Page 46 of The Dark, Dead, Deep

The dull headache that had been building behind my eyes grew in full force as my mind tried to turn over any thoughts of the four males. I didn’t make it to my chair before everything went dark.

Chapter 9

I came to slowly, but my eyelids were too heavy to open. It took a moment to realize why I had woken up—the hushed sound of arguing, multiple male voices, directly over my head.

“Your memory charm appears to be failing, Tormalugh,” a familiar voice spat. It took a moment to place it. Cormac.

“Is she okay?” another asked. Rainn, the selkie. “Will she wake?”

“It appears that the undine princess is rejecting your magic,” Shay stated dryly. “Perhaps you truly are shíorghrá as you hastily declared to the loudest gossip in all the Twilight Lake.”

Tormalugh scoffed. “I needed to place Lady Cruinn under my protection. Besides, I did not declare her my shíorghrá. I merely implied it.”

“Save for the fact that anyone with a brain cell would know that you could not identify a mate mark on someone that hasn’t reached their magical majority,” Shay pointed out, a measure of amusement snaking its way into his voice. His braids seemed to clack and shift in agreement.

“Or that he declared that Maeve Cruinn has four mates,” Cormac added dryly. “As if the gods have blessed the mad queen’s daughter with enough magic to warrant such a feat. The attack on the Frosted Sands was meant to disillusion the undine and encourage them to surrender. Building up the mad queen’s daughter will not beat them down; it will do the opposite.”

“What is there to do?” Rainn demanded, ignoring Cormac’s speculation. “Should we remove the charm?”

“It might cause volatile behavior.” Tormalugh winced.

Rainn made a sound halfway between a laugh and a sound of derision. “Oh yes. Let’s think about the risk to the furnishings rather than her emotional state when she finds out what we have done.”

“She’s the enemy,” Cormac spat. “The Undine King enslaved your people. If you gave her a moment, she would take your coat and demand that you protect her so she can rush back to her uncle and put us all at risk.”

“After his guards almost beat her to death?” Rainn retorted. “Belisama’s ballsack. Listen to yourself. Your suspicion denies logic.”

“She doesn’t trust us. She doesn’t trust anyone that isn’t undine,” Cormac declared—though he left out why that might be.

“The undine will act as they do.” Shay sighed. “Rainn, you need to be careful.”

Tormalugh cleared his throat. “I have to remove the charm,” he declared. “Let’s hope we can reason with her when she wakes up.”

When I was finally able to open my eyes, the first thing I noticed was Tormalugh in the corner of the room. Head in hands, waiting for me to wake up.

The conversation I had overheard was fresh in my mind, though the details were obscured and strange.

What memory charm had the Sídhe been talking about?

My journey from the Frosted Sands to the Reeds had been uneventful, save for the length and the mental image of my kin bleeding onto the beach—a casualty of war and cruelty—or being pressed into the bedroll by a male that wanted to take advantage of me.

Had something else happened that I wasn’t aware of? Something worse? Something so heinous that the only solution was to erase my memory to ensure I was compliant as we journeyed the length of the Twilight Lake?

I didn’t move as I watched Tormalugh. He pushed his fingers through his thick and unruly hair before exhaling hard enough to send a flurry of bubbles from his lips. He blinked as he noticed that I watched him without saying a word. Pushing himself to stand like the world’s weight rested on his shoulders.

“Are you well?” he asked.

“I noticed you didn’t ask what was wrong with me?” I replied without emotion. “I take that to mean that you have some idea.”

The Kelpie Prince tilted his head to the side. “You heard.” His words were a statement and not a question.

“Just so.” I mirrored his gesture. “Though the knowledge that you also intend to lie to the kelpie and say that I am your shíorghrá would be enough to cause me to faint with disbelief, I do believe that my sickness has something to do with the memory charm you placed on me. Those were the words you used, right? Memory charm?” It took everything in me not to spring off the bed and bash my fists against his chest. I was barely about to retain control as it was. I felt the water rushing and ebbing around us, pulsating in time with my heartbeat.

I felt a wash of calm crash over me, like being rocked to sleep. “Do not try to influence my emotions,” I snarled, baring my teeth. “I am entitled to feel angry. It’s not bad, wrong, or something to be corrected.”

Tormalugh stepped forward, his hands outstretched in a disarming fashion. “I can remove the charm,” he offered. “It won’t take a moment.”

“How do I know you don’t intend to twist my mind further?” I bit out, kicking the covers away from my legs. “All of you. You have been using me as a pawn for a game in which I have no part. I am a royal in name alone. I don’t know what you want from me!”

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