“If it required practicing dark magic, then my answer would be no.” Thane smiled. “We are merely going to read the books, Eislyn. To find a way to stop the dark magic. Not wield it ourselves.”
Eislyn let out a breath. “Then, let’s begin.”
Together, they pulled four of the heaviest tomes from the shelves and settled into a table nearby. Without a word, Thane shrugged off his doublet and cracked open one of the books, pushing up the sleeves of his linen shirt. He began reading pages, not even making a fuss about the time this must be taking out of his other courtly duties. Eislyn could not help but stare.
He was nothing like his mother.
With a sigh, Eislyn turned to the books. Hours passed as they sat together in the library, their heads bent over the table. Eislyn read and read, pouring through the lore about the Unseelie god. Page after page. Each tome followed by another.
After a time, she found her attention turning back to the prince across from her. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration. It wrinkled the hawthorn tree tattoo on his forehead, bending the branches toward each other. His skin seemed to glow from within, as if reflecting the true heart of him. When Eislyn had first met Prince Thane, she’d assumed the worst of him. Her court had fought him on the battlefield, after all. He had wielded his sword against them all. But what choice had he had? He’d only been trying to protect his realm. Perhaps...perhaps she had misjudged him.
“Thane,” she said quietly, reddening immediately. “Forgive me.PrinceThane, may I ask you a question?”
He gave her a kind smile. “I told you that you do not need to use my title, Eislyn. And of course you may ask me a question.”
“There are rumors about you. I’m sure you have heard them,” she said, taking a deep breath. “They say that you spend every night revelling until dawn.”
He surprised her by letting out a chuckle. “The rumors are true. Well, mostly. I do not reveleverynight.”
“They are?” She tried to hide her shock, but she could not. From everything she’d seen of the prince since arriving in Tairngire, she had begun to think the tales were based on nothing at all.
He flipped a page of the book, casting his gaze away from her and onto the words. “Why should they be anything other than the truth? Fae cannot lie.”
Flustered, she tried to return to her own book but found she could not focus. “But the revels are full of wicked deeds. That does not fit with the Thane I know at all.”
He flipped another page. “Have you ever been to a revel, Eislyn?”
“Me?” Her eyes widened. “Of course not.”
“Then, you do not know what they’re like.” Frowning, he peered down at the tome before him. “This is quite unpleasant. A follower of the Unseelie can gain great powers by sacrificing the severed hands and feet of ahuman.”
Eislyn gasped and leaned forward. “Does that have something to do with the Ruin?”
“No, nor does it say what great powers they can gain.” He frowned and ripped the page out of the book, crumpling it into a ball.
Eislyn gasped. “You cannot destroya book!”
“This is dangerous,” Thane replied. “If a follower of Unseelie found this page, I shudder to think what they might do.”
Eislyn shook her head. “But his followers have been exiled from Tir Na Nog. They’ll never read that book.”
“You speak as though you believe every one of them to be gone.”
Eislyn jerked back. “What do you mean? Theyareall gone, aren’t they?”
“I suspect some have stuck around.” Thane went back to his book. “The Shadow Court was always a tricky beast. I would not be surprised if it has buried some antlers in the dirt, waiting for just the right moment to dig them up. Besides, not every follower of Unseelie is a shadow fae.”
Eislyn could not imagine what would happen if there were still shadow fae around. They had murdered the entire Air Court fifty years past, all in a sacrificial plot to their god. Only the the High King and Queen had survived, along with Lord Bowen, the king’s brother. Imogen and Sloane had three children at the time—Thane hadn’t been born yet. In their rage, they had used their last vestiges of failing power to cut off the shadow fae from the rest of the continent.
“Well, I hope you are wrong,” Eislyn replied, heart thumping. “We have far too much to worry about as it is. The Ruin, the assassination, the Wood Court, and the Sea Court.”And your mother, Eislyn added quietly to herself. High Queen Imogen Selkirk would not go quietly into the night, nor would she step off that throne willingly.
Thane arched a brow and grinned. “I might know of a thing that helps one forget one’s every woe.”
“You mean the revels.” She gave him a flat look. “I’m not convinced they are not the wicked orgies that rumors speak of.”
“I’ll show you.” He reached out and placed a hand on her arm. Eislyn stiffened, scarcely daring to breathe. “Come with me tonight. It will be fun. I swear to you that you will not be harmed.”
“I don’t know, Thane,” she whispered, keeping her arm right where it was, beneath his fingers.
