Rían lunged, but he was too late.
I shifted the dagger right from his sheath and plunged it into my chest.
24
AVEEN
Returningfrom the Underworld gave me a different sort of pain to focus on than the unyielding agony seeping from the cracks in my broken heart. Eventually, the physical torment would subside, but I’d still feel as dead as the land devoured by blight back in Tearmann.
My tears soaked into the pillowcase as I listened to the wind and rain batter my tiny cottage. How could Rían have done this to me? After all I’d given up, all I’d sacrificed, he refused to tell me the one thing I needed to hear. At this stage, I wouldn’t have even cared if it had been a lie. All I wanted was some sort of reassurance that his feelings for the woman he’d once loved were nothing compared to his feelings for me. Instead, he’d given me nothing.
Not a blessed thing.
The door creaked. When I managed to pry open my lashes, I found myself staring into a pair of rich brown eyes. I blinked. And blinked again. Ruairi’s eyes weren’t brown, they were gold. No matter how many times I blinked, I kept seeing a pirate captain perched on the edge of my bed instead of a friendly pooka.
“Aveen,” Caden breathed, twisting the fabric of his billowy white shirt over his heart. “Gods, I thought you were gone forever.”
The skin on my lips split with the slightest movement. “What are you doing here? How did you find me? Where’s—” I stopped myself from saying Ruairi’s name. Despite what we’d shared, I didn’t know Caden Merriweather at all. The last thing I wanted was to put Ruairi in jeopardy. “Where is the man who brought me here?”
Caden collected a glass of water from the bedside table, gently eased me into a sitting position, and pressed the cold glass to my lips. I would’ve refused the pirate’s help if I wasn’t so thirsty. A sigh escaped as the first drops of icy water spilled through my lips onto my stiff tongue.
“Man?” he growled. “You mean the pooka carrying your lifeless body?”
I really shouldn’t have been surprised Caden had seen Ruairi for what he was. My friend was too large for his own bloody good.
Caden jerked away the glass and slammed it on the bedside table, spilling water all over the wood. “First that bastard prince and now a damned pooka. Honestly, Aveen. Have you no sense of self-preservation?”
Apparently not, considering I had fallen for both a lying fae pirate and a wicked fae prince. “Where is he?”
Caden gave me a hard smile. “Detained.”
What did that even mean? How powerful was Caden that he could best Ruairi? Technically, he’d beaten Rían as well, but stabbing the prince in the back could hardly be considered a victory. Caden settled me back onto the pillow. I wanted to shove him off my bed and demand answers. But all I could do was lie there like a slug until the feeling in my extremities returned. “If you hurt him, I swear, I’ll… I’ll…”
Curse Rían for not teaching me something useful to do with my magic, like how to incinerate people who annoyed me. Turning this bloody pirate to ash would’ve given me such satisfaction.
Caden plucked one of my curls from the pillowcase to wrap around his fingers, clearly unbothered by my threating glare. “Are you going to finish that thought, my angel?”
I wasn’thisangel. I wasn’t his anything. This man left me behind. Made promises he couldn’t keep. I wanted nothing to do with him. Not one blessed thing.
Magic surged through my veins, waiting at my fingertips for direction. If I’d known how to use it, he would have been in serious trouble. “I’ll feed you to Prince Rían for tea.”
That wiped the cocky look off his handsome face.
My eyes narrowed as my veins hummed with pent-up magic, begging for some sort of release. “Now, I’ll ask you again, and this time, I expect a straight answer. What have you done to my friend?”
Caden drummed his fingers beside my knee. “There’s no reason to fret. Yourfriendis alive…for now.”
The fire inside me flared, giving me enough strength to press my hands into the mattress and slide myself against the headboard so I could look him dead in the eye. “You hurt him?”
“He’ll survive.”
“Caden!”
“I thought he killed you, Aveen! What was I supposed to do? Make him a cup of tea?” He dragged a hand down his neck, his face contorted with false concern. “Did you honestly expect me to believe him when he claimed you would return from the dead?”
I didn’texpectanything because he wasn’t supposed to be here! How had he found me, anyway? Had Meranda given away my location? Had he tortured her for it? If something happened to her as well…
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose, praying for patience and a respite from murderous men. All I wanted was some peace and quiet. Was that too much to ask?