Page 38 of The Seer

Peering into the drawers, she found more handwritten music, all neatly stacked. The words were pure poetry and spoke to her battered heart. Who had the man become in the twenty-plus years since they’d met? The grumpy recluse or the romantic musician? She sighed and shoved the drawer closed, pausing when a framed picture slid into view.

Like a woman dying of thirst, she drank in Fintan’s happy face. The wide grin, the sparkling eyes, the way he leaned into the person he was with. It took a few precious heartbeats to realizeshewas the one he held. That effervescent girl was someone she no longer recognized when she looked in the mirror.

“I love ya, Taryn-Taryn. I always have, and I’ll not be denyin’ it any longer.”

Fintan’s departing words rang inside her head, and she sat down heavily on the bed’s edge as she stared at the photo in her hands. Was this proof? Why wait a lifetime to say anything? And why speak up now when her ability to return his love was questionable? How was she supposed to trust he wouldn’t leave her at a train station again?

“We were just kids,aoibhneas mo croí,” he said softly from the doorway.

Caught red-handed, she gasped and flung the frame toward the head of the bed. “What are you doing back so soon?”

He laughed. “Sure, and it only takes a minute to hand over an object to a person you never want to see or speak to again.” Fintan retrieved the picture and studied the joyful couple. With a sad expression, he said, “I’d have come back for you if I were able.”

“You had decades, and you never did.” Taryn felt exposed and brittle.

“Aye, but I never stopped tryin’.” He tossed the photo, circled the four-poster, and cupped her jaw. “I meant what I said.”

Knocking his hand away, she stood. “No. I’ve visited Brenna countless times, and every single one of those times, you scurried away.” She swallowed her rising anger. No good would come of her raging this late in the game. “I’m not buying what you’re selling, Fintan Sullivan. Go peddle it to someone else,” she said tiredly.

“That’s it then? You’ve—argh!” He paled and fell backward, clutching his head

“Fintan!” She dove for him with no idea what to do to save him, but willing to try anyway. When she reached his side, his eyes were opaque, and his jaw was slack.

“Shit! What do I do?” she cried as she cradled his face in her hands. The wave of energy almost knocked her on her ass, actually would have had she not been kneeling on the mattress.

He returned to himself with a string of curses. For a brief moment, his eyes were tortured as they stared up at her, and in the next instant, he was holding her in a bear hug as if he would never let go. She let the embrace continue until the tension left his body, then she wiggled to get free.

“I feel a bit suffocated here, Fintan.”

“Jaysus! Sorry.” Color stained his cheeks, and he looked everywhere but at her. “I didn’t mean… I… you… the vision.” He scrubbed his face with his palms. “Yeah, and I’ll shut me gob now.”

Leaving him in his shaky state would be heartless, and Taryn repositioned herself to kneel beside him, stroking his sweat-damp hair away from his temple. “What did you see?” she asked softly.

“More of the same. Things meant to torment and cause sleepless nights.” His voice was raw, and it was easy to guess he hated being exposed as he was. Vulnerability wasn’t the man’s strong suit.

“You were standing over my grave again?” It hurt her to ask, but knowledge was power, right?

“Aye.”

“So whatever happened today with the necklace didn’t change anything,” she concluded, falling back on her heels. Why she was calm was a mystery when her death couldn’t be more certain, yet she wasn’t afraid. Her fear had receded in light of the mystery surrounding the vision. Or maybe acceptance came with age. No one lived indefinitely, and to believe she was fated to have a long, happy life was arrogant.

His gaze locked with hers. “I’ll do my fuckin’ best to keep you safe,aoibhneas mo croí.”

“Thank you for not promising to save me. I hate it when people do that. The Gods and Fates hold all the power over us, not men, despite their white-knight complexes.”

“Sure, and sometimes those feckin’ bastards can be reasoned with.” A wry smile crooked his lips. “Other times, they need to be shown the error of their ways.”

“The white knights or the Gods and Fates?” she asked with a faint smile.

“The whole bleedin’ lot of them.”

His warm smile, the admiration shining from his gorgeous eyes, and his blasted nearness all worked against her. Taryn wanted to give in to his magnetism, but down that path lay destruction.Hers!

“So everything went okay with Odessa?” she asked as she rose and walked to his writing desk. “Your fast return seems anticlimactic.”

Fintan followed her. “She only wanted the necklace.”

“Do you think it was wise to afford her that much power?” Taryn glanced up to see him watching her with something akin to adoration. Her heart rate doubled, hammering hard against her ribcage.

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