I was sick and tired of waiting for a straight answer. I dropped the ladle and pressed my hands to my aching temples. “He went to Caden on his own, didn’t he?”
Keelynn gasped and twisted to glare at her husband.
Tadhg tossed a blackberry into his mouth, not appearing the least bit concerned. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t know.”
“We had a plan,” I ground out.
“And he had a better one,” Ruairi countered, going for another slice of toast.
“To go in my stead? How is that better?” And here I thought these men were better than the humans I’d known. They were all the bloody same, making decisions that affected my life without a thought to how they would make me feel. “Rían’s magic doesn’t work on the water. He won’t be able to hold a glamour.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Keelynn said.
On any other day, I’d have appreciated the optimism, but not today. Rían could have been locked in an iron coffin at the bottom of the ocean for all we knew. And yet here we were, sitting down for breakfast. What if we never found him? If we’d gone togetheras planned, I would’ve at least had an idea of where to look for his body.
Perhaps the ship hadn’t left the port and there was still time to talk him out of this asinine plan. I shot to my feet and ran for the glass doors, barely remembering to throw on a glamour before emerging onto the sun-drenched patio. My boots thudded against the sandstone slabs as I ran past the entrance to the gardens toward the gates. Ruairi called my name, but I was already through the wards and evanescing to Hollowshade. Not the portal—there wasn’t time for that—but to a tiny alleyway I’d once spotted when going to the market for a pint of milk.
Thanks to Rían’s lessons, I ended up exactly where I wanted to go, emerging from between the buildings and darting around market-goers on my way to the grassy area overlooking the port. Small, colorful fishing boats bobbed at the docks and a handful dotted the deep blue bay. I scanned the horizon for a ship with black sails but found only dark gray clouds and dismay.
Dammit, Rían. None of us truly knew what Caden was capable of. The man was a pirate for goodness sake, and pirates were notoriously ruthless. Rían may have been a murderous prince, but he was out of his depth in the water, and with no way to safely evanesce…
Someone came to a stop next to me. I glanced over my shoulder to find Ruairi staring out at the sea. Black and white birds swooped toward the water and back up to the low-lying gray clouds.
“He’s gone,” I breathed.
“Don’t fret, human. He’ll be back soon enough.”
He couldn’t possibly know that. “And when Caden finds out Rían isn’t me? What then?”
“Your promise has been fulfilled. We made sure of it.”
The strange sensation that woke me this morning, had that been Caden’s hold on me breaking? Oh, Rían…
“You were with him, then?” I assumed.
Ruairi nodded. “So the pirate can come back all he wants, but he can’t make ye go with him.”
I didn’t care aboutme. If I’d known what Rían was going to do, I would’ve kept my mouth shut yesterday and come on my own as planned. For a man who claimed to be a villain, he was certainly good at playing the hero when it was most inconvenient.
Ruairi, of all people, should’ve known better. He was supposed to bemyfriend, onmyside. And here he was, making secret plans with Rían.Traitor. I rammed my fist into his bulky arm.
Ruairi leapt back with a curse, rubbing where I’d struck him. “Feckin’ hell. What was that for?”
“Siding with Rían over me.”
His eyes shuttered before he looked back toward the lapping waves, still massaging his arm. “I may not be yer soulmate, but that doesn’t mean I care for ye any less.”
There they were, the words he’d never spoken aloud, words I’d felt in every cheeky grin and each moment of patient silence stretching between us.
He glanced from the sea to my face and back again, his golden eyes searching, his expression unsure. When he spoke again, his voice came out gruffer, thick with all the words still left unsaid. “If I can keep ye outta harm’s way, then ye’d better believe that’s what I’m going to do. Having magic doesn’t make ye invincible.”
Since I didn’t know how to deal with the first part of his statement, I focused instead on the second. I knew magic didn’t make me invincible. What’s more, I understood that these men had been wielding their power for centuries. I couldn’t compete with them in strength or experience—I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to. “I know I’m not invincible, Ruairi.” I was reminded of that fact every single day I had to hide behind a bloody glamour so that the Queen didn’t find me. “But that doesn’t mean you can disrespect my wishes. If the two of you thought of a better plan, the least you could have done was include me in the final decision.”
His proud shoulders dropped when he nodded. “Yer right.”
Someday, I hoped they realized I usually was.
* * *