He ignores my question and says again, “Move away, Sage. There is a time limit to this.”
I blink, and he’s Kieran, surrounded by green, his features tight. He nudges me back from Faelan’s side. “You can’t touch me, or him, as I do this. And I’m going to need to feed when it’s done.” He glances behind me to Astrid. “Speak up if you have any ideas on a victim,” he says.
I obey, moving back.
He closes his eyes and rests his hand over Faelan’s heart.
My pulse stutters as the silver and black smoke lifts from Kieran’s chest, swirling and trailing down his arm. The scent of roses fills the space between us just before the familiar snap of mint bites at the air. The moss and grass around us shift from rich green to brown.
Faelan’s hand twitches, and the flesh on his neck begins to move, sliding back into place as his wounds seal.
I look over at Kieran, opening my mouth to thank him but the words die in my throat. His pale skin is violet and dark circles rim his eyes. He mutters something I can’t hear and then goes limp, collapsing beside Faelan.
“Kieran!” I lunge forward.
“Feed,” he whispers.
“Okay, take from me.” I move so that he can hold my arm or something, get his hands on bare skin.
He shakes his head. He moves his hand a little, like he’s trying to point, and I know he’s directing me to Astrid.
“You’ll kill her, Kieran.”
“Good.”
While I was all for it a few minutes ago, I’m not sure I can kill her now that she’s pleading for her life.
Before I can wrap my head around what to do, Astrid is suddenly scrambling up, taking off, running for the shadow of the trees as she sees her chance to escape with Kieran weakened.
Shit.
But before I can even stand to chase after her, she crumples in the ferns.
Kieran releases a low chuckle beside me. “Tethered her spirit to mine.”
The snap and crack of bending and breaking branches rises into the clearing. Astrid’s screeches of protest follow as the grass and ferns shift, and Astrid is dragged back by an invisible hand, kicking and flailing through the trees until she’s sliding up to Kieran’s side.
As soon as his fingers catch her ankle, Astrid chokes on her screams. Kieran pulls himself up, crawling over her like a beast, straddling her, gripping her neck. He leans in, getting almost nose to nose with her as thick black smoke threads from his arms.
“You,” he growls. “You shouldn’t have touched her.” The black smoke coming from him thickens, coating her body, wrapping around her arms and her chest like a spider’s trap as she gapes at his pale face.
Then he sucks in a quick breath, and a strangled gasp pulls from Astrid’s throat. Her body jerks, back arching, eyes wide, mouth wide.
A red mist bursts from her skin where the black touches. Ice forms at her neck, crawling up her jaw with a crackle, the same as it did to Ben. She stills, her body settling back into the moss, breath continuing to hiss from her lungs.
Kieran moves off her, his own chest heaving. I can’t take my eyes off the red dots of Astrid’s blood speckling his face.
FIFTY
FAELAN
“I died?” I ask, the shock from Sage’s words rolling through me.
I woke up in Lailoken’s tree, Sage at my side. I didn’t even get a word out before she was tackling me and hugging me, sputtering out everything that happened after I passed out. Saying that Astrid killed me, let me bleed out—the one thing that would ensure I wouldn’t come back, since all I have left from my father is the power in my blood.
Lailoken comes into view behind Sage. “Oh, it was amazing to watch! So much tension and knots in the stomach.” His brows go up and down. “And then you were totally kaput!” He throws his hand in the air. “Who would’ve thought Mr. Shadow would be so quick to help Mr. Winter? But our tale even surprises me at times.” His smile becomes whimsical.
I’m at a loss. I sit up and give Sage a questioning look.
“Kieran brought you back.” She motions to someone across the room.
I turn my head, and a shadowed Kieran is leaning on the far wall, arms crossed over his chest, foot propped on the tree behind him. My muscles tense, my nerves buzzing again. He brought me back? Not Lailoken?
“You’re welcome,” Kieran says, his voice flat. “And I ate your ex-lover as well.”
My hands flex involuntarily, gripping the moss under me. “Astrid. You fed off—?”
“Killed her, actually,” he finishes for me, a satisfied glint in his eyes. “She was a bit more broccoli than I like, though.”
Sage glares at him. “Seriously, Kieran.”
His gaze falls on her, and his expression softens.
My pulse skips seeing him look at her like that. As if he has a heart to care for her.
“I should go,” he says. “This forest is protected from my sister’s eyes, but she’ll be missing me if I’m unseen for too long. We wouldn’t want her getting suspicious.” He pushes off the wall. “Thank you for the potion, monk.”
“Yes, yes, my boy,” Lailoken says. “I hope it helps settle him.”
“I’m sure it will.” He glances at Sage once more, like he’s hesitant to go. But then he slips out into the woods.
“What a nice young man,” Lailoken says.
Obviously they haven’t properly met.
“So now that Mr. Winter is awake, let’s get started on young Lily here.” He motions for me to sit on a bench at the table.
My legs wobble as I rise, and I have to lean on Sage as she helps me to the seat. I struggle with my emotions, watching her move back to sit beside Lailoken on the dry brown moss where I was lying.
Because I failed. In the end it was Kieran who did the protecting. Of me.
“What’s going to happen?” Sage asks the monk. “Will the spell fix the confusion with the memories?”
“Are you removing the dreams?” I ask, trying to shift my thoughts.
“No, no, there’s no helping the truth of the past,” Lailoken says. He starts plucking pieces of mint from a bush at the edge of the room and tossing them into a bowl. He turns back to Sage. “But this will allow you to accept things inside, to balance the spirits, so the tug-of-war can settle. For now, the two within must come to an understanding. This way you can serve your purpose. You can become your true self.”
Her tense shoulders relax.
“What does that mean?” I ask. There’s still so much we don’t understand. If this is about Sage’s problem with the blood memories, I need to be sure that what the monk is doing is safe. “All you have to do is take out the implant and help her with the dreams.”
Lailoken sighs. “There is much to say about that, much. I will tell you in the best way I can, and maybe you’ll understand better.” He sets down the bowl of mint and pulls the nest from his head, making an attempt to straighten his hair. “It was long ago. And I have much clouding the nut. But I will try.” He taps a finger at his temple. Then he clears his throat and takes a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second. When he opens them, they seem clearer, more . . . human. “I was the queen’s watcher, you know,” he says, directing his words to Sage.