The Nightshade Guild: Mage You Look by Abigail Kade (if you liked this book TXT) 📗

any physical aches, for that matter, but the repeated action was soothing nonetheless.

What was I going to do? I had to explain this just right so he’d believe me and trust me. Never had it been more important to me for someone other than my family to trust me. I couldn’t understand why it felt so monumental this time, but it very much was. I could feel it in my every pore.

Finn needed to trust me, or everything in this situation would go sideways. I hoped he was right about this place being safe. I could have protected this entire place with some effort, but I had already done too much today. My powers weren’t allowed in this realm. It didn’t mean some of us didn’t skirt the rules a bit here and there, but overall, we weren’t supposed to interfere without permission. I absolutely did NOT have permission to facilitate the extinction of two Dark Fae today.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

I knew so many humans received comfort from certain words, and my outburst actually did make me feel better. That was until Finn returned, startling me out of my pity party. His large body leaned down from behind me, enveloping me in his strong arms.

“As much as I want that to happen, Henry, I need to know the truth before we go any further and I finally get to fuck you, don’t you think?”

My breath hitched, and he squeezed me tighter. He had the sleeves of a long sleeve navy tee pushed up, so I could see the freckles and dusting of red hair over his strong forearms crossed over my chest. I was a sucker for wrists, and his were thick and delicious. I’d never seen him with sleeves up before, and I was shocked to find he wore bracelets on both arms. At least ten or more adorned each thick forearm in silver, gold, braided leather, and copper. Some had gemstones, and others had what looked like charms or leaves and flowers. The sleeves pushed up, bracelets covering his strong arms and wrists, all of those were my secret aphrodisiac. I wanted to turn in my chair and kiss him right this second, but I knew he was right.

My elbows were still propped on the table, so his arms had surrounded my upper body, arms and all. I was trapped but didn’t feel unsafe. I relaxed into his hold and leaned my head back onto his chest with a heavy sigh.

“I’ll tell you everything you want to know, Finn. It’ll be a relief not to have to keep it a secret anymore. But can we do it while we eat?”

I felt more than I heard Finn’s rumble of amusement before he stepped back and took the seat next to me, where his plate was already waiting.

“I think dinner is a fantastic idea. Let’s eat, and you can begin wherever you think is a good place to start.”

I lifted the lid of the cloche covering my plate and savored the delicious smells of the potato soup I had ordered for us to start. Cheese and bacon were the food of the gods, but on potato soup, they were nirvana. I took a huge spoonful and gulped it down for courage as I began my tale.

“How familiar are you with ancient Mesopotamia?”

Finn nearly choked on his soup, then had to take a huge swig of his water before clearing his throat and answering, “Jesus, are you serious?”

“It’s way before Jesus, Finn, and yes, I’m absolutely serious.”

Seeing the firm determination in my face, he sobered. “Not much, to be honest.”

I nodded, then asked, “Are you familiar with the story of Gilgamesh?”

Finn aspirated on another mouthful. “Uh.” He coughed and tried again. “Uh, yeah. That’s the one with the flood in it, right?”

“Close enough, I guess. I won’t go into the whole thing, but Gilgamesh was a king who wanted to live forever. He lost what history calls his best friend and brother in arms Enkidu. He mourned deeply at his loss. Friend, my ass, between you and me, Enkidu was his lover that he lost tragically. History has a way of glossing over same-sex relationships throughout the millennia. But that’s beside the point. The point is that Gilgamesh didn’t want to die. He wanted the immortality of the gods. He learned that only one human had ever been granted immortality. His name was Utnapishtim, and he had been the man who the gods told to build a large boat and save his family and the animals of the land before the great flood.”

Finn had quit eating and just stared enthralled by what I was telling him.

“You mean to tell me that you’re talking about the great flood? Like the Christian Noah flood?”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about.” I took a bite of my soup, but it had gone cold as I talked. I set it aside and did the same for Finn, then reached across the table to get the plates with our entrees, but Finn raised a hand to my upper arm to stop me.

“I can’t eat right now. Maybe after, okay?”

Placing my own hand over his, I gave him a squeeze and sat back down. I had started at a good place, I thought, but the whole story needed context. So, I started again.

“Okay, let me go back further.”

Poor Finn had just taken a sip of his water, and this time did a spit-take onto the table.

“Further than the freaking flood?”

I just nodded and continued. “When time began, there was the all-powerful spirit. They held the power of creation and destruction. Those beings who served the spirit faithfully were allowed to stay on high in the presence of this spirit. This spirit was beneficent but also easy to displease. Once the spirit had created the earthly realm, the servants who displeased the spirit