Tara (23 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Where the fuck is he?” Alaric threw his phone down on the coffee table again, and Tara flinched. It had been a couple of hours since they had climbed out of bed, and every minute seemed to ramp up his temper even further. The only time he’d been calm had been when she’d played the violin, but even then he’d grown antsy and checked his phone eventually.

“Do you think Claude changed his mind?”

“No. I think Luca got to him.” He cursed under his breath and she felt her brows pull together.

“Luca? The man who raised you?”

“It’s fine, he’s just confused right now. He’ll remember who he is and then he’ll stop all this madness.” Alaric grabbed the phone again, flipping through it.

“He’s angry with you, isn’t he… because you refused to take me to my new master.” Tara said the words quietly, but Alaric exploded up from the couch.

“He’s lost his bloody mind! No women, no kids. That’s always been the way of it. He’s a good man, Tara, he
saved
me.” Alaric grabbed at his hair, clenching the phone in his other hand. “I swear, he’s a good man. This guy has to have something on him, that has to be it.”

She nodded, even though in her gut she didn’t quite believe it. “I’m sure that’s it.”

“Why won’t he just ask me to help him? I’d do
anything
for him.” He paced across the small apartment, cursing under his breath. Into the kitchen, back by the dining table, behind the couch, and towards the bedroom – then all over again. “Fuck it, we should just try to jump the border. I’m sure I can find us a place to cross that’s not so complicated. Maybe I can bribe one of them. Anything to give Luca some time to think this through, to come up with another solution.”

“Okay.” Tara made herself smile as she looked up at him, but he looked distraught, lost – and why wouldn’t he be? Someone he loved was betraying him, and
she
was the reason. Guilt gnawed at her, and she once again questioned the sanity of it all.

Her foolish, mortal knight might as well be tilting at windmills, because none of these pursuits would pay off. She could feel it, and somewhere deep down she felt like it would all result in his death, and once again the loss of a good man’s life would be her fault.

“You should give me to them, Alaric.” The second the words were out of her mouth she saw how hurt he was, and he froze mid-pace. “Just listen -”

“No! Are you insane? Has everyone in my life lost their mind?” He came towards her, pain etched into his face, but she had to try and get him to see reason.

“Alaric, listen, they’re going to come for me, and as soon as they realize the only way to have me is to kill you – they
will
kill you.”

“Luca would never let them -”

“What if Luca isn’t there? What if it’s the others that have been coming after me since Gianni’s?” She shook her head, brushing away the beginning tears. “Just let them have me. Maybe – maybe we can find each other again.”

“I’m not letting anyone touch you, Tara.”

“Don’t be stubborn!”

“Don’t tell me to leave you!” He roared it and the bands lit up bright, a burning ache surging up her arms as his rage funneled into the bands. When it finally abated Tara was gasping, and he was on his knees in front of her, his hands cradling her face. “I’m sorry, I am so sorry, dolcezza. I – I just don’t want to lose you.”

“I don’t want to lose you either.” She laid her hand over his and sniffled as the bands faded. “But I couldn’t handle it if you died. I would lose my mind.”

“I’m not going to die.”

“By the gods, how I wish that were true.” Tara slid to the floor with him and hugged him tight, and his arms wrapped around her just as tightly because they both knew the truth. Even if they lived through this, even if they beat the odds, he would still die. Someday.

For the first time in centuries, Tara took a deep breath and closed her eyes, and prayed.
Eltera, if you are still out there, if you can still hear me… help. Help me save him.

Alaric lifted them back onto the couch and he held her for a while until they had both calmed down. “Would you like some water?”

“Yeah, that would be great.” She made herself smile, and he kissed her forehead softly before he stood to walk into the kitchen. Tara took a shuddering breath, glancing over the laptop, her iPod, and the dock – and she plugged it in. Flipping it to a violin concerto she had never quite learned to play she started the song. Alaric was smiling when he stepped out of the kitchen.

“This is beaut-” His words stopped short because in the middle of the apartment, between the two of them, appeared two people. Out of thin air. A huge man, easily three inches taller than Alaric and a good deal broader, and a woman with long, auburn hair. Alaric turned back into the kitchen, she heard the crash of the glass of water, and then he was standing at the entrance again with two knives in his hands.

The man that had appeared tilted his head and looked between the two of them before smiling. “I do believe we found them,
ma ghaol
.”

The woman seemed to steady herself against him for a moment before she stood up straight and turned, looking straight into Tara’s eyes, and the smile that spread over her lips was one that Tara could not forget. “I do believe we have.”

“Neala?” Tara pushed herself off the couch, stunned, but the other Faeoihn ran for her, practically knocking her off her feet with the force of her hug. The moment she had her arms around Neala the tears hit. “It’s you? Is it really you?”

“Yes, it’s me,” Neala’s voice rolled in the lyrical tongue of their long lost language, and her tears surged. “Come, let us sit and talk. We must hurry.”

Alaric was stunned. When the people had first appeared he had gone for a weapon, but now Tara was hugging one of them, and they were speaking in a soft tongue he’d never heard before. The man who had appeared with them had crossed his arms and was appraising him. This guy was big, and built, and Alaric wasn’t quite sure he wanted to go up against him hand to hand.

“Would you like to put the knives down?” The guy spoke with an accent that Alaric couldn’t place, but he definitely was
not
interested in putting the knives down.

“No, thanks, I think I’ll hold on to them. Who the hell are you?”

“A friend.” The guy smiled and gestured towards the dining table. “Why don’t we sit and talk?”

“I’m fine standing.”

“Alright, we’ll just get into it then. You're mortal, correct?”

“Yes, and I guess you're
not
?” Alaric adjusted his grip on the blade as the man took a step closer, but he stopped.

“No. I'm not. Which is why I suggest you put the knives down, they won’t help you.” The slow, wild grin that spread over the man’s face made Alaric question just how willing he was to fight the guy at all.

With a groan he turned and slammed the knives down on the counter and then raised his empty hands. “There.”

“Good.” The man nodded, looking much more amicable, and less like a wolf on the hunt. “So, tell me, do you know what she is?” He pointed at Tara by the couch.

“Faeoihn.”

“And do you understand what that means?”

“She's immortal,” Alaric answered, a little frustrated by the rapid back and forth with this guy.

“Not that, the other part. What she’s been through, her past.”

“Yes, I understand!”

“Do you really?”

“Do
you
?” He growled out the question, his temper rising again, but the man didn’t even seem bothered. In fact, he smiled a little as he glanced over at the two women who were still hugging tightly.

The man took a deep breath and turned back towards him. “That beautiful woman over there is Neala, and she's Faeoihn too, and she's
mine
. I know better than anyone on this planet the position you're in.”

“And who the hell are you?” Alaric met the man’s eyes, a vibrant green that seemed almost unreal.

“My name is Kiernan.”

“So you’re… what? A god?” He had meant the question seriously, but the hearty laughter that burst out of him distracted the two women for a moment and made heat rise to his cheeks.

“No, I’m not enough of an asshole to be a god.” Kiernan grinned. “I’m Laochra. It’s probably best if you just think of me as the male version of what Tara is, just with very different rules. Less of a history lesson that way.”

“Fine.” Alaric sighed and dropped into a chair, and Kiernan gestured at the other one as if he were asking permission. “Yeah, sit down.”

“Thank you.” Kiernan tilted his head down as he took his seat, and then he leaned forward and took a slow breath. “So, like I was saying. I know the situation you’re in, I’m pretty much the only person on the planet who does right now, and I need you to tell me if you understand what it means that she is Faeoihn. That she has been what she is for a
very
long time.”

“I accept her past.”

“That's not enough. You need to understand that it's part of who she is, that she's going to wake up screaming and you're going to know
why
. That it's going to be because someone had their hands on her, a lot of someones, and that they hurt her. You're never going to be able to forget it, and you're always going to know that all of those masters touched her before you.” Kiernan’s voice was dark and low, too low for the girls to hear him, and Alaric was grateful for that even as his temper burned hotter.

“What are you trying to do? Convince me to abandon her?” Alaric leaned back in his chair. “That’s
not
going to happen.”

“I'm trying to get you to come to terms with this shit now, not later when it will hurt more, when it could devastate her. If you can't deal with what she is, you need to figure it out now.”

“And do what?”

“Leave her if you can't handle it.”

“I'm not leaving her!” He raised his voice, and across the room Tara hissed, the bands lighting up on her wrists. Both her and the other woman raised their eyes to him. Kiernan waved at them, and then turned back with a glare.

“Calm down before you hurt her, those bands are linked to you.”

“Shit.” He ran a hand through his hair, watching as Tara sat on the couch with the other woman, and he muttered an apology under his breath as Kiernan sighed.

“Just tell me… do you love her?”

“I…” Alaric growled, running his hands over his face. “We've only known each other a few days.” It wasn’t that those words hadn’t knocked around in his head, they had, but he’d pushed them away. He didn’t want to scare her away, or ruin everything before they’d even had a moment to just be themselves. The ‘L’ word seemed a little too much, too fast, no matter what he was feeling.

“Well, you two don't have the luxury of time. You either do or you don't.” Kiernan sat back in his seat, rapping his knuckles on the table. “Time to decide.”

“Why the hell are you doing this?”

“Because I almost lost Neala. I almost lost everything, and we’re trying to make sure that doesn’t happen to the two of you.”

“Out of the goodness of your hearts?” Alaric arched an eyebrow.

Another slow, wolfish smile spread over Kiernan’s lips. “Actually, it’s out of an oath to a very
particular
goddess who could snuff my life out with a snap of her fingers.” He shrugged. “So, do you love her?”

Alaric waited for a moment, staring at the other man to see if anything would shift in his expression, any hint that he may be there to do them harm, but then he looked past him to where Tara and Neala were caught in intense conversation, and he knew. He’d already known. “Yes, I love her.”

Kiernan nodded, looking at him with respect as he smiled. “Don't tell me, tell her.”