Shadowspell

Eventually, Keane went down hard and didn’t get up again. He just lay there on his back, panting heavily, sweat pouring off his face, eyes squinched shut in what had to be pain. His shield spells might stop him from getting injured while sparring, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Not to mention that I think even his shield ran out of juice toward the end, because Finn visibly pulled his punches.

Finn came to stand over Keane, folding his arms over his chest and looking like he could go another thirty minutes without being winded. “This is how you fared against your father, who isn’t about to hurt you. Imagine if I’d been a hostile Knight out to kill you. And that’s not even considering the possibility of going up against the Erlking and the Wild Hunt. Then tell me again that you think you’re capable of protecting Dana as well as a professional.”

He looked back and forth between the two of us, just to make sure both of us got the message. We did.

Finn turned to me while Keane continued to lie on the mats sucking in air. “I’m not going to tell your father about tonight’s escapade, because I believe you have a good head on your shoulders and won’t pull a stupid stunt like that again. Am I right?”

I nodded meekly. Finn was doing me a ginormous favor by not telling on me. If my father found out what I’d done, I might not be allowed to leave my safe house for the rest of my life.

“Thank you,” I said tentatively. “And I’m sorry.”

Finn didn’t acknowledge the apology. Guess he was still mad. “You’re going to bed now,” was all he said.

Keane groaned and propped himself up on his elbows. I had a feeling Finn wasn’t through making him pay for my mistake. If I’d thought anything I said would help, I’d have stuck around and tried my best. Instead, feeling totally wretched, I left Keane alone with his father and fled to my room.

Chapter six

I woke up on Saturday morning feeling just as bad as I had when I’d climbed into bed and pulled the covers over my head the night before. Keane had basically taken the whole rap for me last night, and that sucked. It wasn’t that I thought Finn had hurt him all that much, and considering Keane’s choice of profession, he had to have a pretty high tolerance for pain anyway. But I knew his pride had taken a beating, and I knew him well enough to realize how much that must have hurt him.

I can’t say I regretted going to the party, though, despite my guilty conscience. If I tried to convince myself to regret it, my mind conjured an image of Kimber’s face as she opened the present I’d given her, and I knew it had been worth it. (For me, at least. Keane might disagree.)

Usually, when I got up in the morning, I’d make some coffee for myself and some tea for Finn, who seemed to function just fine on what had to be about three or four hours of sleep a night and was always awake before me. He had his own kitchenette—even smaller than mine—in the guardroom, but he’d always seemed to appreciate the gesture.

A part of me really wanted to forego the ritual this morning. I didn’t much want to face Finn after last night. Would he still be mad at me? Would I feel guilty every time I looked at him?

In the end, I decided I’d probably feel worse if I sat around in my suite brooding about it, so I fixed the tea and coffee, then took a deep breath and ventured out into the guardroom.

To my intense relief, Finn acted as if nothing had happened. There was no hint of anger or reproach in his gaze as he looked at me, and he didn’t give me any paternal-sounding lectures. Not that he was ever what I would call talkative.

“I need some groceries,” I told him when he’d finished his tea and I was preparing to take the dishes back to my kitchen.

Finn nodded. “Give me a list of what you need, and I’ll ask your father to stop by the store on his way over for dinner tonight.”

I’d totally forgotten Dad was coming tonight, but I wasn’t about to let him be my grocery boy. I’d been responsible for buying groceries since I was about ten. Besides, a trip to the grocery store would get me out of the cave for a while. I could see the sun, and breathe some fresh air.

“I’d rather buy my own groceries,” I told Finn.

“It would be simpler to let your father do it,” he answered.

I grimaced, realizing that an official excursion from my safe house was a pain in the butt these days.

“My deal with my dad was that I could go out as long as I had an extra bodyguard.”

Finn looked like he might be about to argue, and I prepared to embarrass the both of us by claiming to need things that a man wouldn’t be comfortable shopping for, but he relented before I had to stoop to lying.

“All right,” he said. “I’ll give Lachlan a call and see if he’s available.”

*   *   *

Lachlan might be considered by some as an unusual choice of bodyguard. He had been my aunt Grace’s boyfriend, before Aunt Grace went completely around the bend. I knew he still loved her, and sometimes when I saw him he’d try to convince me that she wasn’t really that bad a person but was just misunderstood. He was never going to convince me of that, but when I saw the pain in his eyes, I couldn’t blame him for trying. I also knew that no matter how he felt about Grace, he wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt me, and since he was a troll beneath the glamour spell that made him appear human, he was an excellent protector.

My dad was as convinced of Lachlan’s reliability as I was. However, Dad had made the location of my safe house into such a deep, dark secret that other than me, only Finn, Keane, and my parents knew where it was. Personally, I thought Lachlan could be trusted with the secret if he was trusted enough to act as my bodyguard, but Dad had been adamant that only those who absolutely had to know the location would be told. Which meant that Finn and I had to meet Lachlan in one of the more populated sections of the tunnel complex.