Free The Secret: Irin Chronicles Book Three by Elizabeth Hunter

don’t—”
    “He’s not Irin,” Malachi said, turning her so that she faced him but still holding on to her arm. “He’s not… anything I’ve ever encountered. How long were he and your mother together?”
    “Awhile. Not a long while, but long for him.” Ava searched her memory. “Months, I think. A few months.” Which fit with her pattern of relationships before she’d met Malachi. Her longest relationship had been in the three-month range.
    “An Irin scribe could never be with a human for that long.”
    “But he’s not human, either.” She thought about the odd flashes she’d had of him. The strange scent in the air. The gold in his eyes.
    “There was something,” she said. “Something new. I’ve never noticed it before, but—”
    “You never knew what you were before.”
    She turned to him. “Do you think my dad has magic?”
    “I think so, but it’s not obvious.” He frowned at the wall. “It’s… covered.”
    “What?”
    “It’s like his power was covered. That’s the way it felt to be near him. Sort of like you in your dreams.”
    “The same as my dreams?” She sat up straight. “ Exactly the same?”
    Malachi narrowed his eyes. “Yes.”
    “Do you think Jaron is shielding me and my dad?”
    Malachi paused in thought. She could hear his inner voice going crazy. Words tumbled through his mind in a rush.  
    “If that shielding is a mark of angelic protection,” he said, “then yes. Jaron or another one of the Fallen must be protecting your father.”
    “Could it be one of the Forgiven?” Her hope lasted for a moment until Malachi squashed it.
    “It’s not possible, reshon . The Forgiven are gone from this world.”
    “Are you sure?”
    He nodded. “Unless one has chosen to fall again, they cannot come back here. Jaron has already shown a connection to you. It’s possible he has one to your father as well. It is the most likely possibility.”
    “But why?” Ava asked. “Why would Jaron do that? My father has never… he’s not involved in your world.”
    She felt his arms tighten around her. “ Our world, Ava.”
    She nodded. “Our world. And he’s not involved.”
    “How do we know that?” He turned her so he could look in her eyes. “Ava, he knows you’re different. The way he talked about that house he bought for you. The quiet . The seclusion. If his mother was Irina—”
    “How could she be Irina and have a child with a human?”
    “I don’t know. It might be possible. So many went into hiding after the Rending, Ava. If your grandmother was Irina and had a child with a human, it would be the first to my knowledge.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well I discovered at Sarihöfn that there’s a lot the Irin don’t know about the Irina anymore.”
    “You may be correct. It could be possible—even likely—considering you exist.”
    “Would a quarter Irin blood be enough to let me touch you?”
    He ran a hand up her arm. “I think that answers itself. It has to be.”
    She settled back against him. The sun had reached its zenith in the sky, and Ava felt drowsy. The room was warm and her mate stretched out on the couch, cushioning her body with his own. As upset as she’d been with her father, his refusal wasn’t a surprise. It was easy to deal with disappointment when that was all he’d ever given her.
    “What are you thinking, reshon ?”
    “I’m thinking… I like the thought of us getting married. It’ll be easier to explain you to my mother if we marry.”
    “You know, you will not grow older now. With our magic combined, there will come a time—”
    “Shhh.” She pressed a finger to his lips. “I know. Someday, we’ll have to disappear. For now, let me be happy.”
    He fell silent again and pressed a kiss to her hair. “Be happy,” he whispered. “Despite everything happening around us, I am.”
    She watched the sun track across the room, dozing every now and then as she rested against him.
    “I don’t think she’s dead.”