Brendan’s eyebrows furrowed.
“She’s joking,” Dymphna called out. “She does that often.”
Brendan’s lips twitched. “I noticed.”
“I don’t think the stone is even here,” I said, wiping sweat off my brow then realising I had just smeared my dusty hands all over my face. “Can’t you sense how different this library feels from everywhere else here, Brendan?”
He sighed. “It does seem rather… uninspiring.”
“We’re supposed to be drawn to the stone. I’m not drawn to this place at all. In fact, I can’t wait until we get back to the blight.”
Brendan grinned. “How long have you been in this room, Cara? You sound quite demented. Besides, I won’t be getting back to the blight. As soon as we find the stone, I’m getting on a ship, remember?”
My heart sank. I had almost forgotten.
“And if we don’t find it?” Dymphna asked.
Brendan sighed. “I don’t know.” Then he entered into the search and got stuck in it along with the rest of us.
I opened countless boxes and bags and display units, but none of them held a stone of any kind, never mind the stone of destiny. Entire bookcases were empty as though the place had been cleared out long ago, but plenty of books and artefacts remained, and I spent way too much time flipping through old books with missing pages.
I found a glass case that contained a massive book that looked as though it were bound in skin. Intrigued for no other reason than extreme boredom, I lifted the glass lid and took a peek.
Archaic writing at the front of the book informed me that it was divided into sections, one of which was named, “The time the seas ran black.”
I flicked to the last section only to find the pages had been torn out. I started to turn away but then saw that a small scrap remained. I read the words and shivered.
… Chaos. And all that remained was his reflection trapped in a golden mirror. Without a vessel, they could only send him to sleep, but She…
My heart raced in my chest. I tore out that scrap and shoved it into my pocket. Did it mean my mirror? And Líle had mentioned a vessel. But how could I ask her for more information without sending her back into the same dark state she had entered before? There had to be a way. It was becoming clear to me that the information we needed had been deliberately removed. But how could I blame Yvette with no proof? Brendan and Drake already thought I was being bitchy and jealous. And they might be right. Anyone could have torn pages out of an ancient book.
I wandered off, thinking hard, and came upon a narrow staircase I hadn’t spotted before which hadn’t been marked as searched. Sighing, I headed up, wishing I could fast-forward through time. The stairs led to a tiny room that only had enough space for one bookshelf on either side. Between those hung a floor-length painting covered with black cloth. Unable to stop myself, I pulled the cloth aside.
The painting was of a tall, muscular woman with red hair. She was a giantess with strong features and lifelike green eyes that saw into my soul.
“Wow,” I whispered.
“Do you know who it is?” Brendan’s voice came from behind me, making me jump.
I shook my head. “She’s… I don’t have the words for it.”
“That’s Brighid.”
I made to turn around, but he held me in place, leaning his chin on top of my head. Brighid, the goddess. She looked strange and familiar all at once.
“I can’t stop looking at her,” I admitted.
“Nobody can,” he said.
“Is that why they had the picture covered up?”
He laughed and held me tighter. “No. They just can’t remove the picture from the wall. Only a follower of Brighid would let this go uncovered.”
“I wouldn’t cover it up.”
“You’re halfway converted,” he teased. “You’re Brighid’s daughter, as far as some are concerned.”
“It’s not right that you banned a religion.” I frowned. “Do you still do that?”
“I can’t get away with it with you around. Everyone would just leave my court for yours, and I won’t give you the satisfaction of taking them in.”
I elbowed him in the gut. “You’re so annoying sometimes.”
He wrapped his arms around me to stop any further violence. “Oh, I wish you knew how annoying you were, Cara Kelly.”
I relaxed against him. “Why was Sadler trying to collect the legendary treasures?”
“To give himself or his god more power,” Brendan suggested. “Or perhaps to destroy another god. We’ll never know.”
“He’s still controlling us,” I said bitterly. “He’s dead, and we’re still twenty steps behind, trying to figure him out.”
“We have a plan. I’ll get the tree. You and Drake will find the stone. We’ll seal the rift, and we’ll plant the tree, and if we’re lucky, we can do it all before the realm is destroyed.”
“If we find the stone, we’ll have three of the legendary treasures. That’ll leave just one more. We could deal with Sadler’s god for good.”
“You’re ambitious.” He pressed me against the bookcase to face me. His bulky presence made the room seem like a wardrobe. “It’s not so easy to find all of the treasures. If it was, Sadler would have accomplished it already. And a god could destroy us before we ever even—”
“Unless he’s not free,” I whispered urgently. “Grim told me there were old stories about the legendary treasures.”
“He had our scribes searching for information, and Yvette has agreed to let them come here to further their research,” Brendan said. “What of it?”
“I’ve been looking. There are references to it here, but I found nothing about the stories themselves because the pages are missing. It’s as if history’s been wiped clean.”
“What are you saying?”
I gripped his shirt. “I’m saying be careful on that boat in case we’re being purposely delayed.”
“Yvette is helping us, Cara.”
“She’s holding an ultimatum over your head!”
“That’s her family,” he said. “Not her.”
“Oh, yeah, her mysterious large and fertile family who are nowhere to be found. Don’t you find any of this suspicious?”
“I’m finding you a little bit paranoid, to be truthful.”
“And you keep going on about me trusting you?” I scoffed.
His bemused expression turned irritated. “Don’t throw this back at me. You’re the one who stole a third of my realm from right under my nose.”
“Are you serious?” I pushed him away. “I’ve already explained that to you.”
“You also told me you’d wish me luck if marrying Yvette made me happy. Now you’re sabotaging it by trying to make me doubt her.”
“I just want you to be safe. Is that so bloody terrible?”
“Maybe it is,” he said under his breath, “if you can’t make up your mind what you want from me.”
“I know what I want from you,” I snapped. “And I know we should be concentrating on fixing the mess we made, but if you’re going to be so unreasonable then… why the hell are you laughing at me?”
He really was laughing. He choked it down, but he couldn’t hide it. “Oh, nothing. I just realised something,” he said, still laughing. “Never mind. Now let’s get out from Brighid’s gaze.”
When lunch came, the servant seemed surprised to see Brendan. He hit the gong to alert even those on the uppermost floors of the library that food had arrived. Then he left us alone, but I wasn’t too surprised when a couple of hours later, all of us got the summons to join Yvette for dinner.
Dusty and sweaty, we found our way to the dining room with Brendan’s help. I couldn’t get used to the maze of hallways—not that I particularly wanted to.
Yvette wrinkled her nose at our appearance. “Looks like you worked up a sweat,” she said to me in her nasty-sweet tone.
I bit back a smart remark and nodded, taking a seat across from Drake
.
“Oh,” Yvette exclaimed as if she had just discovered something momentous. “Am I keeping you both?”
I gave her a puzzled look.
She lowered her voice conspiratorially. “Oh, we all know about you two. Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.”
“What secret would that be?” Everyone turned to look at me. I avoided their eyes, even when somebody murmured my name as if in warning.
“When the cat’s away,” she said softly. “I don’t judge. Of course, I'll be more… loyal when I’m married.”
My nails raked the table. “If you have something to say, spit it out.”
Her smile turned deadly. “Well, you bore a child for him while married to another, and you killed your husband. You obviously have unfinished business together.”
Drake slammed his glass on the table.
“Have some fucking respect,” I spat, getting to my feet.
“Cara,” Brendan said, but I couldn’t look at him.
“I’m going. This is pointless.”
“Where?” Yvette enquired as if she cared.
“To look for the stone.”
“We’ll all go back to the library in the morning,” Brendan said.
“No,” I said. “I mean I’m looking elsewhere. The stone isn’t here, and I’m not going to listen to this for a moment longer.”
“She’s right,” Drake said. “It’s time to move on.”
“The ship,” Yvette said in a different kind of voice. “I’m taking it. Brendan, you’re welcome to come with me.”
“But the stone,” he said.
“They can find the stone. They make a good pair, do they not?”
Brendan gave me a questioning look and waited for me to make my decision.
“We all have to do what’s best for the realm,” I said. “Thank you for the… hospitality, Yvette. I’ll be sure to return the favour someday.”
“Perhaps when I travel the realm on my honeymoon,” she said, smirking.
I forced myself to smile. And then I had to leave the room before I punched Brendan’s future queen right in the nose.
***
I was ready to set out early the next morning. We didn’t have much to take with us. Rumble was as eager to leave as I was, but Bran seemed torn.
“He’s your king,” I said softly when he took a pack of supplies outside to load up on Dubh. “You volunteered to go with him.”
He bit his lip. “It’s different now. Everything’s changing.”
“We all have to make sacrifices. The blight can’t last forever. We have to do things now to stop it.”
He nodded and kissed my cheek then left. When I heard footsteps a few seconds later, I thought he had returned.
“Stop worrying, Bran,” I said without looking. “Brendan will make sure you all come home safely.”
“Thank you for the vote of confidence.”
I whirled around to face Brendan. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to say goodbye, of course. Or am I in the bad books again?”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ll try not to hate your wife in future, I swear.”
He smiled. “For a moment, I thought… never mind.”
“When are you leaving?”
“In a couple of days. Yvette is surprisingly eager to set sail now that you all are leaving.”
I twisted the bracelet around my wrist. “You’ll be careful though, right? The sword might look cool, but it won’t make you invincible. No running into fights you could just as easily avoid.”
“I’ll try to remember that.”
My stomach twisted. I inhaled sharply, feeling a sudden lump in my throat. “Maybe we should all go.”
“If something happens, we'll need leaders safe at home,” he said.
“Nothing will happen,” I said, suddenly anxious.
For an instant, fear crossed his face.
I threw my arms around him. “I have to go.”
He held on to me. “We’ll meet again. All of us.” He made a sound of dismay. “Are you crying? Why are you crying?”
“Usually, we don’t get to say goodbye. I don’t like goodbyes.”
“Neither do I. So let’s not say it.”
I laughed through my tears and looked up at him. When he was around, I felt as if at least one of us knew what to do. Even when Brendan didn’t, he acted as though he did. And now he was going away on a trip that very few fae would ever dare to do, with an awful bitch whom he would probably come home married to.
“You’re really crying,” he said in amazement. “Look at those tears.”
I hiccupped. “Shut up.”
He brushed my fringe away from my face with a smile. Before I could chicken out, I reached up on my tiptoes, drew him closer, and kissed him. He responded softly before pulling away and saying my name.
“It’s okay. I know.” I turned, grabbed my bag, and walked to the door. I hesitated in the doorway. “Don’t get hurt.”
And when I left, he didn’t follow. But at least I had let him know I cared. It might not be good enough, but at least he would know if we never met again.
***
As soon as we left through the gate, I sighed with relief. We hadn’t been welcome inside, and it was good to be out of there.
“Where are we going?” Dymphna asked.
“We can split up,” I said. “We wasted too much time already. Drake, where were you thinking of going?”
He shrugged. “There are other clean spots on that map. Maybe the stone isn’t as powerful as we thought, and one of the smaller patches is hiding it.”
“I’m going to the human realm,” I said, ignoring his surprised look. “I’m going to the Lia Fáil.”
“The Watcher said it’s a fake.”
“Exactly. The best place to hide something is in the first place people brush off as being impossible. So what if the monument itself is fake? That doesn’t mean the real thing isn’t hidden there, too.”
“You said yourself that the human realm is tainted,” Dymphna said. “What makes you think the stone is there at all?”
“I just feel like I should go back. Besides, the taint hasn’t affected the land the way it has here. Maybe that’s because the stone is actually there.”
“And you want to see your daughter,” she said with a smile.
“Don’t you?”
She nodded. “I would like to go to the human realm. Of course.”
“We’ll all go,” Drake said. “If we don’t find anything, we could try an old scribe who Donella claims has spent so many years writing down stories that he may have an answer to this question somewhere.”
“Where is he?” I asked.
“In southern neutral territory. It won’t take us long to find him.”
“Should we go there first?”
“Your instincts have always been good. I’d like to see this monument, too,” he said. “Dymphna, any idea where the nearest portal is?”
She took out a map she carried everywhere. It was pinpointed with the exact locations of portals and territory lines. “It’s closer than neutral territory.” Dymphna winced. “But it might be dangerous.”
“How dangerous?” I asked.
“We’ll almost certainly have a fight on our hands.” She made another face. “We’ll need to cross the blackthorns.”
“Is it the only way?”
“If we want to save time. The second choice is safer but will take much longer. We’ll end up walking in circles if the bogmen have anything to do with it.”
“Unless we plan on sacrificing one of our group.” Drake looked at me. “Are you willing?”
“Wait,” I said. “What are the blackthorns?”
“A… less than welcoming place.”
“Is it worth it?”
He smiled. “If you want to see your daughter tomorrow.”
That did it. “Then let’s go.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Reaching the blackthorn
s was like stepping into another world. We walked off a patch of lush grass onto uneven, desiccated earth that burned under heat that appeared to come out of nowhere. Cracks had formed in the dirt. In all directions lay little mounds that opened up as though something had exploded. When Dymphna’s horse stumbled, almost throwing the daoine sídhe, we got off and led the horses on foot.
“We’re going to have to leave them here,” Rumble said.
“I know,” I whispered, not sure why it felt so wrong to raise my voice.
“Look at this place.” Drake blocked his eyes from the sun to look around. “I was here once. It wasn’t like this. It’s as if every bit of moisture has been drained for miles.”
“The sooner we leave here, the better,” Dymphna said uneasily. “It feels like there are eyes on my back.”
The back of my neck had been tingling since we'd stepped onto the cracked earth. I knew the feeling well.
Rumble’s foot sank into the ground, sending dust upward. He wasn’t hurt, but his misstep pointed to how difficult the terrain was. “We need to go back,” I said. “The horses will die out here if we abandon them.”
“We can rest ourselves, too,” Drake said. “It’s going to be a long walk.”
“When we return, the horses will be long gone,” Dymphna said.
“Someone will find them,” Drake said. “They’re good horses.”
We moved back to the grassland we had left behind and took our loads off the horses.
“I have to leave you,” I whispered to Dubh as I rubbed him down. “Stay safe.”
He nibbled my hair, and I wondered how long he would wait for us. He was smarter than the other horses. He would survive even if they did not. I felt guilty, nonetheless, and I was glad Brendan’s beautiful golden horse wasn’t with us still.
When we sat down to camp, nobody was hungry. We picked at our food in silence.
“Can a single boat make it across the water?” I asked as the horses grazed.
“It will have to,” Drake said.
“It’s a sturdy-looking boat,” Dymphna said reassuringly. “There’s no reason they can’t make it there and back unharmed.”
“The lady Yvette seemed confident about the boat,” Rumble said, giving me a meaningful look. “As though she had used it before.”