“LadyAveen, to ye.”
“Ah, yes. Lady Aveen. My apologies. Wouldn’t want to disrespect a member of the Airren peerage, now, would I?”
“She is a good human. Leave her be, I beg of ye.”
Even the best humans fell from grace to dally with the darkness on occasion. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.” If fate had wanted someone else to die to save me, she could’ve chosen someone else. She hadn’t, though. Aveen was the key to my freedom, and I wasn’t about to let that key slip through my fingers.
Aveen may have been good, but I wasn’t.
“You will speak of this to no one, orLadyAveen’s—and Lady Keelynn’s—deaths will be on your head.” Padraig took my proffered hand without hesitation.
Speaking of death. I had to pay two men a visit.
* * *
This oak hall table was nice. I could do with a new hall table in the townhouse “Edward” had rented on a whim during his stay in Graystones. Had it been a waste of money? Probably. But now that dear old Padraig knew of my involvement with his employer, I needed to keep a careful eye on the situation until fate decided it was time for my human to die.
The men bleeding out on the floor groaned.
“Could you keep it down? Wouldn’t want to disturb the neighbors.” Why couldn’t people die with dignity? You didn’t hear me moaning every time I got my throat slit for breaking a law, did you? No. Because I was a feckin’ man, not a whingey child.
What other furniture did they have in here? I climbed up the skinny staircase to the first floor. Nothing worth salvaging, although the one-bedroom suite seemed in good nick. I tore off the quilt and sheets before shifting the bed, two lockers, and an armoire into the main bedroom at the townhouse. Not that I planned on sleeping there very often. But if anyone called, I couldn’t have them asking why the place was completely empty.
Back downstairs, one of the men who had testified at Charlie’s trial had finally fallen silent. The other one was gone. I followed the trail of blood smeared across the tiles into the kitchen. He wasn’t gone-gone. He was only trying to slide himself on broken, bleeding limbs toward the back door.
I squatted down to look into his pain-glazed eyes. “Escaping, are you? How’s that working out?” I shifted my dagger and stabbed him in the heart.
He flopped around like a salmon on the shore for about ten seconds.
Oh, salmon. That sounded brilliant for dinner. I’d have to ask Eava to make some with that lovely cream sauce.Too late for today. Maybe tomorrow.
I called a flame to my palm, lighting the walls and wooden table and chairs and kitchen presses on fire. On my way out, I found a decent looking pair of candlesticks. Real silver, too. It’d be such a waste having them melt away with the bodies. I shifted them and the hall table to the townhouse. Once the flames licked at the hideous mustard-colored drapes in the sitting room, I evanesced back to the castle to change out of my blood-splattered shirt.
Another one for the bin. No matter. I had the ones Meranda had ordered for me ready and waiting. The moment I set foot inside the castle, I could hear Ruairi bellowing from the study.
“If ye don’t have a chat with yer little brother, then I will.”
I strolled to the doorway to lean against the frame, counting the seconds before he realized I was here.
“And I swear I’ll take his—” Ruairi spun around, golden eyes wide and nostrils flaring.
“Don’t let me interrupt,” I said. “You’ll take my what? Go on, now. I’d love to hear this. Actually, wait.” I shifted a sprig of grapes from the kitchens. “Nowyou may continue.” I plucked one from the stem and popped it into my mouth with a smile.
“You’re a bastard. You know that?” Ruairi growled.
“That is common knowledge, yes.” Dear old dad had had dalliances with both the Queen and her sister. Just so happened he’d gotten Tadhg’s mother pregnant first and married her. Not that I could blame the man. Bronagh had been a saint compared to the Queen.
Tadhg clutched his head between his hands. “Will the two of you stop roaring and tell me what happened?”
Ruairi jabbed a thick finger toward my face. “He shifted me, then used me as a feckin’ pack horse to carry some human.”
Another grape crunched between my teeth. “I fail to see the problem.”
“Hold on. Did you just say he shifted you?” Tadhg’s head swung toward me, his eyes narrowed. “Youshiftedhim?”
I only smiled.
“How are you so powerful?”