Free Reluctant Adept: Book Three of A Clairvoyant's Complicated Life by Katherine Bayless Page A

jaw.
    " Again , I didn't— " Eschewing the ceiling view, he straightened and then cocked his head from side to side, easing the muscles of his neck.
    After a moment, he turned to me, his expression neutral. "Kieran was badly burned in a fire after an earthquake." He pressed his lips together, frowning. "Sidhe healers are more skilled than yours, but they can only restore so much, even with willing donors. It's not uncommon to use a glamour to hide our imperfections from humans. When one lives as long as we do, scars are inevitable. We may not physically age as humans do, but life takes its toll. Glamours allow many of us to blend into your society without drawing unwanted attention to our … otherness."
    He studied me, then subtly jerked his chin upward. "As your lover, he should have told you. But for that, I cannot denounce him, much as I might wish to."
    My thoughts splintered as I tried to decide whether to be angered or saddened or frightened by this revelation. And since I'm an idiot, I blurted the question that tipped my tongue. "Why? Because you do the same thing?"
    "No," he replied, voice going hard. "Because I am not heartless."
    A flea could squish me, I felt so tall. I slapped a hand to my face and scrubbed. Honestly. How many faux pas could I cram into the space of five minutes?
    I sighed. "Come on. You know I— "
    The trill of my phone's ringtone cut off my fumbling apology, all but goosing me onto the floorboards. Hands trembling, I yanked the bright beacon from Red's extended paws and scrabbled at the screen, squinting to read the contact information. I swiped to answer and, before it had even made contact with my ear, burst out, "Kim?"
    "Lire, thank God," Kim said in a whoosh. "You got out. Are you with Tíereachán and Fisk? We didn't know for sure— "
    "Kieran," I choked out. I closed my eyes, squeezing my cell and fixing it taut to my ear. "Kim, please … Kieran … is he okay?"
    Silence, as forbidding as it was deafening, hammered down the open line. For a half a tick, the moment spanned forever and back again. Finally, she said, "He's alive. Out cold, but alive. Duran just got done healing him."
    "He needed a healing?" My voice emerged abnormally high. "How serious is it? What happened?"
    "He's going to be okay. The injury wasn't crippling, but he took a sword hit to his left shoulder. It was deep enough that we asked Duran if she could help him out, instead of taking him to the hospital."
    I could only breathe into the receiver.
    "He's okay, hon. Don't worry." She mumbled an aside, probably to Jackie, saying that I sounded fine. "What about you? You okay?"
    "No. This is all my fault. If I hadn't lost it— "
    "Lorcán wasn't about to leave empty-handed. You did what you had to."
    I wondered whether she'd be as understanding if she knew Lorcán hadn't been a threat to me at all, the destruction was because I'd lost control.
    "What about Julie and Steven and my friends?" If I clenched my muscles any tighter, I'd be inside out.
    She hesitated. "One was already dead when we showed up. Looked like a vamp kill."
    "Yeah. That was Glen."
    "Ah, okay … well, I didn't stay long after the fire department and police showed up, so I didn't get word about casualties. I didn't see any other bodies though, besides the one, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. I was pretty busy at the time. We eliminated two vamps, but Lorcán and the rest escaped. They took the hostages with them. What does your friend look like?"
    "Long, straight brown hair. She had it in a ponytail. Petite. About five-five. Her husband Steven is six-one or so, medium build, blond buzz cut."
    "I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think one of the vamps, black dude in a suit … I think he had them. I know he and several other vamps had hostages. They made it out with Lorcán—along with a top-heavy brunette with a thing for leather and Louboutins."
    "She's the one who killed Glen."
    "Then I'm doubly sorry I couldn't fry her ass. I