Page 17 of The Seducer
“All right.” I sighed. “I’ll sleep next to him tonight, but that doesn’t mean I’ll sleep next to him every night while he’s here.”
After helping Hans find blankets and pillows, I left him to go upstairs again, hoping that Finn was already asleep.
He wasn’t.
“I don’t like being tied,” he muttered when I walked past him to use the bathroom.
Against my helpful nature, I forced myself to give him a slight shrug and answered calmly. “Neither did I.”
I took longer than usual in the bathroom, hoping that maybe he would fall asleep while I was in there. This arrangement had seemed simpler in my mind, but then again, I’d never truly expected Finn to agree to giving me control of him for five days.
You’re lying to him.The blaming voice of my internal conscience made me avoid looking at myself in the mirror.
There’s no curse and you should tell him. Lying is wrong.
Opening and closing my fists, I shut my eyes and did my breathing exercise, seeking inward for the calm and peaceful core of my spirit.
My training to be a priestess had started when I was only twelve and since then I’d studied theology, philosophy, and anthropology among other things. The high priestess I had trained with had taught me about energy work and now I always anchored myself at least twice a day.
When I first told Hans that I was keeping Finn for five days, he had objected and explained to me that they had a busy schedule to follow. It wasn’t until he called up Isobel, the chairwoman of the Council, herself, that permission had been granted. Isobel hadn’t understood why I would want to spend more time with Finn, but she had accepted my request and that was all that mattered.
It was hard enough for me to understand my motives, and I wasn’t sure I could explain them to others since spending five more days with Finn made no sense from a rational point of view. Yet, there was an energy-based pull in me, and a need to understand him better. Not to mention that the challenge of helping Finn evolve to our level would be my greatest challenge as a priestess yet.
There was no time to meditate tonight. Still, I was relatively calm when I left the bathroom and climbed into bed next to Finn.
“I can’t sleep like this,” Finn complained, low, but I still turned off the light.
“Athena, I mean it, I can’t sleep like this.”
My back was turned to him and I was on my side. “It’s okay, I didn’t sleep that first night either.”
“I already apologized for that, didn’t I?” Finn rumbled low.
“What about Magni?” I asked. “Do you think he’s remorseful too?”
Finn stiffened and there was a shift in energy in the room that made me turn over to watch him. “What is it about Magni?” I asked. “I remember how you always got quiet when I blamed him for kidnapping me, and now you’re doing it again.”
“That’s not true. When I got here, I specifically told you it was wrong of him to kidnap you,” Finn reminded me.
“Uh-huh, but that’syourwords, not his.” I studied him with interest. Finn was ungroomed compared to a Motlander man, but although he
clearly didn’t spend as much time in front of the mirror as someone like Hans, his long curly black hair looked shiny and healthy. And his black earring which covered almost his entire earlobe gave away that he cared about his appearance.
His dark brown eyes narrowed when he turned his face and looked at me. “If you’re hoping for an apology from Magni, you better prepare to wait forever. He’s not that kind of man.”
“Then what kind of man is he?” I asked with a soft voice.
Finn broke our eye contact and focused on the ceiling.
“I can see you don’t want to talk about him, but what he did to me was awful and I would like you to acknowledge that.”
Finn stubbornly kept his gaze on the ceiling and pulled at the ropes above his head. “I already did!”
“Saying the words is different from meaning them, and I don’t believe your apology was very sincere at all. You just want me to break the curse.”
Finn’s chest rose and fell in a deep sigh. “I said I was sorry, and that’s the best I can do. If you’re looking for someone to speak badly about Magni, then I’m not your man. Magni is my best friend and I’m indebted to him.”
That sentence had me instantly interested. “Indebted how?”
