as Andrea slapped the first steel handcuff she’d pulled from her belt around his wrist. Fionn stared in disbelief. Andrea smiled hugely as she clicked the second cuff around his other wrist, hooked her finger around the cuffs and dragged Fionn into the human world.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Fae warrior wrenched away from Andrea and fell to his knees, his chain mail rattling as he clawed at his wrists. “They’re burning! Get them off me!”
Sean whipped his sword from its sheath and rested the point against Fionn’s neck. “Sun and moon, Andrea, where the hell did you get handcuffs?”
“Glory.” At Sean’s amazed look, she added. “Don’t ask.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not wanting to know.”
Andrea gazed sternly down at Fionn. “So, the great Fionn Cillian, now that you’re here, do you still maintain that I’m your daughter?”
“Of course I do. No other would dare bind me.”
Sean let out a laugh. “I see where you get your self-confidence, Andy-love. What do you want to do with him, now that you have him trussed?”
Andrea crouched down to face Fionn. He glared back at her with eyes as black as night.
“Prove it,” Andrea said. “Prove that you sired me, and I’ll let you go back to Faerie land.”
“My word should be good enough.”
“Oh, sure, because no Fae would ever lie to a Shifter.”
“Damn you, child, these manacles are killing me. Take them off and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
“Tell me what I want to know, and then I’ll take them off.”
Anger and fierce pride surged on Fionn’s face. “There’s no doubt to me that you’re my get. Here.” He thrust shaking hands under his mail coat and pulled a chain from a hidden pocket. Delicate silver links shaped like leaves formed a bracelet, and a unicorn charm dangled from every other link. “This was hers, your mother’s. She gave it to me that last night, when I left her, knowing I could never return.”
Andrea had seen bracelets like this in the shops she and Glory had gone to in SoCo, though this one was of real, heavy silver. It was definitely human-made, however; a trinket that a Shifter woman might have seen and liked.
“That’s Dina’s.”
Glory stopped next to Andrea, her face stricken. Andrea became aware that most of the Shifters had moved this way, the conversations stalling and drifting to silence.
Glory yanked the bracelet out of Fionn’s hands. “Damn you. That was my sister’s.”
“Are you sure?” Andrea asked her.
Glory’s eyes blazed. “Of course I’m sure. I gave it to her. Why does he have it? Don’t tell me this is the fucking Fae who seduced her.”
“Yes,” Fionn said without flinching. “I am that fucking Fae.”
Glory screamed and let fly a kick, her five-inch heel driving toward his face.
Fionn had reflexes a Feline would envy. Even with his hands bound, even in pain, he caught Glory’s foot as it went by, flipped her onto her back, and got to his feet, all the while evading Sean’s sword.
“Cowards,” he spat. “Shifters, fighting a man caught and chained. Is that the best you can do?”
Dylan’s savage growl filled the clearing as Glory struggled up, mud all over her silver lamé. Andrea turned and stepped in front of Dylan.
“Get out of my way,” Dylan snarled at her.
Dylan had never looked more terrifying, but Andrea couldn’t afford to back down. If she let him tear through Fionn, she’d never know the truth.
“Don’t touch her, Dad,” Sean warned.
“Dad! Sean!” Liam’s voice cut like a whip. Dylan and Sean remained locked in place, eyes on each other. After a long moment, while Andrea’s heart froze, Dylan dropped his gaze from Sean’s and turned away.
Liam’s whole body was tight with fury. “To avoid any Shifter blood spilling on this fine day, I suggest we let the Faerie man speak.” He switched his glare to Fionn. “Tell Andrea what she wants to know, and if you’re sweet about it, I might decide not to rip you to shreds. I might let Sean and my father do it instead.”
Fionn’s lip curled. “Goddess, Andrea, how do you live with these ... creatures?”
“I never had much choice, did I?” Andrea took the bracelet from Glory, her breath catching as sunlight danced on the unicorn charms. Her mother had always loved unicorns. They were gentle beasts, she’d said, in spite of their horn and some stories that painted them as fierce. “How did she know so much about unicorns?”
“I showed them to her,” Fionn said. “I risked taking her to Faerie to show her the unicorns, because