“What? I can say 'bitch', I'm a bargest,” Conri huffed. “It's like a black man using that word humans hate.”
“Moist?” Ainsley asked.
“No, that's just Councilman Simmel,” Torquil chuckled. “The word Conri is talking about is-”
“Well, I can say bitch because it's accurate when you refer to Moire,” I cut Torquil off before he said something awful, and then I called out, “Bress! Could you come in here, please? We need to talk to you.”
Nothing.
Gradh went to the door, “Lord Bress?” She froze, then ran out into the room.
We all rushed after her. The forge was empty. Bress was gone. There was, however, a clear set of drag marks through a patch of uncleared floor.
“Bress!” I shouted and ran for the door.
I made it to the street and scanned the area. There was no sign of him. People walked by as if nothing was wrong, only stopping to give me surprised looks when I shouted again. I didn't care. I ran down to the end of the street, calling for my cousin. My Guard caught up with me at the corner.
“Everyone, spread out and search,” I growled.
The Star's Guard ran to obey me, but Killian just put a hand on my shoulder.
“You know he's gone,” Killian said gently. “She's got him. It had to have been Moire. She must have been watching this place, waiting for us to return.”
“Get the fuck out there, and do something to find my cousin, Killian!”
Killian flinched and then ran off to help.
“Bress,” I whispered, my hands clenching into fists. “I'm so sorry.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“We've searched the city,” Murdock was saying to me. “Moire must have taken Bress elsewhere.”
I was sitting between Killian and Tiernan, staring at the wall above Murdock's head. I wasn't trying to ignore him, I just couldn't focus on him. I was too busy imagining the horrors Moire was probably putting her son through.
Bress and I had a rocky start, but after meeting Moire, I had understood why my cousin was so messed up. I started to sympathize with him, despite the depraved things he'd done. When Bress saved my father, he had won me over even more. Then he had come to live in Twilight, and I had slowly grown to respect, and even like, my cousin. To have let him be taken right back to the psycho world he'd started in, felt like a personal failure, and a betrayal. I didn't have a lot of family left, even less whom I actually liked. I had to get Bress back.
“We'll search again,” I whispered. “Expand to include nearby states.”
“Seren,” Tiernan took my hand, “we'll find him. I promise you, we will get him away from her.”
I looked to him. Tiernan. He was my Tiernan again, the man I remembered. When did that happen? Did it even matter? He was saying precisely what I needed to hear, just as Tiernan always had. I didn't want to hear the truth; that Bress was long gone and we'd probably never find him. Not until Moire wanted him to be found. I couldn't hear that, wasn't ready for it, and Tiernan knew it. Gods, my heart was hurting so much. Bress was gone, and now Tiernan being Tiernan again... but I couldn't have him. Both men were lost to me.
I put my face in my hands and wept.
“Seren!” Killian's arm went around my shoulder as the room went silent.
“Stop it,” Tiernan said in a cold tone, shocking everyone, including myself. “That won't help him,” Tiernan slipped his hand around my face and angled it to his. “We're not giving up. Bress is alive. If there's one thing Moire won't do, it's kill her son. She needs him. She wouldn't have taken him if she didn't. And as long as he's alive, he can be saved. But your tears will not help him. If Moire were here, she'd laugh at you. She'd drink in your pain like the finest fairy wine. So stop pouring it out, Seren.”
I sniffed, wiped my eyes, and stared at Tiernan. His silver eyes were flashing, and I suddenly realized that this was him, this was the real Tiernan. I had wondered who he truly was after things had ended between us. He seemed to have softened himself for me early on in our relationship, and I'd thought that maybe it was an act, that the real Tiernan had shown himself in the end. But he was neither of those men.
The truth was somewhere in between, as all the best things were. Tiernan was neither gentle nor harsh but could be either depending on the situation. He comforted me, and then pulled me back from self-pity. Just what I needed in that moment. And that was the true Tiernan; a man who knew me well enough to roll with every mood which took me. A man both compassionate and cold. He had used his perception to hurt me once, and it had ended us. Now it looked like he was back to using it to help me.
“Harsh much, dickhead?” Killian asked as he eased me closer to him.
“Tiernan's right,” I gave Killian's hand a squeeze, to let him know I still appreciated his concern. “Tears are useless, and so is self-pity. They have no place at this table. Bress definitely wouldn't appreciate them. I can just see him now, rolling his eyes at me. My apologies, everyone. It's been a rough day.”
“Not at all, Princess,” Murdock said kindly. “You've lost a family member, and we know... well... your father,” Murdock cleared his throat. “What I mean to say is, we all know it's been not just a rough day, but a rough year for you. No one thinks less of you for having an emotional response. It's only human, and half of you is still of that race.”
