“Does he have a name or is he another nobody like you?” she snapped.
Had Quinn coughed to catch his attention?
Daegan turned a glare on his Maistir, who showed no expression as he stood quietly. Except his eyes. Quinn found something amusing.
Sighing, Daegan returned to the woman who had escaped him more times than he wished to count. She was harder to keep in one place than a flea on a dog’s back. “His name is Quinn. Ya may call me Drake. We know ya are Casidhe Luigsech. I still must find Cavan. Every second ya waste, our friend is bein’ tortured.”
Guilt spread across her face. “You can’t know that and it’s not my fault he got captured. Had you not brought him with you to stalk me, he might be just fine.”
Daegan silently admitted her point. “I did not accuse ya of such, but ya are my only connection to Cavan. Did ya meet him this mornin’?”
“No. He never showed.”
“Are ya not worried he may harm your friend, Fenella, and make her endure his anger at ya leavin’?”
“How do you know Fenella?” She lifted her sword a little higher while her gaze darted between him and Quinn.
“Put your sword down, woman. I do not know Fenella, only that she works at the same place as ya. We are no threat to your friend, but ya must know Cavan is if ya cross him.” Daegan stabbed his sword in the ground in a show of peace. He hoped she didn’t take advantage of the move to prove she could reach his neck with her blade.
She pointed her sword at the Imortik bodies. “First, what are these creatures?”
Quinn stepped forward, speaking as he walked. “They are known as Imortiks. They take over bodies of human and supernatural beings. They can be killed ... sometimes.”
“What do you mean by sometimes?” She pinned Quinn with a suspicious look. “Looks as though we killed them last night and today.”
Quinn expanded, “It depends on the power level of the bein’ whose body the Imortik takes over and if they have completed their immersion into the new body. Once they’ve had time to fully bond with the power in a supernatural body, or if they manage to take over a very powerful being, killin’ the Imortik becomes questionable.” He kept his arms slack at his sides in a nonthreatening way, but Quinn had kinetic power as well as mind lock.
“What are you two?” She kept dividing her attention between Quinn and Daegan.
“’Tis a good question for ya,” Daegan countered.
She shifted her shoulders in an attempted shrug. “I’m just me. Nothing special.”
Daegan snorted at that lie. “I will not waste time pursuin’ the truth with someone so loosely associated with it.”
It took her a minute to realize he’d insulted her. She bared her teeth. “You’re not winnin’ any points with that attitude, Drake.” She waved her sword at him for emphasis.
He lifted a hand. “Put that bloody sword down or sheath it before ya fall and cut yourself.”
She stepped back, mouth open, then snapped it shut. Her face flushed red and she yelled, “Arm yourself.”
“What?”
She attacked.
His sword flew to his hand. He moved to block her strike.
“I’m sick to death—” Clang. “—of your arrogant attitude.” She swung back and forth, attacking with surprising skill.
Quinn crossed his arms. He sent mind-to-mind, Do you want any help?
Of course not, Daegan groused silently. This woman is a constant battle, but she needs to realize she cannot defeat me.
Battling to stop her and not kill her, he shouted, “Are ya mad?”
Luigsech never slowed. “Damn right, I’m mad. Who do you ... think you are to insult me?” Clang, clang, clang. She spun away, chest heaving and mouth pinched in a tight line. “Why should I give you any help? You’re in my way and I have my own—” She attacked again. Clang. Dodge. Clang. “—issues with Cavan.”
She blinked.
Daegan moved so fast she stumbled forward with the momentum of her swing.
Spinning around with her blasted sword up, she seethed, staring at the spot he’d left empty. She didn’t ask how he’d moved so quickly.
Neither would Daegan admit he’d teleported just to end the fight. “Enough! ’Tis time to talk.”
“First you insult my skill with a sword, then you want to talk?”
Quinn sent a comment to Daegan only. She’d make a helluva Belador warrior.
Daegan shot him a hard glare. Shaking his head, he got down to why he’d tracked her to this point. “Ya waste valuable time. Why did ya leave without meetin’ with Cavan?”
When she wouldn’t give in, Daegan stabbed his sword in the ground once more and shot her a glare of warning. “I will not lift my sword again. If ya wound me this time, ya will be attackin’ an unarmed man.” He crossed his arms, waiting.
She lowered her blade to the ground. “I didn’t see Cavan, because he never showed up.”
“Then where were you going just now?” Quinn asked.
She gave Quinn a long look. “I was not on my way to meet with Cavan, if that’s what you’re thinkin’.”
“Answer the question,” Daegan ordered. “You’re playin’ games with someone’s life.”
Her jaw dropped. “What is it with you blamin’ me for what Cavan did? I told you he was comin’ to the centre this mornin’. He didn’t. Clearly he lied to me. Am I worried about Fenella? Yes, dammit. So if we’re placin’ blame, you’re puttin’ her life in danger until I find her. What gives you the right to keep bustin’ into my world all the time?”
Daegan took a step toward her and dropped his voice. “When I saw ya talkin’ to Cavan before he captured my friend, ’tis what.”
Quinn cleared his throat. “Do you think Cavan has Fenella?”
Daegan shifted to him, realizing Quinn had a point. When he turned back to the woman, her face fell.
“To be honest, I don’t know.” She squatted to wipe her blade off on the troll body, wrinkled her nose, then stood. She slid the blade into a
