Page 76 of Ashes of Betrayal

Bree’s pulse fluttered. Hopefully, it would be.

Nonetheless, there was a watchfulness in the air this evening, almost as if the surrounding woodland had eyes.

Turning, she made to follow Eldra’s assistants and Cailean into the healing tent. However, a male voice forestalled her. “Bree!”

A man was walking toward her. Tall and lean, his light-brown hair shaved close to his scalp, he sported a black eye and bruising to his face. Tribal tattoos inked his pale skin. The man was clad in a plain grey tunic and leggings and walked barefoot.

An iron collar circled his neck.

Bree’s brow furrowed. “Aye?” She didn’t recognize the slave—and yet the voice was familiar, as was his stride. Nevertheless,she didn’t have time for this. Cailean was inside the healer’s tent now, and she had to join him.

The slave’s swollen mouth curved into a thin smile. “You don’t know me then?”

Bree’s breathing hitched.

He had hazel eyes and a scattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose. Even with a battered face, the man reminded her of someone—of her own reflection in the looking glass when she’d been a Marav woman. This slave could have been Fia’s brother.

The man halted before her, although the prickling cold of the iron around his neck made her want to take a step back.

Despair clutched her by the throat before she croaked. “Gil?”

“Aye.”

Bree stared at him, her heart suddenly pounding so loudly that she could hardly hear herself think. “What are you doing here?”

He swallowed. “Mor has named you a traitor to our people.” His gaze guttered. “And I was punished for it.”

Her stomach flipped over as she took in his battered face. “What happened?”

Gil’s mouth twisted. He then gestured to the tall stones that loomed over them. “She sent me through The Ring of Ard at Gateway … and her Ravens were waiting. They beat me senseless and left me on the road. The High King’s army found me. They took me to be a hill-tribe warrior and slapped a slave collar around my neck.”

Bree cursed, viciously.

Gil grimaced, wincing as his split bottom lip started to weep. His gaze roamed her face then. “I was there … earlier,” he said after a pause. “When you burst into the tent with that enforcer. I saw it all.”

Bree swallowed, wishing her throat didn’t feel as if someone had it in a chokehold. Her legs, already weak from being surrounded by earth magic, trembled now. “And?”

A groove etched between Gil’s eyebrows, making him look remarkably like the Shee male she remembered. “I never thought you’d betray our people.”

Bree’s chest constricted. “Neither did I,” she whispered. “But alliances sometimes change.” And they had. She’d found something in Albia worth fighting, and dying, for.

Brother and sister stared at each other, and all the while, pressure built under Bree’s breastbone.

Gil jerked his head toward the healing tent. “And you did it … for him?”

“I did.” Stepping forward, she put her hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry, Gil.” And she was, desperately. Her actions had made her brother an outcast. They both knew she couldn’t fix this.

His hazel eyes glittered, his body tensing under her grip. “So, am I.”

34: MY WISH IS THE SAME

“HE’S FADING.”

ELDRA’S announcement made Bree flinch. Seated at Cailean’s side, she’d been wiping the sweat from his skin with a damp cloth.

She was still reeling from seeing Gil—and discovering what Mor had done to him—but she couldn’t remain with her brother. Not with her husband so ill.

Beside the sleeping pallet, Skaal stirred. The fae hound sat up and stretched out her neck, nudging Cailean’s arm with her wet nose. It had surprised Bree that Skaal ventured inside the stone circle. Such places were repellent to her kind. Just like her, she’d be suffering. And yet, here the fae hound was—at Cailean’s side.

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