Page 115 of A Legacy of the Light

He sits opposite me and snaps his fingers and a table with tea appears. I take the tea he offers me and wrap my cold hands around it while staring into the liquid as it ripples with movement.

“Is there anything I can do to help you?” Finneus’s question is quiet, and sad.

His eyes are lined with sympathy and pain when I look to him, as if he wants to comfort me but doesn’t know how.

I shake my head. “No, I just need to process the fact I’ve been lied to my entire life.”

His brows push up and his lips turn down at the corners. “They likely did it to protect you, Elsie. You are entitled to feel everything you are feeling right now, but don’t let it swallow you. It doesn’t change the fact that your family love you.”

I sigh. “I know.”

We drink our tea in silence and I watch the flames in the hearth.

“What do I do now?” I mumble toward the flames.

Finneus places his cup on the table next to me. “We can’t tell anyone. We keep this between you and me. And we search those chambers for anything that might help us with the Dorche.”

“What happens when the barrier opens and I get sent home?” My question sparks something in me. There’s a huge part of me that can’t wait to see Grandpa and Rach again. But there’s also a piece of my soul that screams you belong here.

“Then I think you should return home,” Finneus replies softly.

I turn my attention to him. He fiddles with his hands in his lap. “You aren’t safe here, Elsie. And I can’t . . .” he pauses with a shudder. When he looks up at me, tears line his eyes again. “It’s a Dhia-blessed miracle that you are here and alive. But I cannot see the last of the Darrows taken. Màiri was a dear friend.”

A tear escapes the corner of his eye and he releases a long breath. “I loved her like family. She would have been my sister. I cannot watch her legacy be killed. Not again.”

Tears fall from my own eyes as I stand from the chair and take his hand in mine. “You won’t lose me, Finneus.”

His smile is weak and he squeezes my hand before wiping his tear away.

“I sincerely hope so, my dear. Know this: whatever you decide to do, I will support you. It would be my honor to serve the Darrow family once more.”

My smile is as weak as his. “How about we settle on being my friend?”

His blue eyes sparkle. “That would be quite lovely.” He stands and pulls me into another hug.

“So you are a hugger,” I joke, half-assed.

Finneus’s quiet laugh rumbles into me. “It would appear so.”

Finneus and I spend the rest of the day together in the library. He shows me to a quiet corner that I haven’t explored yet and we periodically pull books from the sealed chambers. He asks me repeatedly if I am happy for him to review the books with me since he has never looked at them in his nine hundred years. I assure him I trust him with their contents and need his help. We agree it’s best to review them in the actual library and move back and forth so we don’t make anyone suspicious by disappearing into the wall for hours at a time.

He understands when I tell him I want to read as much about my family as I possibly can, while he looks for anything on the Dorche.

Chapter 28

Evening comes around, and my heart aches with both sadness and joy at being able to read so much about my ancestors; about Granny. She was always so guarded about her childhood, and she told me a few stories, but they seemed mostly folklore. Now I know different.

I’m looking over a family tree on Iona Darrow’s side when I spot the name Aitken.

I smile sadly and shake my head.

“What is it, dear?” Finneus asks, his sudden voice startling. We haven’t spoken to each other for a few hours.

I push the book toward him and point at the name under my great-great granny. Aitken was her maiden name. “She chose a surname from her history as our alias.”

Finneus returns my smile. “That seems like something Màiri would do.”

I pull the book back and close it. This is one that I found in the main library, not the sealed chambers.