27. Finn
Twenty-Seven
Finn
We walked through the entrance to The Library and a shiver of glee raced down my spine. The lobby was as simple as outside, with beige linoleum, off-white walls, and a man sitting behind a black desk that had as many sharp features as his face.
A book sat open in front of him, each half at least five centimeters thick, and the entire tome consuming a large portion of his desk. He looked up as we approached, and fixed us with a level stare.
“We’re here for knowledge.” Azzie spoke with a level of deference I rarely heard from her.
It wasn’t right that the beings who ran this place kept an actual god of knowledge out, but we were about to rectify that.
The man looked her over, then glanced at us. “Names?”
“Azrael Carroll. My companions are Ezekiel Samson Issacs and Fionn MacCumhill.” It was rare to hear my full name these days, and I had to admit she pronounced it flawlessly, with a level of respect I appreciated.
The librarian let his gaze linger on me, and I stared back with a sternness that made most people flinch.
He simply continued to watch me. “Do you understand what’s involved in vouching for them?”
“I do.” Azzie almost sounded meek. Almost.
The librarian made a grunt that implied disbelief. “This one.” He pointed at me. “Do you know him?”
“I do,” Azzie repeated. “I trust him with the lives of those closest to me.”
“Not with your own life?”
“My life belongs to fate.” Her tone grew firm.
She was focused and driven and that was admirable. I did hope Lugh’s trials didn’t kill her.
One might think this was a lot of fanfare to get into a giant building with books, but the tomes here were said to contain all of history, including information about powerful magics if one knew how to look.
Those who could read the books typically weren’t going to learn means of destruction they weren’t already capable of, but there were a lot of immortals out there who didn’t want knowledge like this to exist. Keeping them from destroying the books was a goal I agreed with wholeheartedly.
The librarian looked us over one more time, then gave a terse nod. A door appeared in the wall behind him and to the right side of his desk, and he returned to staring at his book.
Azzie strode toward the door, and we followed.
“Is that?—”
I brushed Zeke’s hand and shook my head, silencing him. I jerked my head toward a sign behind the librarian that read No Talking in the Lobby when the Door is Open . We could talk once we were inside and in the appropriate room. Just because I’d never been here before didn’t mean I hadn’t memorized the rules in the hopes that one day…
We walked through the heavy wooden door, and it swung shut silently behind us. The door remained, but on the other side it would no longer be visible.
I had to stop and take in the sight in front of me. The walls grew up hundreds of meters, with narrow walkways circling the structure every few meters all the way up. The center was open, but there were additional bookshelves there, stretching out and up.
Was I hard right now? Absolutely. Few things in this world turned me on more.
Azzie shot me a questioning glance.
I gestured forward. After you. We could talk in here, but it felt irreverent to shatter the silence outside of a designated study space.
She led us through the stacks that seemed to grow in number as we strolled. Before we came, she told us she’d been through every book she could find about the prophecies, and so had Davyn. He felt like she’d tapped the resource and that was another reason he hadn’t joined us. She wanted to see what stood out to Zeke and me.
I didn’t blame her for wanting to come back. Now that I’d been allowed admittance, I could get in again on my own as long as I didn’t break the rules. An open invitation I’d be using frequently. There was so much to learn here.
We picked an empty room to set up in that held a simple round table in the middle, and a few chairs. It was the least spectacular thing in the building, but we weren’t here for the furniture.
Then we melted into the stacks again, in the section labeled Myths and Legends . These weren’t actual myths, rather they were the histories behind what most people considered mythical legend.
I trailed my fingers along book spines, never making contact. Leather and canvas and string bound volumes tempted me, but I was looking for one that called my name.
A tingle raced through me, like a spark from walking across a carpet in socks then touching a light switch, but pleasant, and I paused. The title was pressed in fading gold letters, and written in an early version of Anglicized Gaelic. It roughly said THE KNIGHT OF LIGHT . Beneath it in a smaller print, were words that made me wince in their spelling and said and others .
It wasn’t the grandest title. It was a book about Lugh, and that wasn’t a past we needed to delve into today.
Zeke stepped next to me, and before I could figure out what he was looking at, he grabbed the book.
I didn’t stop him, because that would look suspicious. He added it to another he held, making a stack.
There were dozens of other books that made me think training possibilities , but I was happy to let Lugh drive that for Azzie behind the scenes.
When we rejoined her in the room, she looked at my lack of books and raised an eyebrow. “Nothing out there caught your eye?”
“You said yourself that you and Davyn have been through it all.” I made myself comfortable in a chair. “However, yes, there are hundreds—more likely thousands—of books out there I want to read, and none of them will have the content for which you search. I’ll save them for the days when I’m not here on your behalf.”
Zeke set his books on the table between us. “I have no idea what they say, but like my art, they sparked something inside me.”
Azzie grinned at that, and the two took their own seats. She grabbed the one with Norse runes on the cover. “We’ve been through this one a dozen times.” She nudged it in my direction. “I don’t suppose you’d see anything new?” Her question was hopeful rather than condescending.
I shook my head. “I guarantee that Davyn’s d?nsk tunga is better than mine. If he’s read the book, he’s given you everything.” That was the truth. I was certain the only thing Davyn held back from Azzie was how intensely he wanted to pin her to a mattress and rail her. Though, he hid that from himself too, so it wasn’t lying to her.
Zeke slid me the other one. “And this?”
I tucked away any reactions I may have while reading a third-party book about Lugh’s past and my own, and delicately lifted the tome to bring it closer.
“It’s Celtic history.” I left Lugh’s name out, based on Azzie’s reaction to him.
“They fought a lot of wars.” Azzie’s enthusiasm drew a withering glare from me.
She had the decency to look apologetic, but didn’t say anything about her unabashed eagerness to use the bloody past for her gain.
I gave my attention to the book, skimming the pages for highlights. Despite the truth behind Azzie’s statement, these were more peaceful stories. Tales about people Lugh and I had known back in the day. About Morrigan and Nemain. Nuada.
And then my own name glared off the pages, halting me. I knew from the first few sentences this wasn’t one of the modern tales about me building a bridge for love or battle. This was an actual portion of my life inked onto these pages.
Azzie cleared her throat. She noticed I’d stopped.
“This isn’t what you’re looking for.” I was split between turning to the next story, and falling into my past.
“What does it say?” Zeke asked.
I couldn’t read the actual words aloud; the instant I saw Sadhbh’s name, the words blurred. “It’s about a Jotun who fell in love. He adored her so deeply, he’d do anything for her. Anything she asked.” A sense of loss surged in, more potent than it had been for centuries, but it wasn’t all attached to her. I remembered how she made me feel, and it had been so long, the memories weren’t tied to the same feelings.
However, my past tied to my present, and tugged at the fears I had about Zeke. “She was a seer.” I resisted the urge to look at him, staring at the pages instead despite barely reading them. “She saw things no one wanted to hear or believe about the near future. The kind of visions that haunted her. The sort that told her when and how people were going to die. She saw them suffer again and again, before it ever happened.”
“I’m sorry. I know that’s hard.” Azzie’s flippant tone had vanished.
I spared her a glance and saw her frown. She’d watched her mother deal with something similar. “It is hard.” I couldn’t delve into the details. Centuries later, I still didn’t regret keeping the secrets Sadhbh begged me to, and I disliked anyone who thought I would betray my word to her, regardless of whose death she’d seen.
“What else does it say?” Zeke sounded concerned and sympathetic.
I gave a rough shake of my head, and pushed away the clouds that mingled with feelings from then and now. “Nothing that will help you get stronger. Nothing I couldn’t tell you without the help of a book. She descended into grief, burdened with the images of one death after another. I tried to keep her here, but when fate was done with her, when the visions had devoured her both mentally and physically…”
“Yeah.” Azzie’s voice was soft. Was she stuck in the past as well?
I forced my gaze from the pages to Zeke’s face. “I swore I’d never let something like that happen again. I wouldn’t let fate destroy someone I love, no matter the cost to me.”
He stared at me for a moment, searching my face, then glanced at Azzie before looking at his hands. “I don’t blame you.”
A fist squeezed my heart knowing that he might understand a little, but not a lot, and he thought it was Azzie whom he had to protect.
“Is there anything else in the book?” Azzie’s question was sharp, almost shrill.
She wanted me to move on as much as I needed to do so. It was likely she was thinking about her mother, and I’d seen her steer away from that topic several times.
I turned back to the book, skipped the rest of my own history, along with the next story about Lugh, and stopped at Cú Chulainn. “Now this guy was a fighter.” He also had a story I wasn’t invested in much. “Lugh’s son, but Cu didn’t know that. He was raised by his mother and step father. There are a lot of legends about him. He—” I frowned as I read the words in front of me, then scanned a few more pages.
“What’s wrong?” Zeke asked.
This book was planted here. By fate. By Lugh. Who knew? It was meant for Azzie to find, though. “The other stories in this book are mostly accurate, these aren’t.” I was talking to myself as much as him. “These have more of a Herakles feeling to them. Cu was…”
“Was what?” Azzie sounded breathless.
Cu was too much like her. “He was a potential. He grew more powerful through a series of encounters and training.” I didn’t have to look to know she was invested.
“Like what?” Azzie leaned closer to me.
Zeke was the one scowling now.
“There were wars. Women. Men. Weapons. Gáe Bulg.”
“Oh.” Her voice fell. “I met someone once who offered to train me. I couldn’t.” She sounded embarrassed.
It was a horrible weapon capable of horrible things.
“I don’t blame you.” I refused to deride her for clinging to her humanity. It was one of Azzie’s saving graces.
We scanned the rest of the book. I skipped the story of the siren without saying anything. A few weeks ago, when Azzie started talking about taking a siren’s test, I was curious about how Lugh nudged her in that direction.
Knowing that he was working with Enid told me all I needed about the situation. I doubted Azzie had any idea he was the source of that information though, or after today’s encounter with Lugh, she would’ve immediately canceled the upcoming siren’s trial.
Did Enid even know that Lugh was the one who pointed her in that direction?
We checked out a few other books as well, but didn’t find anything Azzie hadn’t already investigated. Unsurprisingly, none of it was anything Zeke was interested in.
We packed up and headed onto the street again. I’d return here alone when I had a lot of time to browse. As we wandered down the sidewalk, everyone was silent. As lost in their thoughts as I was in my own.
Zeke’s expression perked up when we neared the dispensary again. “I need something. Wait here, I’ll be right back.”
I exchanged a questioning glance with Azzie, who gave me the same, and we waited while he headed in, and emerged a few moments later with a small paper bag.
“What is it?” Azzie asked.
Zeke held the package tightly. “A surprise.”
I would have fed her the same line she gave me when I asked what she got from Enid, but I was curious too. “You forgot her birthday, didn’t you?” I settled for teasing Zeke instead.
He gave me a withering look, and Azzie snorted.
“We should go home and open presents,” Zeke said, instead of a direct answer.
Whatever he’d gotten was definitely for her, and he didn’t want to keep the secret any longer than he had to.
“We’re opening presents tomorrow night.” Was I really having this conversation with two adults? I didn’t care when they exchanged gifts, but I didn’t have hers yet. I was meeting Lugh later tonight to pick it up.
I still couldn’t believe that fucker showed up at Enid’s.
“There’s no law that says we can’t open some today and some tomorrow.” When Azzie said that, Zeke pointed at her as if it was the most brilliant idea. “They’re our presents. Besides, you’re cutting out on us in a few hours, Finn.”
How did she know that?
Zeke furrowed his brow. “She’s right, isn’t she? You ran into an old friend and that means one of your I’ll be out for a while nights that you never explain.”
“Not necessarily.” I couldn’t outright deny the assumption because it would become apparent soon enough that they were correct.
The way Zeke rolled his eyes and let out a tiny huff-sigh cut deeper into me than any harsh retort. “Let’s get a hotel for the night. We’ll be back tomorrow anyway, and it will let you be closer to Enid, Azzie.”
They were writing me out of their plans. Despite the fact that I wasn’t sticking around, the notion gnawed at me. I refused to let her see that, though. “I’ll pick up the tab,” I said. “Pick a place nearby with room service, and you can let someone else do the work.”
Zeke’s frown deepened.
“For your birthday. Let me spoil you a little,” I said before he could argue. Anything I could do to make his life a little better.
“Okay,” Azzie replied before Zeke could, and I swallowed my reaction. Despite the way she clung to rules about equivalent exchange, and never taking something without offering in return, she rarely hesitated to let someone spend money if they offered.
She’d learned for a lot of immortals that human currency held little value. It was ink on paper that couldn’t be used for anything else, and these days it wasn’t even that. It was a vague promise of numbers not attached to anything but a computer.
What would a god do with that when Ragnarok took those systems away?
Zeke twisted his mouth and his nostrils flared.
“Let me do this for you.” I brushed his arm. “Enjoy the night off.”
He gave a terse nod.
Azzie knew where the nearest place was that met our requirements. They got a single room. Conflict spilled inside me. I hated the reminder, that they fell asleep in the same bed as often as not these days, regardless of their insistence they weren’t together . On the other hand, I didn’t want Zeke lingering on where I was going. Apparently my outings left more of an impression on him than I wanted, and I hated that I gave him reasons to not trust me.
The hotel was the nicest in town, which still meant barely more than two and a half stars. There was room service, though, which gave me one more excuse to spoil the birthday boy.
“Okay, presents.” Azzie made the proclamation the moment the door shut and locked behind us.
“All right.” Zeke looked excited too.
I was only here to watch, and that seemed a bit awkward. Besides, my thoughts had moved on to seeing Lugh tonight. To ask him what he was doing. To disappointing Zeke again when I couldn’t offer an explanation for where I was going.
“Me first.” Azzie was already pulling the package from Enid out of a pocket that didn’t look like it could be holding more than a few flat dollar bills. She handed something to Zeke that was maybe ten centimeters square and half as tall, and wrapped in bright blue paper with silver foil accents.
Enid must’ve wrapped it, as I couldn’t imagine Azzie going out of her way for pretty wrapping paper.
Zeke was mostly gentle with the paper, peeling up the edges, and folding it before setting it aside. When he was done, he held a wooden box, with what looked like a drinking glass burned into the lid. “What is it?”
“Open it and see,” Azzie prompted.
He flipped a latch on the front, and a small drawer slid out, as if on a spring. “Neat.” He turned the box this way and that, examining it. “I bet I could make one of these.”
Azzie pursed her lips. “Look inside, goof.”
“Oh, yeah.” He turned the box enough to let two glass discs fall into his hand. He held the first one up, and light shone through the brownish red. Etched on one side was a pair of lips. The other was a vibrant green, and had a paintbrush image on it.
Curious .
Zeke’s furrowed brow said he didn’t get it any more than I did. “Thanks, I love it?” He wasn’t convincing. He held the lips glass in front of his mouth, and the other over his crotch. “Is it magic? Can I blow myself? Are you telling me to go fuck myself?”
Azzie laughed. “It’s not a dick, it’s a paintbrush.”
“I knew that, but I wasn’t sure you did,” Zeke teased.
She gave him a flat look, but amusement danced in her eyes.
“She definitely knows what a dick is.” Oops. Did I say that out loud?
Azzie looked me over, eyebrows raised. “I sure do.”
“Hey. I resemble that remark,” I said.
She shook her head and gave Zeke her attention again. “They’re for when you’re drawing. One sits on your drink and the other on your pencil shavings glass—it’s for paint water, but it will work for what you do too. They stop you from drinking-slash-putting shavings in the wrong cup.”
Neat trick.
“No shit.” Zeke examined the discs again, this time with brighter eyes. “How does it work?”
“Magic.” Azzie’s retort had a duh tone to it. “Beyond that, each acts as a barrier to different things. For example, if you put the pencil shaving one to your lips, the glass would stay in place, but hold the shavings over it, and it lets them in.
Zeke turned the mouth disc over and over in his hands. “Okay, that’s fucking wicked. Thank you.” He kissed her on the cheek.
That was new. They were exchanging cheek kisses now? Sure, no one believed they weren’t together except them, but Azzie was militant about the topic. She didn’t show this kind of closeness with anyone.
Zeke didn’t either.
“My turn.” He pulled out his phone, rather than grabbing the bag from the dispensary.
Azzie tilted her head, radiating curiosity.
“I know you won’t do anything permanent, and I respect that. Always.” He jabbed the screen as he talked. “But I also know you like a lot of what you see, and you can wear this one for a little while without scarring yourself. And bonus, the ink I bought gives it a little magic.” He indicated the purchase he’d made.
“And it is— Oh .” Her words ended in a gasp when she looked at his phone screen.
I looked over her shoulder, and my brain stalled at the image he displayed. It was a tattoo Zeke had designed—a Dara knot. One of the more intricate knots, and one used so frequently these days, it had lost most of its meaning.
But when someone like Zeke created an image like this, it had the potential to tie to power that used to imbue all such symbols. This one was inner strength, wisdom, and possibly immortality, all tied to her ancestors.
“Why does it have wings?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer.
Zeke shrugged. “That’s what came to me.”
Of course it was.
“Where does it go? On me, I mean.” Azzie’s excitement was palpable.
Zeke stepped behind her, nudging me away, and traced a path along the base of her neck to her right shoulder. “If you put it here, it will help ease the burden you carry on behalf of others.”
A mark like that, made with their connection, his gift, and that ink, was far more potent than they realized. These two were playing with things they didn’t fully understand. Again.
I didn’t care what Azzie did, as long as she didn’t hurt Zeke. Him, though… The more often he protected her without realizing how potent the promises were, the more concerned I was about taking her out of the picture without Zeke getting hurt.
“When can you put it on?” Azzie tugged at her shirt sleeve and glanced toward her back again.
Zeke pulled the chair away from the table in the corner and pointed it to face the room. “Now if you want.”
Azzie grabbed the hem of her shirt and tugged up to strip it off.
“I need to step out.” I couldn’t watch any more of them like this. Besides, I had a meeting with Lugh soon.
“Because I’m going topless?” Azzie teased. “You’ve seen it all before, and I’m wearing a sports bra.”
I had seen it. Her . The fact that she and Zeke couldn’t keep their hands off each other meant I’d walked in on them more than once, when they’d decided to fuck in some random place in his house. I’d learned to announce myself when I returned to Zeke’s after being away for any amount of time.
It didn’t stop them from boinking like bunnies, but my calling out I’m back typically gave them a chance to either cover up or shout don’t come in .
Then again, that last one may not have been meant for me.
This—Zeke painting magical protection marks on Azzie, was a different level of intimacy, and watching that connection gnawed at me. Was I jealous that the two of them were not only this close, but that Zeke hadn’t been interested in sex with me since she showed up?
“You already guessed I was leaving,” I said. “I have to pick up presents. This seems like a good time since you two are busy.”
Zeke let out the tiniest huff, and Azzie rolled her eyes.
I waited for a snarky comment, but none came. Which meant they probably both knew I was hiding something.
I turned to leave, and Zeke said, “I’ll walk you out.” A ridiculous offer, since I’d intended to teleport out of the room, but I walked to the hallway with him anyway. He let the door close most of the way, stopping it with his foot. “I don’t suppose you’re going to say where you’re off to.” His voice was low.
“You don’t want to hear about it.” I knew that to be the truth, but my response was also a deflection. A few weeks after Azzie became part of his life, I’d tried to remind Zeke again that he would be a god someday, and I wouldn’t let anyone—especially Azzie—keep him from his fate.
Zeke clenched his jaw. His counter never changed. We swore a blood oath. Even if I didn’t trust her, you keep insisting those are as binding as a contract gets .
The part of that argument I hated the most was the reminder he did trust her. “She keeps secrets too. As do you.”
“No.” Zeke shook his head. “There are things Azzie and I don’t know about each other, but it’s because we can’t touch each other and impart unfiltered knowledge. Someday you’re going to tell me where you go, when you leave with vague bullshit excuses.”
I’m doing this to keep you safe . The words wouldn’t reassure him—they never had before. “Someday I will.” I wished I could tell him now, but soon enough.
He glanced toward the room. “Don’t wait too long.”
“We have eternity, Handsome.” I’d make sure of it.
Zeke furrowed his brow, and shook his head. “Be safe.” He walked into the room again without waiting for me to reply.
It wasn’t my safety that was in question. I vanished from the hallway and appeared in a bar in Chicago. I didn’t like being in this city, but neither did most immortals unless they were here under the protection of Freyr and Fenrir. The pair owned a burlesque club in Chicago Underground, and had a standing declaration of don’t fuck with our city and we won’t fuck with you .
Lugh and I weren’t going to do anything to anyone here, and that made this the perfect place to talk without wondering who might find or pursue us here.
Still, the tingle of unwelcoming magic crawled over my skin as I landed in front of the door. I shrugged off the feeling and walked inside to find Lugh already waiting in a booth, one pint in front of him and another across from him on the table.
Instead of taking my seat, I slid into his, digging my knee into his thigh and pressing him against the far wall. “What the fuck was that, earlier today?” I let the threat roll through my growl of a question.
“I wanted to meet the woman.” Lugh gave me an easy smile that pissed me off even more. “I wish she wasn’t a redhead.”
A lot of them were. Malsumis had a type, and most of her children were a lot like their mothers, down to the red hair and stubborn attitudes. “She’s also paranoid to the point of it being detrimental, and now she’s paranoid about you.”
“Are you done?” Lugh didn’t show any concern about my being pissed off.
I could punch him. I could blink him out of here and drop him into the Pacific Ocean from forty thousand feet.
He’d recover from either in an instant, and we’d make up and go for drinks. The actions might make me feel better for all of two or three minutes, but they would waste time. I’d been spinning my wheels too much lately as it was.
I slid out of his seat and into my own, and knocked back half my drink before letting the mug slam into the wood table again. “Don’t fuck this up.”
“She was going to be paranoid about me regardless.” Lugh’s casual demeanor was mildly infuriating, but not unexpected. His goals were different enough from most that his behavior tended to be predictably unpredictable.
Instead of answering, I took another drink. Let him fill in the silence.
He studied me for a moment before saying, “besides, I was planting the next seed with Enid.”
I should’ve known he was the one feeding Enid information to pass along to Azzie. Seven months ago when he said he was sending Azzie to meet Zeke, I assumed he’d gone through a network of rumors to plant the idea in her head. It should’ve clicked with me before now that he’d simply gone directly to the woman who sent Azzie most everywhere.
“What seed is that?” One of the only issues I took with Azzie’s drive to uncover the prophecies was that these days her searches frequently involved Zeke.
A waitress stopped at the table and set a bowl of chips, with a cup of salsa, between us. “Get you boys anything else?”
“Not now, thanks.” Lugh barely glanced at her.
Because for all his flaws, he was eternally and hopelessly devoted to Malsumis.
“This is only for Azzie,” Lugh said when she was gone. “Enid has the details.”
“You’re an idiot.” I let my irritation spill out. “After today, Azzie isn’t going to touch anything Enid gives her if there’s even the slightest chance you’re associated with the information.”
Lugh smirked. “Enid has no idea I’m the one who fed her the siren idea. It came from sources that can’t be traced back to me. The only thing I did today was answer a handful of questions Enid initiated about the nature of illusion magic. She was quite generic in her approach to get information from me.”
These days a lot of sirens ran pubs and diners, frequently in quiet spots between major towns, and along freeways. The kind of place that welcomed weary travelers without question, and soothed tired souls.
Some sirens were as direct as the myths said, luring in unsuspecting victims with a beautiful song promising everything they desired. Others had taken up a more vengeful mantle. They helped those who were running from someone. Abused and tormented souls. The sirens hunted the hunters.
Regardless, their victims tended to end up in a nightmare filled prison of their own psyches making. Details were sparse about what that meant, since very few ever climbed out of a siren’s spell.
I was still surprised Lugh wanted to go this route, given the goal was to keep Azzie alive long enough for Malsumis to use her as a vessel. “A siren’s test sounds permanent.”
He shook his head. “This isn’t the same as if Azzie were a victim the siren hunted down. The test is made to be passable, though not without a great deal of effort. If she survives, she’ll move on to the next obstacle, and if she doesn’t…” For the first time since I’d arrived, a hint of concern passed over his face. “If she doesn’t, then she wouldn’t make a good vessel, and I’ll move on to the next one. Regardless, you and your Potential get what you want.”
Not what Zeke wanted. Not yet. He’d learn. “Fantastic.” My tone was flat. None of this was why I was here, but it was good to know it was coming. “Did you get what we were looking for?”
I actually was here to pick up Azzie’s gift. I’d asked Lugh to find me a protection charm that worked similarly to the blood oath Azzie and Zeke made, but with power outside of them. It would keep her or anyone else from hurting Zeke in her name.
“I did.” He set a small box on the table between us. “It’s a pair though. One for him, one for her.”
Of course it was. “Not what I asked for.”
“What you get, because these kinds of spells work best when they go both ways, and because I can’t have you hurting her if I can avoid it.”
Fuck . “Fine.” I didn’t intend to be the one to harm her anyway, and if Loki got to her, his reasons were his own and had nothing to do with Zeke. I grabbed the box and pocketed it. “Thanks. When does this siren shit happen?”
“Don’t know.” Lugh shrugged. “Enid has the details, and the rest is up to her. The way my girl is going though, I assume soon.”
So I needed to distract Zeke while Azzie was gone. Finally get him to myself again for a little while, and be prepared to offer comfort if she didn’t return.
Best thing I’d heard all day.