Behind the Veil: 3 (Temptation Unveiled) by R.G. Alexander Read Free Book Online

expected to feel jealousy toward Myrddin’s
sidekick, but the easy way Sheridan seemed to have with Raj, the bond they’d
forged here, ate at him. She trusted the bookish dragon prince. A man who could
change at will into a fierce beast that could rip her to shreds, as far removed
from the humanity she clung to as any of them, had earned her friendship. Finn
knew he should be glad she’d felt some measure of safety here, that she could
look at any of them without disgust. It should give him hope. It should…but it
didn’t.
    He had to see her. The starlight drifted through her balcony
doors to kiss her bare skin, tempting him to do the same. She was tangled in
her sheets, her lean, beautiful body sideways across the bed as though tossed
there and her fists curled tightly in her pillow as she fought her nighttime
demons. Still.
    Finn felt a twinge of guilt that he’d come here to comfort
himself with the sight of her while she suffered. But he didn’t turn away. He
didn’t leave. He was too selfish, too edgy, his mind racing after tonight’s
events. If he woke her from her nightmare he’d be forced to leave and wait
until the sun rose to catch a glimpse of her again.
    He was a bastard.
    He’d known the plan before they arrived, and he would have
bet all the moons in the Realm that she wasn’t going to take it well. He’d
warned Meru to give her time to adjust to their presence before she scared her
away with the details. He’d braced himself for Sheridan Kelly’s unique brand of
stubborn resistance when the banflaith decided to tell her anyway.
    There had been none.
    Not when Meru had told her that she—along with the rest of
them—had been invited to join the Tuatha for a very special Imbolg celebration that would include a royally sanctioned commitment ceremony between
Hawk, Linnea and Val.
    Not when Sheridan was brought up to date with the little
they’d learned about what the prophecy might mean, and the sect of Fae secretly
in league with the Dark . Fae who apparently had enough mastery over
their minds and hearts to keep their true allegiances hidden, something Finn
hadn’t believed was possible. If that was true, the situation was beyond
dangerous.
    Danu had put precautions in place to prevent such treachery.
The Horde was proof of that. A Fae whose soul turned to darkness found that
their bodies soon followed, making it impossible for them to live among their
own kind. The Dark had found a loophole.
    That anyone of his people could or would work with the Dark without changingbaffled him. Shamed him. That they might do so
under his family’s banners—the intelligence indicated the suspects came from
multiple houses—only enhanced the humiliation. Danu forgive them, because he
never would.
    Archons were another matter entirely. He expected deceit
from them. Since they’d arrived in this world not long after his own people,
Myrddin, who had been known by many names—Enki, Merlin, Professor White—was the
only Archon Finn had ever trusted completely. The rest were power-hungry, petty
monsters, with too much reliance on their advanced gadgetry to understand natural
magic and no desire to evolve. Danu had been right to keep the two peoples as
separate as possible. Though even that hadn’t been enough.
    He made another mental correction. Damon’s “brother”
Nyctimus had resisted his genetics the same way Myrddin had. Perhaps it was
because he was half human. He wanted to join the fight alongside them, and
despite his arrogance, Finn saw potential in the son of Zeus. It was too bad
Damon didn’t agree.
    A moan drew him back to the darkened room. Sheridan. She was
more like her ancestor than any of them knew. Strength and sacrifice were Áine’s
defining characteristics. Few knew what she suffered for the people she loved.
Sheridan had the same courage, and she’d shown it tonight.
    By the time the men had returned from Raj’s opulent kitchen
with sandwiches and hot tea, she’d been prepared.