“Save your anger for someone who deserves it.” Moira sheathed her sword and sidestepped me as if I were blocking her view, which only served to rile me more. “We can discuss all of your many issues later. But now, you have to focus.”
“You haven’t seen angry yet.” I stepped back into her line of sight so she’d have no choice but to look at me. “Are we on the same side here, or what? I mean, fuck, Moira, way to instill a sense of teamwork. Since I’ve met you, you’ve tried to kill me. More than once. Way to welcome me into the bonds of sisterhood.”
“I’m not your enemy, Darian. But if you don’t stop acting like a fool, I won’t hesitate to make you one. Do you understand me?”
“Fuck off.” Sure, not a supersnazzy comeback. I wasn’t completely convinced I wasn’t her enemy. What about threatening to draw my blood with her jagged blades? Arrows zinging at my head? She sure as hell wasn’t a friend.
Moira smiled. “You have spirit, I’ll give you that. How many times do I have to tell you I’m not your enemy? I am a Guardian. And so are you.” Her tone indicated this was the one and only time she’d lay it out for me. “We have responsibilities that transcend Fae or human laws. Guard the Keys to the mundane world and O Anel, assist the Time Keepers when they need our protection, and maintain the natural order. Perhaps you should focus more on your role as well and abandon these petty squabbles over who withheld what from you and why.”
“I appreciate your laying it all out so eloquently.” I hoped a little sarcasm leaked out in my tone. “Though I’m still not one hundred percent clear on the role I play in all of this.” I threw my arms wide in a sweeping gesture. “But since you’re so interested in explaining things, would you mind telling me why you let me believe that you were the one hurting Tyler? Because right now, I’m having a hard time being anything but suspicious of you.”
“You’re referring to the Jinn?”
Why in the hell did everyone insist on referring to Tyler as if he were “the dog” or some shit? It was demeaning.
“Not demeaning,” Moira said as if she’d heard my thoughts. “I have nothing but respect for your protector. He is held in high esteem by many. Including me and mine.”
I knew deep down-way down, past my bitchy attitude-that Moira was an ally. It just made me feel better to vent my frustration. Faolán said that Moira had helped to imprison the Enphigmalé. The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that. But still…“You shot at me.”
“I shot-at Faolán.”
“No.” I’d recognized those magic arrows before the melee at the PNT facility. “In an alley. A few weeks ago. You killed a Lyhtan who tried to warn me about something, and then you shot at me.” Not to mention she’d run off like a coward.
“Again”-her voice calmed as if to reassure me-“it was not I who shot at you. Besides, I had no reason to kill the Lyhtan. My brother sent him to you.”
“Your brother? Reaver sent the Lyhtan?” Why in the hell would he send a Lyhtan to deliver a message to a Shaede? I guess Reaver didn’t realize I’d been a target for every Lyhtan within gutting distance since the supernatural community had settled down in Seattle. Or maybe he just wasn’t up on his Shaede/Lyhtan history. “He had to have known that was a stupid idea.”
“He couldn’t reach me and he knew Faolán was close, so he sent the Lyhtan to warn you. By the time I arrived, someone had killed his messenger, and apparently tried to dispatch your Jinn as well. I tried to track the murderer, but I lost the trail. Believe me when I say, those arrows were not meant for you.”
“Seriously, though, a Lyhtan?”
Moira shrugged. “He’s employed by my brother as additional security. He was trustworthy.”
If you say so. “So, I suppose that leaves Faolán as the shooter.” That crafty sonofabitch. It fit together perfectly, really. Faolán would have wanted me to stay good and ignorant for as long as possible so he’d have plenty of time to get his hooks into me. And I played right into his hands. Awesome.
Moira nodded, sidestepping me again to look past me. “I assume once he killed the Lyhtan, Faolán tried to kill your protector as well. He wouldn’t have wanted anything to interfere with his plans to manipulate you into bringing him here. We don’t have time to unravel these mysteries now, however. We’re running out of time, and we should be tracking Faolán like the dog he is, not standing here, talking about it.”
Moira had a point. Every second we stood around hashing this out was time I couldn’t afford to lose.
“He’s very powerful,” Moira said. “And the magic at his disposal…ancient.”
“More powerful than you?” I asked.
Moira pointedly ignored me, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed. Either Faolán had one-upped her in the power department, or she found it insulting that I even asked. It didn’t matter to me which it was. Power or not, magic be damned. That bastard was going down.
“Okay,” I said. “What now?”
Moira looked to the sky, the once navy blue of night becoming lighter with the rising sun. A day that had passed in an hour. Moira reached around her back and produced a long dagger from her belt. The obsidian blade ran with veins of green and from the looks of it, it was just the weapon I needed. “Take this,” Moira said. “You’re going to need it. It’s time to hunt.”
I needed Moira’s help if I was going to stop Faolán before he eradicated humanity from the face of the earth. I could sort out the details of this shit storm later-after I was safely home with Tyler and Faolán was dead and gone. I gingerly poked at my side, wincing as my fingers found the stab wound. “Worked over” didn’t begin to describe how I felt. I didn’t heal as fast as I should have, and I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to hold my own in a fight while I was at such a physical disadvantage.
“You’ll be fine by the time we find them.” Ugh. I knew she could sense my thoughts.
“You sure about that?”
“I live here, don’t forget,” Moira said as we negotiated a stream. “It may take longer than you’re used to. But you’ll be back in fighting form before you know it.”
“I usually heal fast. Almost instantaneously.”
“O Anel isn’t like the mortal realm,” Moira said. “You became stronger once you were called to serve as a Guardian. Can you imagine how weak you’d be here without that newfound strength?”
My recent evolution had definitely beefed me up in the strength and healing departments. Not to mention that I could become incorporeal no matter the hour. Well, usually, anyway, when someone wasn’t laying down the mojo on me. “So, I guess it’s sort of like being Superman?”
Moira gave me a curious look.
I rolled my eyes. “You know, he’d have been weaker, fallible on Krypton. But on Earth, he’s got all sorts of superpowers.”
“I read a Superman comic once. Years ago. Reaver gave it to me. I suppose, yes,” Moira laughed. “Something like Superman. In order for you to be strong enough to be a decent protector here, you are afforded the benefit of being superior in the mortal realm.”
Comic, huh? I guessed since she lived in O Anel most of the time, she wasn’t exactly up on pop culture. Or any of the many Superman movies that had been made over the years. “About that,” I began, not sure how I wanted to broach the subject. “Faolán said you live here and Reaver lives in the mortal world. Is that right?”
Moira quirked a brow. She’d perfected her snark to facial expressions only.
“Why is that?” I continued, undeterred by her sarcastic expression. “How can you possibly be a decent protector when you’re required to live an entire world away from what you’re meant to protect?”