Page 134 of Song of the Dark Wood

“Mrs. Teverin,” Rowan said. Her voice broke. She looked up the stairs. “Aeoife!”

She lurched forward, but Conor caught her hand. “Rowan, perhaps I should go first.”

“If she’s scared, she won’t recognize you. She’ll be hiding, waiting for me,” Rowan said.

Conor followed behind her. The weight of dread slowed their ascent.

Rowan stopped when she came to the first landing. The sight of Aeoife’s small body in a heap stole all the air from Maiden’s Tower, leaving her breathless, a silent sob caught in her throat.

“Aeoife,” she said finally, falling to her knees beside the little girl.

“Rowie?” Aeoife coughed.

Rowan crawled over to her, pulling the girl into her arms. “I’m here. I’m here, Aeoife.”

Aeoife smiled up at her, her eyes full of tears and relief. Rowan tried to ignore the puddle of blood that instantly soaked through her dress, making her knees sticky.

“I fell on the stairs. There were so many men coming, and Mrs. Teverin and Cade tried to get me out, but we made it downstairs too late, and she told me to run,” Aeoife said. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she was breathless, as if speaking took great effort.

Rowan realized she must have broken ribs. “You’re going to be all right. We’re going to get a healer. I just need you to stay awake, Aeoife,” she urged, barely able to contain her panic. There was far too much blood pooling around the girl’s little body.

“I’ll get the healer,” Finn said, disappearing down the stairs.

“See, Finn is going to get help. You will be okay, Aeoife. Just look at me, okay?” Rowan pleaded.

Aeoife smiled weakly. “Is that him?” she asked. “Is that the Wolf?”

Rowan followed her gaze to Conor, who was trying to both be supportive and give them privacy.

“Yes, that’s Conor,” Rowan said.

Conor knelt beside her. “Hello, Lady Aeoife. It’s very nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”

Aeoife smiled. “He’s not very scary,” she noted, meeting Rowan’s eyes again.

Rowan moved her hand and felt that Aeoife’s head wound had soaked through her cloak where she held it in place. “That’s not true, Aeoife. He’s terrifying. It’s just that you’re very brave.”

Aeoife’s eyes weren’t fully focused. “I know you said not to tell people about what I feel, Rowie, but I can feel how he worries for you. It’s like how you worry for me,” she whispered. Tears streamed down her cheeks, puddling in her hair. “I think I’m?—”

“No! Don’t say it,” Rowan said. She looked frantically at Conor, but she could tell by the grim line of his mouth that he was seeing something she wasn’t.

“Please, Conor. Can you help?” Rowan begged desperately.

“I wish I could, love. But you know that life is not my gift,” he said.

Rowan was desolate as she met Aeoife’s eyes. “All right, why don’t I sing you a song? I’ll sing your favorite. The one about the Storm Prince and his princess.”

She opened her mouth and sang a song of love and loss, even while knowing it was hopeless. She tried. Rowan pressed her magic into the girl in her arms, willing her back to life—as if it was as simple as bringing back plants. But unlike the fairy tale in the song, Rowan’s life turned into a nightmare as Aeoife breathed out in a rattle and her chest refused to rise again.

“No—” Rowan breathed. She felt the moment the life left the little girl who had been a sister to her.

Rowan felt like she was drowning on dry land. She was wild with grief, unmoored, and shredded to pieces.

There was a commotion on the stairs behind her as Finn reappeared with Charlie on his heels. “I couldn’t find any healers. Everything is in chaos—” He stopped when he saw Rowan’s face. “Rowan, I swear I tried to keep them back. There were just too many of them.”

Rowan blinked, trying to clear away the visual of Aeoife’s lifeless body.

It was impossible for someone so full of life to be gone. She couldn’t wrap her head around the loss. It wasn’t a pit like she’d felt for Orla. It was a dark star that sucked in everything else. It was a vortex that split wide with depths that went on forever into the dark.

---