Page 56 of Evil Eyed
Never in a million years would I have been able to leave them behind to die.
Gruffly, Aidan reached out and took his swords. “I guess we’re all fucked then.”
“I guess so,” Warwick replied lightly. “Though I thinkmo stórhas more to say on the matter.”
“Mo stór?” Boss Man threw his head back and laughed. “That’s what you call her? How original, Prince of the Summer Isle. Did you honestly think they’d allow you to make her your princess?”
“I have no such designs on the treasurekeeper. I am but a hapless bartender who kept a gargoyle statue on the shelf in his pub until his treasurekeeper could find and free him.”
“And you just happened to find his gold,mo stór?” Boss Man turned their endearment into a sneer. A joke. His lips curled with distaste.
Maybe some of Aidan’s rage still burned in my veins because it was all I could do not to charge over and stab my finger into Boss Man’s chest. “Don’t you dare call me that.”
His contempt shifted toward mocking delight, as if he was relieved that I would be providing him a little more entertainment after all. “What did your dear husband call you, Mrs. Blake?”
My stomach churned. “None of your fucking business.”
“What happened to him, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I’ll answer your question if you answer one of mine.”
He thought a moment and then nodded. “Agreed. One question each will be answered by us both.”
“No delays, no funny business.”
Still amused, he nodded, trying to give me a disarming, human grin. “Of course, lady.”
“I wished him to Fhroig’s lair.”
Boss Man’s eyes widened. “Fhroig? How did you even know such a place existed?”
I batted my eyes and gave him back a fake, sugary smile. “That’s a second question. Do you want to bargain for another?”
Perhaps he was still pretending to have human mannerisms, but he huffed out an annoyed breath and shook his head. “No, no, just curiosity. Very well, lady. What’s your question for me?”
“They call you Balor of the Evil Eye.”
One eyebrow raised quizzically, he tipped his head to the side. Pretending disinterest, I fiddled with Aidan’s jacket, brushing at the scuff marks in the leather. Rubbing my finger lightly over the punctures where Doran had bitten him. I slipped my hand beneath the coat and found Aidan’s shoulder sticky with blood, though he didn’t react in pain when I touched it.
“They say it was such a terrible eye that it would destroy everything it looked at. It was so huge it took several men to hold the eyelid open. Yet strangely enough, my treasures can’t recall seeing this massive eye. Only the fairytales and ridiculous folktales.”
“And?” He prodded. “What is your question, lady, if you will?”
I turned to face him, watching his reaction. “What is the Evil Eye of your name?”
I thought he’d be annoyed or shaken or surprised. At least insulted that none of us even knew what this supposedly terrible eye actually was.
Instead, his shoulders relaxed and he nodded. “I thought you’d never ask.”
32
“Right you are.” Boss Man swept his arm out to indicate the castle around us. “This is only a replica of Dún Bhalair, a shadow of its full glory in Faerie.”
The air shifted. My ears rang with a heavy gong that went on and on, the sound stretching out over an endless distance. The white marble halls disappeared, leaving us standing on a rocky hilltop. Wind tore around the hill, whistling through the towering spires of jagged rock, tugging on my clothes so hard that I staggered back against Doran.
Thick, cold, and wet, the air smelled like salt and something else. A musky, fishy smell that ruffled the hairs on the back of my neck. Something my lizard brain recognized as a predator, or at least dangerous.
:Now we be in Faerie,:Warwick said.
