Destiny Redeemed (12 page)

As
he climbed down from his horse, he noticed the aura that surrounded all Aeveren
begin to fade from near her body. In seconds, she’d vanish as all Aeveren did
upon their deaths, so he silently said a quick prayer of hope for her safe
passage to her next life. Without a sound, she left that lifetime, and he stood
staring down at the bloodstained ground in sadness.

The
sound of footsteps behind him startled him out of his grief, and he spun
around, gun aimed forward, to see a young man with black hair and a slash from
the outside corner of one eye to his mouth. He stood bare-chested, the blood
from his wound running down his chin.

“I
didn’t mean to kill her,” he said in a sad voice.

Riordan
studied the man in front of him for a moment and slowly lowered his weapon. The
man before him wasn’t Aeveren as he had no aura surrounding him. However, this
stranger had killed an Aeveren, and for that Riordan knew he had a duty to his
people to see that this murderer of his kind faced justice.

“She
wouldn’t accept me—my kind—but I loved her,” the man said softly as he fell to
the ground where the woman’s body had lain. “My Aine...”

“You
killed the woman you loved.” As he spoke the words, Riordan felt them slice
into him. He reached into his pocket for a handkerchief and handed it to him.

The
man looked up at him sadly as he took the cloth and pressed it to his cheek.
“She refused my love because I’m not one of you.”

Stunned
by the stranger’s ability to know he was Aeveren, Riordan asked, “How do you
know what I am?”

“You
show the mark of all Aeveren, the aura.”

“But
you are not Aeveren, so how is it you see what only those of my kind can?”

“I
am Sidhe. We can see what marks all peoples.”

“Why
wouldn’t Aine accept you? We, Aeveren, have no quarrel with the Sidhe.”

“I
could never be her destined one.”

Riordan
watched as tears ran down the man’s face and felt a pang of sympathy for him.
No, he could never be her destined one just as Riordan could never get back the
love of his destined one.

“I
will not force you to chase me. Punish me as I did my beloved Aine or take me
to where your people may punish me.”

The
resignation in his voice touched Riordan. Yes, he was supposed to follow
Aeveren law, but he had never been strictly law abiding.

“Why
not simply leave her?” he asked.

The
emotion in the Sidhe’s voice signaled his anguish. “Have you never loved a
woman before? Loved her so much you could think of no other in your arms? Loved
her so much the thought of her being in another’s arms made you mad?”

Riordan
silently nodded. He had loved Sevine like that. And now he was alone, dismissed
from her life, a foreigner in a country he now called home.

“What’s
your name, Sidhe?”

“Gethen.”

“Gethen,
let us go to your people for your protection or you will be surely punished by
mine.”

He
looked down into the confused face of the Sidhe and felt the connection between
them. Fate had brought these two creatures, so very different but so similar
too, into one another’s lives for a reason Riordan suspected was important.

Amon
sat remembering when he learned of Gethen’s earlier murders of Aeveren women
when he was taken to the Sidhe. However, even two additional killings of his
kind couldn’t force him to abandon the Sidhe to Aeveren justice. He learned later
that he’d murdered those other women out of hatred for destined ones too.

Even
now he didn’t regret protecting his friend, but the possibility of Thea being
his destined one brought the memories of Gethen’s crimes back into Amon’s mind.
In all the lifetimes he’d shared with him, he’d never had a destined one in his
life. There had been many Aeveren women, and he’d always kept a close watch on
Gethen around them, but none had been his destined one.

He’d heard
Gethen threaten Thea when she arrived and wondered if he’d sensed something
different about her before even Thea knew what she was. As much as he cared for
his friend, he’d protect Thea above all else.

Amon
descended the stairs to the front door and looked around for Gethen and Markku.
Arguing all the way down the hallway, they stopped just as they met up with him
at the door.

“Amon,
Gethen says you insist on coming. Why? I got her once. I can get her again.”

“No.”

Markku
shrugged. “Okay, but are you sure you’re strong enough?”

“I’ll
be fine. Where am I focusing on?”

“Alpine
Drive. Hunter, New York.”

“Let’s
go,” Amon said gruffly as he grabbed Gethen’s arm to teleport him.

*

Thea
sat with her legs crossed under her watching reruns of Charlie’s Angels. The
tea her sister made her before she’d left was cool enough to finally drink, and
she took a mouthful, savoring the lemon and extra honey just as she liked it.
Amon was never far from her mind, and she replayed the recent events with him
again and again, focusing on the memory of how his body felt under her fingertips.

She
had to think of that. She’d lost her job at the daycare, as she’d expected, and
thinking of her new status as one of the unemployed masses wasn’t how she
wanted to spend the rest of her night. She’d loved working with the children, and
the loss of her time with them hurt even worse than just being fired.

Usually,
when she felt down, she talked things over with Kat to feel better and gain new
perspective, but if she talked to her about losing her job, she’d have to talk
about what had happened and her feelings for Amon. She barely understood them
herself, so how could she explain them to her?

Thea
knew in her heart he was her destined one, but this was all so new to her.
She’d loved men before in her forty-five lifetimes, but those relationships had
developed over time with love being the result of months of shared experiences.
Now she felt more in love with Amon than she’d ever felt with any of those men,
and she hadn’t even known him for a week. Was this what meeting your destined
one was like? Or was she just foolish or suffering from a case of Stockholm
Syndrome?

All
those lifetimes she’d waited for the kind of love she’d seen so many others
experience, and now that it seemed she’d finally been blessed with it, she was
alone and confused.

The
sound of the phone ringing forced her to push aside her thoughts, and she
answered it to hear her sister’s voice on the other end of the line.

“Thea,
I wanted to check on you to make sure you’re okay.”

“Kat,
I’m fine,” she answered in a voice she knew wasn’t convincing in the least. 

“Honey,
you don’t sound fine. Won’t you talk to me? What happened to you, Thea?”

Thea
heard the kindness in her sister’s voice and something in her made her want to
talk about what had happened.

“Kat,
I was taken to heal someone.”

“Oh,
Thea. Not again. This happened before. Why can’t they just leave you alone?”

“Because
I’m a healer, Kat. That’s what I am in our world.”

“That
doesn’t mean people can just take you whenever they need you! You aren’t
everyone’s personal healer, for Christ’s sake!”

Thea
remained silent knowing the anger in her sister’s voice wasn’t directed at her.
She loved how wonderfully protective her younger sister was, even if she was
wrong.

“Did
they at least treat you well after kidnapping you?”

Thea
wondered how she should answer that. Markku had threatened her, as had Amon’s
friend Gethen. But Amon had been kind, even when he was telling her he couldn’t
be her destined one.

“They
were all very kind,” she lied.

“So
you healed whoever was hurt and they thanked you but couldn’t bring you back
home, instead leaving you at some greasy spoon in some small town seventy miles
away from your house? What the fuck is that about? And you can’t charge people
for the healing you do? That’s just bullshit, Thea.”

Kat
continued to rail against her sister’s Aeveren power and the inconsiderate
nature of their kind, but Thea had stopped listening and instead was focused on
the three familiar male figures whose faces looked far too serious making their
way up the sidewalk to her front door. Jumping off the couch, Thea ran to put
her shoes on.

“I
have to go, Kat. I’ll talk to you later after I get some rest, okay?”

“Okay,
Thea. I’m sorry I blew up a bit. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“It’s
okay. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.”

Thea
hung up and searched frantically for her purse. She raced over to the closet
and slipped her coat on, hoping she could sneak out the back door and escape,
but the knock on her front door made her freeze in her tracks. If she ran now,
they’d catch her, but she couldn’t just stand waiting to be kidnapped again.

Her
stubborn streak took over and she grabbed her keys on her way toward the back
door. As she reached to turn the doorknob, she felt a hand touch her lightly on
her shoulder and then heard his voice.

“Hello,
Thea.”

Chapter Ten

Amon
felt Thea’s body stiffen at his touch and even without probing her mind he knew
he needed to brace himself for the onslaught of her emotions. As she turned
around slowly to face him, he was secretly thrilled to notice she was still
wearing his shirt.

Maybe
this won’t be so bad.

“How
the hell did you get in here? And who invited you in?” she snapped as she stood
toe to toe with him, her hands on her hips and her blue eyes blazing.

Amon
saw the genuine displeasure he’d caused and rethought the joke he wanted to
make about not having to be invited in like a vampire. It was going to be as
bad as he’d anticipated. And as painful if she continued to be angry.

“I’m
sorry, Thea. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” In the hopes of diffusing the
situation, he intentionally focused on softening his tone.

“Frighten
me? Is that what you think you did? First, you have your goon kidnap me as if
I’m your personal healer created just to heal you, and now you’re back to
kidnap me yourself! Frightened? I’m so past frightened, Amon.”

If
her emotions weren’t beginning to take their toll on him physically, he might
be turned on by Thea’s outburst. He liked her like this. Feisty. Brave. A
perfect match for him. Her emotions were beginning to cause him great pain,
though, and in his still weakened state, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sustain
much more of her anger.

“Please,
Thea. Don’t be angry. I missed you.”

As
he spoke, he took her hand in his and stroked his thumb over the soft skin of
her knuckles.

“Amon,
you broke into my house.”

Smiling
happily as he felt her anger abate just a little, he answered, “Technically, I
didn’t break in because I didn’t use the door.”

Thea
looked at him with a confused look that made him want to explain, if only
because it seemed to have calmed her down.

“I
teleported in. So no breaking, really.”

“Teleported?”

“Yes,
it’s one of my powers.”

“One?”
Thea seemed to consider what he’d said and then continued.  “I don’t care. You
can’t just come into my house without being invited in.”

“I’m
sorry. Can we sit down and talk?”

Amon
saw her resolve weaken and knew he’d won her over for the moment. Still holding
her hand, he walked with her to the couch and sat down next to her.

“Your
house is very nice.” His words were predictable, but he hoped to avoid another
emotional outburst from her that would be sure to hurt.

Thea
turned her body toward him. “Amon, why are you here, if it’s not to kidnap me
again?”

Her
refusal to let him set the pace made him smile. He was going to have to tell
her about Sevine.

“I
missed you. I wish you hadn’t left.”

“Amon,
I can’t just stay at your house for the rest of my life. I have a job...”

Thea
caught herself and corrected what she’d said. “Well, I had a job before you
sent that man to kidnap me and you held me captive.”

Amon
felt her sadness cover him, and he felt truly sorry for what had happened. “I
never intended for that to happen. I will compensate you well to make up for
everything. I promise.”

While he spoke,
he looked directly into her eyes and wished they were back at his house
together. Or better yet, at his home in Greece, somewhere he was sure she’d
enjoy.

“You
can’t just do things that hurt others and then simply throw money at the
problem. I loved my job, and now I’ve lost it.”

Thea’s
sadness stabbed at him now, and he closed his eyes to ward off the pain. Unlike
before, this was more an ache than searing pain.

“Are
you okay, Amon?” he heard her say and he opened his eyes.

Wincing,
he nodded, but she placed her hands on his and held them. “Where is the pain
located?” she asked when she couldn’t figure out how to heal him.

“You
can’t heal this, Thea. This is the pain I explained to you before.”

Gently
squeezing his hands, she said quietly, “I can heal your pain. Please tell me
where it’s coming from.”

There
would be no explaining this away, so he decided to tell her the truth.

“Thea,
you can’t heal it because you cause it. Or more specifically, your unhappiness
causes it. My destined one cursed me to feel unrelenting pain each time I make
you unhappy.”

“Why?
I thought you said you hadn’t even seen her in lifetimes.”

“I
haven’t.”