“There is absolutely nothing you can tell me,” she continued, “that would make me think you leaving us is a good idea. You could tell me that you were going to spark some disaster of Biblical proportions and I’d still tell you that you have to stay.”
His breath caught. “Why?”
“Because we need you. Biblical disaster or not, you’re one of the things that holds us all together. The axle to all of our spokes on the wheel. You’re more important to us than you know.”
“I’m not,” Phelan said, his expression turning stubborn, his jaw setting and brows knitting. “You can’t keep thinking I am. I’m just a footnote, a side character in this drama that’s playing out.”
“Are you?” Jacqueline shook her head slowly. “I don’t believe that. Why would so many people be so interested in making you dead if you were just a guest star and a footnote?”
“Because I’m the pain in the butt type of sidekick that makes things more difficult for everyone else involved.” Phelan sighed, his head dropping back against his pillows and his eyes sliding shut. “Why are you all being so stubborn and not listening to reason? I’m trying to protect you.”
“Maybe we don’t need that kind of protection,” Jacqueline said softly. She went to the edge of his bed and sat down slowly, reaching for his hand. His fingers were cool, roughened by years of wear and tear. “Maybe we don’t want it. Maybe we just want our family together.”
“Family,” Phelan echoed softly. He opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling. “Every family I build falls apart. The only reason that my sister and Neve and Teague are all still alive is because we’ve mostly stayed away from each other for thousands of years. It’s been safer that way.”
“Neve’s here now,” Jacqueline said. “Nothing that bad’s happened.”
“Other than the troll and the assaults, no, of course not.” His lips thinned and his gaze met hers. There was something heartrendingly sad in his eyes, a pain deeper than any she’d seen before. “Don’t you understand, Jacqueline? I’m the Wanderer for a reason. I can’t stay in one place. Trouble finds me and makes the people I care about suffer. That’s why I keep moving.” His eyes slid closed again. “Maybe I’ve stayed too long already.”
“We want you to stay,” she whispered. “That’s the only thing that matters.”
“Is it?” he murmured. “I don’t think so.”
“Yes,” she said. “It is.”
He opened his eyes again and stared at her. He started to say something, but she didn’t hear it.
She kissed him and whatever he was about to say was lost on both of them.
Whatever it was didn’t matter anymore anyway.
