It was meekly said, and she smiled grimly. “I know that tone, but enough is enough, Ris. I’ve been patient, I’ve stood back, but you obviously can’t—”
“What I can and can’t do,” I interrupted quietly, “is no business of yours. I love you both to death—you know that—but this situation is mine and Azriel’s to handle, not yours.”
Her gaze met mine, her expression giving little away. “Perhaps,” she said eventually. “And perhaps not. Breakfast will be in ten minutes.”
With that she turned and walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
“She is an extraordinary woman,” Azriel commented, then added silently, But she cannot get involved in our dealings with Hunter. As powerful as she is, she would be destroyed.
Which is why I don’t want either of them involved. Although we might yet need Quinn’s advice—especially when it came to dealing with Hunter. Can either of them hear us when we speak like this?
No. This is not telepathy as such, but more a melding of spirit and mind that allows communication. He hesitated. Have you never wondered just why the fates chose me over all the other Mijai?
I raised an eyebrow, amusement lurking on my lips. Because you were the only one with enough patience to put up with my stupid tendency to ignore what is obvious to everyone else?
His smile creased the corners of his eyes and made my heart do a happy little dance. Aside from that.
Not really. I shrugged. I just thought it was the luck of the draw.
There is no such thing as luck when it comes to the fates. I was chosen because you were my Caomh.
Which meant life-mate—and a whole lot more—in reaper terms. And you knew that from the very beginning? Fuck, Azriel, why didn’t you say—
What could I have said to convince you, given your determination to keep me at arm’s length? Besides, the fates order, not explain, and while I wondered why they were able to link me to your chi so easily, I did not suspect the reason. Not initially.
But once you knew what was going on—
I still could not say anything. We are, as you noted many times, from two very different worlds. And the fates don’t always believe in happy endings.
After all the shit they’ve put us through, they’d better give us one, I growled, because, believe me, if they don’t, there will be trouble.
I suspect even the fates would be wary of your kind of trouble.
I grinned, but it faded quickly as my thoughts returned to the problem at hand. So why can’t Quinn hear us? He’s part Aedh, after all.
And although reading the minds of those in the immediate vicinity was one Aedh talent I didn’t get, Quinn was an extremely strong telepath. For the first time I wondered just how much of that was due to his Aedh heritage.
He can and does read your surface thoughts, but our connection is at soul level, and not something he can access, Azriel said.
Then I’d better watch my thoughts. The last thing I want is to endanger either of them. I pulled my sweater off and dumped it on the floor. Although it has to be said, the two of them together are a force to be reckoned with.
Against Hunter, who has the force of a god behind her, they are still nothing.
I doubt Quinn would be so easy to beat. Hell, if Hunter had any inkling she could defeat him, she would have done so by now, surely.
She has not done so because she is not ready. And while he may be one of the few here on Earth capable of defeating her, he is now vulnerable because he has a family. Hunter is not above using such a weakness, as you well know.
I did know. The bitch wasn’t above using anyone and anything she could to get what she wanted. She’d certainly used my grief and my bitter need to avenge my mother’s death to hook me into working for her. And when common sense finally did hit me, she’d reverted to threatening my friends and family. It was the reason Jak—a former lover, and a reporter who’d been helping us in our search—was now dead. She’d had him gutted as a warning of what might happen to others if I didn’t start toeing her line.
Even if I can convince Riley and Quinn to play it safe, I know for sure Tao and Ilianna won’t go anywhere. I kicked off my shoes, then peeled off my jeans. Hunter still has their lives to hold over me, no matter what I do.
I could force them to leave.
It was so casually said that I blinked, not entirely sure I’d heard him right. What do you mean?
He half smiled. What I said. I am reaper, remember, and able to touch the minds of humanity.
Even someone as strong as Riley?