If this was about the girl and the curse…I was goin’ to fuckin’ kill Keenan Ere.
Sidesteppin’ Keenan, I hauled Bell up by the collar, and his wide eyes took me in as I lifted him off his feet some. Keenan kept step with me while I hauled his ass to the basement and threw him inside, lockin’ the door behind me.
If this was Ireland, and we were at the castle, he’d be in a real cell.
“He’s hurt, Cian.” Keenan was at my heels. “Let Fiona look at him—”
I whirled on him so fast, he almost fell backward. Our eyes connected, and he read the violence behind mine. He lifted his hands and walked around me, probably going to find Fiona.
I paced around my room.
Somethin’ about this felt fuckin’ off. Like everythin’ we’d been doing to get to the Craigs was somehow thrown off by the night. Like my straight path was about to take a turn.
My anger turned on Bell for even comin’ here.
A low growl trembled in my chest.
What the fuck did he want me to do about his daughter? Offer her protection? Steal her from Dermot?
That was petty shit. Shit for chancers and cheats.
I was neither.
I was nothin’.
Nothin’ but a killer.
A killer who only had a heart to keep his body goin’.
If Bell thought he’d found the answer to his problem through me, he was sorely mistaken, and was about to pay for it.
Time didn’t exist for me, except I knew I’d run out of it in this war if I couldn’t get weapons soon. Bell had taken enough of it from me.
The storm outside had reached its crescendo. It was time to put Bell down.
As I reached the edge of the stairwell, activity from downstairs made me stop.
Keenan and Fiona rushed toward the front door, which was wide open, a slight form standin’ in a twister of white flurries. There was no doubt Fiona and Keena let her in after Pauric had plowed over my gate. She held up a phone—shovin’ it at their faces. She was screamin’ at them over the whirlin’ of the wind, but she sounded like she was underwater, muted.
Keena and Fiona took a step back when she took a step inside, shovin’ the phone at them harder, turnin’ to point over her shoulder, her mouth continuin’ to shout.
Her eyes turned up toward the stairs and narrowed behind pink spectacles.
She was lookin’ for someone.
She found me.
Her dark brown hair was twisted in a bun, a bunch of loose strands plastered to her fair skin from the slush and wind, and her eyes seemed light. Probably an electric blue.
The dull beat of that thin’ in my chest started to pick up. Instead ofba thump, skip a few beats,ba thump, it went,gung, gung, gung. It worked overtime, like it was chasin’ down prey.
My soul took a breath.
I could feel it inside of my lungs—fresh and new.
The blood in my veins rushed with heat.
My skin felt hot.
