Page 77 of Savage Blooms
“I’m with you on crazy, but we don’t have proof that she’s a liar,” Nicola said, tossing another log onto the fire so it burned bright and hot. Just because they had added kissing and groping and sharing hot Scots with each other to the list of what was included in their relationship, that didn’t mean they had taken off giving each other sound advice. Nicola, personally, would like to add a lot more to the list, like proper dates and declarations of affection and sex in every position imaginable, but it had only beena few days since they broke their no kissing rules. Adam was a bit more flighty than her, and needed longer to warm up. She could be patient.
“Don’t we? She’s hiding shit.”
“Almost definitely. But we don’t know what, or why. It’s also completely possible she’s hiding personal, something that hurts to share, something that has nothing to do with us. You two still might be able to help each other, if you can work together without getting yourselves killed. We’re all each other has out here, the four or us. It benefits us to cooperate for as long as we have to, whether we like it or not.”
“I’m going to bump her off and run away with the insurance money,” Adam said, darkly sarcastic.
“Don’t let Finley hear you say that,” she said with a chuckle.
“Let Finley hear you say what?” Finley asked, appearing in the doorway of the library.
“Nothing, we’re just venting,” Adam said, running a hand through his hair to slick it back from his face. “Is Eileen asleep?”
“She’s certainly in bed,” Finley responded, jangling a ring of keys before stowing it away in his pocket. “Hopefully she naps. I locked her in, so there’s not much else for her to do.”
Nicola’s stomach gave an unsteady twist at the sight of those keys in his hand. She wasn’t sure how she felt aboutthat. Eileen might be ill, and she might be difficultto deal with, but did Finley really have to lock her up like a secret wife in an attic room? Her impression of Finley was of a pragmatic but ultimately gentle person, and that ring of keys in his hand grated against her image of him.
Despite their closeness, there were many things about Finley she had yet to uncover. He had secrets of his own, and a deep and mysterious allegiance to Eileen that Nicola didn’t completely understand. Nicola would do well to remember that.
“What if there’s a fire?” Nicola asked.
“As long as Eileen doesn’t start one, there won’t be,” Finley said, coming to stand beside her in front of the fire to warm his hands. “You doing all right, Adam? You’re looking warmer, at least.”
“I’ll live,” Adam replied. “What the hell happened out there? In the lake, I mean. Iknowsomething grabbed me, Finley; I swear on my grandfather’s grave.”
“And I believe you. My theory is that this place knew exactly who you were from the start, even before Eileen did, Kirkfoyle land will always recognize a Kirkfoyle, and so will our neighbors underground. Their goal has always been the same: to get around the terms of the treaty by picking off Kirkfoyles one by one, through accidents that aren’t really accidents or through stealing them away underground to do God knows what. They got a taste of you out there at that cave, and now they want more.”
“What’s in the cave, Finley?” Nicola said, crossing her arms and looking him square in the face. Some secretsshe was willing to accept, for a time or for eternity, but this was not one of them.
“Nicola, don’t ask me to—”
“I’m not asking,” she said, a flash of power coursing through her like a dagger being unsheathed from a blade. If Finley could boss people around, so could she. “Tell me.”
Finley relented immediately, looking almost relieved about it, like having the choice taken out of his hands was all he had been waiting for. Like telling the truth was the ultimate balm on his soul.
“It’s a gate,” Finley said. “Between one world and the next. Between Craigmar and the faery underworld.”
“You’re telling us that if we walk into the cave…” Nicola prompted. She already knew the answer. She wanted to hear Finley say it.
“You won’t walk out again. At least not unchanged. You couldn’t pay me to go in that cave. Not for all the money in the world.”
“I’m surprised all it took was Nikki asking not-so-nicely to get that out of you,” Adam said, making it sound like a joke even though there was hurt in his eyes, like he wanted to be the one to have that power over Finley, or the one on the receiving end of Nicola’s command. She tucked this observation away for later, when they weren’t in the middle of actually making progress at chipping away at Finley’s and Eileen’s joint stonewall.
Maybe separating them was the key to getting them to talk.
“No use denying the facts. Besides,” Finley added, a little quieter as he gazed into the fire, “maybe I’m getting tired of covering for Eileen.”
Nicola stood in somber silence with her hands clasped for a moment, like they were all mourning something. Then Finley glanced over at her, hazel eyes anguished.
“That’s all I have to give you, Nicola. That’s all I know about the cave. Is that enough?”
“Yes,” she said softly. And because he seemed to be seeking her approval – desperate for it even – she added, “Well done.”
Finley nodded, shoulders sagging in relief. What was he carrying around with him every day that was so heavy? Nicola wanted to take it from him, to give him a place to unburden his heart, even if he had to do it on his knees.
Finley sat down on the end of the couch opposite Adam and beckoned Nicola over to sit in the middle, with Adam on her left and Finley on her right.
“There are some stories that are Eileen’s to tell,” Finley said, speaking slowly and quietly, like tragedy might strike if he said the wrong thing or in too loud a voice. “And some stories of Eileen’s that not even I am privy to. But I’ll always share what I can, with both of you. I feel we owe each other that, at least.”
