Desperate for relief, she dug at roots with her hands, gnawed them with her teeth to make a poultice. Even when it cooled enough to stop her from gasping, her hand throbbed.
Shaking with shock, she ripped strips from her skirts.
She sobbed, muttered, sobbed as she wrapped her hand. With her good hand, she scooped water from the stream into her mouth to ease her throat.
And she heard them. Elfin ears caught the sound of riders. Hunting her. She damned them, damned them all as she gathered herself.
So she ran, and now as she ran, she plotted vengeance.
Deep, endless, bloody vengeance.
* * *
While Shana fled, Breen paced.
She lit the fires—in what she realized was Keegan’s bedroom, in the sitting room. She lit the candles, the lamps, but couldn’t find any real comfort. She paced to window, to doors, to window, and finally, though she knew it would irritate Keegan, opened the doors to the terrace and stepped out.
In the sky she could see dragons and riders, faeries on the wing. There would be others, she knew—and even now spotted a trio of riders on horseback. Combing the roads, the hills, she thought. And there would be elves and Weres on foot surely, searching through the forests and over the fields.
The knock on the door made her jump, but as Bollocks just wagged, she had to assume friend not foe. She went back in, closing the terrace doors behind her.
“It’s Tarryn.”
Relieved, Breen hurried to unlock and open the main door. Tarryn stepped in, then simply folded Breen into a hug.
“I came to see for myself you’re not harmed.”
“No, I’m not. Jittery—shaken up a little—that’s all.”
“Sure and who wouldn’t be—jittery. I like the word.” She closed the door, drew Breen to a chair.
“Marco?”
“I told him I’d check on you myself, and report back to him. Not all know, but as Brian’s been called into the search … We’ll have some wine. You had little, as we kept you busy dancing.”
She poured two cups, then sat. “And to speak truth, I’m bolstering myself, as when I leave you I have to go to Shana’s parents. They need to know of this before the rest. And this will break their hearts so they’ll never again, never again be mended.”
“It’s so hard for you.”
“Duty often is. And I’ll tell you now, as I’m sick in my heart, I’m asking myself if I could have done or said something at the right time, in the right way, to stop all of this.”
“She made her choice. Isn’t choice the core of Talamh?”
“It is, aye, it is. I’m so fond of her parents, but I never had fondness for their child. She used her beauty, she used their love, used the loyalty of a dear heart like Kiara’s, the love of Loren, and so many others. In small ways, in small, selfish ways. And when she caught Keegan’s eye as well—she has beauty and charm and wit—I worried. Not that his heart was in danger.”
She sat back, sipped wine. “I worried because I could see what she wanted—not him, I could have softened toward her if she’d loved him. But it was what he is, not who, she wanted. And I worried what she would do when she understood, at last, he would never give her what she wanted.”
Tarryn squeezed her eyes shut. “But even then I never thought this. I thought of tantrums and hard words, some scheming to gain some power on the council. I thought of that, but never this. And I think I never thought of it because I disliked her, and saw myself with that bias.”
“I don’t know her, but I don’t think … The love potion, I can see her holding that as a kind of last resort. But the rest—what she did to Kiara, what she tried to do tonight? That came from rage, impulse, fury, not planning.”
“She would have taken your life tonight. And so there’s no coming back for her, as the judgment’s clear. There was hope before. Loren, and she deceived him, stole from him, used him to try to bind Keegan to her—he asked Keegan to allow him to take Shana away. To ban her from the Capital, and let him take her away.”
“Yes, Minga told me.”
“Keegan agreed to that, and would have persuaded the council. She could have had a life with a man who loved her. A different life, aye, than she wanted, but a life where in time she might have been content. And now, when she’s found, she’ll be cast from Talamh to the Dark World. And my son will carry that weight.”
Now Tarryn leaned forward, reached out to take one of Breen’s hands. “You’re the key in the lock, Breen Siobhan. The bridge, the shield. She would have cut you down. Taking a life, any life, would have damned her. But taking yours, if she’d succeeded, could have damned us all. There is no one in Talamh who would give her shelter.”