When Keelynn refused to hand over the dagger, Fiadh shrieked. “Give it to me!”
“I saidno.”
Shadow magic slithered toward Keelynn, so dark it swallowed all light. “Have you learnednothing, you foolish girl?” Fiadh hissed. “You can hide inside this warded castle for the rest of your pathetic life, but I will get back what is mine. I will curse your family, your children, everyone you love. I will never stop haunting you unless yougive me that dagger.”
The dagger held Tadhg’s life force.
I needed to find a way to return it to him.
“Our bargain isn’t through,” Keelynn insisted. Fiadh’s shadows curled around the human’s feet like low-hanging fog, never touching but dangerously close. “I killed the Gancanagh, and now I get to resurrect my sister.”
No. No no no no no no.
Aveen couldn’t come back. Not yet. Nothere.
“Go on, then. Resurrect your precious sister,” Fiadh crooned.
She couldn’t use that dagger on Aveen. Then Tadhg would be gone, and Aveen would be stuck here forever, and the Queen would find her and—
Keelynn walked toward me, Fiadh closing in.
Bring me the dagger. That’s it.I’d get the dagger, cross the wards, evanesce, and bring my brother back. Sure, Keelynn would be dead, but who honestly cared? At this stage, it was the best we could hope for.
When Fiadh said she wasn’t letting the dagger out of her sight, I almost smiled. She wouldn’t have a choice. As soon as Keelynn got close enough, I was going to take it.
“You can’t get past the wards,” Keelynn pointed out.
Everyone around me had taken a step back, leaving me on my own as usual. The wards were strong enough to keep out the Queen, and they would keep out this witch as well.
Fiadh pinned me with her black stare. “Then ask yourfriendto let me inside.”
As if I’d be stupid enough to let that bitch in here after what she’d done to Tadhg. I may have despised the Danú, but with my brother gone, this kingdom fell on my shoulders. They were now my responsibility.
Tears streamed down Keelynn’s pale cheeks. “Rían, please. I need to see Aveen.”
“Have you lost your feckin’ mind? You just murdered my brother, and you think I’m going to let you inside this castle? Not a hope in hell. Good luck getting out of Termann alive, you traitorous bitch.” The Danú at my back murmured in agreement. She was as good as dead either way.
“Give me my sister,” Keelynn demanded.
“She’s my fiancée,” I shot back. More than that, Aveen was my feckin’ soulmate, and I refused to damn her to this fate.
Shit. Oh no. SHIT!Tell me I didn’t just say that out loud.
Tell me I didn’t just sign Aveen’s death warrant.
“Rían, please,” Keelynn begged. “I need to bring her back to end this bargain.”
Until the bargain was complete, Fiadh would have control over Keelynn—and that dagger. But if Keelynn brought Aveen back with the dagger, I wouldn’t have any life force to use for Tadhg.
How did I turn this around?CouldI turn it around?
Fiadh clicked her tongue, stepping forward so I could see the same soullessness that lived in the Queen in the depths of her eyes. This woman had held her grudge for centuries. There was no hope of getting her to leave it now that she was so close to her goal of ending my brother for good. “If you don’t want me to turn my sights on you, Little Rían,” Fiadh said, “I suggest you give the pathetic human her sister.”
She thought she could threatenme?
I may not be able to steal her immortality without dying too, but I could send her on a holiday to the underworld with my own dagger, then lock her in the dungeon for as long as it took to convince Keelynn to kill her for me.
But I’d watched Fiadh shift that dagger as if it were a cheap bauble. I’d never even seen the Queen do that, and she was the most powerful witch on this island.What sort of unholy power must Fiadh have possessed to be able to shift an enchanted object?