The trees in the forest creaked and swayed, their moonlit shadows shuddering across the ground. My boots slipped silently down the frosty path toward Aveen’s cottage. Smoke twisted from the stone chimney before vanishing with the sea breeze. Like an invisible hand had fisted the front of my shirt and yanked, I felt myself being drawn toward that blue door.
Would it really be so bad to give in?
All I needed was one night. One smile. One laugh.
I gave myself a mental shake. This was how life had to be. Aveen had been right to send me away. I never would’ve been strong enough to keep this distance on my own. As difficult as this was, I was determined to respect her wishes.
A feminine silhouette drifted across the kitchen window. My heart leapt into my throat, but I forced my gaze away, toward the darkness that loomed on all sides of that whitewashed cottage, searching for signs of trouble.
We’d retrieved my heart. By all accounts, we’d won.
And yet here I stood, on a frigid hilltop, unable to hold the woman I loved, as empty and alone as ever.
My pack hit the hard ground with athump. I withdrew the blanket to cover the frosty grass. If only I could’ve built a fire to warm my bones. There’d be none of that tonight. I didn’t deserve the comfort anyway.
Phil stomped toward me, his beady black eyes trained on the pack. I grabbed one of the apples and handed it to the smelly animal as a peace offering, so he didn’t try to butt me with his crooked horn the way he had a few weeks back.Rotten beast.
Before I could withdraw a second apple for myself, movement along the forest’s edge caught my eye. A tall, dark shape, moving quicker than anyone should. I told myself not to panic, that whomever it was could be heading toward the village.
Only this person wasn’t turning toward the village but sprinting toward my human’s cottage. Unable to evanesce without leaving a magical signature, I chased after the shadow, my heart roaring in my ears until I realized who had arrived.
A different sort of fire replaced the ache in my chest. One borne of rage and regret.
Not only had my brother’s best mate come to call on my human, he had a basket swinging from his arm that smelled suspiciously like chocolate cake. Which happened to be Aveen’s favorite.
When his glowing golden eyes met mine, he startled and then rushed to hide the basket behind his back. As if I wouldn’t see the thing.
I shifted my dagger, really, really hoping he would give me an excuse to stab him as I gestured toward the basket with my blade. “Did Eava give you that?”
Ruairi hesitated. “Maybe.”
Her betrayal felt like an iron pipe to the ribs. Eava, the woman I considered my real mother, had given this bastard something to help him woo my feckin’ soulmate.
Ruairi tried to walk around me, but I met his step with my own, blocking the gate. “You’re not going inside.” Not a feckin’ hope. He could go right back to his house and wallow like me.
The dog smirked his last feckin’ smirk. “Last I checked, bringing cake to a friend wasn’t illegal.”
“Tadhg is your only friend.”
His fangs flashed in my face, and I had to control the urge to tear them out one by one. “Not anymore, lad.”
When I’d told Aveen to find someone who could give her the life she wanted, I hadn’t feckin’ meant it. And I certainly hadn’t wanted her to pick some hairy feckin’ pooka with a chip on his massive shoulders.
Ruairi could visit her in broad daylight. He didn’t have a murderous mother waiting to torture her. He could do as he damn well pleased, while I was stuck rotting away in that feckin’ castle with nothing and no one.
What if Aveen ended up like Polly McGill, falling in love with the bastard and bearing his child?
She couldn’t love him.
She was supposed to love me.
What the hell was I supposed to do now? I should’ve gone inside and reminded her what we had. I should’ve gotten the dagger and killed the Queen in her sleep. I should’ve killed the dog grinning at me.
The nerve of this fecker. Aveen boremymark. He knew the rules. She wasmine. He didn’t deserve her. No one did.
I tightened my hold on the dagger.
I needed to kill someone.