library so we can talk.”
And with that, he turns on his heel and moves toward his office, not even bothering to give me another glance. My gaze follows him the entire way, even as I have to crane my neck around to watch his departure. I take in the lines of his body, the clenched fists, and I know I have some apologizing to do about running off for Blain.
Except the problem is… I’m not sorry about it.
“You deserve that and more,” Zaid mutters as he motions Zora away from me so he can sit on the couch to get a better look at my arm. She moves down toward the end to make room.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur as Zaid cuts away the sleeve of my shirt.
Keeping his eyes on his work, he says, “You need to be saying that to Carrick, not me.”
“Actually, I’m saying it to you because I need to say it to you. I should have never tied you up like that.”
Zaid’s gaze lifts, admonishment heavy in his expression. “I would have let you go, Finley. I would have gone with you and helped to rescue him. You should have trusted me.”
Alarm causes me to flush hot that he would ever think such a thing. I reach out to grab his hand that holds the scissors, putting mine over the top to squeeze him. “I do trust you,” I exclaim. “I trust you implicitly. I tied you up to save you from Carrick’s wrath. I was protecting you.”
His eyes flash with surprise, and a tiny smile comes to his mouth. “I can hold my own with Carrick.”
“You said he’d kill you if you let me go,” I remind him.
“Dramatics,” he says with a wave of his other hand, then he pulls the one with the scissors away so he can continue working.
It’s silent as Zaid cleans the wound on my arm. As I expected, it’s nothing more than a deep groove in my skin, more burned from the speeding bullet as it grazed me than anything else.
He doesn’t bother putting a permanent bandage on it, presumably because Deandra will make the wound disappear soon enough. He merely tapes some gauze over it to keep the oozing to a minimum.
Boral and Maddox return, and I look to Maddox in question. “Blain will stay asleep until we’re ready to wake him up. He looks like hell, though.”
“I know,” I lament woefully. All my dislike for the man has evaporated, and I have nothing but empathy for what he’s been through and guilt churning in my gut that he got caught up in all of this.
“Where’s Carrick?” Maddox asks.
I toss my head toward his office, which leads to the library. “Avoiding me because he’s pissed. He called Deandra to come heal me and then talk battle strategy.”
Maddox glances toward the office and then back to me, and he must decide to avoid Carrick’s generalized ire. Instead, he plops down on a chair, throwing his booted feet up on the coffee table. “So tell us how it went down rescuing your ex-future-brother-in-law.”
I repeat the gist of what happened, starting with Echo’s visit and glossing over the fact I tied Zaid up and left him behind. I pick up on the details once we gained entrance to the gallery. As I focus on Boral’s strict adherence to keeping me safe above and beyond all other goals of this mission, I can’t help but notice Zaid has a funny look on his face as he studies his father.
I try to downplay the end when bullets were flying and Carrick barbecued daemons, but Zora won’t let me.
“That bullet wound to her arm was meant for me. Finley threw herself in the path and saved me.”
I lean forward to look past Zaid to my sister. I had actually forgotten that. It was an action I’d taken that I didn’t dwell on. My sister’s life was more important to me than my own. To me, the success of the day was getting Blain out and us all being alive, but, looking at Zora now, I can see how much it means to her.
I reach across Zaid to grab her hand. I squeeze it. “I love you, Zora. I’ll always protect you.”
My dear, isolated, and withdrawn sister looks incredibly uncomfortable as her face turns red, but then something warm and soft fills her eyes.
I recognize it as acceptance of my love and loyalty to her, and for the first time since she arrived, I can tell