“Turns out,” she noted with false lightness, “you were simply avoiding me. You’d gotten the information you were after and decided I was no longer useful to you. Is that it?”
He was already shaking his head. “No,” he said firmly, his voice a rough growl, as soon as she finished. He couldn’t keep himself from stepping toward her. “I was trying to protect you.”
She rolled her eyes, but he could see a hint of moisture in them. “You’ve done a fine job,” she retorted with a glance to the scimitar.
Reaching her, Phin, gently grasped her upper arms. “I’m sorry,” he muttered, looking into her heavy gaze. “I’d received another threat when I returned home after viewing your grandmother’s book. It specifically warned against spending time with you. I didn’t want to risk it. Risk you,” he whispered. “I made a huge mistake by dragging you into this mess. I cannot allow you to be hurt.”
She listened to him with a stern expression. “You could’ve advised me of that much sooner. I’ve a right to know that a threat has been made against me.”
Phin nodded. “I’m sorry. I won’t make that mistake again.”
Just when he thought he detected a softening in her gaze, she lowered her lashes.
Then she gasped. “You’re hurt.”
Unfolding her arms, she reached for his forearm where blood was seeping through the slice in his sleeve.
“It’s just a scratch.”
She flashed him a frustrated glance. “And it must be tended. Sit.”
She nodded toward the sofa, then left the room in long strides, exiting through an inner door to the room beyond. She was so quick, he barely had a chance to shed his coat before she returned with a wet cloth.
“Sit,” she repeated firmly.
Phin carefully draped his coat over the arm of the sofa to prevent any of the blood from touching the fine upholstery, then did as she ordered. She sat on the small tea table across from him and waited as he rolled up his shirtsleeve to reveal the gash across his arm.
It was as he’d said. Just a scratch that had already stopped bleeding.
“See,” he noted with a grin. “Nothing to worry about.”
She gave a soft harrumph and slapped the wet cloth on it.
He got the oddest sense that she’d wanted the injury to be worse. As punishment for his abandonment? Or was she disappointed she couldn’t take a greater role in caring for him?
He hoped it was the latter. But suspected the former.
After wiping away the dried blood, he glanced up to see her staring at him. Her expression was pensive and focused. Her brows dipped slightly over her steady gaze and the line of her jaw was set in a firm line.
He couldn’t help but think of how lovely she looked and for a moment, he almost reached out to feel the texture of her gleaming hair as it rested over her shoulder in the loose plait.
“I’d like to be there when you question him.”
The shock of her statement made him flinch and sharpened his tone. “Not a chance.”
The lady lifted her chin and narrowed her gaze. “I insist.”
He scowled fiercely. “I cannot allow that.”
“I’m a part of this now,” she stated. “Perhaps even more than you. From the time I was a small child, I’d been drawn to those images in my grandmother’s book. I’ve always felt connected to them somehow.” Her voice lowered and her gaze flickered downward for a moment before she spoke again, her voice more hesitant. “I’ve been wondering lately what the purpose of my life might be. Wondering if all I am is a daughter or sister of important men. Wondering if my fate is simply to marry well and raise the children of another important man.”
Though Phin felt compelled to refute her words and insist that she was so much more than that, he resisted. And listened.
Her gaze sharpened. “I am a part of this, Phin. It’s given me a purpose when I thought I had none. This mystery belongs to me. It’s buried in my soul. It’s linked, somehow, to my future. I don’t understand how, but I know it is.”
Though the room was barely lit, there was no way to miss the fierce determination in her set jaw, focused gaze, and lengthened posture.
Phin tensed as every protective instinct inside him demanded herefuse her. A more evolved part of him knew it would be pointless. And reductive.
