And look at my castle. So impressive on that hillside. Imposing as well. How lucky was I to call such a spectacular place home?
Not even the sight of my darling brother stalking toward me with a scowl on his face could dampen this wonderful day.
“Good evening, Rían. Beautiful sunset, isn’t it?”
He didn’t even turn around to check. Too bad, really. He was missing out. “Where’ve you been?”
“Everywhere.” And I wasn’t even tired.
“Good to know you’ve time to gallivant while your people suffer. Did you forget that the blight reached Saoirse and Joel?”
His lack of faith—while warranted—stung. “I shifted their houses first thing this morning.”
Rían halted at the bottom step. “By yourself?”
“That’s right.”
He breathed in my words, testing for a lie. He’d find none here. Not on this perfect day. “How many did you move?” he asked.
“Four.”
He didn’t say anything more, but he didn’t have to. I could tell from the sour look on his face that he was impressed. I threw the heavy door aside, letting light stream into the murky foyer. As lovely as this place was, it could really do with more windows. Big ones. Huge panes of glass so we could watch the sunsets.
Aveen appeared in the hallway leading to the kitchens. When she saw me, she startled. I glanced past her, but there was no sign of my darling fiancée. “Have you seen Keelynn?”
Her gaze bounced between Rían and I, her brow furrowing. “I’m sorry. Who are you?”
Rían snorted. “That’s Tadhg.”
The wrinkle between her eyebrows deepened as she studied me. “Why is he wearing a glamour?”
“He’s not.” Rían’s scowl returned. “How did he look to you before?”
Her lips pursed as her gaze swept from my head to my boots, making me feel like a cow gone to market. “Stronger.”
Excuse me? I gave my biceps a squeeze. They weren’t as large as Ruairi’s, sure, but I was plenty strong in my own right. Keelynn liked my arms just fine, thank you very much.
“His face is thinner as well.”
She really needed to work on her adjectives. My face wasn’tthin, it was chiseled.
“His hair always looked blond.”
It was my turn to snort. Aveen would’ve seen me as her ideal man. And my brother may have been a lot of things, but blond he was not. Rían’s lips pulled down into a frown.
I clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, brother. You can always dye your hair.”
He smacked my hand away. “Feck off.”
“Ignore him,” Aveen said with a slight flush to her cheeks. “I love your hair just as it is.”
Hold on. If I looked different to Aveen, did I appear different to Keelynn as well? Did she still find me as attractive as she always had?
I evanesced into my bedroom. Sure enough, I found my fiancée tying the last of her laces. When she saw me, her lips lifted into a coy little smile. My teeth scraped my lower lip as I considered how to word this question. Better to say it straight out, I supposed. “How do I look to you?”
She blinked those long lashes framing serious gray eyes. “Pardon?”
I pointed to my “thin” face. “My face. How has it changed?”