Rían went deathly still. “Where?”
“Bluefield Inn.”
Cursing, he evanesced with me back to the inn’s dark hallway.
“Which room?” he snarled.
“There.” I gestured to the door at the very end of the hall. Inside, sunlight streamed through the windows. Keelynn hadn’t moved.
She must be dead. Rían rushed to her side. I collapsed against the mattress, tears blurring my vision.
She was dead. I’d let her die.
“Her pulse is weak, but she’s not gone.” He lifted the sheet and peeked beneath the bandage. His eyes flew to mine. “Dammit, Tadhg. I can’t heal her if she was stabbed by a cursed blade. There’s nothing we can do.”
“This is your fiancée’s sister. Aveen will never forgive you if you let Keelynn die.” And neither would I. “We need to bring her to Brigid.” She was the best healer on the island. If anyone could save Keelynn, it was Brigid.
Rían raked his fingers through his hair. “What about Oona?”
The last time I’d seen Oona, she’d threatened to cut off my genitals. “Brigid hates me the least of them.” Although that wasn’t saying much.
“Fine,” Rían groaned. “But I’ll need to get more help since you’re so feckin’ useless.” He shifted a silvery blue silk dress. “Put that on her.”
“No.” It was blue. Rían’s women wore blue.
“Let the others see her naked. I don’t care.” In a blink, he vanished.
It wasn’t worth wasting the energy on a new dress. I picked up the silk and tried to figure out how the hell I was supposed to get it on Keelynn without using magic. I’d dressed my fair share of dead bodies, but never by hand.
Her head lolled when I pulled the garment over her hair. Her arms were too floppy when I tried to pull them through the sleeves. Somehow, I managed to get the thing on and the skirt down to her ankles before my brother returned with Ruairi, Cormac, Ger, and Shay.
“Shit, Tadhg.” Ruairi scrubbed a hand down his stubbled beard. “What happened?”
“Fiadh happened. We need to get her to Brigid.”
Their expressions tightened, but all of them nodded. I wouldn’t be any help, but I held Keelynn’s hand as we evanesced to the forest outside Kinnock, then finally to Brigid’s small cottage, tucked between thick pine trees on the banks of a burbling stream. Together, we lifted Keelynn’s limp body onto a bench below the window box.
“You’ll have to ask her,” Rían whispered, dropping Keelynn’s hand. “If she sees me, she definitely won’t help you.” He motioned toward the trees and slipped away with the others.
I recited the only proper prayer I knew on my way to Brigid’s door. One my mother used to say.
Answer. Please answer. Please just—
The door opened a fraction. Next thing I knew, the redheaded witch on the other side had wrapped me in a vanilla-scented embrace. She’d obviously missed that my clothes were drenched in blood. “Tadhg!”
“Brigid. I . . . um . . . I need your help.”
Her hands fell away. “I should’ve known this wasn’t a social call. What is it now? What’s wrong?”
I glanced toward where Keelynn laid. “My friend was stabbed by a cursed blade, and I need you to—”
Brigid followed my gaze. “Is that your friend there?” She took a step toward Keelynn, but I blocked her path. “Tell me you didn’t bring a human to my home,” she hissed. “And you expect me to help her?”
“For me. Please.”
“I don’t owe you anything. Isn’t that what you said to me?”
In the wake of her husband’s death, she’d used me to get through the worst of her grief. We’d been friends for centuries. She knew my curse and had let it be my choice . . . at first. I’d wanted to help her the only way I knew how. But she’d wanted more.