‘And you hope to be the next king?’
‘If I’m acceptable to The Unseelie Court, yes.’
She looks up at me, her paper-thin skin almost translucent. Why is she telling me this? She nods and returns to her work, scrubbing a sheet in her basin, then dunking it in the stream to rinse it. My patience is wearing thin as I’m aware the longer I’m caught up here, the further Niamh will be from me– however much I don’t want to anger theBean Nighe. I need her permission to cross the stream, otherwise I’m not going to be able to catch up with Niamh on time.
‘And try to stop the Blight?’ she asks.
‘If I can, yes. Vincenzo lets it continue unchecked.’
‘I predict identical twin boys. One to rule each family in the next generation.’
An image forms clearly in my head, two boys who grow quickly, handsome, strong. But then they smile at me and as their lips curve upwards, their mouths open and Blight pours from inside them, covering them, devouring them until there is nothing left. She smiles at me and I try not to recoil at the sight.
‘No?’
‘I’m the Kennard of the Hunter Kin,Bean Nighe. I don’t base my decisions on other people’s visions.’
‘Maybe you should.’ She smirks at me, squeezing the water from her sheet and flicking it up before returning it to the murky waters below.
‘Are you going to let me pass?’
‘You’re welcome to try your luck,’ she taunts, repeating the move as I watch her. She’s seated next to a fording point. Any attempt to cross is likely to result in me being touched by the sheet, and if I’m going to die, it’s not going to be because I got taken down by a washerwoman– even a Kinfolk one with ties to The Unseelie Court.
‘There are questions you could be asking, Huntsman,’ theBean Nighesays, continuing with her task.
‘Would you answer them?’ I challenge her.
‘Yes.’
‘Honestly?’
But she just laughs. I look along the stream, into the darkness but I can feel that dawn is close. Fuck it. I may as well try asking questions. TheBean Nighe’s reaction may give something away, even if her answers don’t.
‘What will happen to her?’
TheBean Nighechuckles. ‘Silly boy, that is a question that no one can answer yet.’
‘Where is she?’
‘She still has time to reach sanctuary.’
‘But she’s not Kin, she cannot enter.’
TheBean Nighelooks around at the quiet, mist-filled landscape. ‘Strange things happen, Cillian. Many humans find their way into the Underworld and whether or not they should be able to do so, the fact is that they do. Niamh has already found a way into the Underworld. Human… or not.’
‘You helped her to pass through?’
‘Not I.’
I should have known theBean Nighewould only speak in riddles. ‘Then how? And why did theGuth Dorchanot work? She remembered everything.’
TheBean Nighejust laughs. ‘You know already, Cillian. You just keep forgetting. There’s more magic in this world than Unseelie magic.’
I frown at her. ‘But The Seelie Court is gone, destroyed by the Blight. The only magic left is ours.’
‘The Tree of Life can be healed when its roots are strong. A king should know this.’
I frown at her, shaking my head. ‘Nothing has worked to reverse the Blight.’
