Her lips drooped in a mulish set. “I was goin’ to see friends who would help me find Fenella.” She lifted a hand. “Don’t even ask me about them. I’m not givin’ you their names or addresses, because they have no idea I was on my way to see them. They also don’t know who Cavan is or that Fenella is missin’.”
“What about Cavan?” Daegan asked.
Her eyes slid away from his face in a guilty manner. “What about him?”
“He threatened ya outside the grocery.”
That startled her. “How do you know that? Cavan said he cloaked us while we talked.”
Daegan hadn’t known for sure, but Luigsech just confirmed his guess. His words had been based upon what Reese thought when she’d observed those two during a remote viewing. Reese had sensed some conflict between Luigsech and Cavan.
“How I know anythin’ is not the issue.” Daegan bent his leg that wanted to cramp and stretched it back out. “What I do not understand is ya runnin’ from Cavan with no idea if he has Fenella.”
She had that caught-in-a-lie look all over her face. “Okay, here’s the deal. Cavan did threaten Fenella if I was not at the centre this mornin’ to meet him. I was there ... for a bit.”
“When did you leave the centre?” Quinn prodded.
“When I showed up,” said Daegan. He would not allow her the chance to lie. He’d just figured out the “click” sound he’d heard upon teleporting into the building. “Ya left the ancestral centre through a secret doorway.”
She crossed her arms, sending an angry look down her nose at him from her perch. “Yes. How is it you keep enterin’ a buildin’ without makin’ a sound?” Her eyebrows lowered over thick-lashed slits for eyes.
Ruadh stirred, taking note.
A staring match ensued.
She blinked after a minute. “Whatever. I have no idea if Cavan has Fenella or if somethin’ happened to Cavan to prevent him from showin’ up. Doubtful since his energy feels as powerful as yours.” Her light-blue gaze struck Daegan like a dagger thrown at a target. “You screwed up my chance at protectin’ Fenella.”
Guilt found a place to slide inside and join the pain stabbing Daegan. Had he put Fenella in danger? Not in the best of moods already, he countered, “If ya had not vanished last night from your cottage, that might have been avoided.”
“Deny it all you want, Drake, but Cavan may have both of our friends. If so, I’ve got as much at stake as you do.”
“’Tis a good start. Keep goin’.”
“Hold it. You’re not even goin’ to apologize for interferin’ this morning?” Her jaw flexed with angry muscles.
“Why would I?” he asked. “If not for a deal you made with Cavan, I would have had no reason to be at the centre. Ya told me to go there to meet him.”
“You two are a pair,” she grumbled.
“Cavan is nothin’ like me,” he muttered, not sure how this slip of a woman twisted him around.
She spread her arms out. “How can you know that if you don’t know who he is?”
The mouthy tart had a logical question, but Daegan wanted more on what she was about. “What exactly is goin’ on with ya and Cavan?”
“Nothin’! Just like nothin’ is goin’ on between you and me. I said you two were a pair because, like you, he’s a pain in my backside and wants that stupid grimoire.”
Daegan leaned forward and roared, “Ya will not give him that book!”
“Stop orderin’ me around!” She jumped up and shoved a finger at him, clearly unconcerned about any negative reaction. “Stop actin’ like you’re the only person with problems.”
Tension smoldered under the silence.
“You feel you can find the grimoire?” Quinn asked in a calmer tone with a glance at Daegan that said yelling at her would not help.
Daegan dropped back and thunked his head back against the tree. None of this was helping.
Ruadh rumbled softly. Strong and stands her ground.
Do be quiet, Ruadh, Daegan snarled silently. What had gotten into his dragon?
Luigsech lowered her hand, but stood in a ready position, still seething. Looking up into the trees, she replied, “Maybe ... I don’t know.” She lowered her chin. “I grabbed a couple resource books, but I have no idea if they’ll give me any lead or insight on how to find that book or not. I’m used to havin’ all my resources at my fingertips.”
She started pacing back and forth.
Before Daegan could ask her to sit again, Luigsech stopped abruptly in the middle of their area. “This whole situation makes no sense. Why would any supernatural bein’ want to open that death wall?”
“Power,” Daegan and Quinn said at the same time.
Then Quinn explained, “The Imortiks have a leader, who claims to be willing to work with any powerful being who delivers the missing volumes. That’s why Cavan could be a deadly player.”
“Neither of you have convinced me you’re any better than Cavan,” she charged.
Daegan’s head pounded and a burning sensation rippled through his arms and shoulders. “We could save a lot of time right now by clearin’ up Cavan’s true identity.”
“I told you I have no idea who he is other than who he claims to be.” She had her own short fuse.
Quinn bent his knees to his chest and propped his arms there. “We have a vast knowledge of supernatural beings between the two of us. Let’s start with you describing Cavan in as much detail as you can.”
Daegan gave his Maistir a nod of acknowledgement. In Tristan’s last telepathic call to Daegan, he had started to say who Cavan was as if Tristan expected Daegan to know the face Cavan had hidden with a glamour.
For once, Luigsech didn’t snarl a reply. Probably because Quinn had a soothing demeanor when he didn’t need to kill something.
She stared off into the dense forest. “Cavan is not as tall as either of you. He could be Irish descent. Fenella found him fine lookin’, which I guess he is with wavy black hair and green eyes.” She lifted
