Chapter Fifteen
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“Iknow your day isfull.I appreciate you coming here, Tana.”Aodh began once the older woman had settled in one of the chairs on the other side of his desk.
Kai straightened up.She’d been leaning against Aodh’s shoulders, trying to get her bearings after the information he told her.One of Aodh’s hands still rested on her lower back while the other held the outside of one of her thighs.
“Mckenna, it’s not a problem.”Tana smiled at them both, garbed in a yellow tunic-style dress, her icy-white short hair held back with a black band.“How may I be of service?”
“Actually, it’s Kai who desired this meeting.”He glanced at her.“Little flame.”
Heat flooded her cheeks at his use of her nickname before someone else while she was in such an intimate position.“Yes, I—” Shifting, Kai started to rise.Aodh’s grip tightened on her thigh, holding her in place.She stared at him, silently urging him to release her.
He stared back.
Kai rolled her eyes.It was a fight she wasn’t willing to wage.There were more important things.She met Tana’s gaze again.The older woman did not appear fazed one bit about Kai’s seat.“First, I’d like to thank you for cleaning and repairing my father’s military jacket.The item holds fond memories for me.”Lifting a hand, Kai stroked along one sleeve.
“It wasn’t a bother.I figured as much, and I’m glad I got it back.”
“Got it back?”Kai tilted her head.
“Yes.”Tana glanced from her to Aodh, then back.“I explained to the Mckenna I’d originally given it away for incineration like your other things.”Tana shook her head.“They were in abysmal shape.I am sorry if one of those items was valuable to you.”She sighed.“They couldn’t be repaired.So, burning was best.”
Kai wasn’t sure why they didn’t toss the clothes into a waste bin instead of going to such extremes.Waving a hand away, she continued, “Those things are of no consequence.”
Tana offered a short nod.
“However, there are some items I seem to be missing.”Kai leaned forward with her forearms on Aodh’s glass desktop the best she could with him holding her so tight.
“There are?”Tana’s brow furrowed.“What’s missing?”
Kai relaxed her features.She wasn’t trying to make the older woman who had tended to her and her sister so well feel like Kai was accusing her of anything.“A pair of rings.”
“Rings?”Tana tilted her head.A small, canary flame filled her irises and lit her markings.“What kind?”
“They were gold bands.”
“Gold.”The flame shifted to a pale tangerine as Tana glanced at Aodh.The stare seemed to communicate something.
Kai looked from the older woman to Aodh, who arched a single brow but remained silent.She gazed again at Tana.It was evident Tana knew something.Kai wouldn’t question why the woman had not returned them to her.She just wanted them back.“Do you have them?”
“No.”The fire was gone from her eyes.“However—”
“‘However...’”Kai waved her hand and encouraged the woman to continue.
“I believe I know who has them.”
“Who?”Kai flattened her palms on the glass for leverage, ready to race around the table to urge the woman to tell her quickly.
Aodh held fast.
She glanced over her shoulder, gritting her teeth at the insufferable man.Couldn’t he see how important her parents’ rings were to her?
