“No,” I said, voice fierce. “That’s not it. I don’t know if I’m ready to go to my mother’s house yet.” I thought about facing them after all these years of hiding away. “Being in that home...” I trailed off. “It’s full of so many memories, but after I told you that story about Lor, I realized that not all memories are painful. That they don’t have to be. I’ve been so worried that if I go back to that house, it’ll break me, but now part of me wonders if it’ll heal me.”
She smiled. “It might do a little of both? Either way, I’ll be by your side.” She paused. “If I’m not kicked out of Fairwitch.”
“You won’t be,” I told her.
“It’s okay. I don’t want to leave Fairwitch, but if I have to, I’m not terrified anymore. I’m a little scared, but I also feel like I’m up for the challenge. Although I definitely don’t want to run into the Butcher of the Brotherhood.” She shuddered, and I stilled at the mention of him.
“What?”
“Did I not tell you? The Butcher is here in this area. That’s why those brotherhood cronies were trying to get Morton. They wanted to find the Butcher and impress him, move up in the ranks.”
My heart pounded, and my blood turned cold.
“Wolfe? You’ve gone pale.”
I shot to my feet and yanked my shirt over my head. “We have to leave. Now.”
Niamh stood too. “What’s wrong?”
“The Butcher.” I grabbed my cloak, swinging it over my back. “What if he’s here to find Fairwitch? To attack?” The blood drained from Niamh’s face. “And I won’t be there to protect Cillian.” My lungs constricted, making it hard to breathe. “Niamh, I can’t lose another brother. I can’t.”
She rushed forward and squeezed my arm. “You won’t. We’ll leave now. We’re not too far away, so we can get there quickly, and the royal guard are very capable. It’s going to be okay.”
Her words sounded far away, distant, as I imagined Fairwitch being breached, attacked, burned to the ground like Niamh’s home.My family dying without me ever having a chance to tell them I loved them, how sorry I am for keeping them at a distance for so long.
“Wolfe?” My head snapped up. Niamh was already standing in the arched opening, cloak on. “Are you coming?”
She disappeared outside, and I followed, the sun blinding me momentarily. The sun was so bright, the skies so clear, you’d have never known there’d been a raging storm just yesterday, except for the damp earth.
I caught up with Niamh, and we walked in silence toward the cliffside, following its path toward Fairwitch Isle. The slippery rocks shone, glassy and dark, and mud caked our boots, making the journey slower than I would’ve liked.
Crashing waves and the gentle breeze were the only sounds accompanying us, both of us lost in our own thoughts.
A few times, Niamh reached over and took my hand, squeezing it, a reminder that I wasn’t alone, that I’d never be alone again. Six months ago, that thought would’ve terrified me. I never would’ve let anyone this close, and before, I would’ve said it was because I was too busy. Because I needed to focus on saving my brother, but now that I’d admitted my feelings for Niamh, admitted to myself that I wanted her in my life, I knew Morton was right. I had been scared of losing someone else like I’d lost Lor. That hadn’t changed, I thought, as I glanced over at Niamh, her cheeks so rosy, her eyes bright, the sun glowing over her red hair. I might be more terrified now of losing her. The difference was that I realized it was worth it. She was worth it. So was my family. Regret was already coursing through me at the lengths I’d gone to push them away since Lor died. And now Cillian, my whole family, could be at risk, and I’d wasted so much time.
“What are you thinking about?” Niamh asked.
I shook my head. “Just in awe over everything that’s happened in the last day.”
She opened her mouth to respond when yelling rang out ahead of us.
Before Niamh could react, I grabbed her arm and dragged her behind a nearby boulder, motioning for her to stay still and quiet. Hereyes sparked with terror, and I inched up, peeking around the side, scanning the rocky hillside.
Two women wearing the telltale burgundy robes of the brotherhood walked in the distance. “You mean to tell me the Butcher thinks Fairwitch Isle isn’t here? We have every reason to believe it is! He’s lost his mind.”
“Shh,” the other woman said. “He’s going to be here soon.”
I shot Niamh a look, and she swallowed thickly. The Butcher of the Brotherhood. He might not have been the leader, but he was the most notorious member, known for all those he’d killed, maimed, tortured in the name of his twisted cult.
“Are you that scared of the Butcher, Tara?” the woman asked.
Tara scoffed. “Who isn’t? You know his reputation, what he does to those he deems a threat.”
“We’re not a threat,” the other woman said.
“If we’re questioning him, that makes us a threat.”
They fell into silence, and I slid down to sit next to Niamh.
