Think, Rían. Think.
Keelynn needed to fulfil the bargain. I’d have no hope of getting that dagger otherwise. With my lungs caving in, I shifted Aveen’s coffin to the other side of the wards.
Fiadh muttered something, but I could barely hear with the silence roaring in my ears as I watched Keelynn bring the bloody dagger to Aveen’s pale palm and cut.
Aveen sucked in a breath.
And I swore it filled my lungs as well.
Bargain complete.
Forever. She’d be stuck here forever.
Fiadh asked for the dagger once more.
Keelynn whirled, driving the dagger into Fiadh’s gut.Black blood spilled on the green grass like tar.
“You scheming bitch!” Fiadh shrieked, her knees slamming to the ground as blackened life force twisted from her body.
Keelynn ran toward Tadhg, but she collapsed just out of reach.
I evanesced, stealing the dagger from Keelynn’s outstretched hand.
If a true immortal used it to kill, the dagger would claim them both. But what about using it to resurrect another? Would this kill me? I glanced at where Aveen struggled in her golden coffin, knowing deep down in my worthless soul that no one would care if I was gone. But Tadhg. He was the Danú’s beloved leader. He was worth the risk.
I cut his hand with the dagger and waited to die.
He sucked in a breath, and still I waited.
His eyes flew open, and I shoved him toward his gasping soulmate. “Kiss her. Quickly.”
This may not work, but it was the best chance we had. Tadhg kissed Keelynn just as she drew a final shuddering breath. His curse spread down her chin to her throat, leaving her limp in his arms.
“It wasn’t supposed to be her,” he sobbed. “It was never supposed to be her. I was the one meant to die. Why didn’t you save her?”
He just kept moaning on and on like the selfish bastard he was. Couldn’t he see I’d made the best choice for everyone? “As weak and pathetic as you are, you serve a purpose.”Aveen’s sister, however, did not.
Aveen stumbled forward. She shouldn’t have been able to walk yet, let alone steal her sister’s lifeless body from Tadhg and demand answers. Answers I would give just as soon as all these useless feckers staring at us from behind the safety of the wards were gone.
“Keelynn?” Aveen patted her sister’s cheek. “I’m here. I’m back. Please wake up.”
Tadhg growled, “Give me back my wife.”
I had to hold myself back from cutting off his feckin’ hand when he grabbed her. He stole Keelynn’s body and stomped toward the gates. The Danú parted for him, looking on as he carried his wife into the castle.
“Where’s he taking her?” Aveen wheezed. “Tell me what’s happening!”
The Danú turned back to us, intrigue in their eyes. I towed her beneath the wards by the elbow, searching the whispers for anyone mentioning my accidental confession. It seemed they were all too preoccupied by the dead witch out front.
I kept going, through the courtyard, past the fountain, to the entryway where the Queen glared down at me from the tapestry in disapproval. I could hear her now.He was dead. The throne was yours. Fool! Why did you risk your own life to bring him back?
“Say something,” Aveen clipped.
“Don’t snap at me. This isn’t my fault.” I was sick and feckin’ tired of everyone blaming me for everything.
“I don’t care whose fault it is! Tell me why your brother murdered my sister.”
“Because murdering her was the only way to save her life. Now instead of being dead forever, she’s only dead for a year and a day. After all the shite I’ve had to deal with over the last six months, I’m counting it as a win.” No one else may have seen it like that, but at this stage, I had no shits left to give.