Page 60 of Midnight Sun

He can feel Finn nodding while he caresses Jamie’s back soothingly.

“And I could feel something was wrong at the airport when you insisted on getting to Reykjavík alone.”

Jamie chuckles. “You’re fucking weird.” He kisses Finn’s nose. “Adorable, heroic, and weird.”

Finn looks almost sad as he studies Jamie’s face.

“I can understand if you want to stay away from magic and fate after everything that has happened. We’re not bound by it. I’ll keep my distance if you ask me to.”

Jamie isn't sure if they would be able to do that even if they tried. That Finn is offering, though, is all he needs to know. He kisses Finn again, trying to pour all the tenderness he feels into that kiss.

“Please stay,” Jamie says.

“Aww, adorable,” someone coos behind them.

Jamie looks up to find the elven twins standing in the doorway. This time, they are accompanied by a tall woman.

“More mound-dwellers and a foreign sorcerer. Sometimes you attract trouble, Thorfinn,” the woman says. She’s smiling pleasantly, but something in her eyes looks so ancient, so plainly not human, that Jamie shudders. She focuses on him, and to Jamie’s relief he can feel Finn shifting closer as if he were ready to protect him again.

She tilts her head. “You’ve already broken the curse. How curious.”

“I told you, mother, it’s fated love,” Bryndis says, smug.

Her mother merely nods.

Finn helps Jamie to his feet, and together they leave the looming presence of the hovel. Jamie feels something snap as they step over the threshold, the last lingering tendrils of confusion leaving him. He almost collapses in Finn’s arms from the sheer relief.

They stand on a lava field between the ruins of simple stone huts overlooking the churning sea. It’s a cold, unfriendly place.

“These are the ruins of Selatangar,” Finn explains. “It has been a fishing hub since the Middle Ages.”

“That’s the place the boy at the airport talked about,” Jamie says, dread coiling in his gut. He would’ve landed out here on his own if Finn hadn’t come after him that day.

As always, Finn senses his distress and takes his hand, pulling him gently away from the huts. The twins trail right after them, but Jamie can hear their mother still moving around the stone circle, chanting.

Finn guides him down a path, avoiding the corpses lying around another slightly smaller construction made of lava stone. Birkir follows Jamie’s gaze.

“The sorcerer managed to make some of the poor fishermen rise from their graves. Don’t worry, mother will put them back into the ground.”

“Good,” Jamie manages, clutching Finn’s hand.

Birkir and Bryndis’ mother catches up with them as soon as they reach Finn’s rover. She carries a bag which probably contains the cursed spell book and the other trinkets Peter used. Their mere presence makes Jamie uneasy again.

The elf pulls something from her pocket and offers it to Jamie. Tendrils of black smoke are rising from his grandfather’s ring.

“I could rid it of the spells woven into it, if you’d like to keep the ring, James of Wessex.”

Jamie shakes his head. “I don’t need it. It never brought me joy.”

She nods, turning her attention to Finn.

“The man you killed didn’t write down the spells he used. He wasn’t powerful enough. But I know someone who can find the sorcerer who wrote these spell books. The gods know how much harm has already been done by distributing them among those seeking power. This madness has to be stopped. I would appreciate it if you would deliver my message to Jareth, Thorfinn.”

“Of course, Auntie.” Finn turns to Jamie, smiling softly. “What do you think about a trip to London?”

Jamie shrugs with all the nonchalance he can muster. “Whatever you want, love.”

Chapter 16