A part of him removed and discarded. Though rather than losing me to another’s sword, he’d willingly tossed me aside. His only sister!
The anger grew hotter, till it seemed to steam from the top of my head. Forcing a slow, calming breath through my nose, I picked up the hand for a closer inspection. Turning it over, I found a score of ragged teeth marks marring the inside along the pinky finger.
“Had to wrestle it from a mongrel,” Marin admitted before darting a look over her shoulder. “Conri’s to clear any curious folks, so you’ve not to worry about being seen.” She leaned closer. “Will it still work? Or did the beast ruin it?”
“The bites don’t matter.” At this point, the hand only needed to contain a spark of life, and I could manage the rest. If I didn’t throw it back to the dogs first.
In all that time, you never once mentioned me.
My mouth had turned inexplicably dry. Blinking rapidly, I swallowed hard and grabbed his stump, with no amount of gentleness. For Sean’s sake, he was lucky the nerves had been deadened when I thrust the hand to his arm and clamped my fingers tight to hold the two parts together. Pity I’d been so thoughtful... Not that he’d spared any thought for me in the past three years.
I released an initial burst of power to knit the bones together. Once that was done, I moved outward, reconnecting nerves, vessels and muscle under Marin’s watchful eye. When I reached the outer skin, she gasped as the severed edges joined together without so much as a seam. The teeth marks came last, disappearing one by one beneath my touch.
Giving the hand one last look, I dropped it back in my brother’s lap. Marin snatched it up and ran her fingers all around the wrist for any sign of the previous damage.
“Holy mother,” she breathed, thrusting the hand toward Brian. “Take a look at that, will you.”
Brian flinched back to avoid being hit. “Stop waving it in me face, lass. I won’t be seeing any better with me eyes poked out.”
Sean stirred under their boisterous ministrations. For the rest of the day, he would feel tired and weak from losing so much blood, but come morning, his body would be strong again. And then he could return to his normal life—a life that didn’t include me.
At risk of succumbing to a full-fledged crying fit, I focused instead on the rage that simmered beneath my skin. No letters home... No mention of a sister.
Through his extended silence, my brother had made it abundantly clear that he didn’t want me. Fine. Two could play at that game. I had believed him dead once, there was no reason to change now. It broke my heart, but I could do it. Standing, I surveyed the area for any sight of Ailish and Seamus.
They stood together, not too far from the tavern where Seamus had managed to maneuver his cart once the crowd had dispersed. Ailish waved her arms, and I returned the gesture, ready to be away.
One step, and I came to an abrupt halt when Sean pushed unsteadily to his feet in front of me.
“Sabie—”
“Don’t call me that!” That name belonged to a different time, to a brother who would never have abandoned his sister, leaving her to think him dead. Hearing it now only burned my ears.
My breathing turned ragged as we stared at each other for several tense seconds. Then I did the one thing that made any sense, and slapped him hard across the face. He staggered off balance into Brian, who managed to keep him upright.
“Have you gone daft!” Marin cried.
My eyes remained on Sean’s. “That, brother, was for the last three years.”
He dropped his head. Henry put a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go, Selah—”
A mix of emotions bombarded my heart, pushing me to the very edge of hysterics. With no thought to my actions, I spun around and glared at him. “You,” I hissed, poking him in the chest. “You cut off my brother’s hand.”
Henry started at the accusation. “He threatened to kill you.”
“That’s none of your concern,” I shot back.
“The hell it isn’t—”
“Selah, please—”
Henry and Sean spoke at once, one atop the other.
“Ahh!” I threw my arms up for silence. “You can both go straight to the devil!” Turning on my heel, I strode toward Ailish and Seamus.
Chapter Fourteen
The Price of Milk and Honey
A man sat directly in my path near the center of the road, his sword lying forgotten on the cobbles beside him. He rubbed his head in a daze as though waking from a confused sleep. Which I supposed wasn’t too far from the truth since I’d knocked him unconscious while Henry and Sean had been fighting. Stepping around the man, I hoped him wise enough not to confront me over the incident, for there was no telling what may have happened in my present mood.
Other than a string of mumbled oaths, he let me pass unmolested.