A slender woman appeared in the doorway, her long raven hair lifting on the breeze. Her gaze caught mine, and her brow grew more furrowed the longer she stared at me. “May I help ye, sir?”
Sir? Awfully formal coming from a woman I’d known for ages. Her husband and Ruairi were related in some way or another—don’t ask me how. Pooka family trees were more tangled than a blackberry thicket. “I’ve come to relocate your cottage.”
At that, she startled. “Where’s the prince?”
The boy jumping rope in the front lawn paused his skipping. “Mam! Yer talkin’ to him.”
She lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the blazing afternoon sun. “Tadhg?” Her eyes widened. “By heavens, it is you. What’re ye doing wearin’ a glamour?”
I wasn’t wearing a—wait. This was the first proper outing I’d taken since my curse had been broken. No wonder none of the women in the courtyard had so much as waved to me. They didn’t recognize me without my curse. How handy was that?
“It’s a long story,” I said, because it was. Most people knew I had been cursed in one way or another, but very few knew the extent of what Fiadh had done to me. The last thing I wanted was to get into it when there was so much to be done. “Will you clear the house so I can move it?”
She bunched her skirts in her fists, lifting them as she stepped daintily around the toys littering the lawn. “The place is empty. Joel brought the little one to his mam’s on the coast to keep her from wandering.”
My stomach sank. The youngest O’Brien boy had wandered into the blight and was found two days later, dead as the earth beneath him. “Will I shift your place to the coast as well?”
“If it’s all the same to ye, I’d rather not live next to my mother-in-law.” When her son laughed, she gave his shoulder a good whack. “And if ye tell yer father that, ye’ll be without dessert for a month.”
We’d bought a few fields from an ancient grogoch on the northern tip of Tearmann, so that was where I’d put them instead. Shifting something this large took not only a great deal of magic, but a great deal of control—something I’d always lacked even at the best of times.
“I know just the place,” I said, passing through the gates to press both my palms against the sun-warmed house. The gritty stones scraped my fingertips as I walked ten paces down the side. Another twelve around the conservatory and back to where the kitchen window overlooked an overgrown garden tinged with black. Back around the side where the bedrooms were located and across the front.
“What’s he doin’?” the little lad whispered.
“Quiet. Don’t distract him.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “It’s all right.” If anything, a bit of distraction eased some of the pressure building in my chest. “Although you should probably stand back, just in case.” Once they were clear, I evanesced to where Rían had relocated the other homes. Organized in neat rows, with not nearly as much land and space as there used to be. Not all the Danú were like pooka and enjoyed living in tight communities. Given that we didn’t have an infinite amount of land to work with, everyone had to make some sacrifices.
I closed my eyes and called on my power. When I was cursed and tried to shift something, I could feel my magic drain like water in a sink with no stopper.Focus.You’re not cursed anymore.
Now the power kept flowing, a rushing tide without end.
I pictured that warm structure, full of life and stones fused together for centuries. Windowpanes reflecting the sunlight. A chimney and a blue-gray door. I called on the fire within me…and flicked my wrist. When I opened my eyes, an empty patch of land greeted me.
Darkness rose up, threatening to swallow me whole.
What was I missing? I’d be damned before I asked Rían to help. I shifted a flask and took a drink. Liquor burned down my throat to my empty belly.
What was the point of being free when you could do nothing with your freedom? May as well be cursed for eternity if I couldn’t even help a couple of families. I swiped at my sweaty brow.You can do this.
I stuffed my flask into my pocket, closed my eyes once more, and called on my magic. Sparks coursed through my veins.
The house. I needed the house right here, all in one piece.
Something tugged on my magic like a fish nibbling on some bait at the end of a fishing hook. The tug grew stronger, no longer a fish but a shark, heavy and fighting every step of the way. Sweat rolled down my brow and the back of my neck.
That shark became a feckin’ whale, heavier than anything I’d ever felt before. With a flick of my wrist, the weight vanished.
The house stood in front of me, conservatory and all.
A smile broke across my face.
This time, when I withdrew my flask, I raised it to the sky in a silent toast and took a victorious sip. Time to shift two more.
* * *
What a glorious day. What a glorious sunset, painting the sky in pinks and oranges. Orange really was such a lovely color. Didn’t get enough credit, if you asked me.