My blood ran cold.
Aveen.
A whimper broke from Rían’s throat before he took off toward Ruairi. When he tried to take Aveen’s body, Ruairi shouldered past him, up the stairs and into the castle.
I expected to find a murderous gleam in my brother’s eyes as he raced past.
Instead, all I saw was hopelessness.
10
RÍAN
The Queen must’ve foundher. I’d been off with my brother dealing with pointless problems with no solutions while the one person in this world who mattered to me had been cut down. Her heart. I had to check her heart. I lunged, but Rúairi planted his boot against my thigh, knocking me back.
“If you don’t let me pass, so help me—”
“Swallow yer baseless threats, fool. I’ve no time for them.”
He thought my threats were baseless, did he? I’d show him once and for all how little his life mattered. I withdrew my dagger, but it vanished. Tadhg stood in the doorway, dagger in hand, glowering at us both. “Attacking him isn’t going to help.”
It would help me.
His head swung toward the pooka. “What happened, Ruairi?”
The dog laid Aveen onto the settee, and I was about to shift her back to the cottage where she belonged when he withdrew a folded piece of parchment from his back pocket. He tried to pass the page to my brother, but I stole it for myself. My hands shook as I unfolded the crinkled page and stared down at my love’s delicate handwriting.
Bring me to the castle so that I may see Keelynn.
Don’t let Rían find out or he’ll send me away
A war raged within me, between Aveen’s request, my own selfish desires, and what I knew in my worthless heart was right. Aveen wanted to be here. I wanted her here. But being here was too dangerous. Then again, leaving her to her own devices had been dangerous as well.
“Aveen asked me to meet her at the cottage at half four,” Ruairi explained to Tadhg, his back to me as if he didn’t think I would bury a blade in his spine. If he had refused her request, none of us would be in this predicament. “Kept saying not to be late. When I arrived, I found her in the middle of a blood-soaked bed, a dagger lying next to her and fresh wounds on her wrists.”
Feckin’ hell.Thiswoman. Killing herself so she could make it back in time for her sister to return. No sense of self-preservation whatsoever. I should’ve been happy. After all, she wouldn’t have been with me if her head was screwed on right. Knowing she would willingly put herself in danger to spend time with her irritating sister made me want to stab my former wife and put us all out of our misery.
Only, I’d hurt Aveen enough.
And when she returned from the underworld, the process would take twice as long because of the spell I’d used to bind her magic. Once she came back to her body, I could undo the binding, but while she was dead, her magic was dead as well. My love would be in excruciating pain because of my inability to protect her.
When I tried to shift Aveen up to her room, nothing happened. When I tried to approach her body, an invisible force blocked my path. My feckin’ brother smiled his last smile.
He thought he could keep me from going to her? “Drop the ward.”
Tadhg’s infuriating smile only grew. “Not until she wakes.”
“We both know you only have enough magic to keep it up for another five minutes at best.” I could be patient. Bide my time.
Ruairi stepped right through the ward and folded his arms over his chest, scowling down at me as if he had the right to be near her and I didn’t.
“Give her to me.” My voice cracked. I didn’t care if I sounded weak. I didn’t care about anything but Aveen. I needed to hold her one more time. To ensure the pooka’s story checked out. To check her for the Queen’s scar.
“I want your word that you will not send Aveen away from the castle.” Tadhg’s infuriating tone rang with authority. “She died so she could see Keelynn. You will not make it for naught.”
Although my teeth gritted together, I managed a curt, “Fine.” I would have to figure out another way to keep her safe until she could return to Hollowshade.
The barrier keeping me from Aveen vanished. The pooka stepped out of the way, allowing me to slip my hands beneath my love’s cold body and cradle her limp form against my chest. I evanesced straight to her room before anyone could stop me. She felt impossibly light. Impossibly small. Impossibly fragile.