Hmph. Sounds as if he’d like to chuck me right off Dewi’s back… Rune fell into step with her. She thought about asking where he’d been, but it didn’t really matter. “Where’s Fionn?”
“Inside with the other three.”
“But I was just talking with Gwydion.”
“And I just left all three of them sitting in the kitchen,” Rune insisted.
Gwydion’s a sorcerer, she reminded herself, with power I can only imagine. As she dragged herself up the steps, she wondered about Fionn. Was she making a mistake not to be wary of the magic that blazed from him? When it came right down to it, who was anyone loyal to? Yeah, probably not some young chickie they just met, prophecy be damned.
She let Rune and herself into the kitchen and tried to corral her sour mood. Gwydion looked up from where he sat and gave her a broad wink.
Aislinn couldn’t help herself. “How’d you do that?” she demanded.
“Do what?” Fionn moved his gaze from a piece paper, where he’d been sketching something with a stick of blackened wood, to her.
“I just talked to him outside. But he’s not there, he’s here.”
Fionn rolled his eyes. “Och aye, and that’s an old trick of his. Pay it no heed.”
From her perch atop the stove, Bella cawed. It sounded like the bird was laughing.
“While we’re at it...” Aislinn slid her body down a wall, ending up in a heap on the floor. “Why was that guy who warned us about the crowd laughing when I left?”
“I think ’twas because the idea of a real-life, fire-breathing dragon enchanted him, lass.” Fionn’s gaze sharpened. “There’s little enough laughter. Doona begrudge someone a wee bit of mirth.”
She dropped her head into her hands. A headache pounded behind her left temple. Her eyes ached. When she took a general inventory, scarcely a body part had escaped damage. Everything was complaining. Her eyes fluttered closed, and the rise and fall of conversation turned into a muted hum. She felt Fionn’s energy beside her. He lifted her, cradling her against his body as if she weighed nothing.
“Rest,” he murmured into her hair as he laid her on their bed. “I’ll wake you once we’ve put a meal together.”
He commanded Rune to watch over her. The wolf’s growl was the last thing she heard before darkness fell like a heavy curtain, obliterating everything.
She woke long enough to eat from the bowl Fionn brought and wriggle out of sweat-soaked clothes that had dried on her body. The next thing that awakened her was his mouth trailing kisses up her leg.
“Is it time to go?”
“Soon.”
Bella flapped around the room, looking for a place to light.
Aislinn reached for consciousness, feeling fuzzyheaded. “I talked to Dewi. She thinks we should target Perrikus first.”
“Aye, I know she thinks that.”
“She’s old and wise. Maybe we should listen to her.” Aislinn scooted to a sitting position. The chilly bedroom air turned her upper body to gooseflesh.
Fionn interrupted his kisses long enough to shoot her a patronizing look, brows furled.
Damn, he’s playing the god card again…
“I am not.” He repositioned himself so he was sitting on the bed and looking at her with a solemn expression. “Even with all the human help, ye need to understand that the odds of us prevailing are not high.”
“Why not? Until they showed up here, the dark gods were just characters in Marvel Comics.”
He barked a harsh laugh. “Never believe that, lass. Whoever penned those illustrated books had run-ins with the dark gods. ’Tis why they ended up memorialized in what ye call comics. The dark gods are real. And they are old. Far older than any of the rest of us.”
“Dewi said the best we could hope for was to slow them down.”
“Did she now?” A corner of his mouth twitched. So did the muscle under one eye. “I am not surprised. She has battled them afore.”
“So have you.” She traced the scar that ran up his midline with a finger, realizing as she did so that he was naked. Aislinn set her teeth in a determined line. “Both of you are still alive, so maybe it’s not as hopeless as you think.”
“Why do ye suppose the lot of us were waiting to see what would happen? No one wants to throw their life away—”
“Can you die?”
He snorted. “Och aye. Mayhap not dead exactly, but I can be driven to a place where I might wish I were.”
“I can Heal whatever happens to you.”
“If ye find me in time.”
“What happens if I don’t?”