by Amanda Fleet
All of Alison’s money went into a joint account that Rory controlled, and I didn’t know if he would even pay to bury his son.
“No, it’s fine. Rory agreed in the end.”
How many more bruises did she have that weren’t visible? I wished I could help her, but I knew I couldn’t. If Finn couldn’t get her to leave Rory, I had no chance.
She gazed at me. “Did he ask you?”
I blinked. “Who? Ask me what?”
“Finn. Ask you to marry him?”
Tears spilled over the edges of my eyes. “No.”
“He was going to. He said he would ask you on your birthday. That’s what we were talking about when we went for coffee at the Farmers’ Market.”
“Oh. My birthday’s not for a bit.”
“I know. I wondered if he would wait that long. He was never very good at waiting once he’d decided to do something.”
I laughed through my tears. “No, he wasn’t. But he hadn’t asked me.”
“I think he’d chosen the ring but hadn’t bought it yet.”
My mind ran back to the afternoon in the pub when he’d asked me if I wanted him to make an honest woman of me. If I’d said yes, would he have proposed?
Alison reached across and held my hand. “Hang in there. It’ll get better.”
Maybe. But only because I intended to hack Aegyir into tiny pieces and stuff him in a pot.
***
I didn’t bother trying Rick’s. I had no belief Aegyir would be there. My message to the organ-grinder could go via the monkey. After leaving Alison’s, I drove over to Helen and John’s, parked the bike in the street and hammered on the door.
John answered. He wore what I assumed he took to be ‘Sunday casual’ of chinos, neatly pressed light blue rugby shirt and a navy V-necked sweater over the top. And horrible brown suede moccasin slippers. With tassels.
“You have a bloody nerve,” he said, standing in the doorway, arms tightly folded over his chest.
Even though I stood on the lower doorstep, I was still on eye-level with him and I drew myself up to my full height.
“I need to give Stephen a message. You can either pass it on from me or I can tell him in person. It’s no skin off my nose which it is.”
John pursed his lips, the lines around his mouth deepening. “We’re going to press charges for what you did to him.”
I shrugged. “Well, the police can add the complaint to those of mine – Stephen loitering around the cottage, Stephen smashing our front door in…”
I glanced behind him at a movement from the other end of the hall that led from the front to the kitchen at the back. Helen locked eyes with me for a moment, then ducked out of view. I looked back at John.
“You’ve no evidence my son broke into your house. But then he comes back here with a split lip and two black eyes after seeing you and Finn. And we all know what Finn did to his father.”
I pushed my bottom lip out. “Does Stephen have any witnesses?”
John sneered. “Yes, I suspect you and Finn would collude over your stories, give each other an alibi.”
My breath shook. “Just get Stephen out here.” I didn’t want any fake tears or wringing of hands from John or Helen, and I couldn’t bear to voice the news, anyway. I stamped down my sorrow, focusing on how I would cut Aegyir into chunks, glaring at John.
“He’s not in. What’s the message?”
“Tell Aegyir Friday. After the funeral.”
John frowned and I clicked my tongue. “You need me to write it down for you? It’s only six words!”
John shook his head, sneering. “No, I’ll manage, thanks.”
I turned on my heel and marched back down the path. “Just make sure Stephen gets the message.”
***
Back at the cottage, I peered around, desperate to see Finn again, but there were empty echoes in response to my calls. Keep busy, Alison had said. Doing what? Planning how to kill a demon?
Alison had run through a list of people to tell. Most of the Cullen side had been dealt with via a single call to a cousin who would relay it on to the rest of the family, though I doubted that any of them would come to the funeral. I didn’t care whether Helen and John knew. Neither of them had had much time for Finn and the feeling had been mutual. I didn’t want them there on Friday. I did need to call Paul, my adopted father. A large chunk of me hoped he would come up for the funeral, but he was based on the other side of London these days and it was a long drive.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called him. “Hey, Paul. How are you?”
“Reagan? Hello! I’m fine thanks. How are you?”
Tears choked me. “Um. I’m not so great.”
“Reagan, love, what’s wrong? Oh, hell. Stephen’s out, isn’t he? Is everything okay? Has he done something?”
“Yeah, he’s out, but that’s not the problem.” I juddered to a halt, took a deep breath and managed the words I still found impossible to bear. “Finn died.”
“What? How? Oh, God, not on the bike?”
I swallowed hard. “Flu. There’s a big flu epidemic,” I lied. “He died on Friday night. I couldn’t bring myself to call before now. I’m sorry.”
“Oh God, that’s awful. When’s the funeral?”
“Friday. Friday morning.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line and I could imagine Paul checking his calendar and working out how to re-jig things. “I’ll be there. I can come up the night before, but I’ll have to leave after work and I might not be able to stay for long after the weekend. Though you could come back here with me if you wanted? Get a break? Change of scenery?”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about coming up. I know it’s a long way and you’re busy.”
“I’ll be there. Did you want to come and stay here afterwards?”
I would have loved to have gone back south with him. Unfortunately, I had a demon to kill.
“No, I’ll be okay. But thank you.”
“Okay. I’ll book a hotel and let you know the details. Oh Reagan, love, I am so, so sorry. I know how much you love him. Are you okay?”
I fingered my hairline, staring at all of Finn’s stuff everywhere – a pair of trainers kicked off in the corner of the room; his wallet on the table; a pair of sunglasses. “No. But I’ll cope. Alison – Finn’s mum – and I are very close. It’s fine. Will I see you Thursday night?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, love. I don’t think so. Even if I set off straight from work, I won’t be there until midnight at the earliest.”
“Okay. Paul, thanks for coming up.”
“What else would I do? I love you.”
“I love you too. Thank you.”
I choked up again, squeaked a goodbye and finished the call. I missed Paul. He’d tried so hard to keep in good contact after he and Helen split, and until his work had taken him south, he had. I thought of his house in the suburbs with its pocket-sized garden. It might have been nice to have gone there.
Fury, sorrow and hatred began to boil inside me, but worse than all of that was guilt. It was my fault. All my fault. Just like Sarah.
I had to keep busy.
I sat at the kitchen table, a blank sheet of paper in front of me, chewing the end of a pencil. What the hell would I say on Friday? Despite telling Alison I would speak at the funeral, I wasn’t at all sure I’d be able to hold it together to do anything of the sort. Absolutely nothing I tried to write came close to what I felt. I laughed hollowly. Finn had done my homework for me when we were at school to stop me getting into trouble, more times than I could count, but he couldn’t help me this time.
I pushed the paper away.
The tears might be running out, but the heartbreak wasn’t going anywhere. There was nothing left. Absolutely nothing. Except vengeance.
I lined up the packets of sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety pills on the table in front of me, adjusting them so that the labels all faced the same way. I would either die trying to kill Aegyir,
or kill him and then come back and kill myself. All of these, washed down with a bottle of vodka should do it.
“Don’t you dare miss my bloody funeral!”
I turned to see Finn gazing at me from the other end of the room, arms folded, head on one side. Then he vanished.
“Okay. See you on Friday.”
Five more days. No one would miss me.
23
“I am coming for you. I will have my revenge. You will keep your promises.”
Monitors flashing and beeping.
“We need you to leave.”
“Time of death is 22:53.”
Lord Eredan faced me, the assembled Council behind him, gathered in the Great Hall. “Did you invite Aegyir in?”
“Yes, but—”
He held up his hand silencing me. “Did you leave The Realm in order to find Aegyir and bring him here?”
“Yes, but—”
Dark green eyes bored into me. “Did you promise to help him to defeat The Realm?”
I stayed silent. I needed to explain. The way the questions were going would result in me being hanged. My gaze drifted over the faces of the Council sitting behind Lord Eredan. Everyone scowled at me. There was so much hatred in the hall.
“Answer the question!” snapped Lord Eredan.
I looked at my husband. His eyes were full of pain and his cheeks hollow. He turned away in disgust.
“Yes.”
“And did you promise yourself to Aegyir?”
Again, I sought my husband’s gaze. Slowly, he met my eye, waiting for my answer, his face full of anger, full of devastation, full of incomprehension. My head sagged. I was under oath.
“Yes,” I said, my voice tiny. His lip curled and he shook his head almost imperceptibly, his throat twitching.
Lord Eredan’s voice boomed out, carrying across the hall. “Lady Aeron. You have by your own confession been found guilty of high treason. You will be hanged by the neck until you are dead.”
My husband raised his head, staring at me, breathing rapidly. His eyes were bright.
“Commute it,” he whispered, turning to his father, anguish etching his face. “Commute it.”
The room was silent. Father and son faced each other.
“Commute it.”
His father’s eyes narrowed. “Lady Aeron. Your husband has pleaded for commutation of your sentence. You will be banished from The Realm. For all eternity. Immediately.”
My heart fluttered. Why had Faran done this? I only knew The Realm. I only wanted to be with him.
Two guards stepped forward and wrenched my arms behind my back. I yearned for Faran to look at me, but he turned his back. I was dragged from the Great Hall, past throngs of Guardians, all snarling their hatred of me. Several of them struck me with sticks as I passed.
At the end of the narrow passageway leading to the portal to Outside, my father-in-law turned to me. “Lady Aeron, I banish you.” His face was full of glee, hatred, relief. “If you return, you will be hanged.”
I was shoved through the portal, the rocks dissolving around me then reforming as a barrier behind me.
I woke, my breath gasping in my throat. It was Monday morning and I had to meet Alison in an hour to choose flowers. I couldn’t do this. I just couldn’t.
“You’re bleeding.”
I turned. Azure eyes peered at me from beneath tousled blond hair. “You’re bleeding.”
I touched my head, bringing scarlet-coated fingers away from the places I’d been struck.
“Don’t be late for Mum.”
I sucked the blood off my fingers. “I won’t. What flowers do you want?”
“Sunflowers. They make me think of you.”
I smiled. “The first flowers you ever gave me. I remember.”
His rumbly laugh filled the bed before fading away.
I was going mad. My dreams were getting so real I was getting hurt and I was talking to a dead man.
***
By late afternoon I was exhausted. It had taken all of my energy to hold it together in front of Alison, the florist ,and Father O’Keefe. I slumped at the table in the kitchen, my head on my folded arms. The doorbell buzzed and I scraped myself up. “Oh, God, don’t let that be Father O’Keefe.”
It wasn’t. It was Billy with a cardboard box in his arms.
“Rea! How are you?” Billy deposited the box on the floor and pulled me into a deep hug.
“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully as I drew back. “Come in. Can I make you a coffee? Get you something stronger?”
Billy picked up the box and followed me to the kitchen. There, he put the box on the table and stood next it, chewing his lip, fiddling with the flap of the box.
“Um. These are Finn’s things,” he said, his eyes shiny. “From his locker. I wasn’t sure you would want to come in and get them.”
“Thank you,” I said, my voice strangled. “Tea? Coffee? Beer?”
Billy sniffed hard and tipped his head up towards the ceiling. “Er. Coffee. Thanks.”
I waved at the chair and filled the kettle. Chit-chat didn’t seem appropriate and neither Billy nor I could string two coherent words together so the drinks were made in near silence.
“Has Rick been over?” he asked.
I peered over my shoulder at him, belatedly checking my wrist and breathing a sigh of relief. “No. I haven’t seen him. You?”
“No. I called him and got his voicemail, and went over but he wasn’t in. He was Finn’s best friend. I can’t believe he hasn’t been to see you.”
I wasn’t. I was glad Aegyir was leaving Billy alone, though.
“Well, maybe he came over when I was out with Alison.”
Billy said nothing but he sucked his teeth, his brows flicking up.
We took the drinks through to the lounge. Billy sat on the sofa, dropping down so heavily it made the frame creak. I screwed myself into the chair.
“How’s Alison?” asked Billy.
“Um, outwardly she seems better than I expected, but think she’s putting on an act. Of course, Rory’s neither use nor ornament, but I think keeping busy is helping her. She’s a bit cut up that there won’t be a proper wake.”
Both Rory and Alison were Irish Catholics and although Finn had been largely raised in Cumbria, I knew that the fact his body was staying resolutely at the funeral home until Friday was because Rory wouldn’t allow him in the house, even dead. In a moment of madness, I’d offered to hold a wake here but thankfully Alison had known I had no idea what was actually involved and said it would be fine.
Billy blew on his coffee. “Is the family coming over from Ireland?”
“No. Rory’s side won’t because of the rift and Alison’s side are either already dead or too frail to travel. She was an only child.”
Finn had several cousins that he hadn’t spoken to in years. The last time he’d been to Ireland was for his grandfather’s funeral and although the cousins were there, they’d all kept their distance. He hadn’t been invited to any of their weddings. Apparently it wasn’t the done thing to humiliate your father physically, even if he was a wife-beating alcoholic.
Billy pulled an envelope out of his pocket, fidgeting uncomfortably. “Um. We had a whip-round at the gym. For you. Anyway…”
He tailed off and thrust the envelope at me. I didn’t know what to say. I was appalled that the gym thought I was a charity case but curious about how much was there. I took the envelope, mumbling something vaguely grateful.
We managed to get through bitter coffees on small talk. Billy seemed as if he would happily stay for longer but eventually, I stood up, leaving Billy no choice but to get up too. I loved Billy to bits, but I needed to be on my own.
“Thanks for coming round. And thanks for the money. You didn’t have to do that,” I said, showing him out.
Billy hugged me again, holding on to me tightly. “Call me anytime you need. I’m here for you.”
“Thanks. I can’t believe he’s gone.”
When he’d gone, I leaned my back against the door, exhaustion threatening to take my legs from under me. Would Billy be safe until Friday? Aegyir had killed to get vitality, then chosen his victims in order to get to me, so maybe Billy would be okay.
I felt sick at the number of people who’d died already. If I’d not gouged great chunks out of Aegyir on Friday, would so many have been killed?
“Once Aegyir’s regained his strength, you’ll be sorry.” Stephen had been right – I was more than sorry – but not for the reasons he thought.
I collected up the dirty mugs and dumped them in the sink. I couldn’t face unpacking the box they’d brought nor was I in the humour to open the envelope.
“Finn? You around? I could do with a hug.”
There was no sign of him. I sucked in a deep breath. Four more days and I could be with him.
24
“You invite me in?”
My heart thudded wildly and every cell in my body screamed at me to say no.
“I invite you in,” I said, forcing the words out.
I stood back on the springy turf, indicating for Aegyir to walk towards the rock face.
“It will open?” he said.
The stone shimmered and I nodded. He hesitated.
“Walk through the rock. It will open,” I said.
He pushed towards the rock race and the stone dissolved around him. I followed him, into the gloomy hallway beyond, the light of the Great Hall shining at the end. Aegyir strode forwards and I matched his pace so that the two of us emerged into the Great Hall together.
I scanned the space, my heart in my mouth. Where the hell was Orian? He should be here! Where was everyone? The place should have been teeming with Guardians.
Aegyir looked at me, smiling. “I wondered if you would keep your promise, Aeron, but it seems you hate The Realm as much as I do.”
This was all wrong. Where was Orian?
A guard entered.
“Sound the alarm,” I said, desperate. “Now!”
