Silver at Midnight: A Paranormal Romance Urban Fantasy (The Keepers of Knowledge Series Book 5) by Bridgette O'Hare (best large ereader .TXT) 📕

before he shooed me out, insisting that he had it all under control. I felt a little guilty not helping. I felt even guiltier over what had happened with Darek, though I was still trying to figure out why. As I plopped down on the couch with the notepad and my initial translation, my inner angel and devil began a spirited back and forth.

One justified not telling Cian what had happened because I had only known him a few days, insisting there was no reason to feel like I owed him an explanation. After all, I’d spent several months getting to know Darek during my assignment, and it was understandable that, considering how it ended, we might have some unresolved issues.

The other countered with reminders about the intensity of my connection with Cian. How he’d made me feel safe and been nothing but upfront and honest with me. How I trusted him, even without understanding why or how I was able to offer my trust so easily. And . . . how I’d told him I’d never give him a reason not to trust me.

On paper, my history with Darek would make a convincing, logical argument. But emotions were rarely logical. And that’s where my predicament was coming into play.

I had clearly fought my internal battle more than I had tackled the translation since I only had three lines done when Cian announced that dinner was ready. I placed the pad on the coffee table and headed to the kitchen to help by getting dishes and pouring the wine.

Cian spooned fettucine onto each plate along with alfredo sauce and sauteed chicken, then placed them on the table. Once we were seated, he stared across at me until I acknowledged him with awkward eye contact.

“Ya want to tell me what’s botherin’ you?” he asked. “Ya sure have been awfully quiet since I got here.”

Great. In a matter of a few days, he could read me like a book. “I was just concentrating.”

His stare narrowed with suspicion. “Okay. You’ll talk to me about whatever it is when you’re ready.” And he began to eat while he told me how he had spent most of the afternoon planning the field trip to the White Mountains for the next day. We’d be leaving late afternoon. It was about a two-hour drive to the coordinates, but he wanted to leave additional time because it seemed like there may not be any state roads or truck paths that led to the exact location. We might have to hike a little, so I would need to dress accordingly. I listened and ate, tried to ask questions here and there, so I didn’t seem so quiet. But the events of the day with Darek still had me off balance.

Then he started talking about how Darek had suggested doing a search on the Silver Moon in the Keeper’s system.

“Wait. What?” He now had my full attention. “You told Darek about the note?”

“Relax, lass. I didn’t tell him about the note. That’s not my secret to tell. I just mentioned I was curious about something I’d seen in a book that I’d never heard about before. And he suggested I look it up in the system.”

“Oh. Okay. Sorry.”

“No apologies. Don’t ya want to know what I found?” His eyes lit up.

“Of course, I do.”

“According to the Keeper’s search system, there are two books that contain information about the Silver Moon. One had only a paragraph explaining the lunar cycle of the Silver Moon. In other words, if I’d had that, I wouldn’t have had to do math last night,” he said with a laugh.

My smile emerged at the sound of his laughter. “And the other?” I asked.

“The other is sitting in that pile over on the coffee table. There’s only one problem.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s blank.”

My eyes widened as I realized what he was referring to. “The Tartaros Blade journal?” Confusion laced every syllable. “I don’t understand.”

“Yeah, me either. But maybe it’s like I said. Maybe there’s something written on a random page and we have to look through the whole thing. We’ll have to give it another look after we eat.” He shrugged and shoved a bite of pasta into his mouth.

While we continued to eat in silence, I mulled over just how much information I’d had to process over the past several days. It was enough to make my head spin and a little more than overwhelming. The fact that Cian hadn’t pressured me to open up, when I was so obviously withdrawn, was clearly the right call on his part because it got to me.

Most of my pasta was gone by the time I cracked.

“Darek was here,” I blurted out.

Cian froze for a split second, then lowered his fork and leaned back in his chair.

“He came by before I got here?” The question was calm and without even a hint of irritation.

“Sort of. He was here waiting when I arrived.”

“Well, that explains why you’ve been so quiet.” Genuine concern radiated from his gaze. “You okay? You need t’ talk about it?”

I eyed him suspiciously. “Really? You actually want t’ hear about this?”

Cian reached across the table and slipped his hand around mine. The warmth of his energy mingling with mine was more comforting than exciting this time, and I wondered if the shift had something to do with Darek’s arrival.

“Look, Aish. I realize ya have a history with Darek. I realize this whole situation is probably a little more than awkward for you. I’m not going t’ fault you for something beyond your control. Besides, you don’t owe me anything—no explanations, no apologies. You don’t have t’ defend yourself t’ me. If ya need t’ talk about it, I’m happy t’ be here for ya.”

I drew in a long, slow breath and released it in the same way. Part of me wanted to tell him everything, even though he said I didn’t owe him an explanation. The other part wanted to pretend all of it hadn’t happened so