Earth's Hope by Ann Gimpel

her insatiable nature. Usually, he could outlast any woman, but she’d hounded him until he begged for a respite, for mercy.
    He pushed himself into a lope and traveled down the beach, meaning to go as far as he could. As he ran, his mind cleared. It hadn’t been coincidence the other Harpies showed up the second he’d begun grilling Aello for information. Surely they must know as well as he did how incapable she was of holding secrets.
    There’s something they doona wish me to find out.
    Another thought surfaced. The Aello he remembered would have fought her sisters tooth and nail if they’d ordered her away from something she wanted. That she left with nary a protest spoke volumes. She’d been toying with him, but why? To what end?
    Frustrated, he quickened his pace and tried to reach his power again. If he had even a small amount, he could teleport out of here. This time, without Aello sitting watchdog over him, he got closer to his segregated magic. Maybe if he focused with everything he had…
    Fionn headed for a thick grove of olive trees atop a nearby hill. Olive trees were sacred. They’d help concentrate his efforts. In the depths of his being, he suspected Aello and her sisters were part of a plot to separate him from Aislinn. If that were true, the only ones who could be behind it were the dark gods. They’d wanted Aislinn forever because of her magical strength and planned to use her as a broodmare.
    Impotent rage hammered him, and his gut twisted into a burning hornet’s nest. If something happened to Aislinn because he wasn’t there to protect her…
    Have a spot of faith. Gwydion, Bran and Arawn will care for her. Dewi and Nidhogg too, right along with Rune. She has plenty of guardians.
    Aye, but she’s a stubborn lassie. She may well give them the slip and try to come after me, which might spell disaster. She doesna understand how vulnerable she is alone.
    Fionn shut his eyes for a moment. His thoughts—accurate and dead on the money—sliced right through him and made his heart ache with worry. Aislinn was just as likely to run headlong into danger as she was to heed it. Once she got her Irish dander up, she stopped thinking. She’d told him she operated that way because if she thought too hard, or too deep, it would immobilize her.
    “The next time I see Aello,” he muttered, “unless I get verra lucky and escape, I’ll ask after Perrikus, D’Chel, and Adva. She willna have to say a thing. I’ll see truth reflected in her eyes.”
     

Chapter Eight
    Aislinn let herself float in the deep bathtub in Fionn’s suite of rooms on the third floor of the manor house. She’d fallen on her face and slept for a few hours first. It hadn’t been enough because her head ached and her eyes were stinging and gritty, but worry about Fionn drove her from their bed. She’d filled the tub nearly to the top, and then summoned magic to warm the water, a trick she learned from Fionn.
    Rune curled on the cream-colored Italian marble floor near the door, and Bella perched on the sink, cleaning blood from her dark feathers.
    “You were very brave,” Rune told the bird.
    Bella preened beneath his praise. “Anyone would have done the same thing,” she said. “After all, he dropped his warding.”
    “Anyone whose bond human hadn’t ordered them not to approach him,” Rune snarled.
    “Oh for Christ’s sake,” Aislinn sputtered. “I’m sorry already. Give it a rest.”
    Rune stood and padded to the edge of the tub. “What do we do next?”
    Good question. “I have no idea what everyone else’s priorities will be, but I’m going after Fionn.” She pulled the drain plug and got to her feet with water sluicing down her body. Climbing the two steps at the end of the sunken tub, she snatched a towel and wrapped it around herself. Before her wolf could make another snarky comment, she eyed him. “You’re coming with me. Bella too, if she wants.”
    “Of course, I want.” The bird clacked her beak