“They took me,” Aveen whispered in a tiny voice. “They took me to the Forest.”
Ruairi pressed a hand to Aveen’s shoulder. “Who took ye?”
Aveen flinched as if he’d struck her. Her short nails dug into my arm, like she’d burrow into me if she could have. “He looked like you. I thought he was you. I wouldn’t have gone if I’d known. If I’d seen his eyes.”
“What color?” Tadhg asked.
“Black.”
A glamour like that would’ve taken a considerable amount of magic and an intimate knowledge of the man. Someone who knew Ruairi well enough to imitate him. We were looking for a witch, I’d stake my life on it. And a powerful one at that.
A witch who practiced black magic. The Queen was strong enough, but she never used a glamour—she hoarded her magic like a dragon with gold. If she’d come for Aveen, she wouldn’t have bothered with a glamour. It had to be someone else.
“You said ‘they.’ How many were there?” Tadgh asked.
“Two. A man and a woman.”
Maybe. Maybe not. They both could’ve been glamoured. There could’ve been a third person involved in masterminding the whole plan. Hell, for all I knew, this could be an entire conspiracy.
Tadhg’s gaze flicked to me before returning to Aveen. I held her a little closer, wishing I could tell her that she was safe now, but I couldn’t. Even if we caught the culprits, she still wouldn’t be safe. Humans were too fragile to survive in Tearmann.
When Tadhg asked if she’d crossed the river, Aveen shook her head.
We had no suspects. No evidence. Nothing.
Going to the Queen and asking for safe passage now would only draw her focus. What was I going to do?
Ruairi stepped forward. Aveen stiffened. I adjusted my hold, tucking her head beneath my chin.
“Aveen?” Ruairi said, his voice soft. “Is it all right if I come closer?”
She nodded, letting the dog sniff her. Then his eyes met mine.
He’d found something.
Tadhg clapped his mate on the back and promised they’d handle it.
I didn’t want them to handle it. I wanted to be the one to deal with whoever had stolen her from me. But I needed to be there for Aveen. I couldn’t leave her like this.
I brought her up to my room, not caring if I used every last drop of magic from my veins to get her where she needed to be.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Shewas sorry? Whatever the hell for? She had done nothing wrong.Nothing. And someone had tried to . . .
I couldn’t bring myself to think of what would have happened if she’d crossed that border. So instead, I busied myself with unfastening the buttons on her ruined gown and burning the whole feckin’ lot. I heard Aveen suck in a breath when she stepped into the bath I’d shifted, but I couldn’t make myself turn from the flames and face my failure.
Fire licked up the stones, the silk smoldering. All the hope I’d found these past few weeks turned into a blackened mass of hopelessness.
For the only way to save him was at her own expense.
That was Aveen’s fate, and there was nothing I could do about it.
Death would come for her, and when it did, I wouldn’t be able to stop it.
“Are you going to speak to me?” she asked.
I knew what she needed of me. She needed me to pretend everything was going to be fine. That we had a future. That I could keep her safe.