“Here, Shieldmaiden. Have a Buntata. I found a potato.” Nollaig plopped down on the log and passed her the frothing pink drink. Reyna couldn’t even bring herself to make a joke in response.
“Thanks.” She took the tankard and breathed in the liquid. It did little to soothe her frayed nerves.
“Things didn’t go according to plan, eh?”
“Not really,” she said, taking a sip. The Buntata burned all the way down.
“There is still some darkness ahead. Dawn is not on the horizon just yet.”
“Rhain believes that Lorcan is gone,” she said flatly. “He doesn’t think it’s worth trying to save him because he’s already dead. And it sounds like Thane suspects it as well.”
“And what do you think, Shieldmaiden?”
Reyna shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m just so…tired. Every single day feels like a terrible, neverending fight. I don’t know how to move forward when it’s as if the very earth itself is trying to push me back. Nothing is ever easy. Every time we win a small victory, we suffer an even greater loss. And now Lorcan is…I don’t know what. Rhain could be right. Maybe Lorcan is gone, but I can’t bring myself to give up on him, even if it’s all for nought.”
Nollaig nodded and clinked her tankard against Reyna’s. “Then, I think you have your answer, Shieldmaiden.”
Reyna lifted her eyes to her cloaked friend. “Do you still think there’s a chance for us to get him back?”
“I’m not sure,” she said honestly. “For a very long time, I thought Lorcan would be the savior of the shadow fae. It’s why I’ve helped him the way I have. He showed so much promise.”
Reyna’s heart thumped. She sensed thebutcoming.
“As I’m sure you’ve gathered, Shieldmaiden, there are things I know about the world that I cannot share with you.” She shook her head. “But I may have told you a little fib before, and I think it’s alright if I admit that to you now.” Her head lifted, and the impenetrable darkness of her hood seemed to glow black. “I’ve always known the Namhaid would come to Tir Na Nog one day, and I was sure I’d be able to sense who it was when he or she was born. I never thought would be Lorcan. And I sure as hell never thought it would be someone I love.”
“Nollaig,” Reyna hissed, tightening her grip on the tankard until she heard a crack. “I can’t let you say it.”
“Even if I don’t speak it out loud, it would still be true…if my worst fears come to pass.”
“But maybe youwereright all along,” Reyna insisted as she blinked away the hot tears. “You know so much, and you sense even more. You’d be able to tell if it was him.”
“The Namhaid is here, Reyna.” Nollaig sighed. “There is no doubt in my mind the enemy walks these lands. It wasn’t Molt. He’s dead, and that pulsing magic hasn’t gone. That means the Namhaid is still here, and there’s only one fae on this godforsaken continent trying to destroy us all with Unseelie’s power.”
“I thought you were trying to make me feel better.” Reyna took another sip of the Buntata. “You said I should try to save him. You acted like you thought he could still be saved.”
“Because I can’t be certain what he is.” Nollaig’s gloved hand snatched Reyna’s fingers, crushing them together. She leaned in close, and her voice rattled like steel. “And if he’s still in there, I want you to try like hell to bring him back to us.”
* * *
When the light died, darkness enveloped the skies. Reyna waited in the forest with the others, watching every candle inside the tower pop out. After an hour passed with no movement, she left Wingallock safe with Nollaig and swept over the city, careful to stay out of eyesight of the guards. They’d welcomed Thane’s help with the battle, assuming his alliance with their High King still stood.
But they all knew Reyna Darragh was wanted for treason.
She reached the tower and perched on the window ledge outside of Lorcan’s quarters.Theirquarters, where she’d sworn fealty to the only male she’d ever loved. He had wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her fiercely. The world had felt right, for once, even with the incessant worry in the back of her mind.
Moonlight splashed onto his face. With his eyes closed and the rise and fall of his chest, he looked painfully like himself. The angry, hard lines were gone. The raging bloodlust nowhere in sight. It was him, every perfect part of him. He slept in the center of the bed, his palms flattened on the pillow where she’d once laid her head.
Curiously, she cocked her head, holding her balance on the ledge with the slight flare of her wings. Was this a sign that he was still in there? Lorcan, the cursed one, would likely rather rip her pillow apart than sleep so soundly beside it.
She stood and pushed off the ledge, spinning around to the other side of the tower. Glencora was somewhere inside this place, and Reyna had to find her first before she faced off against Lorcan. She didn’t want him to have any threat to hold against her, least of all her sister.
Dropping through the window of Molt’s study, she crouched in the darkness, listening to the sound of her heartbeat thudding in her ears. After several moments of silence, she moved to the door and peered into the corridor. No one wandered the halls. They were all asleep.
With quiet footsteps, Reyna stole through the castle. She checked room after room, all empty save the occasional visiting lord. The meeting hall was empty, and only the dead vines crammed the throne room. With building frustration, Reyna searched every inch of the floor for some kind of hidden panel that would lead her into dungeons.
She came up empty.
Frowning at the tower door that led into the castle courtyard, she wondered if Lorcan had caught Glencora and put her somewhere else. A different building, perhaps? Murias Castle wasn’t as large as the castles up north, but there were plenty places to hide someone.
