Page 63 of Wine & Warlocks

Dubheasa laughed. “He might get salty if I borrowed your nickname to use, don’t you think?”

“He never gets mad.” With a sharp look toward the altar, Sabrina sighed. “Or he didn’t.”

Kneeling in front of her, she met the child’s too-serious gaze. “Are you afraid he will in the future, sweetie?”

“Papa gets cross if I say.” Withdrawing a necklace from the pocket of her coat, she gave it to Dubheasa. “This is for you, Ms. Dovie.”

The pendant was lovely in its simplicity. A perfectly oval ruby gemstone, roughly the width of small egg, was set in platinum metal and surrounded by a plethora of Pavé-style diamonds. The piece had an ageless quality to it, and an odd vibration flowed through to her hand.

“Yeah, and this looks too valuable for you to give to a stranger. I think you should ask your mam or da before giving away family heirlooms.”

“It’s not a hair-loom.”

“Heirloom. It means it’s old and meant to be treasured.”

A slight frown marred her elfin-like face, but an instant later, she shrugged carelessly. “Isis said to give it to you, and when the time comes, you’ll know what to do with it.”

“But—” The question died on Dubheasa’s lips as the child disappeared. With a sigh, she slipped it over her head. When Damian was finished with Ronan, she’d ask him what he knew.

CHAPTER27

Back at the Black Cat Inn, Damian checked his watch for the third time in fifteen minutes.

Annoyed, aching, and thoroughly out of sorts, Ronan wanted to rip the damned thing from his friend’s wrist and tell him to shove it up his arse.

“We’re out of time, Ronan. The mission can’t be delayed, and I need to get back to my family so Draven can return.” Worry defined the reason for Damian’s impatience. “I’m going to give you a boost to your system to help you recover.”

The Aether’s expression was no-nonsense, and Ronan reluctantly nodded.

Since his power was removed, he’d been unable to bounce back to normal, and none of them could figure out why. Initially, he’d been hesitant to accept help, worried the extra amp might give him a false sense of self and make him feel invincible when he clearly wasn’t. But now, he’d accept whatever Damian was offering to get him on his feet again. No way was he facing off with his father when his legs were as shaky as a newborn lamb.

“Remove your shirt.”

With an attempt at a grin, Ronan worked his shirt over his head. “Do you want to feel me up, then?”

Not bothering with a comment, Damian used his hands like defibrillators and sent a shock wave through him. Had Ronan not been sitting, he’d have surely fallen down from the explosion of energy.

“Jaysus!”His skin felt fried where it had come in contact with the Aether’s palms. A wild glance down at his chest showed angry red burns.“What the fuck?”

Alarm was a foreign expression on the Aether’s visage, and yet Damian looked as if someone had clubbed him on the side of the head and was about to go in for a second round. “That shouldn’t have happened, Ronan. I don’t know what the hell is going on with your system, but it seems to have had an adverse reaction to—ah! Of course!”

“Of course what? What the feck is happenin’ here, man?”

“I honestly don’t know why I didn’t consider it earlier,” Damian muttered to himself.

“Sure, and are you planning on the big reveal, or are you going to talk to yourself the rest of the bleedin’ day?” Ronan snapped.

Cutting him a dry look, Damian conjured herbs along with a mortar and pestle. “You’ve been fighting the process, and it’s manifesting into an allergic type of reaction.”

“How is that possible?” Brenna asked from her seat beside Dubheasa. The O’Malleys were all gathered, waiting for the moment they were to kick off the wedding.

“Ronan was violently opposed to the binding to begin with. It’s rare, but for those of the upper echelon—like Guardians or Sirens, such as yourself—the ability to manifest is tightly woven into the fabric of their power.” The Aether shot Ronan a dirty look. “In other words, our friend here didn’t trust me enough to let go. He was subconsciously holding back a part of himself, and it’s developed into a nasty little monster with a mind of its own.”

“Fuck.”Furious with himself, Ronan shook his head in disgust.

“Precisely,” Damian replied succinctly. “It’s not a difficult fix, and lucky for us, we have a Siren on hand.”

Brenna hopped up, an anticipatory smile lighting her face. “How exciting!”

---