“Is that true?” I managed, begging Keelynn to tell me something different. That Rían was lying again. That they hadn’t gotten married.
Keelynn nodded. The panic in her eyes left my heart in ribbons.
“Shit, Tadhg. Don’t. Don’t feckin—”
My dagger sliced the bastard’s gullet before he could finish his plea. Warm blood showered over me, but all I felt was ice when his lifeless body flopped onto the floor.
“What have you done?” Keelynn sobbed, clutching her chest with one hand and wiping the blood trickling down her pale face with the other.
“Till death do us part.” If the bastard hadn’t died since they’d exchanged their nuptials, they were still married. I cleaned my blade, returning it to its sheath. What I’d done didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore.
Rían had claimed Aveen was his soulmate. What a load of feckin’ bollocks. If he cared at all for Aveen, he never would’ve married her feckin’ sister. He’d lied to my face about their relationship. He had every opportunity to tell me the truth about Keelynn, and he’d chosen to maintain his feckin’ lies. Leaving me to look like a fool.
The truth always came out.
Always.
The thought of Keelynn and my brother . . .together.
My stomach revolted. I couldn’t be near her right now. There was no telling what I’d do. What I’d say. I needed a feckin’ drink to clear my head.
“I am sorry my brother deceived you,” I managed through my swollen throat. “He’s not known for his honesty.” If I was the Prince of Seduction, Rían was the feckin’ Prince of Deception.
“He told me he and Aveen were engaged,” she whispered toward Aveen’s golden coffin.
I took Keelynn’s cold hand, towing her toward the door. “I wouldn’t believe a word out of that lying bastard’s mouth.”
She didn’t protest when I brought her to one of the spare bedrooms on the second floor Eava had aired and prepared. Right next to mine. Not that it mattered now. I would’ve put her somewhere else—somewhere far, far away—if one of the other rooms had been ready.
“Stay here until someone comes to get you for dinner,” I told her, barely able to stand looking into her beautiful gray eyes. “There are a few matters I need to take care of, and I cannot leave you to wander about the castle on your own.”
I left her there, returning to the room where my brother was keeping Aveen. When the bastard woke up, he would have alotof explaining to do.
31
Rían awokewith a gasp to find himself bound with steel-dipped iron chains. The dungeon may have been his realm, but I wasn’t above using it on such an occasion.
His blue eyes flashed to where I leaned against the far wall, gritty stones digging into my shoulder blades.
“Tadhg—”
“You don’t speak unless it is to answer one of my questions truthfully.” And even then, I wouldn’t know if it was the whole truth. He was the only one of us who could taste lies.
“Did you accost my—” I bit my lip to keep from saying “wife.” Grinding my teeth together, I tried again, my dagger banging against my thigh. “Did you accost Keelynn?”
The bastard rolled his feckin’ eyes. “Of course not.”
“Why the hell were you with her?”
“Why the hell do you think?” he shot back. The chains holding him to the ceiling rattled with each labored breath. He winced when he swallowed, the scar across his throat already turning silver, matching the others he bore. “To keep her away fromyou.”
I opened my mouth but couldn’t find words to respond. He knew what I was—and so did Aveen. How could I blame either of them for wanting to keep Keelynn from becoming another name in my book of victims?
The heat of anger subsided, replaced by the cold fingers of despair.
“Were you . . .” The question died on my lips. I couldn’t bring myself to ask if he’d been with her. The truth was, I didn’t want to know. That had been before we met. Another lifetime.
I flicked my wrist, unlocking the shackles keeping my brother hanging against the wall. He collapsed with a curse and a choke, his breaths sawing in and out.