Chapter 30
Clare was completely naked. Not quite. She was wrapped inside the folds of the lush, velvet drapery that covered one of the walls of the bedchamber.
While Griffin, Seamus, and a musclebound guy stared at the skeleton on the bed, she relaxed every muscle in herbody and focused on slithering behind the drapes toward the door.
Griffin was bleeding from his leg and none too steady, and the other two looked shocked. Clare felt a pang in her heart at seeing him hurt, but she didn’t know whose side he was on. She wanted to keep the faith and believe in him, but he’d only known her a few days, whereas he’d been brainwashed his entire life to his dutyof this Brigid ritual.
“Bloody hell,” Seamus said. “Where’s the changeling? Hulda swore she left her here.”
“With the Heart of Brigid,” the other man said. His piercing blue eyes reminded Clare of the young man who’d said he was from the Garda.
“Find her,” Seamus said. “We need her blood. Dawn is coming, and there’s no more time.”
“We also need the Heart of Brigid,”Griffin said. “Where could it have gone?”
A squirrely feeling roiled the bottom of Clare’s stomach. He cared more about the diamond than about her. If she wasn’t in so much danger, she’d stuff his stone in his boxers and kick him in the nuts.
“We have to find it.” Seamus shined a light on the skeletal bride. “It has to be here somewhere.”
Seamus patted the bed. Griffin bentdown and looked underneath the bed, while the other man peeled the bedspread and lifted the mattress.
Clare slid undetected behind the drapes and spotted a plastic dry-cleaning bag on the floor near the door. She was shivering with cold and could use any clothes it might hold. She reached out, her naked arm exposed, and hooked it with a finger.
She slowly dragged the bag toward her,stretching the drapes to cover her. Griffin lifted his face from looking under the bed, and their eyes met.
He was still holding the bloody knife, and it looked like he was going to complete the sacrifice.
She was caught like a rabbit in a snare.
Weakly, she smiled and yanked the bag of clothes, expecting him to pounce on her and announce her capture.
“I don’t thinkthe diamond is here,” Griffin said. “The Morrigan has tricked us again.”
“What do you mean?” Seamus grabbed the skeleton and yanked up the bridal gown, peeking between the skeleton’s legs.
“Where is it?” the younger Garda guy shouted. “You swore you’d get it back from that Morrigan.”
“I did, but someone kidnapped her.” Griffin pointed a finger at Seamus.
Clare tookthe opportunity to rip the dry-cleaning bag and remove the Morrigan costume she’d packed for the honeymoon. She snuck a look at Griffin, hoping to catch his eye and thank him for helping, but of course, he was in the middle of gesturing and denial, blaming Seamus for losing the Heart of Brigid.
“I personally saw to it that the changeling wore it around her neck,” Seamus said. “Maybe she’salready turned into Brigid.”
“Then why is Brigid still a skeleton?” Griffin waved the knife over the prostrate figure. “Why isn’t my love alive and dancing around?”
“She must have changed,” the muscular guy said. “She’s wearing the wedding clothes. The Heart has to be inside her.”
“Check her ribcage,” Seamus said. “I told Hulda to prepare the bride. Why isn’t there any bloodon the bed?”
“Maybe because she’s not a virgin?” Griffin asked and flashed a wink at Clare.
Heat flooded Clare’s face as she wriggled into the cone-shaped bra she wore underneath her feathers. Why would Griffin hint she wasn’t a virgin? Was it to save her from being the sacrificial victim? Maybe.
Seamus and the Garda guy went frantic, searching the “bride.” They unzipped thebridal gown, and their fingers pawed through every bone of her skeleton. All the while, Griffin shouted, “Stop defiling my Brigid. Don’t touch her. She’s the fairy queen. How dare you two disrobe her?”
He was really playing this up, and Clare wanted to give him a high-five. But she wasn’t safe yet. She wet her lips and tucked back a giggle. Wiggling into her lettuce skirt, she attachedher hazelnut belt and put on her black feathered vest. Her black ostrich feather wings were crushed and bedraggled, but she tied them over her shoulders, and put on a crown of thorns or black, spray-painted twigs.
Thank goodness, Griffin was acting like a lunatic. He ran around the room distracting Seamus and the Garda guy, railing at them for abusing his beloved Brigid.
