“At this stage, they all look alike.”
Feck it anyway. Rían would help. And Ruairi would as well once I told him what had happened. Keelynn and her pointless “quest” could wait.
“I’ll be back. I’ll get Rían and let him handle it.”
Clara stared out the window toward the white and black magpies lining the next building’s drainpipes. “What’s the point? Even if you kill him, another one will take his place.”
She was right. I couldn’t be here all the time to fight these battles for her. What could I do? How could I help? In Tearmann, I had power. In Airren, I was only good for two things.
“You could kiss me.” I’d offered so many times before, I assumed she’d refuse the way she always did.
Instead, her eyes flew to mine before dropping to my lips. No one could see the hideous thing lurking there, waiting to steal the next life. Not unless they had some sort of enchanted ocular device like my kohl. If they could, no one would dare come within reach.
She dropped the quilt from around her shoulder, turning fully to face me. “Will it hurt?”
“Only for a moment.”
More tears welled in her glistening turquoise eyes. “Will ye think me a coward if I do? Yer as cursed as me and ye haven’t given up yet.”
I’d given up more times than I could count. I’d locked myself away, thrown myself from cliffs, drunk myself into oblivion for centuries.
“Look at me.” I held her soft cheeks, cleaning her tears with my thumbs. “You are not a coward. You are the bravest person I know.” My position as a prince had given me a reprieve from this curse. I had a home where I could hide. I had Ruairi and Owen and Eava and even Rían. Clara had no one. “Let me help you escape.”
Sniffling, she nodded and pressed her lips to mine.
The black curse spread quickly to her heart. Her body seized, and the final sound to leave her blackened lips was a soft sigh. I sat there for far too long, holding my friend. I was the reason she’d been cursed with this fate, and now I was the reason she no longer drew breath. Even knowing it was temporary, that I had set her free, did nothing to dull the stabbing guilt wreaking havoc in my chest.
I called for the madame, telling the woman her “best girl” was dead. She railed at me, threatening to call the authorities.
I shifted a trunk of gold coins from the treasury, then evanesced back to the castle gates with Clara’s body.
Pity clouded the eyes of those who’d gathered to trade and collect rations in the courtyard, making the shameful walk from the gates to the room where we kept the bodies feel twice as long. Once I’d settled Clara next to Orla, I drifted to the study to write her name in the ledger I kept of every life I’d taken.
Seven hundred and eighty-five.
Footsteps from the hallway ended at the door. I didn’t have to turn to know my brother was there. “You’ve wasted enough time, Tadgh. You’re needed here.”
Needed.
Was I needed? It certainly didn’t feel like it at the moment. “You’re more than capable of ruling in my stead.” It wasn’t as if he had anything else to do.
I had to get my ring.
I had to rid myself of these curses once and for all.
“It’s not my feckin’ job.”
Not his job? Not hisfeckin’ job?
I whirled, finding him scowling next to the books on tax law. “This ismycastle andmykingdom. Unless you wish to live in the Forest or relocate to Airren, I suggest you shut your gob and take care of things until I return.”
6
When I reached the carriage,I didn’t have it in me to return the tight smile Keelynn offered. “Padraig? Bring us to Oakton,” I told the driver before climbing into the box and folding my coat beneath me to add a bit of extra padding.
Flask in hand, I didn’t feel like pretending to sleep today. I didn’t feel like pretending at all. So instead of drinking, I glared across the gap at the hateful woman who’d hired me. “Let me know when you’re ready to apologize.”
The moment she did, I was going to flat out ask for the ring. What’s the worst that could happen? She’d spew hateful words at me? Been there. She’d tell me no? I’d evanesce straight to the castle and tell Rían to do whatever it took to get her to hand it over. I was finished pretending this journey was anything but a colossal waste of time.