His brow furrowed. “Ye think we’re friends?”
“Sure.” He could be my friend. It wasn’t like anyone else showed any interest in me. Half the time it felt like the Danú no longer noticed I was here. After a week, I’d become as boring as the stone wall surrounding this castle.
“All right, friend. Let’s see.” Dragging a fang across his lower lip, he lifted his face toward the cloudless sky. “My favorite color is red.”
I dropped my head into my hands. Why were men so dreadful at opening up? “That’s not personal.” When I looked up and found him laughing, I punched him in the thigh. He didn’t even have the decency to wince. “Give me something else. Are you married?”
“No.”
“Are you seeing anyone?”
“I see lots of people.” He gestured to the merrow sunning herself. “I see Muireann. And Finola and Anwen. And I can see ye.”
Did he just say—
Across the courtyard, two women lugged baskets toward the castle. One of them had orange hair.
Anwen.
I scrambled to my feet, ignoring Ruairi when he shouted my name, sprinting across the grass and gravel to the women now staring at me with horrified expressions.
“You’re alive.” It wasn’t eloquent or polite, but it was all I could think to say.
Anwen’s wide eyes darted to the castle and back. The woman who’d been walking with her paused for a moment before continuing on to the main entrance.
“I am,” she said with a bob of her head.
“How?”
She adjusted the basket on her hip, filled to the brim with ripe red apples. “Royal pardon, milady.”
Tadhg had promised to fix it. I’d assumed Rían had sent him away so he couldn’t. The next time I saw him, he was getting a hug, whether he smelled of booze or not.
“What did Tadhg say?” I asked, my voice catching. Perhaps my little sister’s husband wasn’t so bad after all.
Her light eyebrows lifted. “I didn’t see Prince Tadgh. ‘Twas Prince Rían who issued the pardon.”
I opened my mouth, but no words emerged.
Rían had pardoned her.
Rían had shown mercy.
Rían hadlistenedto me.
Anwen gave me one final frown before hurrying to where the second woman waited on the castle steps.
Hold on.
If Anwen was to have been executed at sundown yesterday, that meant Rían had pardoned her before he’d come to my room last night.
And the bastard hadn’t told me.
As if I’d called his name aloud, Rían emerged from the castle, apple in hand, taking a bite as he strolled down the stairs and past the fountain.
My feet took off of their own volition, bringing me closer and closer and—
Rían turned in time for me to throw my arms around him.