Page 51 of Highballs & Hexes

“Because I was afraid to face you,” he confessed, amazed at her ability to ferret out the truth when he sought to hide it. “Afraid you were only waiting to tell me how much you despised me.” Without breaking eye contact, he gestured with his head toward Noah. “Afraid you’d kick me in the bollocks like ya kicked this one’s shin.”

Her lips twitched as if she fought a smile. “If you made me wait longer, I likely would’ve.”

He grinned. “Then I timed it perfectly, aye?”

The smile she’d been working on disappeared as she sat up. “You don’t intend to have representation at the Council meeting?”

“Not sure what the point would be. I’m guilty, Fionola.” He’d said her full first name, hoping to insert distance between them, but her grimace said she understood what he was doing. “I abducted people who’d been through hell and stuck them right back there.”

“But your mind was cracked, and you’re not to blame.”

“If not me, who?Who?” He shoved away his building frustration with a heartfelt sigh. “I’m the one who hunted them down, befriended them under false pretenses, and put them back in the very cage where they’d first been terrorized.Me, Fi. No one else.”

“You didn’t know, Patrick.” Her voice was achingly sweet in her certainty. “Your mind was broken for a time, but it’s healed now, yeah?”

“It’s healed now,” he agreed. “And someone—me—needs to be punished for the crimes against the witch community.”

Big, fat tears rolled down her cheeks to drift off her jaw. In her angst, she hadn’t registered she was crying and was startled when Noah handed her the tissues he’d conjured.

“They can’t exact justice on a man who was sick to begin with,” she argued.

“They can now that my mind’s intact, though. The Aether saw to it when he and his Sentinels repaired the damage.”

Noah sent him a sharp look, and Patrick gave him a minute head shake. He didn’t blame Damian for his part. It needed to be done for him to face his eventual sentencing. His and Loman’s victims would demand justice, and they’d tear apart the witch community to get it if Patrick wasn’t offered to them on a silver platter.

“I’ll be your representative,” she declared.

“You’d make a fine one, but they’ll want someone with more clout, all the same.”

“Someone like me?”

All three of them turned at the sound of Ronan O’Connor’s voice.

He settled on a nearby bench and rested his forearms on his thighs, clasping his hands loosely in front of him. His silvery gaze searched each of their faces before landing on Patrick’s.

“It was my da who terrorized those people, and you right along with them. The man was a master manipulator and relished others’ pain.” The haunted look in his eyes said Ronan was one of those “others.” After a long exhale, he shook his head and said, “The Council is well aware he was a right proper, sadistic bastard. And I’ll reveal to everyone what my childhoodwas like, as will Ruairí and any other cousins I can dredge up. It turned half our family mad, and our testimony should weigh in your favor, Paddy.”

“Why would you do that for me? It wasn’t as if I were kind to you, son.”

“Son. Me Dove will love the sound of that, she will. That’s all the thanks I need.”

Ronan flashed a wide smile, and Patrick could swear the sun shone brighter, flowers turned their faces to the sky, and the birds sang louder. A single glance at Fi showed her to be equally charmed. Noah frowned, causing Patrick to chuckle. Likely the man was used to being the prettiest one in the room.

“What if it doesn’t work?” Fi asked, worrying her lip.

The Aether stepped from the shadows and placed a hand on Ronan’s shoulder. The absence of his surprise indicated the Guardian had known the man was there.

“It will,” Damian said. “Patrick will have the O’Connors’ testimony, yours, and mine.” He shot an inquiring glance at Noah and smiled, cementing their familial relationship in everyone’s minds. After seeing the two men together, there was no doubt they were blood relatives. “My brother will testify on your behalf as well, Mr. O’Malley.”

“Brother?” Fi about broke her back as she twisted to look at Noah. “For fuck’s sake! Sure, and you weren’t lying to me when you said you were old as dirt.”

“I said no such thing, woman. Isaid, you don’t want to know.”

Her grin caused Patrick’s heart to beat faster, such was the joy of seeing it.

“True,” she replied. “But I heard you say you were around for centuries.”

“Two. Two centuries, and stop making me feel ancient,” he muttered with a sour look.

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