Page 80 of Unlikely Omega

“So tell me the truth,” I go on, doing my best to ignore her exclamation, analyze it, imagine what she meant by it, if anything at all. “Are your men waiting nearby to capture us? You wouldn’t have come to find us on your own.”

“No, of course they aren’t waiting,” he says, irritation seeping into his voice. “We spread out to find you. I just happened to see you in a flash of lightning as you stood over the lip of the gully. But yeah, you bet your ass they are out there, still looking, or else I’ll have their asses on a spit.”

“Charming,” I mutter, trying to think of a way out of this.

I wish I had a knife to put to his neck, use him as a shield to get out of here and then… then what?

“Go,” he says. “Get out of here now. I’ll wait until the rain stops, and then I’ll tell my men I was attacked by the Drakoryas and lost your trail. Go fast and keep low and stay away from the main road. I’ll do my best to distract them.”

I step toward him, my thoughts grinding to a stop. “Why the hell would you do that?”

“Maybe I don’t really want you to die, you stupid priest.”

I’m breathing hard. “I don’t trust you.”

“What’s there to trust? Get out of here. Tie me up, if you like. I have no way to signal my men. I’m giving you a chance to escape.”

“You wanted us to burn at the stake. Or hang from the rope.”

“I never said that. I followed orders. I…” He sighs. “I’ve always followed orders. But I fucking can’t. Can’t let you burn. Can’t let you die. Damn my soul, I can’t allow it to happen. Take Ariadne and run for your lives, as you said before. Go and be safe.”

Okay, yeah. I’ve never felt more stupid than I do now, because I didn’t see this coming. I thought I had figured the man out, figured out what makes him tick. The army is important to him. The Empire. The cause of humans against the Fae, even though he’s Fae-blood himself.

“We can’t leave,” Ariadne whispers, tears in her voice. “I don’t want to leave Taj.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” I spit. “He’s doing this for us. Don’t spoil it.”

“But I want… I want to be with him, too. If we go, we’ll never see him again. Taj…”

“Take her,” he says, his voice suspiciously rough. “I don’t know why she likes my scent, but it’s just desire. It will pass. She’ll be fine once she’s far from me.”

And what about me? I want to ask. Will I be fine, too, once I’m far from him? From his scent, his laughter, his teasing, his body…

“Let’s go.” I listen for Ariadne’s hitching breaths, bend down and grab her arms. I pull her to her feet. “We have to go. Look… for all it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

24

ARIADNE

Just by the act of letting us go, he’s gripped my heart and it’s no longer mine. Same as when Finnen protected me from the High Priest Elegos and then threw himself at danger time and again to keep me safe.

These two guys own me. It happened unexpectedly, and faster than I thought it could. I always thought love stories in sagas and fairytales were exaggerations—the speed, the heartache, the fall—but all the stories were true.

So how can I leave Taj behind, even if logic tells me I must? How can Finnen not mind? Doesn’t he feel anything for Taj at all? Sometimes I wonder if he has any feelings, if he saved me out of a sense of duty to… what, a fellow Fae-blood? A fellow clergy girl? The gods? Or humankind?

He said he’s sorry, but about which part? I turn around to look at Taj, barely visible in the dimness of the shelter. He’s standing with one hand braced on the rocky wall at the back of the shelter, the other pressed to the wound in his side. His dark head is bowed, his face a faint oval, his broad shoulders hunched. Without his breastplate, his shirt open in the front, torso wrapped in the makeshift bandage Finnen produced, he looks very human.

And also so very Fae it breaks my heart.

The heart I gave him.

The heart I no longer own.

“Taj,” I whisper as Finnen takes my hand and pulls me toward the rain. “Thank you.”

“It’s the least I can do,” he says hoarsely.

“Will I ever see you again?”

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