“Why is she here in the first place?” Why wasn’t she off with Robert, making happy memories?
Rían flicked his wrist, summoning a tost. “She caught you and my brother in the feckin’ garden and got it in her meddlesome head that she needed to save you.”
Keelynn had seen me kissing a cloaked man. Dying right before her eyes. She knew the myths and legends better than anyone. She would’ve known I’d met with the Gancanagh.
What must she think of me?
“Why didn’t you just tell her the truth?”
The bastard rolled his eyes. “Should I have done that before or after your father caught her on top of me?”
“No,” I choked. He’d seduced my bloody sister? I’d kill him. I’d . . . I’d . . . I’d stab him right in his black heart.
Rían kept on as if he didn’t notice me plotting his demise. As if he didn’t see me drowning in rage. “And your father thought himself so feckin’ clever, saddling an ambassador with his youngest daughter as a wife. All he cared about was my yearly income.”
“You married mysister?”Oh god. Oh no.I braced my back against the wall, trying to catch my breath. “But Tadhg said . . .”
“Ah, Tadhg.” Shaking his head, Rían huffed a humorless chuckle. “There’s a good story. Shall I tell it to you?” He paused but didn’t give me time to respond. “I married your sister, left her in the townhouse, faked my own death so she could marry her preciousRobert, and do you know what ‘innocent young Keelynn’ did? She found this island’s second most vindictive witch, bargained for a cursed dagger, and set off on a hair-brained revenge mission to kill a true immortal and bring you back to life.”
Words.
So many bloody words, and none of them made a lick of sense. Witches? Bargains? Cursed daggers?
Keelynn?
“You’ll never guess who she wanted to kill,” he said, folding his arms over his chest, scowling at me as if I had an answer in my whirling brain.
Kill a true immortal.
Revenge mission.
“She wanted to kill Tadhg.”
“Now you have it.” His sardonic clap echoed off the stone walls. “She believed she could slay the monster who murdered you. Fate, being the cruel bitch she is, thought it’d be a feckin’ brilliant idea for the two of them to cross paths. So he’s all doe-eyed, believing that wasp is the sun, moon, and feckin’ stars, marries her because they’re ‘soulmates,’ and guess who shows up?” He gestured toward the closed door. “The witch she bargained with, holding your precious sister to her promise to slay the Gancanagh. That just about catches you up to today. Any questions?”
Only one. The same one he’d refused to answer at the beginning of all this.
“Why didn’t you tell her the truth?”
His eyes shuttered. “I have my reasons.”
“Do you now?” I took a halting step forward, struggling to channel my rage into coherent thoughts when all I wanted to do was scream. “You have your ‘reasons.’ Well, that’s bloody brilliant, because I was afraid all of this happened because youlied.”
“I’m too feckin’ wrecked to deal with you right now.” He flicked his wrist, and the air grew lighter. Turning on his heel, he started for the stairs.
“Don’t you dare walk away from me.” I rushed forward, shoving him square in the back, sending him into the table.
The vase toppled. Rolled. Exploded on the stones. Shards of glass skittered across the floor. I wanted to strangle him by the cravat. I wanted to hit him over and over and over until he begged me to stop. All men ever did was use me and let me down.
Rían’s eyes lit up like twin flames. “Shove me again and see what happens.”
I flattened my palms against his chest and pushed.
He flicked his wrist. My hands snapped to my sides. No matter how I struggled, I couldn’t break the invisible bonds.
“Let me go this instant, or so help me—”
He circled, a predator toying with its prey. “So help you, what?” he snarled, eyes flaring. “What are you going to do to me, human?”