I’d never understood why they insisted on staying instead of living in Tearmann and justvisitingAirren. But after meeting Keelynn, their decisions made more sense. I never wanted to leave her side. I wanted to be her feckin’ shadow, glued to her skirts. The thought of leaving her on her own made me physically ill.
And that felt like more than the whole soulmate shite.
Deeper. More final. More devastating.
And I wasn’t sure how to cope.
Keelynn tugged on the back of my shirt.“What do you think they’ve done wrong?”
I didn’t need to see the list of offenses to know they had done nothing wrong.
“Besides being born different, you mean?” There were ten of them. Ten lives being snuffed out because they weren’t human. “Could be anything. That grogoch may have sneezed on a human. The pooka may have been caught shape-shifting. The abcan may have written a poem that painted the king in a less-than-favorable light.” Words were the only weapons the tiny poets had at their disposal. “And I’d imagine the far darrig at the end didn’t pay taxes on the magic he wields but isn’t allowed to use. They’re notoriously tight bastards.” I was forever bargaining and negotiating with them over taxes and rates.
The executioner, a hulking brute in a black cloak, wielded a heavy black ax. Despite the hundreds of people gathered, I could smell the coppery tang of the blood staining the wooden platform.
“You really think they’d execute someone for a poem?” Keelynn asked.
“I’ve watched one of my friends executed because a human accused him of being rude.”
Daithí hadn’t yielded his spot on the footpath to a group of males. And he’d been hanged for it.
Her eyes widened with horror.
I understood her ignorance. She had been brought up in a safe world on the east coast, as far from the Danú and magic as one could get on this island. But she couldn’t be ignorant any longer.
“It’s not about the poem or the taxes or even the magic,” I told her, hoping she would take my words to heart. This sort of injustice would never end if people like her, good people, didn’t open their eyes to the state of our world. “It’s about being born different in a world that sees no value in diversity. It’s about living under a regime that desires ultimate power over its citizens, one that is willing to murder anyone they believe could be a threat.” Realization crossed her upturned face, so beautiful in its seriousness. “It’s about people with fear so ingrained that they won’t even sit in a field at dusk to look up at the stars because they believe the darkness is reserved for monsters.”
I wanted to sit in the darkness with this woman.
To see starlight reflected in her gray eyes.
To prove to her that the darkness had its uses. That there could be beauty beyond the fear.
The sound of the heavy axe slicing flesh cut through my fantasy. The sloppy wetthudof the grogoch’s head landing on the wooden planks left my stomach twisting.
Humans surrounded us, watching, as though this was a performance at the theater. Men, women, and children, eating sweets and laughing in the sunshine.
“Most of the monsters I’ve met have lived in broad daylight,” I confessed. The humans putting those innocents to death,theywere monsters.
The pooka was next. He didn’t struggle, just knelt on the dais.
Closed his eyes.
And lost his head.
“I’m so sorry, Tadhg.”
“As am I.” More sorry than I could ever say. These were my people, and instead of trying to save them, I was off gallivanting with Keelynn, trying to free myself from a punishment I actually deserved.
I needed to do better.
And that started with telling Keelynn the truth.
“Come, let’s get you to the inn.” I couldn’t be here anymore, pretending I didn’t feel every swing of the axe as if it were coming for my own neck. I had tortured and killed hundreds—perhaps even thousands—of people, yet I had been strong, smart, and attractive enough to receive a worthless title and a swathe of land to call my own.
I was born with the ability to come back from death. I could stand in the center of this bloodthirsty crowd without worrying for my own worthless life.The same could not be said for these poor souls.
Keelynn pulled free, demanding we do something. Insisting that what was happening was wrong.