Page 52 of The Savage Queen

Even without his Ocras, even despite its absence gnawing at his bones, he moved nimbly.

Yet as soon as he bypassed the sentinels, Fionn’s bear rose on its hind legs, blocking Dagfin just before he was to reach Aisling.

“Now, now, little human. Where are we off to in such a hurry?”

“It’s quite alright, Greum,” Aisling said, standing from her seat. “Fionn promised me an audience with theFaerak.”

Greum exchanged glances with Fionn. The son of Winter clenched his jaw but nodded in approval, nevertheless. His need to appease Aisling overruling his immeasurable annoyance. Yet Dagfin couldn’t care less he was making an enemy of a fae lord. So long as he spoke with Aisling.

Greum lumbered to the side and Aisling sprung forth, wrapping Dagfin in her arms.

“Fin.”

She smelled of lavender and holy gardens. Was the vision of dreams that left the heart broken come morning; a silver gown made of glittering chainmail wrapped around her elegant form, and the soft curls of midnight black braided away from her face in intricate patterns. The crystal collar gleaming around her throat.

“I’m alright,” he said, eager to mask the roughness in his voice. His strength rendered brittle without the Ocras as she embraced him. So, he took the opportunity and whispered in her ear.

“We need to speak. Alone.”

He needed her to tell her he’d never leave her. If she chose to continue alone and wished for him to go home, she’d have to banish him herself.

Aisling pulled away, resolve flashing in her violet eyes. She couldn’t respond now. Not for the sentinels that surrounded them, Greum, and the son of Winter listening keenly to their every exchange. And not for the pounding of the earth that unbalanced them both.

Aisling’s attention whipped to the arena, returning to Lir at its center.

The first test was beginning.

CHAPTER XIX

AISLING

A roar rippled through the arena.

Aisling sat back down in her throne, pulling Dagfin along so he stood beside her. And if either Fionn or Greum had any protests, they didn’t voice them. Right now, she found comfort in her friend’s presence, but more so in knowing he was alright. That he was safe and well cared for even in Oighir. In a land that feared his blood near as much as they loathed it.

“Herein begins the first of three tests. An Oighir tradition of deciding the rightful hand of all and anything contested,” Greum shouted before the arena. “In this case, Lir, king of the greenwood, challenges Your Lordship, Fionn, son of Winter, for hiscaera, the not-so-mortal queen of Annwyn!” Greum’s audience stomped, clapped, and screamed from the tops of their lungs. Chanting Fionn’s name.

“Should theDamh Bánlose, however, Fionn will carve out his heart with his own axe.”

Somehow, the spectators’ excitement increased, bleeding the realm till Aisling believed the veil thinned bySamhainmight tear.

“Let the tests begin!”

Aisling shuddered, stomach knotting fiercely.

Lir still stood at the center of the stadium, completely composed. He gave one glance to his right where his knights watched from the side. They nodded in encouragement. Peitho shouted something Aisling couldn’t hear, while Galad crossed his arms, staring at the mighty archway shrouded in shadow that Lir faced.

Then he gave his last glance to Aisling, smiling knowingly.

Aisling crossed her legs, her body jittery with anxiety and trembling.

The roars that’d erupted earlier resurfaced. At first a guttural growl then a fully-fledged cry, this one more like a bird than whatever had sounded before.

Aisling held her breath.

What appeared from the shadows was nothing Aisling had ever heard of much less seen.

A colossal, three-headed beast lumbered forth. One head like a hawk, one a wolf, and the last a serpent, hissing madly at the bright contrast it experienced after having emerged from the dark. Its back legs belonged to the bird, its front paws to the wolf, and its tail to the serpent.

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