“Oh no you don’t.” I tried to push up once again, gritting my teeth until my back was steady against the wooden headboard. “You can’t go rushing off to confront this guy withoutme.”
“It needs to be done. Now. As you said, he knew you were on my side all this time. Your prior hunch was right. He knew you would warn me and that we would increase our guards. Now, he’s biding his time. We cannot allow him to have any more ofit.”
“You have fae skilled in healing,” I said, glancing at the open door. “They can get me back into fighting shape in notime.”
“Not fast enough. We need to go.Now.”
I pressed my lips together. I recognised the expression on his face well enough. I’d made it a million times myself. He would go confront Quentin at A Knight’s End regardless of what I said. He was too stubborn to backdown.
“At least tell me the plan,” I said. “You know, since I have to sit on the sidelines at all. I need to livevicariously.”
He hesitated for a moment, but then sank into the chair beside the bed. “I’m only taking a small team with me, so that we can continue to have the increased guard numbers on the castlewalls.”
I nodded. That madesense.
“Uisnech and Saoirse will stay behind. They aren’t fully-trained fighters, and I shouldn’t have dragged them into the field last night. Instead, I’m taking the warrior twins and a few others. We have a solid teamformed.”
“And what will you do?” I asked. “If he sees you coming, he’ll probably bolt. Judging from his past actions, I don’t think he wants hand-to-hand combat. He likes his sneakattacks.”
Lugh nodded in agreement. “He is a schemer, not a fighter. We don’t plan to barge in through the front door. We’ll find a way to sneak in through the back. The element of surprise will be important for thisone.”
“Okay,” I said, trying on a smile. It hurt to even do that. My mind whirred as I tried to find another question I could ask. I didn’t want him to leave, not withoutme.
He smiled back, the light reaching his eyes. Slowly, he stood to go but didn’t turn until he’d dropped a soothing kiss on my forehead. Even at the slightest of touches, the magic curled around our bodies, beckoning us to remain as close as wewere.
“You should get some rest,” he said softly, fingers drifting down to my neck, to where the vampires had sucked out my life-force. “When I get back, all of this will be over andthen...”
And then what? I didn’t know anymore. Then, I would have no more excuses for why I had to stay. I’d have to return south to my Court and say goodbye to my mate once again. Lugh seemed to read my mind. He gave me a sad smile and crossed the room, heading for thedoor.
“Lugh,” I said, my voice going sharp as I called after him. Heartbeat pounding in my ears, I lifted a hand, beckoning him to return to my side. He did, striding back over and taking my hand, but he didn’t sit. He’d made up his mind, and there was no turning back from it now. I could try to crawl out of this bed and go after him, but I knew as well as he did that I would probably pass out from the pain before I even made it out of thecastle.
“Moira.” He lifted my fingers to his lips and kissed me fiercely. “I know what you’re going tosay—”
“Don’t do anything stupid,” I hissed, tears filling my eyes. “I have a bad feeling aboutthis.”
His lips quirked up in the corners. “Out of everyone, I thoughtyouwould be the last to forget the prophecy. You’re the one who is fated to kill me, yes? So, I won’t die in this fighttonight.”
I opened my mouth to argue, and he laughed. “This isn’tfunny.”
“Isn’t it?” He grinned broadly. “If you’re convinced the prophecy will come true, then you have nothing to worry about. Like you always tell me, I can take care ofmyself.”
Frowning, I tried to come up with another argument, but he had a point. Damn him. “I mean, maybe I’ve been wrong. Maybe all this time I’ve worried for nothing. We don’t know what you’re walking into,Lugh…”
He leaned down and tucked a finger beneath my chin, his eyes flickering as they stared deeply into mine. “Either you believe it will come true, or you don’t.” For a moment, he didn’t speak, considering his next words. “And if you don’t, then perhaps you should consider what you truly wish your future tobe.”
Lugh turned and strode out of the healing ward room, leaving me frowning after him. My heart thumped hard as my mind whirred from his words. Uneasy, I wanted to call after him, though I knew nothing I said would stop him from heading out into the night. Hell, I wanted to jump out of the bed and run after him, mind-numbing pain andall.
Maybe I really had been wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time in my life. All this time, I’d been focusing on my fear of what could happen, but even druids couldn’t predict the future with absolute certainty. My answer had been to run away from it all, to flee instead of facing the possibility headon.
But maybe…I stared after Lugh, hearttripping.
Maybe I didn’t need torun.
11
After Lugh vanished,the healing fae stopped by my room again and applied another dose of magic to my aching body. I fell asleep almost instantly, knocked out from the strength of her power. When I came to moments or hours later, I found myself alone in my room, wounds barely flickering withpain.
Squinting against the overhead fluorescent lights, I pushed up and snatched my phone from the bedside table. The display said it was well past midnight. Lugh hadn’t come back to my room, at least not that I was aware of. Suddenly, my phone dinged with a new text messagealert.
