I organized safe haven with a skeptical Áine, promising the wasp wouldn’t harm them. Once the ancient tower house hidden in the forest came into view, I gestured toward the gray stone building and told Keelynn she could sleep there tonight. It looked ominous in the light flickering from the bonfire, but the space was clean and dry. At least there were beds. After spending last night on the floor, I was sure she’d appreciate that.
Not that I wanted to think about last night.
Áine shifted where she perched on my shoulder.
Keelynn’s eyes narrowed at the white-haired faerie. “Where are you sleeping?” she asked.
Why did she care? It wasn’t as if we’d be staying together. She’d made that perfectly clear this morning. Before I could answer, Áine flew to the ground, shifting into her human form with a burst of blinding white light.
The dress the faerie wore sparkled in what little light filtered through the branches. Unfortunately, my night had been determined a century ago, when Áine and I had struck our bargain. “I will be staying elsewhere.”
Áine held out a hand, the ancient symbols on her skin glowing a faint gold. “Come with me. I have a surprise for you.”
Couldn’t the faerie see I was busy with the human? Once Keelynn was safely inside the tower house, I’d join her for whatever she wanted. She’d claimed me the moment I arrived so I didn’t have to stay up all night letting the others use me as a feckin’ scratching post. Ours was a relationship of convenience. I wanted sleep, and she wanted Rían.
“I’ll join you in a moment.” The wasp was my first priority.
A handful of other faeries in their human forms sank onto stones around the crackling bonfire.
Considering her lack of knowledge about the Danú, I doubted Keelynn knew much about the faeries beyond the lies written in her beloved fairy tales. “They can choose one day a season to walk the island as humans do.”
A deep V formed between her brows. “Isn’t that convenient.”
I certainly thought it was.Communicating with them when they were this size was infinitely easier than when they were small. “As I was saying before, choose any room you want, but be sure to lock the door once you’ve gone in.”
“Am I not allowed to stay out here?”
After hobbling around all day on sore feet, I assumed she’d want to head straight for bed. And with her hatred of my kin, I thought she wouldn’t want to associate with “things” like us. “Do youwantto stay out here?”
If she wanted to stay, there wasn’t much I could do to stop her besides lock her in a room and create a tost so no one could hear her scream.
But I didn’t have enough magic for that, and there were too many witnesses,andI still needed that ring.
Keelynn shrugged as if she didn’t care either way.
“I’m not sure it would be safe,” I said. “Things can get out of control, and there’s no telling what you’d see.” For someone like Keelynn, the way everyone here carried on would surely be too scandalous.
“I will be fine.”
I told her she could stay but asked that she avoid the wine. The rotten taste was usually enough to keep people away, but this woman had proven particularly stubborn. Too much faerie wine led to terrible decisions.
I should know.
None of the food the faeries had laid out looked appealing except the blackberries. I grabbed the whole bowl and headed straight for the white-haired faerie waving from the far side of the fire. What’d Áine have in the basket hanging from her arm?
Cinnamon and vanilla swirled around me when I lifted the cloth on top. God love the woman, she’d gotten her hands on a spongy cake dusted with icing sugar—probably stolen from some human’s kitchen.
I didn’t ask because I didn’t care. I ate slice after slice, feeling the sugar hit my system with a jolt, giving me more energy than I’d had in days.
“Tell us a story, Tadhg,” Davine said, a wide smile on her lips. A few faeries I didn’t recognize had draped themselves in her blue hair.
“I’d rather he take off his shirt,” muttered Etain. She toyed with the hem of her dark green skirt that barely reached the tops of her dark thighs. When she caught me staring, she spread her legs and giggled.
Áine’s grip on my arm tightened. I managed to tear my gaze away.
“Take off your shirtandtell us a story!” someone in the back shouted.
“Leave yer shirt on and take off yer breeches!”