shouldn’t have put yourself in that kind of danger for me.”
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye—she knew this because she was doing the same to him. “If not for you, then for whom?” he asked softly.
Finley looked away. “Thank you,” she mumbled. Of course he might have done it to save his aunt, but he had done it for her, as well. No one had ever done anything like that for her.
“This might not be the best time to bring this up,” he remarked as they neared the house. “But did you happen to notice when you picked me up whether or not your ‘other’ side was in attendance?”
Finley stopped, forcing him to, as well. She was so astounded that she could neither move nor speak for a good few seconds. Then she turned to him. “I don’t know. I felt it earlier. I let it take away the pain, but then…” She stared at him. “But I couldn’t have been so strong without it.”
Griffin grinned, flashing straight white teeth as water trickled down his face from his hair. His cheeks were flushed, making his eyes seem all the brighter. “You controlled it.”
She stood there, looking at him with wonder. She had controlled it. Not simply fought it until it went away, but honest to goodness used it and made it work for her! She didn’t know how she’d done it—only that her thoughts had been on Griffin not herself. But if she could do it once, surely she could do it again?
They began walking again. Griffin’s steps were stronger now, though he didn’t remove his arm from her shoulders, nor did she take hers away from his waist. Despite the discomfort from the burns, she liked this contact.
“Griffin!” cried a voice from the terrace. It was Lady Marsden. Emily and Sam were with her. Her ladyship had wiped most of the blood from her face, although there was still a bit of red around her nose and chin.
Sam—barefoot and clad only in a loose shirt and trousers—came forward as they approached the terrace. Griffin lifted his arm from Finley’s shoulders, so she dropped hers, as well. He climbed the stone steps by himself, holding up his hand when the large, dark-haired boy tried to help him. “I’m all right, Sam.”
Was it her imagination or had Sam flinched? Griffin’s rejection struck him on a personal level. A guilty conscience for not being there when his friend needed him? Good. Finley didn’t know all the details of the strife between them, but she could commiserate with Sam to an extent. She also wanted to kick the behemoth’s backside for feeling so sorry for himself, because she knew how that felt, as well.
Lady Marsden rushed forward to hug her nephew. Over his shoulder, her gaze met Finley’s. Finley wanted to look away, but she didn’t. The contrition she saw there surprised her. Once her ladyship released Griffin, she walked over to Finley and offered her hand.
“I want to apologize to you, Miss Jayne, for being so reckless with both of our health. I’ve been a harridan to you since my arrival and you do not deserve it.”
Finley hesitated a second before accepting the handshake. “What changed your mind?”
“Yours,” the lady replied. “You may be fractured, but you are not evil. I know now that you are not a threat to my family.”
Finley’s heart sped up. “You mean, I didn’t… Lord Felix…?” She couldn’t come right out and ask if she was a murderer.
Still holding her hand, Lady Marsden patted it with her left. “No. You did not. I saw that much.”
Her relief was so great that Finley’s shoulders sagged. “Oh, thank you.” It didn’t matter how ruthless the lady had been in getting the information out of her mind, she had gotten the truth and now Finley could stop worrying, stop being afraid that she might have taken a life.
Lady Marsden released her with a strained smile and then turned her attention to her nephew. She put her arms around Griffin and drew him in to the house. As Finley approached the doors, she saw just how completely the terrace doors had been decimated. Had Griffin’s power broken them, or had he dove through them? She hadn’t seen any cuts on him, so she could only assume it had been the former.
Emily linked her arm through Finley’s and smiled. “Come with me, lassie. I’ll get you something for those burns.”
The burns would heal quickly, but Finley said