Page 8 of Beneath a Shattered Sky
“I don’t want you on the front line of this war.”
“Do you not think it’s a little late for that?” I ask softly. “The war is here, Drystan. Danu and my mother decided I would face it before my birth.”
I sigh, pausing as I look him over. His ear has healed, but his braids are matted, and his amber eyes are crinkled with frustration. “How you’re feeling right now—the helplessness? That’s how I felt every time you charged into battle and left me behind in a glowing, protected bubble. It sucks, doesn’t it?”
He’s not one to back down, even when he knows I’m right. “You’re not a soldier.”
“No,” I admit. “I’m not a great leader, or a survivor, or a healer, or even a diplomat. But Iamthe Nicnevin. I have the advice of three females with thousands of years’ experience in all those things at my fingertips. I have to do this. No one can doit for me. Not even you. Letting you continue to coddle me is no longer an option.”
My blind, childlike trust in them is what led to this. If I’d just followed my gut when Jaro first went missing, perhaps this would never have happened. Perhaps we’d all be together and plotting Eero’s downfall around a nice, cosy campfire.
“But this isCaed,” Drystan protests. “Can you really trust him to stay by your side through this? He could turn on you at any point.”
“He could.” If this goes further, and I let Caed in only for him to turn around and betray me, it will ruin me, but I don’t confess that fear to Drystan. “But he hasn’t yet. Until he does, he stays. Besides, right now, he’s the only protection I have.”
Drystan hums but can’t disagree with me.
“Get some sleep,” he says instead, followed by a long pause. “Rhoswyn?”
I turn and face him, the frown of annoyance dying on my face at the unexpected vulnerability in his eyes.
“Yes?”
He sighs. “I need you to keep my head close. If my… separation from my body continues for longer than we hope, and Cedwyn hears of this, he will come for it.”
I frown. “Why would the king of winter want your head?”
“He enjoys playing hide and seek.” His flat tone makes it clear that it wasn’t a fun game. “Like this, I can be shut in a box, and then the rest of me is rendered mute and deaf. Headless, I’m at my most powerful, but also my most vulnerable.”
His words from weeks ago, when we were discussing our limits, circle in my mind. He doesn’t like others touching his neck because someone—probably Cedwyn—has done those things before. He hid the truth of what he was from the rest of us because he never wanted anyone else to take advantage of him like that.
How terrifying must it be to be locked in darkness while half of you wanders around, unable to communicate?
Now, part of what he feared has manifested. His body is in the hands of the enemy and is still separate from his head. No wonder he’s seemed extra grouchy since Prae retrieved him.
A muscle feathers in his jaw, and I take a deep breath. “Thank you for telling me.” It can’t have been easy. “I’ll protect your head and Lore’s cap with my life.”
“No need to be dramatic,” he murmurs dismissively, but I’m pretty sure there’s the slightest tinge of pink on his cheeks as he looks away. “And Itoldyou to stop thanking fae.”
Three
Rhoswyn
“I’ve found them,” Maeve sings, right in my ear.
Her voice jolts me out of a restless sleep, and I jackknife upright, wondering how long it’s been. Sunlight slips through the cracks in the shack, and my companions are nowhere to be found. At least that means there’s no one to witness me wincing as my wings protest painfully at my sudden movement.
There’s a pouch of berries and jerky where Drystan’s head was, and I grab it, perching on a crate to nibble the food as I take in all three of my guides.
“Wefound them,” Mab corrects.
“The high priestess is being held in the temple,” Titania begins. “But she’s being treated well, and she still has allies, which is something. The grand clerics are torn about what to do with her. For the moment, she’s safe.”
“And the others?” I ask around a mouthful.
“Your púca is chained up in Máel’s bed.” Mab won’t look at me as she delivers the news. “Physically, he’s… in a bad way.From what I overheard… I think she was one of his patrons at the whorehouse.”
What?!
