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CHAPTER 29

T aryn strolled through the Dethridge gardens for the fourth morning in a row as she tried to gain perspective on what she’d become. It felt impossible. Another physical part of her existed, and she had to be cautious. Raising her voice could hurt those she loved.

The crunch of gravel caught her attention, but she didn’t need to turn around to know who had joined her. It wasn’t as if she could evade Fintan forever.

“You’ve been avoidin’ me since you’ve returned from the ancestors’ abyss, aoibhneas mo croí .”

Taryn was no closer to reconciling all that had happened over the past week. She’d discovered she was the reincarnated wife of a Siren prince, essentially died, and was resurrected with his Siren DNA. Upon her return to the land of the living, her spirit had been held hostage to be used as a weapon against Fintan. She endured electrocution, and having been rescued, she was once again stabbed. This time for a sacrificial rite to collect ancient magical artifacts, by a man who claimed he loved her.

But none of that bothered her as much as how quickly she’d escaped her prison. She was a novice, and while she had help, she did the bulk of the lifting. Yet it had taken Fintan twenty-four years to rebel against his psychic captors and finally admit he loved her. And the more she thought about it, the angrier she got.

Their day of reckoning had come.

She faced him, and crossed her arms.

“Yes. I’ve been avoiding you.”

“If you’re willin’ to tell me, I’m after knowin’ why,” he said softly.

When they returned, she built a wall to keep him out so she could work through her feelings. The second it was completed, she told him she was moving in with Damian, Viv, and the kids. Her family’s joy provided a welcome distraction while at the same time helped reaffirm her life.

“Why didn’t you fight harder for me?” The question was packed with her anguish and poured from her mouth. Embarrassed by her lack of control, she presented her back to him. “I’m sorry, I?—”

“I should have, to be sure.”

She felt his approach and the wave of masculine energy he brought. This was new to her, this feeling of things, especially men. Her Siren senses, she supposed. The damned thing felt everything. Craved what it shouldn’t. Who it shouldn’t.

“It was cowardly to hide the way you did,” she said coldly. Purposefully. Better to drive him away now than to eventually be his downfall, as predicted. Although how anyone could’ve seen that she would come to be a Siren when she was born a regular witch was a mystery. It definitely wasn’t on her bingo card as a possibility.

“Aye,” he agreed quietly. “But I was a broken man, Taryn-Taryn. I love you that much.”

She blinked against the stinging tears. “If you love something, you fight for it.”

“Sure, and I agree.” He stepped in front of her and tilted up her chin. “I’m after fightin’ for you. Until me dying day, aoibhneas mo croí .”

“Maybe I don’t want you to. Not anymore.” How she’d forced those words past her emotion-clogged throat and made them sound as chilly as she had was beyond her comprehension.

Fintan narrowed his eyes as he traveled over her set features. It seemed like a year had passed when he finally nodded and said, “Too feckin’ bad. You’ll not be rid of me so easy.”

She scowled.

He grinned.

“You don’t know how to take a hint, so let me spell it out for you, Fintan Sullivan. I. Don’t. Want. You!”

“Sure, and you’re a feckin’ liar, all the same.”

“Are you thick?” she growled.

“Aye. But I’m not wrong.”

“Well, come see me in about twenty-four years or so. Maybe I’ll feel like giving you a second chance.”

He winced.

“It’s deserving of your scorn, I am, but I’ll have the why of its suddenness, love.” In a stunningly fast move, he wrapped an arm around her waist and dug his hands into her hair, fisting it as he hauled her close. “Should I use my five-note skills to soften your mood?”

Her surly Siren perked up, forgetting to pout at being denied another’s magic, and she clapped her hands with enthusiasm. Yes!

No! Bad Siren!

“No,” Taryn squeaked. “And women like agency, Fintan. You can’t go around singing them into an orgasm.”

One dark brow shot up as his mouth twitched, but he wisely kept his thoughts to himself.

“I’d not do it for anyone but you, love.”

“Did you merge with Ardghal again? Is that how you’re able to do the whole singing-O thing?” Yes, she was growing suspicious in her old age, but if his original Siren had separated from him, how did he retain the power?

He chuckled, and the sensation against her neck sent delightful shivers along her spine.

Gripping his hair, she tugged and forced him to look at her. “I mean it. If your Siren is gone, how can you manipulate others with your voice?”

“My Siren isn’t gone.”

“What? How is that possible?”

“Ardghal’s energy split from mine and returned to his body at the bottom of the grotto. The water was blessed by both his mother’s magic and his da’s, who was a demigod. It regenerates life. His, yours, and mine.” Fintan fought her hold and kissed the hollow of her throat, then trailed his lips along her neck to her ear. “That’s why he was able to sacrifice us for the artifacts. Sure, and he knew our bodies would regenerate.”

“I’m still salty about getting stabbed twice in a day.”

His mouth curled, and because the sensation wasn’t at all unpleasant, Taryn didn’t object when his hand slid down to cup her ass.

“Aye, as you have a right to be,” he assured her. “But gettin’ back to your question. Me Siren still exists, but with me at the helm. I’ve control of it.”

She shifted closer, angling her head to give him better access to continue his lovemaking. “Didn’t you before?”

“Aye, but my grip was never as firm as it should’ve been. Not like Narissa, Brenna, or Ardghal.”

And it finally clicked.

Taryn gasped and framed his face between her palms. “That’s why you were afraid. And why you didn’t break free of the ancestors when you so easily could’ve with Ardghal’s power!” She shook her head, amazed she’d missed it before. “It was never truly about me being your downfall, was it? You were worried you’d lose control of your Siren and kill me one day.”

“Aye. And if that happened, I’d have become an Incubus. Feral and power hungry. Whatever human bits were left would live in a state of grief forever. Unable to move on.”

“Like Ari letting Elizabeth have the amulet,” she murmured.

“Just like that,” Fintan agreed, revealing his memories of their previous lives were alive and well.

In her mind’s eye, she formed a wrecking ball, demolished the wall she’d built, and dusted her hands.

“How is it we both recall their past when we couldn’t before?”

He toyed with her new pendant. “I’m guessin’ our rebirth at the grotto.”

“Fintan.” Taryn stilled his fingers. “What if your initial vision wasn’t wrong? What if I’m still to be your downfall?”

“What’s this, love?”

“I don’t think I’m strong enough to keep a leash on my creature like you were. She fights me at every turn.”

“And what is it you think she wants?” he asked gently. “You should see.”

“Is it as simple as asking her?”

“Sometimes.”

Turning inward, Taryn faced her creature, surprised to feel Fintan enter her mind through their link. His show of support was both terrifying and calming.

“What is it ya desire?” he asked her Siren.

“You.”

“And if I said you could have me, what then?”

Taryn jerked within his embrace, unprepared for him to offer himself up.

“No!” she cried.

“She’s selfish,” Taryn’s Siren counterpart told him sullenly. “Unwilling to share magic. To share you.”

“Just as I’m unwillin’ to share,” he said aloud. “You have the answer you seek, aoibhneas mo croí. You’re stronger than she is. You always will be.”

“It can’t be as easy as that. Can it?”

“Aye. If you want it to be,” Fintan assured her.

Relief coursed through her, so strong, her knees went weak. Luckily, he was there to catch her. Scooping her into his arms, he strode to the nearest bench and sank down with her cradled on his lap.

“Are ya satisfied we’re safe together, Taryn-Taryn?”

As she peered up at him, his eyes full of quiet reverence, she smiled, positive they would be. “You’ve grown wise,” she teased.

“Aye, and it’s about feckin’ time, yeah? I was a proper eejit for not returnin’ for you sooner.”

“Hm. I’ll give you that one.”

He grinned at her sass. “And now our fears are out of the way, can I snog ya, then?”

“Snog?”

“Kiss. I’ve a powerful need to kiss ya, love.”

She didn’t hesitate until her mouth was less than an inch from his, and a giggle rent the air, followed by an aborted, “Ewww.”

“We have company,” she murmured in his ear.

“Why isn’t Ronan babysittin’ the wee beastie?”

“Baby!” Sabrina’s indignation kicked up the wind.

“Did that plonker just call us weens?” another young male voice demanded.

Shifting toward the hedge, Taryn did her best to keep the laughter from her voice when she called out, “Your mother would serve you a bar of Irish Spring for dinner if she heard you say ‘plonker,’ Aeden O’Malley!”

“Shite!” the boy whisper-exclaimed.

Their hasty retreat was hilarious.

“Sure, and how did ya know that would work to give us privacy?”

“I have three sisters, Fintan. We always used the threat of punishment against each other.” Taryn ran her index finger over his upper lip. “Now, where were we?”

“Discussin’ me powerful need to snog ya, but I’m rethinkin’ our location,” he said with a glance at the hedge.

“We’ll be free of prying eyes in your bedroom.”

“Sure, and it’s like we share one mind, it is.”

She laughed during the short teleport to his home. With a quick glance around, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Let’s get to snogging.”