If I just closed my eyes, it’d all be over soon. If I just plugged my ears so I didn’t have to hear the woman’s low moans, I could pretend I was somewhere else. My body knew what to do, so I let my mind wander away.
Three coppers landed next to my boot. Three feckin’ coppers.
The woman opened the door and disappeared back toward the staircase. I ripped the useless ring from my finger. I may as well tell Keelynn the truth and hope she killed me quickly.
She could have the ring.
She didn’t deserve to be cursed.
She hadn’t known any better when she’d bargained with Fiadh.
I rose on unsteady legs, tugged up my breeches, and fastened my belt. Back in the empty hallway, my heavy footsteps thudded against the worn planks.
When I knocked on Keelynn’s door, she didn’t answer. Had she left? I couldn’t have been gone more than ten minutes, and there hadn’t been any footsteps from the hallway while I was in the linen closet.
“Keelynn?” I knocked again, then tried the handle. The knob turned, the door opened, and the coppery stench of blood slammed into me.
Shit.
Keelynn’s body was on the bed, still naked, still wrapped in sheets. Only instead of being white, they were stained red.
I said her name again and again, but there was no response. No flutter of her lashes. No words from her lips. Her face was too pale. What the hell had happened? I’d only been gone ten feckin’ minutes.
I tugged the sheet down, and my chest swelled with dread when I found a deep black gouge in her stomach.
I knew what had happened.
I knew who was responsible.
I knew who would stab her in the perfect place to inflict maximum pain and let the curse from the dagger do the rest.
Fiadh.
What should I do? I couldn’t let her die.Dammit. Even if I’d had all my magic, it wouldn’t be enough to heal her. I had to stop the bleeding.
I sliced a clean section of sheet with my dagger to create a makeshift tourniquet. If only I hadn’t taken the ring. It wouldn’t have saved her from being stabbed, but it would’ve stopped the curse. I pushed the enchanted emerald onto her finger anyway. It could’ve been my imagination, but I thought her cheeks regained some color, and the blackness seemed to stop spreading.
Perhaps hope wasn’t lost. Perhaps it wasn’t too late.
What now? I didn’t want to leave her, but what choice did I have? I needed help.
Summoning the dregs of my magic, I evanesced to the castle gates. Sea air wrapped me in its salty embrace as I stumbled forward. I needed food. I needed sleep. I needed to save Keelynn. My body shook. I had nothing left.
My knees slammed against the ground. I fell forward, unable to catch myself before my face met sharp gravel.
A crowd swelled. I knew their faces but couldn’t remember their names.
“Rían,” I croaked, my mouth so dry. “Get Rían.”
My eyes fell closed until I heard footsteps crunching in the stones. When I opened them again, black boots waited by my nose.
“Why must you insist on making a scene at the feckin’ gates?” Rían grumbled, bending down, catching me by the shoulder, and hauling me to my feet. “These people already pity you enough without the dramatics.”
When he led me toward the entrance, I tried and failed to pull from his grasp. “We have to get to Kinnock.”
“No feckin’ way am I going to that bloodthirsty city again.”
He had to come. He had to help. “Fiadh tried to kill her.”