they’ll use it against you. Don’t let them win.”

“Come with us,” Ben said. “Go to Carwyn. Right now he’s working on his own, angry at you for leaving him behind.”

“We can chase this ghost together and win, or we can split up and probably lose.” Tenzin leaned forward. “But there’s no way to keep them safe. Not Ben and not Carwyn. Not from this. He won’t let you, and you’re only making him hurt because of your stubbornness.”

Brigid pulled her hands from the table; the edge was singed and black, but it wasn’t burnt.

Tenzin glanced at the burn marks on the wood. “Your control is improving. Even a few days working with Oleg helped.”

Brigid felt the fire in her belly, felt the burning snap of it reaching from inside, aching to get out. Aching for her mate. The fire wanted Carwyn, and the longer she let it smolder, the worse it was going to be.

“Fine,” she whispered. “I’ll go with ye.”

Flyingacross the Inside Passage on the back of a wind vampire was as completely terrifying and freezing as Brigid could have imagined. She tried to close her eyes, but her relentless curiosity had her peeking over Ben’s shoulder more than once.

“It’s amazing, right?” Ben was obviously in his element. “People dream about flying all the time, and now I can actually do it. Do you know I called you from the top of a cathedral in Russia once?”

“I did not know that.”

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