Blood Kin (39 page)

Here.

“I asked how you knew I was here.” There. That sounded suitably detached. My voice hadn’t wobbled.

Guy smiled. “Father Cho told me who your targets were. Fen helped me with the rest.”

“Fen?” That explained the charm killer at least. But as to what in hell Fen thought he was doing sending Guy my way, I had no idea. But we would be discussing it later.

“So you’re here. What do you want?” I hoped my voice wouldn’t betray how much I wanted to know the answer to that question. Wanted him to tell me so I could get over this foolish flare of hope already, and leave him again.

“I came to ask you a question,” he said.

“It couldn’t wait until daylight?”

“It took me a while to wear Fen down,” Guy said. “And I was in a hurry once I did.”

“Well, then, ask away.”

He held out a hand. “I came to ask you about this.” He twisted his wrist, so I saw the tattooed cross. Clean and whole.

“She did it,” I breathed. Thank the Lady.

“Yes, she did,” Guy agreed. “The question is why you asked her to.”

I looked away. I wasn’t going to answer that. Because the answer didn’t make any sense. Why did I still love a man who didn’t love me? How had I fallen in love with him so quickly anyway? People didn’t fall in love in days. Did they? “You were almost killed because of me. The least I could do was give you your life back. You are back in the order, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” he said.

“And things are all right?”

He looked down for a moment. Then shrugged. “It’s not perfect. But it’s a lot better than it would have been if I’d shown up with those beasts on my hands.”

“That’s what I thought,” I said. There. I’d answered his question. He could go again.

“But,” Guy said, “there is another problem.”

My heart sank. “There is?”

He nodded. “Yes. You see, I’m back in the order. A Templar. The famous Guy DuCaine.”

“Yes?” I wished he’d get to the point. Then he might leave.

“Knights are meant to protect those they care about.”

My stomach rolled, dipped. “Did something happen to Lily or Simon?”

He laughed. “No. Nothing like that. But there’s someone else. Someone who put herself in danger because of me. Someone who could have had the Veiled Queen’s protection but turned it down.”

Me? He was talking about me? But hadn’t he said someone he cared about. “I—”

“You turned it down, darlin’,” Guy said. “And that means someone else has to protect you.”

“I’m fine,” I said automatically, my brain still not making sense of the words I was hearing.

“But I’m not,” he said. “You gave me my old life back, Holly Evendale.” His eyes seemed very blue in the lamplight as he smiled at me again.

“Isn’t that what you wanted? You can go around saving people like you always wanted.”

“But who’s going to save me?” he said softly. “That’s what was missing in my old life.” His hand reached for mine. “Save me, Holly. Give me another chance.”

“But I betrayed you—”

“Shut up,” Guy said. “And make sure you don’t let anyone put a geas on you ever again.” His hand fingers tightened on mine, drawing me toward him.

“Guy, you don’t want me. I’m not right for you. I’m—”

“You’re you. I’m not exactly perfect myself. And I get to choose who’s right for me,” he said.

A smile crept across my face, happiness bubbling through me. “What about what I choose?”

“Well, darlin’,” he drawled, “I figure we have plenty of time to discuss that. But right now can we talk about something else?” His free hand crept around my waist, pulling me closer still.

“Like what?” I asked

“I thought we’d start with this,” he said, and his mouth came down on mine and I tasted home.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M. J. Scott
is an unrepentant bookworm. Luckily she grew up in a family that fed her a properly varied diet of books and these days is surrounded by people who are understanding of her story addiction. When not wrestling one of her own stories to the ground, she can generally be found reading someone else’s. Her other distractions include yarn, cat butlering, dark chocolate, and fabric. She lives in Melbourne, Australia.

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