chapter sixteen

Dad took me out to lunch at a quaint sidewalk café in the heart of Avalon’s shopping district. Avalon is one of the last hold-outs in the battle against chain stores and fast food restaurants. Most of the stores were mom-and-pop types, and the restaurants were unique. But even Avalon isn’t immune to the changing times. Right across from the café where we ate lunch, there was a Starbucks, and a little ways down the street, there was a Gap.

The “companion” Dad had hired joined us just as we were finishing lunch. I was leaning back in my chair, doing a bit of people-watching, when a man caught my eye. He was striding toward us purposefully, and he looked like he’d just come from Central Casting after auditioning for the part of a secret service goon. Tall, muscular, unsmiling, wearing a dark suit and—get this—dark glasses. All he needed was one of those curly rubber thingamabobs hanging from his ear and he’d be perfect.

Dad smiled when Secret Service Man approached, standing up and holding out his hand. Secret Service Man didn’t smile back, although he did shake hands and nod something that might have been a greeting.

“Perfect timing, Finn,” Dad said. “We were just finishing up.” In fact, the waitress chose that moment to dart by and return Dad’s credit card. He signed the receipt without even looking. “I’d like you to meet my daughter, Dana.”

Finn gave me the same formal nod he’d given my father. I had to struggle not to laugh. I wondered if there was a bodyguard stereotype he didn’t fit. I mirrored the nod, and if Finn had a clue I was mocking him, it didn’t show.

Dad sat back down, though Finn remained on his feet at high alert.

“I have some business to take care of this afternoon,” Dad told me, and I realized I didn’t even know what he did for a living. He went on before I had a chance to ask. “Finn will take good care of you while I’m gone and will escort you home when you’re through.” He opened up his wallet and pulled out a generous handful of euros. “I figured you might want to do some shopping while you’re in the neighborhood. I believe you Americans call it ‘retail therapy.’”

That made me chuckle. Yeah, some retail therapy might be just what the doctor ordered. Though I’d never been shopping with a big, hulking goon in dark sunglasses looming over my shoulder before. It ought to be … interesting.

I took the money Dad was handing me, then gasped when I saw it was five hundred euros. I guess when you’re in the big leagues like my dad, you don’t worry too much about having your pocket picked. I opened my mouth to protest that it was way too much money, but he interrupted me before I could.

“I’ve missed sixteen years worth of birthday and Christmas presents,” he said. “I think I’m entitled to spoil you now that I finally have the chance.”

I still didn’t want to take his money. I mean, that was more cash than I’d ever seen in my life. Between the constant moving and the frequent drunken absences, my mom had never been too good at holding a job. We always had enough to keep a roof over our heads and food on our table, but rarely had any more.

I swallowed my protest and stuffed the handful of bills into the pocket on my leg, which I then made sure was tightly buttoned. “Thanks,” I said. “That’s very generous of you.” My paranoia started jumping up and down and saying, “He’s trying to buy your affections!” Ugh. I really hate being so suspicious.

We shared another warm father-daughter handshake before Dad went off to work and left me with Finn the goon, who so far hadn’t given any indication that he could speak. That might make it easier for me to just pretend he wasn’t there, that I was just off on a fun shopping jaunt all by myself.

Turned out that shopping with Goliath always looking over my shoulder wasn’t as much fun as I’d expected. Not that I’d really believed I could pretend he wasn’t there, but I hadn’t realized how edgy the constant scrutiny would make me. Not to mention that he made the store staff nervous, hovering there looking intimidating.

“Any chance you could give me a little breathing room?” I asked him as we left a silversmith’s store. I’d have loved to have taken more time looking at the jewelry, but Finn had made the shopkeeper so visibly nervous I decided the only decent thing to do was get out.

Finn shook his head.

I frowned up at him. “Do you talk?” Maybe that was on the blunt side, but I was getting tired of his strong, silent-type act.

One corner of his mouth twitched, like he was suppressing a smile. “Only when necessary,” he answered. He had the deep, rumbling voice that went with his size. He was nowhere near as big as Lachlan, but he was still one of the biggest Fae I’d ever seen. At least, I was assuming he was Fae. A human bodyguard wouldn’t have done me much good against Fae kidnappers and their magic.

“I find it necessary for you to explain why you have to stand this close all the time.”

He lowered his glasses so I could see his striking, emerald-green eyes with their distinctive Fae tilt. Those eyes were like a secret weapon, so gorgeous I felt my own eyes widening in surprise. Then he cracked a smile, and my breath caught in my throat. He’d give Ethan a run for his money in the oh-my-God-you’re-gorgeous arena.

“I have to be close enough to put myself between you and harm, if necessary,” he said. The smile disappeared, and he pushed the glasses back into place, transforming himself once more from stud-muffin to Secret Service Man. Apparently, that was the end of our conversation.

To tell you the truth, I was kind of glad he’d put the glasses back up, or I might have tripped over my own feet staring. It’s not like I’d never seen a good-looking guy before, but let’s face it, the Fae take good-looking to a whole new level.

I kept wandering, but I hadn’t bought anything yet. Then I saw one of the few chain stores that had a foothold in Avalon: Victoria’s Secret. Cruel creature that I am, I couldn’t resist going in, wondering how Finn would react.

Of course, he didn’t. React, that is. He just followed me around as usual, the sunglasses firmly in place. Even with his eyes hidden and his I’m-a-scary-dude vibe, I caught one of the sales girls checking out the rear view. It made me smile.

I headed for the panties that were on sale—I could buy a bra, but it would be little more than window dressing on my pathetically flat chest. Hoping to make Finn squirm, I held up a pair of black thong panties, checking the price tag while I kept watch on him out of the corner of my eye. Still nothing. Guess he wasn’t that easy to embarrass. I, on the other hand, was probably blushing like crazy. This plan had definitely backfired.

Not wanting Finn to know that I’d been browsing just to annoy him, I bought the thong, as well as some more practical underwear. You can never have too much underwear. Especially when you hate doing laundry. I then handed the bag to Finn for him to carry. He hesitated for a second, and I swear I could feel those laser-beam eyes on me even through the dark glasses. I blinked up at him innocently, enjoying the evidence that I’d cracked his composure. He regained it real fast, though, taking the bag from me without comment. I wished I had a camera, because he looked pretty funny carrying a Victoria’s Secret bag while trying to maintain his dignified, bad-ass goon look.

My feet were starting to hurt, so despite a distinct lack of swag to show for my shopping efforts, I headed back to the Starbucks I’d seen. Of course, with my sense of direction, I took a couple of unintended detours along the way. When Finn figured out I was lost, he found his voice long enough to ask me where I wanted to go. Then he clammed up again as he led me to Starbucks.

I bought a venti mocha with plenty of whipped cream. I offered to get something for Finn, but he shook his head.

I had just picked up my drink and was scanning the small store for an open seat, when Finn suddenly stepped in front of me. I almost ended up pouring the entire contents of my cup down his back, since I’d taken the lid off to take a sip.

“Hey!” I protested, but he just stood there like a wall. I wasn’t even sure he felt the hot coffee that soaked the back of his spiffy suit jacket.

“I have no ill intent,” a voice said. Ethan’s voice.

I felt a cold lump form in the pit of my stomach as I peeked around Finn’s body to make sure my ears weren’t deceiving me. But no, that was Ethan, standing just inside the doorway. My heart clamped down painfully in my chest.

Ethan held both hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I just want to talk to Dana for a moment,” he said. He must have seen me, but he had eyes only for Finn at the moment. Can’t say I blamed him. Not for that, at least.

The cameo suddenly felt hot against my chest, and I reached up to fidget with it. It wasn’t so hot as to be uncomfortable, but it was definitely warmer than it should have been. My skin prickled like there was a current of static electricity running through me.

“Sir, I’d advise you to keep your distance,” Finn said, and he sounded dead serious. A couple of the other customers had noticed the standoff and were now looking at us curiously. I hoped a fight wasn’t about to break out.

Ethan looked away from Finn and caught my gaze. “I really need to talk to you about something,” he said.

I folded my arms across my chest—careful not to spill any more precious drops of mocha—and glared. “I have nothing to say to you.” I hoped I sounded angry, though looking at him again made my chest ache. I shouldn’t have felt so betrayed, not when I’d known all along that he was too good to be true. But I did.

Ethan ran a hand through his hair. “I couldn’t have screwed things up any more if I’d tried,” he said, “but you don’t know everything yet. There’s something else I have to tell you.”

The prickling sensation hadn’t gone away. Was lightning about to strike or something? I uncrossed my arms and rolled my shoulders, hoping to dispel the feeling.

“Go ahead and talk,” I said in my flattest voice.

“In private,” Ethan said.

“Not gonna happen,” Finn countered.

Ethan looked exasperated—and even, maybe, a bit scared. “I don’t mean private as in a room with a closed door. I mean private as in the two of us sit down at a table and you do your looming a few feet away. I’m no match for a Knight, and we both know it. She’ll be in no danger.”

Note to self: ask Dad later what a Knight is. Because I could hear the capital letter, and I knew it meant something more to these two than it meant to me.

Finn was silent a long time. Long enough for some of the observers to get bored and look away. I was beginning to think the cameo was going to burn me after all—and the prickly feeling was going to make me go crazy—when all of a sudden it stopped. The cameo cooled way faster than it should have, and the prickling was gone.

“It will be as my lady wishes,” Finn said, and I was glad I hadn’t taken a sip of my mocha or I would have choked on it.

My lady? Had we suddenly been transported back to the middle ages? But no, somehow I didn’t think they had Starbucks back then.

Ethan turned a pleading look on me. “Dana, it’s very important. Believe me, I wouldn’t be risking a Knight’s wrath if it weren’t.”

I sure didn’t want to talk to him at the moment. In fact, I was pretty sure I never wanted to talk to him again. But I doubted I’d be able to sleep at night if I didn’t hear whatever it was Ethan had to tell me.

“All right,” I said.

Finn guided me to a couple of comfy seats in the corner. There was a human woman—probably a tourist, based on the I ♥ AVALON T-shirt she was wearing—in one of those chairs. Finn didn’t even have to say a word to intimidate her into vacating the seat. I looked up at him.

“You’re kind of a jerk, you know. She was there first.”

Finn gave no indication that he’d even heard my rebuke, much less taken it to heart, but Ethan had a coughing fit that I suspected wasn’t coughing at all.

I sat down in the chair that had been vacant all along and let Ethan take the tourist-lady’s chair. Finn moved away to hover by the door, and I felt absurdly grateful for the distance.

I tried to be cool and expressionless as I sipped my mocha and focused my gaze just beyond Ethan’s left shoulder instead of on his face.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and it was so inadequate I immediately lost that cool and expressionless look I’d been going for. For a moment, I seriously considered giving him a hot mocha facial. He shook his head before I could tell him where to shove his apology.

“That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about,” he said. “I just wanted to say it, even though I know it doesn’t make anything better, and even though you probably don’t believe me.”

“You’re right; I don’t.” I took another sip of my mocha, and noticed my hand was shaking. I was keeping the pain tightly contained, but it wouldn’t take much for it to burst out of my skin, and I refused to be responsible for what happened when it did.

Ethan took a deep breath, as though he were the one who was hurting. “Before I tell you what I need to tell you, I want you to know that I would never, ever have let any harm come to you.”

Oh, crap. This didn’t sound good at all. I decided maybe I’d better put my mocha down, because if my hand shook any harder I’d be wearing it. My hands clenched into fists, and I looked at Ethan with what I’m sure was an expression of pure dread. The fact that he looked just as bad as I felt did not bode well.

“It’s about the Spriggan attack,” he said. “I know Kimber told you they were after me, and she truly did believe that. She wasn’t in on it.”

“In on what?” I asked, my voice so faint I was surprised he could hear me.

Ethan let out a heavy sigh. “The Spriggan attack.”

I swallowed on a dry throat. “Kimber wasn’t in on the Spriggan attack. Meaning you were.” Because there was no other way to interpret his words.

He grimaced. “Yes. Sort of. But it wasn’t supposed to be like that.”

I’ll give Ethan one thing: he had the courage to look me in the eye when he told me just how much of a bastard he’d been.

“I was supposed to win you over to our side,” Ethan said. “My father’s side, that is. I wanted you to be grateful to me, and not just for getting you out of Grace’s clutches.”

“So you arranged for me to be attacked?” I asked, my voice an unflattering squeak. “You let those creatures hurt your friends? They could have been killed!” I leapt to my feet, but Ethan reached out to grab my arm.

“Let me finish,” he said.

The cameo heated, and the nasty prickling started again. I saw Finn coming toward us. But if I let him interfere now, I might never hear the whole story. And no matter how much it hurt, I needed to know the whole story.

I sat down with a thud. Ethan let go of me, and I waved Finn off. Once more, the prickling stopped and the cameo cooled. It had to have something to do with magic, though why it was suddenly making me feel like an electric eel, I didn’t know.

Ethan took another deep breath. “Yes, my father and I arranged for you to be attacked. That’s how the Spriggans found us in the cave. But Dana, it was only supposed to be one Spriggan, and it was supposed to ignore everyone else and come straight to you. That’s why I was sitting by your side the whole time, so the Spriggan would have to go through me. It would have scared you, but I’d have been way more than a match for one Spriggan. I would have gotten to play the dashing hero, and no one would have gotten hurt.

“I swear to you, Dana. Neither my father nor I would ever want any harm to come to you. We wanted to win you to our side, not hurt you. But obviously, something went wrong, and the Spriggans attacked in numbers. And whatever went wrong, it wasn’t an accident.”

“Huh?”

“My father and I would never have sent them to hurt you. But someone did. Someone found out what we were planning and upped the stakes, as it were.”

I decided I needed more mocha despite my shaking hands. Actually, what I really needed was one of Kimber’s possets, extra-strength. I barely tasted the mocha as I swallowed.

“So what you’re trying to tell me, even though you haven’t come right out and said so, is that you think someone’s trying to kill me.” He’d hinted darkly before that Aunt Grace might try to make me disappear, but as much as it frightened me, the threat had never seemed terribly real to me.

“Yes. And I have no idea who. I’m sure your father is keeping you well guarded.” His eyes flicked toward Finn then back to me. “But he should be aware of what’s at stake.”

I shook my head. “Why did you tell me?” I asked. “You could have just told my dad.” And if there was any mercy in the world, my dad wouldn’t have told me, and I wouldn’t have to deal with yet another blow.

Ethan looked down at his hands. “I didn’t tell your father because I thought you deserved to hear it from me. And if you’d like to have your Knight beat the crap out of me, I won’t complain.” He glanced up at Finn again. “I think he’d enjoy it.”

It made a nice fantasy. Too bad I wasn’t ruthless enough to actually do it.

“Do you have any other bombshells to drop, or are we through here?” I asked.

Ethan looked miserable. I was spitefully glad. “I’ve said what I needed to say,” he said.

I picked up my mocha and stood. The cup was still almost half-full, but I didn’t want it anymore. Besides, it was now lukewarm. Which meant I didn’t have to worry I was scalding him when I tossed the remains in Ethan’s face.

I think Finn might have cracked a smile as he held the door open for me, but I wasn’t sure.