by Laura Howard
He shook his head and pulled me forward. “How many times do I have to tell you I want to be wherever you are?”
I swallowed and could practically feel the adrenaline drain from my system. Even though he was injured, I was the one who nearly collapsed in his arms.
“My parents are waiting for us, we should leave this place,” Niamh said, walking past us.
We followed Niamh and Aodhan toward the opening in the front of the mountain. The tiny crack Ethan and I had climbed through the last time we were here had been opened into a wide gap we were able walk through.
When we were out in the bright morning sun, Aodhan turned to Ethan. “I know you’re in intense pain. If you would allow it, I can carry you back to the Bruidhean.”
Ethan tensed. “I should be okay, but thanks man.”
“How bad is it?” I asked.
“I can take it,” he said, but the skin around his eyes was tight.
“Nobody will think less of you if you let Aodhan carry you, Ethan. You’re in pain and he could get you there fast.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened. “I mean it, I’m good.”
I dropped it. I didn’t want to hurt his pride, but I was worried about him. We walked down the gravelly hillside and saw Saoirse and Deaghlan along with a group of guards.
Deaghlan actually acknowledged us this time. He inclined his head as we approached, his eyes narrowed and jaw set. If he’d appeared this dignified the first time I met him, I might have felt a little more respect toward him.
Saoirse, despite the circumstances, appeared calm and untroubled. Her hair was still perfectly in place, and her strange opal eyes reflected the sun in a thousand prisms.
“We must get you to a healer, Ethan,” she said, her voice serene.
“More importantly, we must find our daughter,” Deaghlan said, with an air of haughtiness beyond anything I’d ever seen from him. And that was saying a lot.
“We’ll take care of Ethan, Mother,” Niamh said, glowering at her father.
Deaghlan’s eyes slid to me before he looked at Niamh. “Very well. I’m sure we’ll see you soon.”
With a tiny nod in our direction, Saoirse turned and, in a flash, disappeared, the rest right behind her.
Niamh and Aodhan stayed with us as we walked, but I could feel the need to run radiating off both of them. I felt torn because, while I understood Ethan’s pride, it would mean less time until his burns were cared for.
She could be anywhere.
I jerked back. I knew that was true, but I was so worried about Ethan I wasn’t thinking clearly.
Where will your parents try to find her?
Niamh shrugged one shoulder. I’m not quite sure. My father thinks they may be in the human realm. In Thunder Bay.
That didn’t seem likely to me. I couldn’t explain why, but my instincts told me they hadn’t left this realm.
I think you’re right.
I looked at Niamh’s ponytail swinging back and forth in front of me as we walked, somewhat surprised she agreed with me.
I glanced at Ethan, his skin was pale, but he kept moving despite the pain and the fact he was in his boxer shorts and bare feet.
We’re almost there. It will only be another ten minutes. I’ve made sure a healer is ready to see him.
I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me. Thank you.
The sun was almost in the middle of the sky when we arrived at the base of the staircase leading up to the Bruidhean. There were at least one hundred steps to the top and my heart hurt watching Ethan look up with a flicker of dismay in his eyes.
“Sweet Brigid!”
Niamh froze with one foot on the bottom step. One hand flew to her mouth in horror.
I followed her gaze and my legs gave out. My knees hit the ground, just barely holding me up because Aoife was there, at the top of the staircase.
Only a few steps below her, Deaghlan, Saoirse and their guards stood frozen in place. Aoife held her hands out, a mocking smile on her face. And she was looking right at me.
In the air, just five feet away from her, my father, Samantha and Ciarán were suspended in the air above the cliff. All three of them hung like marionettes abandoned after a puppet show.
Aodhan launched up the stairs, a giant blur of fury. When he reached the step below Saoirse, he stopped with his foot still mid-step. He backpedaled, unable to move forward.
“She has some kind of ward around her, he can’t pass through. None of them can,” Niamh said.
“No,” I said. “Please, no,” I said, barely recognizing my own strangled voice.
Aoife’s lips curved up at the corners. She stood above us all, and although we had started this day thinking we could stop her, she now held all the power.
There was no time, no time to think or plan. No time for anything.
“Is this what you wanted?” Aoife’s voice rang out, followed by gloating laughter. “To see your father pay the ultimate price for your weakness?”
I looked up and Aoife’s eyes were bright with triumph. She had us all as helpless as newborns, waiting to see how this played out.
“Liam would never want me to betray Niamh for his sake. I know he would rather die than let you have more power.” My voice came out strong, though I could not stop shivering. She held me with her gaze, like a tiny mouse caught in the path of an eagle.
I heard a choking sound, like a sob, come from Liam. I looked into his clear blue eyes, and underneath the agony, I saw a flash of something else, perhaps pride.
There was a thrumming sound and a whir and two things happened in the space of a second. An arrow had been loosed and an instant before it pierced Niamh’s chest, Aodhan knocked her to her knees at the foot of the staircase. The arrow pierced a slender tree by the step, still quivering.
My eyes frantically searched the mountainside, trying to locate the archer. High in an ancient oak tree, a wild-eyed man crouched. He stood and jumped from the branch to the ground below and was off running like a shot. Without a moment’s hesitation, one of the guards separated from the group above, sprinting after the assassin. Before he blurred into motion, I recognized Niall as the guard. I glanced up to the stair where he came from and saw Bláithín watching after him with the strangest expression of gratification.
Aoife hardly paid the scene any mind. “There is only one way for this to end. I wanted Liam by my side in all this, but alas it can’t be. I will rule over the Danaan as my mother has foreseen.”
My stomach lurched and I tore my gaze from Liam to Saoirse. Despite Aoife’s claim, Saoirse remained unmoved. She gazed at Aoife with her chin up and eyes clear. Deaghlan, however, was not so composed.
“Aoife,” he said, looking at his daughter. His mouth formed a hard line, his blue eyes lit with crystal fire. “As the second daughter, it was never your place to rule. Stop this madness.”
One of Aoife’s eyebrows quirked up. “Is that so, Father? Why don’t we ask Mother how she has seen the future play out?”
All eyes went to Saoirse, whose delicate rose lips hinted at a smile. “It is true,” she said, her voice clear and proud. “I did tell Aoife she would rule over the Danaan.”
“Mother?” Niamh said, still shaken, her voice filled with confusion.
“So you see, Niamh,” Aoife said. “You are no longer needed here. For once, I will secure what is rightfully mine. You may go back to mending your love-sick heart.”
Aodhan grunted with effort as he ran back up and tried in vain to break through the wall of magic Aoife had erected to protect herself. This only added to Aoife’s pleasure and her laughter rang out.
“You won’t last a day as queen,” Aodhan said between gritted teeth. “You think you can rule over your people with horror and fear? This land will wither and die, as your own home has. The Tuatha De Danaan will be forced to move on to a place beyond the shores of this land, to the undying realm of Magh Mell. All that will be left of your kind is myths and fireside tales.”
Deaghlan lis
tened to Aodhan and nodded. “Your mother and I will never leave the land of our mothers and fathers in your unstable hands, Aoife. It is not the way of our people. Niamh is the future queen. Accept this.”
“Tell him, Mother. Tell him what you’ve seen,” Aoife said, her voice faltering. It occurred to me she was using a great deal of magic to hold her three hostages air-borne. When I shifted to see Saoirse’s response, a flash of gray hair and wrinkled skin appeared in my peripheral vision. I jerked my gaze back but all I saw was Aoife, smooth creamy skin and black hair curling around her shoulders.
“As I said, I have told Aoife she would rule Tír na n’Óg. But, unfortunately daughter, your father speaks the truth. Niamh has always been the one who will inherit the land.”
Aoife’s whole body shook with fury and disbelief. “You lied? All this time, you’ve let me think I was the one, but you were lying?”
“I regret being dishonest with you, Aoife. But it was the only way. There was a pattern that must play out, and I had to do my part to see it completed.”
“What are you saying, Mother? It cannot be so,” Aoife said, her eyes ablaze with rage.
The enchantment Aoife held over the captives faltered, and they slipped a little before she focused her attention on them, freezing them again in mid-air.
Niamh, she’s losing control!
Niamh turned toward me, hearing my thoughts. Her eyes went to Liam, Samantha and Ciarán. Fast as thought, both she and Aodhan moved under where they hovered above the gravel-covered ground.
“It’s time to let them down, Aoife,” Deaghlan said, his voice cautious. “We can get past this. You won’t be queen, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t a member of the gentry. You will live the rest of your days in comfort.”
As I watched Deaghlan attempt to persuade Aoife, I saw the king Aodhan had once told me about. The honorable man anyone would follow.
“No,” Aoife said, eyes wide with disbelief. Her fingers curled, trying to keep control over the enormous levels of magic she was using to keep us back and suspend her prisoners. “I don’t believe you. I don’t believe any of you. As soon as I let them go, Aodhan will kill me, or,” she looked at Saoirse. The skin around her eyes creased. “You will put me back in the fey globe.”
Saoirse shook her head. “No, Aoife. You won’t be put back in the fey globe.”
“But that was the plan,” I said sharply. “There is no choice, she has to be imprisoned.”
Saoirse’s eyes only flitted briefly to me. “This magic has taken its toll on you, Aoife. It’s time for you to rest, now.”
“I can’t believe it,” I said, my voice thick with defeat. Saoirse had duped us all.
“You think I’ve come this far, only to give it all away? You do not know me at all,” Aoife said, baring her teeth like a wild creature.
She kept one arm raised, controlling her magical hold on her captives. “Niamh will not have everything. Not while I still breathe,” she said, her voice alight with outrage.
She lifted her other arm, and with a tiny flick of her wrist, a boulder as large as a pumpkin flew through the air, straight for Aodhan’s head.
My hands flew to my mouth as a silent scream tore through me. Before the rock connected with his temple, he raised his enormous arm and splayed his fingers. The rock changed course, inches from hitting its mark and fell to the ground, rolling past where Ethan and I stood.
Aoife shrieked with dismay. Her form wavered, the silvery sheen of a glamour glinting around her. Everyone looking on gasped in shock as the beautiful Danaan princess shifted into a wrinkled old woman before she regained her control and pulled her guise back on.
The pieces started clicking into place for me then. Saoirse had said Aoife was ill, and hadn’t I thought I saw hints of gray in her hair the past few times I’d seen her?
“What’s happening?” I asked Saoirse, not understanding fully.
Saoirse looked down at her hands, but not before I saw the deep sadness in her eyes.
“You thought I wouldn’t know, Aoife? You thought you could hide this from me. But I’ve seen how your skin grows blotchy and creased. It’s been with great sorrow I’ve watched your beautiful hair turn from black to gray.”
Deaghlan’s face fell as he listened to Saoirse. “How is this possible?” Even as he spoke the words, I understood just how it came about.
“It’s the blood, the iron in the blood,” I said, just loud enough to be heard. I looked at Saoirse for confirmation. “Just like my father became partly Danaan from exposure to this place and its elements. Aoife has become…partly human?”
“No, that’s not true,” Aoife said, but I saw the recognition in her eyes, the terror.
“You know it to be true, daughter. Come now, let it go. Set Liam and the others free. It’s time to rest now,” she said again.
Wetness shone in Aoife’s eyes, spilling over. She stared at Liam, and I thought I could see what was left of her heart breaking as she lowered them all to the ground at Niamh’s feet.
I ran forward, falling to my knees in front of Liam. He was filthy and his hollowed cheeks were covered in stubble, but he was alive.
Samantha lay on her side, her eyes closed. I crawled over to turn her onto her back and nudged her shoulder lightly. “Hey, Samantha. It’s me. It’s Allison. Wake up.”
She didn’t respond, and I moved my fingers along her neck to find a pulse. I found one, but it was far too sluggish and my own heart rate picked up speed.
“She needs help, she’s barely hanging on,” I said, scanning the onlookers. I didn’t know any healers other than Eithne.
As I looked back down at Samantha, I saw Ethan checking Ciarán for a pulse. His bare feet and legs reminded me of his injuries. “And Ethan needs a healer,” I said to Niamh.
Almost before the words came out, three of the guards came down the stone stairs. Each gathered one of the injured in their arms and disappeared up the stairs and into the Bruidhean.
At the palace door, Aoife sat on the ground with her head in her hands, surrounded by her parents. I squelched any pity I had for her. I’d wanted to kill her with my own hands. I had no idea if I would’ve actually been able to do that, but everything she’d done to my family weighed on me.
Ethan touched the side of my face, turning my head toward him. “Is it over?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said, looking into his eyes. “It won’t really be over for me until I’ve crushed that amulet and freed my parents from the geis.”
He nodded and bent to kiss me softly.
I pulled away, frowning. “Let’s go see what we can have done for your burns.”
“Wait,” he said, watching Niamh and Aodhan climb the stairs. He looked down at me and gave me a tight lipped smile. “I have a confession to make. I wasn’t sure what would happen today, if we’d even make it out of this place in one piece.”
He reached down and grasped my hand, bringing my palm to his lips and then placing it on his cheek. “I don’t know what I would have done if anything had happened to you.” He swallowed. “I just…I love you, and I’m glad you’re okay.”
My heart fluttered in my chest. “Ethan—”
He silenced me with his lips, kissing me like I was the air he breathed. When he pulled away, he smiled, his brown eyes full of love.
I wrapped my arms around his back and buried my face in his chest, breathing in his warmth. “I love you, too. Now, please come with me so we can get you some pants.”
While the healers worked on their patients, I sat in the gathering room alone. Things had taken an unexpected turn and I tried to accept that I wasn’t under Aoife’s power anymore.
It felt unreal, like some kind of dream where I would soon wake up to find everything out of control again. But Liam was being healed, and Niamh assured me he would be okay soon. I hadn’t heard anything about Samantha and Ciarán, and I waited for news.
Niamh was in a private conference with her parents and Aoife. It was impossible to
know what was happening. If Aoife was becoming human, did that mean she was dying?
I watched as serving girls brought trays of food and drink to the dining room where the meeting was being held.
Aodhan walked into the gathering room, his eyes following the serving girl into the dining room before meeting mine. He came to the sitting area and sat across from me, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.
“Any luck?” I asked. He’d gone off to look for Niall the archer who’d attempted to kill Niamh. It had been one of Aoife’s guards, Seamus.
He didn’t respond right away. Rubbing his hands over his face, he groaned and opened his eyes. “Niall found them both, Seamus and Finn, hiding in the fháillan mine. He took care of them, and good riddance.”
I hesitated, not sure if I understood. “He killed them?”
Aodhan looked at me, his lips thin. “Yes. They killed humans for fun, Allison. Don’t forget that.”
I nodded, though my stomach soured just a little. I’d never get used to all the deaths, deserved or not.
“Aodhan?”
“Mmm?”
I drew a shaky breath. “Is Aoife dying?”
“Yes,” he said, his voice like iron. “She has done a fair job hiding it.”
“How long will she live?”
“I couldn’t say. Perhaps she still has a handful of years, possibly ten. But if she were to continue on the path she’s been on, I don’t think she’d last more than one.”
“No more than one?” I asked, slightly taken aback. “Do you think she knew?”
“It’s just a guess,” he said gravely. “I think she must have had some idea, but I doubt she knew just how quickly it was happening.”
“But Saoirse knew.” It wasn’t a question. When I first met Niamh, she’d told me her mother saw the future with absolute certainty. Saoirse led us to believe her visions had been affected by the iron Aoife brought to Tír na n’Óg. And we’d all believed it, but now I was pretty sure she’d known exactly what was going on.
“Possibly,” Aodhan said, reading the thoughts on my face.
