Bound by Forever - (True Immortality #3) Page 0,30
under his breath.
“Do I look like I’m a master of languages?” Niamh stepped toward the stranger. “Sorry, sir, we don’t understand.”
The man raised his eyebrows as he came to a stop before them. He gave Kiyo a wary look. “You’re English?”
“Irish.”
“You’re not survivors of that plane crash. It’s impossible.”
“Plane crash? What plane crash?”
“You didn’t see anything?” His English was perfect. “We just received a call that a plane went down in the sea.”
“I’m sorry, we don’t know anything about that,” Niamh lied. She moved closer to the man and put her hand on his arm as their gazes locked. He immediately relaxed and began to drown in her eyes. “Where are we?”
“Ottenby. On the island of Öland.”
“How far to the mainland?”
“It’s just over an hour’s drive to Kalmar.”
“We have an emergency to get to. It’s imperative we get there as quickly as possible. You’ll give us your vehicle, won’t you?”
He nodded slowly.
“And when anyone asks what happened to it, you’ll tell them you sold it to a young couple in need but you can’t remember what they looked like … and that’s what you’ll believe.”
“I sold it,” he agreed.
“Where do you live?”
He turned and pointed back up the road he’d come.
“Not far, then. We’ll drop you off as close as we can. Keys?”
The man pulled them from his coat pocket and held them out.
Niamh nodded to Kiyo who took them from the man’s hand. A wave of uneasiness moved through her, but she ignored it. All three of them got into the SUV, and Kiyo turned it around so they were headed back toward the houses.
He stopped at a crossroad near the houses on the right and large buildings on their left.
“You can get out now,” Niamh said. “And thank you.”
The man got out of the SUV with that dazed expression on his face, and Kiyo pulled away, speeding out of the small town as he tapped the screen in the middle of the dashboard.
“I’ll do that,” Niamh offered, moving to brush his hand away.
He snapped it away before she could touch him.
She sighed heavily as she touched the screen, searching for the GPS. The map appeared, and she entered the name of the mainland town the man had mentioned. Kalmar.
The GPS lady spoke in Swedish. Niamh shot Kiyo a wry smile, but he was staring blankly ahead at the road. Water appeared on their left as they drove north up the west coast of the island. According to the maps, it was called the Kalmar Strait. “You don’t like it, do you?”
“Like what?”
“The mind-warp gift.”
“Is it a gift?”
She considered his question. “No,” she eventually said. “I suppose you’re right. It’s not.”
“You’re messing with people’s free will.”
“I know. But what else would you have me do?”
His hands flexed around the steering wheel. “In this circumstance, we’re doing what we have to do to survive. But it seems to me that you use it whenever the hell you feel like it. To stay in fancy hotels. To fly where you need to fly.” He flicked her a look. “To rob banks.”
Guilt suffused her as she looked quickly away. “Old habits die hard, I suppose.”
“I guess I should be grateful you can’t use it on other supernaturals.” He flicked her a look. “Fionn said you couldn’t. You can’t, right?”
“I can’t,” she confirmed. “It doesn’t work against you.”
He nodded and then … “It was your brother, wasn’t it? He convinced you to use your gifts to live well while you were on the run.”
The mention of … him …
Niamh glared at Kiyo. “I’m a grown-up. I take responsibility for my actions.”
“Yeah? It’s just a strange contradiction. You care so much about people … it doesn’t make sense that you’d enjoy stealing from them or playing games with their minds.”
“Well, you’d know all about contradictions. You’re one big giant one.”
“I’m right, aren’t I?” He ignored her weak comeback. “Ronan convinced you to use your gifts.”
“You owe me, Nee. There’s no harm in it.”
Niamh flinched at the memory of his voice. “Don’t ever say his name again.”
A chill fell over the car and Kiyo’s mask of indifference slipped. His eyebrows rose in surprise at the icy cold in her tone, the freeze emanating from her very being.
Their eyes met and she dared him to push her on this.
Kiyo looked away first, watching the road ahead. “When we get to Kalmar, we need to find a phone so we can contact Bran.”
The chill in the vehicle dissipated. “Perhaps they can find us a safe flight out