PROLOGUE
RÍAN
Every timeI closed my eyes, I saw Aveen plummeting to her death.
Falling impossibly fast. Plunging into the waves. Never resurfacing. Swallowed by the seething sea.
Dawn spilled its golden light across the whitewashed cottage tucked between two fields. With the briny breeze tugging at my shirt, I racked my brain for some way to keep the precious woman sleeping inside safe from the inevitable. We may have won this battle, but I wasn’t foolish enough to believe the Phantom Queen would let our victory stand.
I needed to return to the castle and inform Tadhg of what had transpired in the Black Forest. I’d be gone an hour, two at most. A lot could happen in two hours, and trouble had a way of finding these Bannon women. The thought of leaving Aveen all by herself made my chest ache. Or it could’ve been the recently restored organ doing that. Did having a heart always feel this heavy?
If only I could have gone back to yesterday and told myself not to go through with it.
With Tadhg’s life force flowing through her veins, Aveen couldn’t die unless the Queen got her hands on the enchanted dagger. And I’d hidden that cursed weapon somewhere no one would find it. But there were fates far worse than death for our kind.
No sense dwelling on it now. There would be plenty of time for that later.
A yawn escaped as I scrubbed at my burning eyes with a heavy hand. Phil the devil-goat peered up at me through one beady black eye before turning back to the thicket on the other side of the well.
My stomach churned as I forced my leaden legs to walk down the lane until I reached a wide enough gap in the high hedge to slip into the neighboring field. Morning dew clung to my boots as I crossed through the rock-riddled grass to the sleeping forest.
The dampened brown leaves carpeting the ground kept my footfalls silent all the way to the dry well housing Hollowshade’s magical portal. The energy in this place would conceal any lingering signature my magic may leave behind, making it almost impossible to trace me back here for even the most experienced scryers. Handy, considering the Queen could never know my soulmate lived nearby.
Instead of going straight to the castle, I evanesced to Ruairi’s home in Tearmann, a stone dormer situated on a picturesque plot of land cut in half by a babbling brook. In the distance, you could hear waves greeting the shore. Some might have called this place peaceful or serene. I’d always hated it. The happy, chubby birds flitting from the laurel hedges. The pops of color in the flower boxes below the windows. I could still remember how his mother’s laughter used to echo through these now-silent walls. What had he done to deserve the joy-filled life he’d been given while I’d been born to rot away in that cursed forest?
Ruairi answered on the third knock, his black hair matted to the side of his head. Nice to know someone had slept last night. “Get dressed,” I said. “You need to guard Aveen.”
He folded his thick arms over his chest, golden eyes flashing. “It’s the crack of feckin’ dawn, lad. I don’t need to do anything besides sleep.”
Of all the things I’d considered going wrong today, dealing with an obstinate pooka hadn’t been one of them. He had to help me. If he didn’t, Aveen would be all alone and there would be no one to protect her and—
My heart rate quickened. I pressed the heel of my hand against my chest, willing my thundering pulse to slow. “If the Queen finds her, there’s no telling what will happen. I can’t lose her. She’ll take her from me. Please.” The pooka in front of me went blurry. What the hell was happening with my eyes?
“Good god, man. Are you crying?”
Shit. “No.” I swiped my traitorous eyes with a shaking hand, panic climbing my throat, choking what remained of my protest.
Ruairi sighed deeply before pulling the door closed behind him. “Where is she?”
Normally, the pity on his face would’ve incensed me, but not today. Not when I was exactly as pathetic as he thought. I summoned a tost before explaining where he could find Aveen.
He looked as if he wanted to say more, probably something uselessly optimistic or hopeful, but thankfully kept his gob shut. A moment later, I was on my own, just me, the quiet house, and the cheerful, glittering stream. I needed to get ahold of myself. Tadhg would never let me live it down if I fell apart in front of him.
Would Aveen have been better off in the castle? No. I’d made the right choice in bringing her to the cottage. She couldn’t hide in Tearmann, not when my enemies were so close at hand. Look what had happened with Muireann. As much as I hated having my love so far away, she would be safer among the humans while I prepared for the Queen’s inevitable retaliation.
To the best of my knowledge, the witch had never attacked without reason. Then again, I wasn’t sure if she had ever been thwarted the way she had last night.
Only time would tell.
And as true immortals, we had nothing but time.
Until I found a way to end the Queen once and for all, we wouldn’t be safe.
To think, a few short weeks ago I thought scuffing my favorite boot had been a disaster. How times had changed.
With a burst of magic, I evanesced to the castle gates. Tadhg’s power and immortality had passed to Aveen when Keelynn had resurrected her with that cursed dagger. When my brother found out, he’d be on the hunt for a true immortal to kill so that he could keep his human as well.
I couldn’t imagine wanting to be with that shrew for eternity, but Tadhg had never been right in the head.