Page 50 of The Seer

“If you’re not going to kiss me, put me down and fill me in on the plan.”

“Who said I wasn’t going to?” he teased.

“You make me crazy on a good day, Fintan Sullivan,” Taryn muttered, gnashing her teeth together.

Again, he laughed. “You make me mad as a March hare, too, love, but I’m thinkin’ it isn’t for the same reason.”

“Put me down, you oaf. “

“When did ya resort to name-callin’?”

“When you left me on that platform.”

His blood cooled in the face of her continued hurt, and he released her.

“Then let’s get this sorted, yeah?” Stepping over to the chest, he removed a blanket and pillows. After laying them out on the floor in a circle, carefully skirting the casting area, he gestured toward the nest. “Make yourself comfortable, Taryn-Taryn. I think we’re in for a bit of a discussion.”

Though he wanted to cuddle her close, he sat opposite her. She should make the first move if she were willing. Her dark frown and the buzzing in his mind told him that she wasn’t happy about the distance. Smothering a grin, he lifted a brow and patted the spot next to him. With an arch look, she shifted closer, and he dragged her against him as he reclined back.

“Ya look knackered. Are ya wantin’ to sleep first?” He hated to wait, wanting to erase the misunderstanding of years past, but he’d follow her lead and allow her to rest if she preferred. The day had been a particularly long one.

“No. You told me earlier you loved me and always had.” Two heartbeats passed. “Is it another line?”

“I didn’t lie to ya then, and I’ll not lie to you now.”

“But you did.” She rose up, resting on one elbow to look him in the face. “You swore you’d be back.”

“It wasn’t an intentional lie, and you know it. I told you the why of it.”

She studied him, and during the pause, Fintan kept their mental connection open so she could see what was in his heart. “Feel through our bond,aoibhneas mo croí.Know that I speak the truth.”

Acceptance.

Not only was it reflected on her face, but it embraced him the moment she thawed. She tucked under his arm and snuggled down. “Okay,” she whispered.

Fintan closed his eyes and thanked the goddess Anu for small favors.

“What we shared in those first weeks was like nothin’ I’d ever experienced before, Taryn-Taryn. I was gobsmacked from the moment I saw ya. Sure, and I won’t say love at first sight, but I was infatuated all the same.” He kissed her temple, smiling when she released a happy sigh. “I was chuffed when you decided to stay in Ireland, then when you agreed to follow me around Scotland and England.”

“But after the Edinburgh concert, Peter died,” she concluded.

“Aye. And I told ya as much at the time. When I said I’d meet ya in a week in Liverpool, I fully intended to. But the instant I crossed the border to this estate, I was bound to it.”

She wiggled to rest atop him, and her frown was one of confusion. “Bound? As in, a slave to the property?”

“Aye. Close enough.” He swallowed in remembered torment. “The ancestors wouldn’t let me leave or use a phone to call you. Whenever I tried to sneak away, I experienced one of those grand three-hour naps like ya witnessed.”

“And you’ve already said they wouldn’t allow you to text me without retribution.”

“Aye, though I tried that, too,” he said. “It earned me electric shock therapy.”

“Ohmygod!” Her horror was justified.

“I was in love with you by then, but I couldn’t find a way around it. I was more tortured by the idea that you hated me than by what they unleashed on me brain.”

“Oh, Fintan.” Tears shimmered in her sad eyes, and his heart broke all over again.

“I’ve thought about you every day since. Wonderin’ what your life was like. Only when I agreed to avoid you did the ancestors give me a respite from their games.”

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