I left him staring toward the bed, shifted some clean clothes, and went to find some dinner. Venison roasted with cloves sounded good. Or maybe some pork cooked with Bramley apples. There must be somewhere in this town to get a decent meal.
20
Between me being leftto deal with ruling Tearmann, presiding over executions in Airren, Tadgh’s forced marriage to Aveen’s sister, and kidnapping, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gotten a full night’s sleep.
Even though she couldn’t hear me, I’d told Aveen all of it, as if confessing to her could absolve me of my countless sins.
All I wanted was to return to Hollowshade and get back to work on Aveen’s cottage. Before the sun rose on Friday morning, Tadhg burst through the study doors. I’d threatened him to ensure he didn’t miss another day of airing grievances, but those threats usually fell on deaf ears.
“You’re here. And you’re early,” I said. “And you look like shite.” But he didn’t smell like drink, so I took that as a small victory. Hungover Tadhg was even more useless than drunk Tadhg.
“I need your help.” He closed the distance between us in three long strides. “We’re crossing the Forest.”
“We?” Last I heard, he was all depressed because Keelynn had decided to stay with Robert. “Not yourself and Keelynn, surely.”
He nodded.
And here I thought today couldn’t get worse. “Are you out of your feckin’ mind? The Queen will kill her.” Foronce, couldn’t he stick to a plan we’d agreed upon? Keelynn belonged with the humans, where she was safe. She belonged with the man she “loved.”
“I’ve spoken with the Queen,” Tadhg said, “and she has agreed to let her pass twice. Once to arrive and once to leave.”
The Queen agreed to this? She hadn’t let a human through in at least fifty years. “And in return?”
Tadhg kept talking as if I hadn’t spoken. “I need you to ensure Keelyn’s safety once she arrives in Tearmann.”
My chest began to ache. “Tadhg, what did you promise her?”
His jaw worked.
“Tadhg!”
“There’s no need to shout. She’s only going to kill me.”
There it was. The one thing I’d hoped he wouldn’t say. “I always knew you were a fool, but this is utter folly. You know what she did to me. How can you put yourself in the same position?” Even if she left his heart intact, she wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to consume his life force—his magic. If she managed to access the centuries of bound magic within him . . . she would be unstoppable. As it stood, my hopes of defeating her were next to none. If she consumed his life force . . . “Leave Keelynn behind. I’m begging you.”
He leveled me with an even stare. “I can’t.”
What was it with people and their refusal to see reason? “Youcan, but you’re choosing not to.”
He was already at the study door when he said, “I’ll aim to have her at the border before noon.”
He left me staring at shadows with my hopes of ever defeating the Queen fading into nothing.
* * *
I went to the Black River, keeping to the Tearmann side of the border. It didn’t take long to locate the dark-haired woman kneeling on the shore, weeping and sobbing like the world had ended.
This was all her fault.
Allof this.
Tadhg’s body lay in her lap, blood painting his grimy shirt. “What the hell have you done to my brother?” I ground out. He must’ve been stabbed at least ten times. As far as I could tell, his heart was still in his chest, which didn’t give me a helluva lot of comfort, but at least it was something.
Aveen’s sister blinked up at me without a hint of recognition. Not that I expected her to recognize me since I looked nothing like the man who’d married her.
“I didn’t kill him,” she sniffled. “I swear, it wasn’t me.”
“I’m not talking about killing him. What I meant was you turning the poor man into a simpering eejit who’s forgotten his duty is to hispeopleand not some foolish humangirlwith chronic bad luck.” Maybe it wasn’t fair to take my frustration out on her, but she was going to get it anyway.