Although I trusted Meranda, I wasn’t sure I should tell her this secret. Not that I thought she would betray me on purpose, but if word got back to the Queen, it would not end well for me. “I came because I need to speak to Rían, and I have no way of getting word to him.”
Meranda’s lips pursed.
“I know you’re busy, and I hate to impose, but this is extremely important. Would you mind helping me once more?”
“‘Tisn’t an imposition at all, milady. I’ll get him here. Ye have my word.” With a flick of her wrist, the sign on the door flipped toClosed, and the bolt scraped into place. A moment later, my friend evanesced, leaving me standing in the middle of her shop.
Instead of staying where anyone looking through the windows could see me, I drew my hood and hurried back toward the staircase leading to Meranda’s apartments. The thought of seeing Rían again made my stomach flutter. I knew better than to get my hopes up that our reunion would end with him coming back to me, but couldn’t help myself.
We’d spent too long apart. If he helped me get to Keelynn first, then I would be willing to leave Airren with him so we could start a new life elsewhere.
I would miss my sister fiercely, but perhaps someday I would have enough control over my magic to visit her. I could take all necessary precautions, even wear a glamour if Rían wished.
The door to the rear entrance blew open, startling me out of my musings.
Nervous butterflies took flight in my stomach when a man stepped into the shadowed doorway. Finally.Finally.
A relieved smile tugged at my lips as I lifted my hands and threw back my hood. Rían wasn’t going to be very impressed with me evanescing, but I’d take his wrath over his absence any day.
The man emerged from the shadows, and my breath caught in my throat. He smelled not of cinnamon but the salty perfume of the sea.
This couldn’t be happening. My eyes must’ve been playing tricks on me. That’s what this was. A trick of the shadows. My body refused to budge, leaving me frozen like a fool, staring at a face I hadn’t seen in years.
A man whose stubble had scraped against my neck, my chest, my bare thighs. My fingers had tangled in the windswept golden curls atop his head. I’d stared into those liquid chocolate eyes and planned a future that wasn’t meant to be.
Heavy breaths and stolen kisses. Black sails and whispered lies.
“Aveen? Is it really you?” The sound of his voice drove any remaining doubt from my mind that my past had come back to haunt me.
Captain Caden Merriweather had returned.
6
RÍAN
My dagger waitedbeside me on top of a mound of unwashed clothes that reeked of blood and sweat. There must have been a mouse or two scurrying around here somewhere. At night, I heard them nibbling on the crumbs that had fallen from the bits of food I forced myself to eat.
Just enough to keep me alive so I could die again.
I’d shifted rope to tie around my neck and hung myself from the beams on the ceiling. I’d carved my wrists and let myself bleed out. Even managed to slit my own throat once. Stabbed myself in the heart so many times, the scar on my chest had gone hard. Unfortunately, no matter how painful the death, I always came back.
My life was a desolate wasteland without end, all because I’d let her slip away.
Tadhg burst through the door, his scowl not faltering like it had the last time he came in and saw the state of my room. I probably should’ve been embarrassed by the bottles piling up and the mountain of dirty clothes, but if anyone understood the way I felt, it was Tadhg.
His eyes widened when they flashed to where I sat on the floor, surrounded by the evidence of my failings. “Feckin’ hell, Rían. When was the last time you ate a decent meal?”
Probably the day he’d come in and tried to steal my potatoes. How long ago was that now? I couldn’t even remember. “I do not appreciate your feigned concern.” All I wanted was to be left to my misery. Was that really so much to ask?
“We will deal with this”—he spun his hand around the room—“when we get back. But first, I need your help.”
He could take his request and shove it up his arse. I had no plans to leave this castle for the next decade at least. “Find someone else.” Someone with the will to live.
His expression hardened. “We lost Aveen.”
Hold on a minute. Did he say they’dlost Aveen?He did. He feckin’ did. I rocketed to my feet, catching myself on the bedpost when the floor tilted. “What do you mean youlosther?” She was a woman, not a feckin’ cravat.
Cursing, he raked his fingers through his dark hair. “Ruairi and I have been trying to teach her to evanesce, but she hasn’t been able to go anywhere. Today, she vanished right out of the forest.”