Ruairi and I used to camp all the time when we were children. And Rían as well when he was visiting. Only in Tearmann though. Never across the border.
“Tell me about her.”
Keelynn popped a berry between her teeth, chewing slowly. “Why?”
“I want to know about the woman who is worth all of this.” The woman who had captured my brother’s attention and spurred the naïve, sheltered woman in front of me to leave the comfort of her home in search of a monster.
Keelynn launched into a story about how her sister had cared for her in the wake of their mother’s death.
I couldn’t help thinking of my own Mam’s murder and how I’d been all alone in my grief. My father had been too lost to comfort me, not that we’d ever had that type of relationship. Others had grieved her passing as well, of course, but it wasn’t the same.
“She sounds selfless.” The exact opposite of the man Aveen had died to be with.
Keelynn’s lips lifted into a sad smile. “She was. Aveen was selfless so that I could be selfish. And I was. So, so selfish.” She hugged her legs against her chest, the flickering orange flames reflecting in the tears welling in her eyes. “I told her everything. My hopes. My fears. My dreams. She bore it all—did her best to make them come true. I was so self-absorbed that I never asked aboutherlife. Whatshewanted. The night she died . . .”
The night I killed her, I silently amended.
I couldn’t feel sorry.
If I’d refused, I never would’ve mether.
For the second time in as many days, I wondered what it would be like to be loved by a woman like this. To have her on my side, fighting for me instead of against me.
Foolish thoughts.
Foolish desires.
And yet the broken parts of me . . . wondered.
“It was her betrothal ball,” Keelynn went on, wiggling her toes closer to the hearth, “and I was so hateful and angry toward her for something that wasn’t her fault. Our father had arranged for her to marry the man I loved.”
Ice flooded my veins.
She loved someone else.
Belonged to someone else.
“His name was Robert.”
Robert. I’d always hated the name. Who in their right mind would name a child Robert? He sounded like a total wanker.
Keelynn’s mirthless chuckle lifted the loose hairs from her cheek. “Aveen despised him. So did Padraig.”
My respect for the dead man doubled.
“He was one of you,” she breathed, shoulders curling in on themselves, leaving the shirt she wore gaping at the neck.
I banked the fire, adding a few more pieces of wood to stave off the chill. “I know. I could see his glamour on the day we met.”
She wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand, sniffling softly. “Why don’t you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Use a glamour to hide your ears.”
“I used to hide them when I was young.” After the first time I’d been killed by a human. I’d been twelve years old. Ruairi and I had evanesced to Swiftfell during yule. I’d been caught outside a pub by a bunch of drunkards who happened to have a spare iron chain hanging about. In my panic, I’d forgotten I could evanesce. By the time I remembered, it was too late.
“I wish he would’ve confided in me,” she whispered to the flames.