Rían stalked forward, stopping when his boots met mine. I stood my ground, refusing to cower. His rage may have glowed in his eyes, but mine burned in my heart.
He leaned so close the heat of his breath slammed into my face. “Your sister threw herself atme,” he said. “She kissedme, and when I tried to remove myself from the situation, your father showed up like a feckin’ bull. Every bone in my body screamed to evanesce, to escape and leave her to her fate, and yet I stayed. I stayed because I knew, as angry as you’d be about me marrying Keelynn, you’d never forgive me if I abandoned her.”
I wrapped my arms around myself, desperate to ward off the truth ringing in his voice.
If he hadn’t married Keelynn, her life would’ve been over, all hopes of making a good match out the bloody window.
Men didn’t want “soiled goods.”
My father would’ve given her to the first man to make an offer and washed his hands of us both.
“As for the rest of it,” Rían said, drawing back and tugging on the ends of his waistcoat, “I cannot control my brother or your sister. They found each other through no fault of mine. And you . . .” He let out a ragged breath. “You were never meant to wake up in this cursed place.”
Turning on his heel, he stalked toward the doorway, pausing with a hand on the knob. “And for the record, I never touched her.”
I didn’t want to think about the two of them together. I didn’t want to think about anything. “Get out.”
Instead of arguing, he nodded. “Do not leave this room. Lock the door and—”
I stomped over, slammed the door in his face, and threw the bolt into place.
My wobbly legs gave out, and I collapsed into a heap on the wooden floor. The tears I’d managed to keep at bay finally broke free.
What a disaster.
What a bloody mess.
“Oh, Keelynn,” I cried, burying my face in my hands. “What have you done?”
22
I awokein a cold sweat beneath a mound of blankets, unable to remember getting into the bed. Someone had left a silver jug of water and a glass on one of the bedside tables.
I drank the whole lot.
The logs in the fire appeared fresh, but the sky outside was dark. Now that I’d slept, my mind felt clearer.
Rían had married my sister to save her from ruination. A heroic actifhe was to be believed.
That was the problem, though. How could I believe him?
He’d claimed to have a reason for keeping her in the dark.
How could he expect me to blindly trust him? I’d done that before and look at me now.
I couldn’t place all the blame at his feet. If I’d accepted my fate and married Robert, none of this would’ve happened.
I needed to find a way to fix this.
He’d mentioned a cursed dagger . . .
I opened my palm in my lap, running a finger along the silver scar. I’d wager he meant the one with the emerald in the hilt that I’d seen yesterday.
Slay a true immortal, resurrect someone from the dead.
That seemed simple enough.
First, I needed to find where Tadhg had hidden my sister.