Page 4 of The Mirror of Beasts

“That’s what I’ve always called you,” he said. “From the time you were nothing but a wee imp. The first time I used it, you kicked me in the shins and called me a dingus. That was your favorite insult for a while.”

My stomach clenched. The others looked to me, searching for the truth of it in my face.

Caitriona finally rose from the floor, backing toward us, eyes scanning the room for another weapon.

“How … ?” I whispered. How are you alive?

A low grumble of thunder moved through the city, bringing him up short. Nash returned to his perch by the door, his body tensed as he looked through its peephole. Whatever storm had blown in was only building in ferocity. When he turned to me again, it was with that same look he’d had when I’d opened the door.

“Were you able to find the ring in Avalon?” Nash asked, as if I hadn’t spoken at all.

“Yes, but—” Olwen began.

“Cabell needed the ring, not me,” I whispered. That was the most unforgivable part of all this. If I had been able to use the ring on Cabell …

The thought of my brother just then, the only other person who’d understand the chaos of my thoughts, who’d be able to help me untangle them, was a knife to the gut.

“Cabell is beyond its help,” Nash said. The dismissiveness of his tone made bile rise in my throat.

“How would you know?” I snarled. “You haven’t even cared enough to ask where he is!”

“Do you really think I don’t know why he’s not here? Do you truly believe I don’t know what you unleashed into this world?” Nash shook his head, blowing out a hard breath. “Where’s the Ring of Dispel now?”

“It’s—” Neve glanced at me, as if not sure she should say. “Emrys Dye took it.”

“You let a Dye have the ring?” Nash exploded. “For the love of hellfire, Tamsy!”

“Call me that again and I’ll make sure you stay dead this time,” I warned him.

“Tamsin didn’t have a choice in it,” Neve continued. “He was hired by a sorceress.”

“Which one?” Nash pressed, reaching down to swipe his hat off the floor.

I got the name out through gritted teeth. “Madrigal—”

Her name vanished beneath an explosion of thunder. It seemed to erupt from above us and below us all at once; the force of it made the dishes in the kitchen chatter like teeth and sent books falling from the nearby shelves. At the sound of a flat-toned blare, deeper and more wrenching than any ship I’d heard before in the harbor, a chill walked its bony fingers down my spine.

A stream of furious words burst from Nash as he jammed his hat back onto his head and gripped the doorknob, struggling to open it against the taunting of the wind.

“You’re leaving?” Caitriona asked, aghast.

“Of course,” I said bitterly. “It’s what he’s best at.”

Nash finally wrenched the door open and whirled around. His right hand pressed to his heart in a mockery of a vow. “All I’ve ever wanted—all I’ve ever tried to do—is protect you.”

“Since when?” I spat.

Neve’s hand curled tighter around my arm as she drew me closer to her. I’d never seen her like this, all but trembling with anger. It radiated from her until it became indistinguishable from my own.

The December air billowed in around Nash, exhaling delicate flakes of snow. Thunder boomed once more, loud enough to rattle the town-house-turned-apartments down to its foundations. A sharp, acrid scent like ozone filled the apartment, making my toes curl in my boots.

Behind Nash, far above the festive garlands and twinkling Christmas lights, the sky had turned an eerie shade of green. The furious wind tugged at his clothes, drawing him toward the waiting night. Behind him, the trees bowed to the storm, groaning.

“I’m going to get that bloody ring to break your curse,” he snapped. “If you hear that sound again, closer than it is now, run as fast as you can—but until then, stay here, or so help me, I will wring your scrawny little necks myself!”

He pointed a finger at the four of us in turn. “You haven’t the faintest idea what’s coming—what hides within winter’s icy depths. Listen to me and you may yet survive this horror you’ve brought upon us.”

The door slammed shut behind him.

---