I could’ve kept going, left him to his misery. But then I remembered how miserable I’d been the night before I died.
And how Rían had refused to leave my side.
How good it felt to have someone around to take my mind off things.
So instead of going to the dining room for dinner, I went into the mammoth parlor, sank onto the settee beside my sister’s husband, and stole the glass right out of his hand.
He scowled at me.
“Do you love my sister?” I asked.
His teeth scraped his bottom lip as his scowl became a pitiful frown. “More than life itself.”
It was one thing to say pretty words and another thing entirely to mean them. I lifted the glass for a drink. The clear liquid scorched my throat on its way down to my empty stomach. “How do I know you’re not lying?”
A furrowed brow replaced the frown. “Because I can’t lie.”
“Youcan’tlie?”
Tadhg shook his head, ruffling his golden curls. “It’s another one of my curses.”
Not the response I had expected. The fire in my throat had eased, so I took another sip. “How do I knowthatisn’t a lie?”
He plucked the glass from my fingers and took a drink himself. “You don’t.”
I settled back against the cushion, studying the Gancanagh through new eyes.
A handsome prince, to be sure. But also a man cursed to be used. A man cursed with death’s kiss. A man cursed to tell the truth.
A man heartbroken over the loss of the woman he loved.
With a flick of his wrist, a bottle and a second glass appeared on the coffee table. He poured me a drink before topping up his own.
How would Tadhg handle losing her to the underworld for all of eternity when she succumbed to age or disease? He was immortal, and she wasn’t.
Their story could only ever end in tragedy.
The same as mine and Rían’s.
After our walk to the cliffs, Rían had brought me back to the gate and mumbled something about having business to attend to. I spent the next two hours in the garden trying to process what I’d learned. All it did was make me sad. And angry. And then sad again.
“Why do you love Keelynn?” I asked.
Tadhg didn’t respond right away. Just sat there, arm thrown over the back of the settee, sipping his drink.
I expected him to remark on her beauty. Because Keelynn was beautiful. But she was so much more. Wild. Loyal. Silly and smart. She listened. She cared.
“She is the most forgiving person I’ve ever known,” he said. “And when you’re as cursed as I am, you need a lot of forgiveness.”
I raised my glass in agreement. “I certainly can’t argue with that.”
29
“He said what?”Ruairi growled. He sounded beastly when he did that. Like a bear. A big, fluffy bear.
I giggled into my hand. Wasn’t sure when Ruairi had arrived. Must’ve been a while ago since there weresooooomany glasses on the floor in front of him.
I also couldn’t remember who had suggested sitting on the floor, the cross-legged pooka to my right or the Gancanagh lying on his back staring up at the ceiling. Whoever it was, I was glad he had suggested it.