But Aveen wasn’t there.
Just darkness, damp stones, metal bars, and a pair of glowing green eyes.
“Where is she?” I croaked, my innards ablaze.
Tadhg grimaced from where he leaned against the far wall.
“Where is she?” I demanded. “Just tell me. Please. Tell me where she is. I need to see her. Please.” I needed to make sure she was all right. To explain. To apologize. To memorize her face one last time. To say goodbye. To say I was so sorry for putting her life in jeopardy. I’d known what I was doing from the moment I first touched her, and yet I’d kept going because I was a selfish bastard.
Tadhg’s jaw ticked beneath his stubble. “Ruairi is keeping her safe.”
Ruairi. Keeping her safe—keeping her away from me. Worming his way into her heart and into her bed, and the worst part was, I had no right to protest.
“Where?” I wouldn’t go. I just wanted to know, to make sure wherever he’d taken her was the safest place, that they hadn’t overlooked something obvious in their panic to get her away from the Queen.
“If you end up killing her, you’ll never forgive yourself.”
“I would never—”
“You almost did.”
“No . . .” Even at my darkest, I never would have hurt Aveen.
“Rían, you know this is the way it has to be. She’s safe now. That needs to be enough.”
Enough? I could live a thousand lifetimes with Aveen and it would never be enough. I should’ve spent all the time I’d been given with her. Instead, I’d wasted it on a feckin’ cottage and helping my brother rule this cursed territory. And for what?
Tadhg was a fool if he believed Aveen would ever be safe as long as the Queen drew breath. She may have let her go to bring me to heel, but if she ever found out where Aveen was hiding, she would use her against me in the worst way.
The Queen needed to die.
And fate had brought me the one weapon I needed to make it happen.
31
I readthe letter on the desk for what felt like the hundredth time, struggling to keep my mind from drifting. The Queen had been right. Aveen had distracted me from my goal. She’d made me believe that I didn’t need vengeance. That I didn’t need anything or anyone but her.
But now she was gone.
I wanted to wallow. To lie abed all day, every day, drinking myself into a stupor.
Instead, I killed.
First, Madden. I’d carved him up, removed digit after digit on his remaining hand before moving to his toes, making sure no one else had been in on Muireann’s plan. I’d bathed in his screams. And when his screams gave way to begging and pleading, I laughed. Had he planned on showing Aveen mercy when he’d dragged her to the edge of that Forest? No. He had planned on feeding her to the Queen like a lamb led to slaughter.
I’d torn the flesh from his bones, leaving him in pieces on the ground. The moment he died, I’d consumed his life force, my hollowness filling with liquid fire as my power grew.
I’d found the witnesses from the pooka trials in Mistlaline and killed them in a similar fashion. A human’s life force may have been a pittance compared to ours, but I’d need all the help I could get when I made my final stand against the Queen.
Today, a witch was being tried in Gaul.
No name accompanied the missive, so I wasn’t sure how powerful she would be, but I’d take anything and everything. Hopefully it would be enough, because once I left, I wouldn’t be coming back. The cursed dagger laid on the desk beside the missive, its emerald glowing brighter when I traced the hilt.
Tonight, I would evanesce to the Queen’s castle and enter the gates for the very last time. Tonight, both of us would be no more.
Tadhg would have to figure out how to function without me. If Ruairi ever came back, he would help.
It’s not your problem anymore.