Skin Deep

CHAPTER 17

“I DON’T LIKE this,” said Terryn.

Sinclair remained locked in the basement. When Cress arrived, she went down to tend his bruised ribs. Laura leaned against the counter in the kitchen. “We don’t have a choice, Terryn. I’m exposed.”

“We don’t know if we can trust him.”

She crossed her arms loosely and stared at her feet. “He could have let me get killed tonight.”

“Or he could be lying to gain our confidence,” Terryn said.

She arched an annoyed brow at him. “Ahem. Are you questioning my ability to sense truth?”

She thought she detected embarrassment. Actual embarrassment from Terryn macCullen. “I didn’t mean that. I’m worried.”

“I’ve been sensing only the truth from him,” she said.

Terryn nodded. “I don’t dispute that. But he was also able to hide his fey nature from you. We don’t know if he can hide lies from you.”

She shook her head. “We’ve never disclosed my truth-sensing ability, Terryn. Every arrest or report we’ve ever made, we’ve used independent verification. No one knows about it. Sinclair wouldn’t know to hide from it.”

“You can’t be sure of that,” he said.

She stared at him. “Terryn, if I can’t be sure of that, then we have a bigger problem. Our agreement was that you and Cress would never tell anyone about my truth-sensing, not even Maeve herself, unless I agreed. Is there something you need to tell me?”

Again, embarrassment rolled off him. “No, we’ve never told. I’ll trust you on this.”

She ran water into a glass and watched him as she sipped. “This isn’t like you, Terryn. You’re never this unsettled. What’s wrong?”

He closed down his emotions. It was a natural reaction, Laura supposed. He knew she could read him. She wondered what it must be like for him to have two people he couldn’t lie to. She could sense lies in his tone, and Cress could feel them in the core of his essence. Laura could not fathom what it was like to have not one, but two people know him that intimately. It had been years since she allowed someone that privilege.

He closed the door to the basement, a move that surprised Laura. Terryn hid nothing from Cress as far as she knew. “Like I said, I don’t like this. You’ve had persona conflicts before, but never this many connecting to the same case and never with Laura Blackstone involved. I’m worried things could slide out of control.”

She swallowed water. The true reason her personas were tangled was her poor decision to create Janice. Janice Crawford wouldn’t have happened if Laura Blackstone hadn’t been involved with Foyle through Hornbeck’s office. “Are you sure that’s it?”

“What do you mean?”

She rubbed at the tense muscles in her neck. “I read the Alfrey file. He’s dredging up a lot of bad memories, isn’t he?”

Terryn glanced at the basement door again. “I know I can’t lie to you, Laura, so, yes. The Alfrey clan has always been a problem for my family. I don’t think this investigation is about me, but I’m concerned about where it can lead.”

Laura frowned. “Are you afraid it might lead to Ireland?”

He shrugged, a long, languid gesture for him that sent his wings rippling. “ ‘Afraid’ isn’t the word. My sister has things well in hand leading the macCullens. It’s the larger issue. I walked away from Danann and Inverni politics because it never ends, but I’m wondering if Simon Alfrey’s appearance is a sign that I made a mistake.”

“How would your being in Ireland have made a difference?” she asked.

He frowned. “I don’t know. But I do know that I would have a clearer sense of the nuances of what is happening with Alfrey.” His eyes slid to the basement door again. “And I don’t know if I can go back.”

She realized his conflict was about Cress. The clan would have a hard time accepting a non-Inverni as a mate for their leader. That Cress was a leanansidhe made matters worse. No one trusted them. With the failures of the past haunting the Inverni, they would find Cress’s influence disturbing. Hell, she thought, I find it disturbing sometimes. Their intimacy had a palpable texture to it. Everyone could feel it when they were together. That intensity for anything other than the good of the clan would be looked on as suspect. “The Wheel of the World, Terryn,” she said instead.

Terryn said nothing. The Wheel of the World, the fate of them all, a question of faith to which both she and Terryn subscribed. Things happened because they needed to happen for whatever reason fate dictated. They all rode the Wheel as It turned. Sometimes It ran its course as it would and sometimes people affected its course. At least that was what Laura believed. Otherwise, she was a pawn in the hands of some vast unknown Power. As far as she was concerned, if such a Power existed, she doubted it would care much about her as an individual.

“Sometimes I forget that,” he said.

“We all do.”

He changed the subject. “Sinclair stays off the books until he proves himself.”

“That’s fine with me,” Laura said.

Terryn allowed himself a tired smile, which was telling. Powerful fey didn’t tire easily. “Good. Because he’s your responsibility until then. He doesn’t go anywhere without you except when he’s at work.”

Laura nearly dropped her glass. “You’re joking.”

He shook his head. “No joke. I don’t trust him. I trust your judgment, but that doesn’t mean I won’t set precautions. You should decide where you’re going to live. The two of you can’t stay here. It will raise questions.”

She put the glass down. “You want me to live with him?”

“Is there a problem? You’ve done things like this before. If he’s willing, maybe he’ll let Janice Crawford move in to his place. The Crawford apartment is rather small, and the cable’s been disconnected.”

She retrieved the glass and turned away to refill it at the sink. “Fine. Bring him to the Guildhouse. I have to get some things from my apartment, and I’ll pick him up afterward.”

“Okay. Cress should be done by now. Do you want me to help debrief him?” Terryn said to her back.

She shook her head as she stared out the window. Someone had set up a swing set in the backyard. “It’ll help build trust if I do it alone.”

“True. Let me know if there’s anything I can do,” he said.

She kept staring out the window. She didn’t know whether to laugh or scream.