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He only wanted a chance to threaten me.
“Take her to retrieve the book,” Sebastian orders, finally releasing me.
I don’t waste any time putting distance between us, though even that is an illusion of safety at this point. As long as I’m with the vampires, I won’t be safe. Scratch that—as long as I’m in New Orleans, I won’t be safe.
“Rune and I will keep the perimeter in case there are any wolves lying in wait. I trust you won’t let your guard down so easily again.”
Fintan clenches his jaw and thrusts his chin. “Of course.”
“Good. Because if you let me down like that again, the consequences will be severe.”
Fintan stiffens, some secret message passing between him and Sebastian as their gazes lock.
Fintan lets me lead the way, and I take a deep breath before entering the house. The odds are certainly stacked against me, but my luck has to change, eventually. Right? All twenty of my fingers and toes are crossed for the former.
Let the plan commence.
* * *
“Oh, thank Gaia.”
“Did you find it?”
I try—and fail—not to flinch when Fintan is suddenly so close I feel him leaning over me to peer into the secret little cubby in Dad’s office.
The grimoire is exactly where I left it—so is Doctor Flopkins. I reach in and gingerly grab both. The book is so big I have to use both hands to hold it.
With the hefty weight nestled against my chest, it’s like reclaiming a piece of my history.
I set it down on Dad’s old desk with a heavy thunk and lay the dingy stuffed rabbit down next to it. I trace my fingertips across the embossed cover of the Dumont grimoire, swiping away the dust and cobwebs that have collected.
The book itself seems to pulse with a source of power, as if the collected magic within its pages has a life of its own.
Finn remains close, standing on the other side of the desk with his gaze fixed on the grimoire. “Ye have what we came for. Now let’s get back home.”
Home. His home, maybe.
Even if the new moon comes and Gaia sees fit to bind me to this vampire, Hotel Elysian will forever be my prison, not my home.
“Let’s assume it is true—what then?” I ease the grimoire open as I speak, flipping through the pages, searching for step three of my plan.
Fintan turns to me, confusion clear in his features as I gaze up from the looping cursive of one of my ancestors. “Are ye under the impression that vampires read minds?”
“You can read emotions, can’t you?”
He pegs me with a look but doesn’t deny it.
“You can alter emotions, too. You’ve tried to do it to me.”
“I have,” he admits, confirming my suspicions.
I knew it.
“I don’t appreciate you scrambling my brain around to suit your own agenda.”
Fintan is more dangerous than I thought, maybe more than both Rune and Sebastian. Fintan’s strength is subtle—a barely there tug at the back of your mind, easily overlooked.
His unusual power combined with a vampire’s thrall… the possibilities of how he could screw with my mind makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.
