Afraid ofme.
I swallowed the rage that choked me and stilled myself, although I was sure I couldn’t do anything about the flush in my cheeks or the tension that stiffened my face and body.
“It’s all right, Lidi,” I echoed that rotted asshole. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“She’s a hero,” Fieran said, as if that would be a helpful thought.
“Maybe,” I said. “But you took something you had no right to take from her, you monster.”
Fieran just studied me, his expression cool, his gaze almost sympathetic.
His calm demeanor really just encouraged my homicidal urges at the moment.
I’d been fighting for two things. Lidi’s magic and my brother’s life. I hadn’t been able to have both.
Now, I’d have neither.
While I’d been focused on Lidi, one of them had laid Tay down on a makeshift pallet of blankets. The sight of Tay, sick and sleeping again now, away from our cottage and perhaps never to walk back through the gate under his own power, made me want to die.
No, that wasn’t true.Inever wanted to die. I wanted to kill Fieran if I couldn’t make the world be the way it was supposed to be.
“I need to get Lidi home.” I wrapped my arm around her, trying to convey that she was safe, that she was loved.
“I gave it to him,” Lidi told me again.
“I know you did,” I said. “That was a brave, kind, wonderful thing you did, Lidi. But he shouldn’t have taken it.”
Fieran’s coming had left me with a sort of hope and excitement that I hadn’t felt in years. Now I felt like a fool, and I despised him for it.
“I’m sorry,” he told me, taking a step closer.
I raised my hand to stop him. “I would not come within stabbing distance of me right now.”
His lips curled up slightly before he managed to stop himself. Clearly, he was not concerned by my stabbing potential. “I took your sister’s magic because it was the only way to save the rest of your village. It was the only way to save Dairen. And your sister gave it to me freely, because she’s smart and brave, just like you.”
The exaggerated compliment enraged me more. “Oh, go fuck yourself. You think you’re going to compliment me and I’m going to forgive you for stealing my precious little sister’s magic?”
“I’m telling you the truth, not squirming for forgiveness,” he said.
I had nothing left to bargain with. Lidi’s magic was gone.
This asshole must have money and power and therefore the ability to barter for Tay’s cure.
I needed him to save my brother’s life.
“Good, because you won’t get forgiveness from me,” I said, then swallowed the rest of my words, trying to hold back my anger. For now.
He was watching me with those intrusive golden eyes as if he could see me put on the mask. But he still asked, “What do I do to make this right, Cara?”
You could die. That might be a good start. I have many imaginative suggestions on how.
I couldn’t say the words in front of Lidi. I swallowed heavily.
“Hey, Lidi,” Ander said suddenly. “I need to carry your brother home. Can you show me the way?”
I looked at Ander, shocked by his deep, rich voice and the calm it settled over the room. He made eye contact with me, a question in his gaze.
“Thank you,” I said, even though it felt odd to send my sister with one of these shifter assholes after what they’d done.
