I blinked at the captain’s scowl and then tried to diffuse the moment between all of us. “That’s sweet, Fin, but I need at least a two-carat rock to consider a man’s hand in marriage.”
The captain cursed and stalked back across the room.
“Funny, Zoey,” Fin said, no humor in his tone. “I offer you more than marriage. I offer you my life, my magic, until we finish our work.”
“Your what now?” I tried to pull my hands from his, but he tightened his grip.
“If something happens to you, then you’ll be able to tap into my own life force, my magic, to protect yourself. I don’t want you to feel like I’m sacrificing you again. This way, you’ll be protected no matter what happens.”
I shook my head and jerked my hands from his. “Are you nuts? I don’t even want my magic, so why would I want yours? And I have no interest in your life. You don’t even know me. Why would you offer this to me?”
“A show of trust.”
“You don’t trust me.”
A sadness weighed down his face, his shoulders. “I do trust you. If I didn’t, why would I be in your home, giving you my money, making this choice?”
I took his hands in mine again. “Then show me why. Make me believe it.”
He didn’t hesitate, but shot an image straight into my head like it zoomed across on a zipline. It was me at the Citadel, saving his life. Me dying.
I sucked in a breath and slid back onto my chair to steady myself. The bastard had failed to tell me emotions came with the memories. As fast as the images and onslaught appeared, they dissipated. Fucking hell. He did trust me.
The ability to protect myself against Esteban and his men wasn’t something I should pass up. But I didn’t understand his willingness to give so much to me when I held back from him.
I stood and met his eyes head on. “Fine. Do it. And then we’ll try to find your forest.”
“Harlan,” Fin called out.
The captain walked over and handed Fin one of the knives strapped to his forearm.
I wrinkled my nose at Fin using the captain’s first name. Considering this was the first time I’d heard Fin call him anything at all, it was too weird. It made sense though: if they shared some kind of mental connection, then he wouldn’t need to call him aloud very often.
“Step forward, Zoey,” Fin said.
Sensing if I made one wise crack the captain would take off my head, I kept my jokes to myself and did what Fin told me to do.
He took my hand in his and made a shallow cut horizontally under the crease of my elbow. I hissed out a breath and watched him do the same to his own arm. Then he took his blood and mixed it with mine by pressing our flesh together. Magic swamped me, dragging me hard to my knees on the floor. He followed me down, grabbed my arm, and brought it to his lips. With one smooth swipe of his tongue, he cleaned away our mixed blood.
“I give you this iusiurandum, Zoey Salix,” he said. “My life and my magic bound to yours until the day you release me from this vow.”
His words eddied around me, pressing the magic in tighter to my body, to my face, my neck, my hair, my teeth until I could feel them inside and outside and all around us.
When he dropped my arm, the sensations dissipated, and I could draw a full breath again.
“Shit,” I whispered.
Fin helped me stand.
I batted him away. “I’m fine.”
From beside me, the captain leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Don’t make him regret that, or my face will be the last one you ever see.”
Chapter Eight
I wish I’d discovered that I hate helicopters... before I was flying at ten thousand feet. Fin seemed right at home flying the chopper. Sitting amidst the beeping contr
ols, knobs, and levers. The headset he’d clapped on my head dug into my skull, but it was the only way I could hear him over the roar of the engine.