Page 89 of Beneath a Shattered Sky
Prae jerks slightly, and the knowledge that he’s using their bond stirs a tiny bolt of envy in me.
I want that.
“If you can swear that oath and get your shit together in time to leave with us, I’ll consider it.” The Fomorian princess turns around, sighing as she leads the way forward.
Caed joins our group silently, expression pensive, and I grimace. I hate that Drystan doesn’t believe he should be trusted with the war plans, even as I understand it. If the dullahan is right—though I don’t believe he is—only disaster would come of it.
My mind is racing. “I want to make a quick trip to the temple shrine, then we leave.”
“You could sleep another night on it,” Drystan suggests, and I can practically hear him grinding his teeth as he struggles not to just order me to stay. “Making peace with Cressida?—”
Sighing, I look back at him. “Something in me is telling me we need to leave,” I say, solemnly. “I know this looks like some impulsive, vengeful decision, but Danu is telling me…”
“Telling you what?” Jaro asks, frowning.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I just have this sense of urgency. Like we need to move or something terrible will happen. I hoped going to the temple might help me figure it out, seeing as Kitarni is still stuck in Siabetha.”
At the reminder of my High Priestess, I cringe. I really should’ve written her a letter or something, but Lore has been checking on her, and every single time she refuses to leave with him. She insists on sorting the Temple out by following their rules, and while I trust that she knows the priesthood better than I do, I miss her terribly.
“And what’s the plan after that?” Drystan asks.
“I don’t suppose we’re going to head straight for the Winter Court along the safest route possible?” Jaro mutters, almost hopefully.
Caed snorts, but keeps his mouth shut after a quelling glare from the dullahan.
“We’re going to continue my pilgrimage,” I decide, my head starting to pound as we reach my door. “I’m sure the shrines in the forests north of the Silfeyn could really benefit from Danu’s blessings right now.”
Lore’s grin could light up the night sky, and he punches the air triumphantly. “Yes! Finally! I’ll pack all my knives.”
He blinks into the room ahead of me, landing on the bed with a grin. His red hat morphs, becoming a bucket helmet that covers his whole face as he blinks into the air and bounces on the mattress like a loon.
I cross to the wardrobe, intent on fetching the small knapsack I’ve been keeping my clothes in. The cherry wood doors are annoyingly stiff, and I struggle with them for a second before they open. My sigh of annoyance comes out like a hiss, and?—
Bree shoves me out of the way just as the door pops open. I slam to the wooden floor with bruising force as his hand snaps out in a blur.
Catching the snake mid-strike.
It hisses, furious, but Bree simply caresses the valravn tattoo on his shoulder. A second later, the bird bursts forth, snapping its beak around the serpent and gulping it down in one bite.
A golden shield surrounds me as more and more start tumbling from the wardrobe. I scramble back, but they head for me as if magnetised.
Lox swoops down, seizing another in his talons. The moment he’s out of the way, a blast of fire incinerates the rest.
“Get her out of here.” Bree is staring at the inside of the wardrobe, and a sick feeling in my gut warns me that whatever else is in there, it’s not good.
But I can’t let them shelter me from it.
Before Jaro can reach in and pluck me from the floor, I shove past Bree…
And scream.
Twenty-Seven
Bricriu
Rose’s scream will probably haunt me for the rest of my immortal life. It nearly deafens me, and my ears flatten against my skull at the pain, but I don’t draw them in.
If my hearing hadn’t picked up the hissing. If I’d been a second later…
