Page 22 of Beneath a Shattered Sky
Next comes Jaro, completely naked, and I grimace at the green-grey tinge to his skin as he staggers out of the cage. He’s not suffering from iron poisoning, not yet, but it’s clear the metal has been working on him for some time.
Instead of heading straight for Rose, as I expect, he runs for the wheel and starts helping Caed turn it.
“Faster,” he snaps.
I crane my neck, trying to see what the urgency is, only to grimace at the two figures who come into view.
Prince Dare, I recognise. He was at court when I was still performing. I liked him then, but the affable grin and twinkle in his eyes is missing now as he half-falls from the cage, cradling a limp banshee in his arms.
Like Jaro, his skin is greying, blending with the silver-blond of his hair. He’s lost weight, but he doesn’t let that stop him as he staggers towards Rose.
“My lady,” he begs, falling to his knees as he presents the black-veined banshee to his sister. “Please, I’ll do anything. Save her. Sir Jaromir said you could save her.”
Goddess only knows how long they’ve been imprisoned. The banshee’s pale skin is almost invisible beneath the lines of black, and at her side, a puncture wound that must be the source of the infection is blistered and surrounded with dried blood. She stinks. I don’t need Espen’s tongue to detect the smell of rot and infection.
Is she even breathing?
Rose’s eyes well with water, and I can’t tell if that’s Jaro’s continued refusal to acknowledge her, or because she knows who this is, or simply her big heart beating in solidarity with someone in pain.
“Lore, can you take us away from this iron?” she asks the redcap. “I can’t reach my magic here.”
“Take Rose and Yvaine to this beach,” Drystan says, waving his hand so the floor disappears beneath a glamoured recreation of a ramshackle fishing hut on a deserted beach. “You’ll find a merrow waiting there. Prince Dare?—”
“I’m not leaving my mate’s side,” he snarls.
Drystan bows his head. “I would expect no less. The redcap can retrieve our gear, and the rest of us will attempt to recover the high priestess from the Temple.”
“And Princess Ciara,” Rose finishes, “Right?”
Drystan’s eyes flick across our gathered group for a second, and I can read the regret there.
“If an opportunity presents itself,” he says, carefully.
Rose is so busy reaching for Lore that she can’t see the guarded expression on his face. She pulls her hand from mine, and a lump forms in my throat as Lore disappears with her.
Taking deep breaths, my hands run up and down the tattoos on my arms. The true horror of the last few days, which Rose’spresence had warded me from, is there, in the phantom brush of fingers and blades against my skin.
This is fine. I am fine.
Without meaning to, I start to back away from the others. Needing space. Needing air. My breath is shaky enough that Drystan notices.
Lore reappears, taking the banshee next, and Prince Dare lets out a strangled noise that’s halfway between a sob and a scream, yet perfectly encompasses how I feel.
No. I’m fine. I’ve endured worse. I’m healed.
Then he’s gone, too. I barely even saw Lore come and go, but he pops back into existence on Jaro’s shoulders, whistling like all’s right with the world.
“Bricriu,” Drystan says, and I realise belatedly he’s been talking to me. “Are you well enough to do this?”
I look across the group of us, wondering how we got to this. Jaro won’t meet anyone’s eyes, the Fomorian is hovering at the edge of the group like he expects to be shoved into a cage at any moment, and Praedra is fumbling for something in her bag.
My heartbeat is hammering in my ears, but if we’re to have any chance of rescuing the high priestess, I need to suck it up and hold out for a few more hours. Just a little longer, until I can find somewhere quiet and scrub the memory of Máel’s touch from my skin.
“Of course he is,” Lore says, grinning as he blinks in front of me. “After all, what better therapy is there than slaughtering the ones who hurt you?”
In his outstretched hand is a familiar scorched blade.
Familiar because the last time I saw it, it was being pressed to my ears.
