Blood And Breath

30

Chapter Fourteen OceanofPDF.com CAT I’d had such a great day with Fen that I didn’t make it home until after dark. Aside from our walk and the movie, we sat in a park enjoying the afternoon before eating dinner at a local café. The day had been one of the best in my memory and had me smiling the entire way home. Fen wasn’t the type of man to be overly expressive, but it meant what he did show was one-hundred-percent genuine. Considering all the upheaval in my life, I was incredibly grateful for his honesty. That was not to say he didn’t leave plenty unsaid. A man as complex as Fen wasn’t going to share his every thought, but I never had to wonder if he truly meant what he said. If he said he enjoyed the movie, then he enjoyed the movie. He wasn’t saying it just to make me feel good. The same went for our kiss before I left Strabane. His eyes had consumed me like I was the very air he breathed. Fenodree cared for me, but I wasn’t sure to what extent. The only thing I could be certain of was how hopelessly lost I was for him. I couldn’t imagine my heart belonging to a more worthy individual, but that didn’t negate the complicated nature of a relationship with him. Fen would have to leave at some point. What would happen then? I wasn’t ready to entertain the difficult possibilities, so I assured myself we still had plenty of time before a choice would need to be made. It was far easier to wrap myself in the warm memories of our stolen moments together than to face the harshness of reality. By the time I got home, I had almost forgotten about my strained relationship with my mother. Not entirely forgotten, but enough to offer her a small smile when I walked into the house and found her sitting in the living room. If I had thought we might put aside our differences for one night, I had been sorely mistaken. My olive branch was met with an arctic stare. “Where’ve you been, Catronia?” Her words were velvet menace, instantly putting me on guard. My mind raced, wondering just how much she knew. “I went to dinner with a friend after work. Why? What’s wrong?” I forced myself to remain calm, hoping her question was merely a product of her overprotective instincts. “Fergus called today, said you’ve been sick quite a bit lately and wanted to ask how you were feeling. You don’t look sick to me, so tell me, Cat, where were you today?” The cold steel in her voice sent a shiver of unease down my spine. I had already known I would have to part ways with my mother, so her learning about my deception wouldn’t change my plans. However, I had hoped I could make the separation as painless as possible by playing it off as the need for a young woman to go her own way in life. If she knew what I had been up to over the last month, she would never forgive me. “I have a friend who’s been in a rough spot lately, so I’ve been helping her out. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. She needed my help, and I didn’t know what else to do.” I gave a story as close to the truth as I could offer and hoped to infuse enough sincerity in my voice to assuage her suspicions. “And this friend, she wouldn’t happen to be Fae, would she?” “No, but would it matter if she was?” A sliver of defensiveness crept into my voice. Stepping around the corner from the kitchen, Daeglan O’Connor joined my mother across from me. My hands tingled with nervous energy, and my stomach surged into my throat. Daeglan wasn’t a particularly large man, but the intensity in his eyes and harsh lines of his face made him an imposing figure. When his callous eyes met mine, every hair on the back of my neck stood on edge. “It matters a great deal, Catronia,” he offered in a tone meant to reassure but instead came off as condescending. “They’re a vicious race of beings, and we don’t want you getting hurt.” “We? Mom, why is he even here? He’s one of the main reasons I don’t want to tell you anything because I know you’ll just go telling him like you did about the sword. You want me to trust you, then keep him out of our business.” A fissure of unease softened her features, her eyes pleading with me. “He’s here because I don’t know what else to do to make you see reason.” “Reason? You mean you want me to be an anti-Fae fanatic like him? Well, that’s too bad because I refuse to hate them just because you tell me to.” Daeglan’s eyes met my mother’s, and they shared a silent communication that made me blisteringly angry. He was the reason Mom and I had grown apart, and I hated him for it. When she looked back at me, there was an apology in those hazel eyes I knew so well. I looked back and forth between them as a raging river of panic began to course through my veins. Something was about to happen, and every instinct I had screamed at me to run. I glanced toward the front door but only got so far as a single step before Daeglan whispered the words to an enchantment. I slammed up against an invisible barrier, and my momentum instantly halted. The edge of a fine circle of salt teased the tips of my toes, just out of reach. A trap. They had planned this before I’d even arrived, preparing a spell to contain me the second I didn’t cower to their demands. “Mom, what are you doing?” I breathed, mounting fear choking off my voice. She turned to Daeglan, grasping his arm firmly. “Wait, maybe she’ll tell me the truth. I’m not sure this is necessary.” “Colleen, we talked about this. It’s crucial we know just how deeply they have warped her mind,” he responded firmly. To my horror, my mother nodded in resigned acceptance. “What are you talking about?” I hissed, pounding on the invisible barrier between us. “No one has warped my mind! You’re insane!” Daeglan approached, and to my surprise, he reached easily into my prison. He grabbed my wrists before breaking the salt barrier and yanked me toward the sofa. I hollered out as he roughly shoved me down on my stomach, his knee pressed into the small of my back. With my hands bound behind me, I had no leverage to pose any physical challenge. The best I could do was strain and curse, hoping my mother would come to her senses. “What the f**k are you doing? Get off me!” He grunted with the effort to restrain me but kept the upper hand. “We may not have the Sword of Light, but we have other means of learning the truth.” The cold pinch of cuffs clamped around my wrists. “Mom, please don’t do this,” I begged with a sob. My anger had begun to give way to desperation and gut-clenching fear.