Page 154 of Cathmoir's Sons

“Well, this isn’t quite the outcome I expected from this hunt,” the Tech Mage says.

“I’ll make it up to you.” I clap him on the shoulder. “There are a thousand lost treasures in Faery.”

Danny twirls an entirely fictional moustache. “I heard something about finding Faery’s lost seas? I’m totally down for crewing the Good Ship Cait-pop.”

Luca sniggers. I’m not sure what I’m missing, then it occurs to me that I mentioned Faery’s lost seas when I was alone with my mate. Or, at least, I thought we were alone. I glower at the Tech Mage.

“Stop listening in on my private conversations,” I grumble.

“Stop having such interesting private conversations.” Danny shrugs, unrepentant.

The crow on my brother’s shoulder joins him in sniggering. I roll my eyes at all of them.

The demon returns from the kitchen with a small metal tin, which I assume contains Mordeh’s daughter’s bones. He hands the tin to Caileán before beckoning all of us to the dining table.

“Conflab,” he tells us.

Caileán catches my hand as I walk toward the table. She laces our fingers together. With a rustle, the wetsuit she’s wearing transfigures into her mantle, feathers spilling over our linked hands. A sooty band spreads across Caileán’s cheeks, framing her bright blue eyes. A black line connects her eyes’ inner corners, dipping across the bridge of her nose like a beak. Another black line runs through her lower lip, down over her chin and throat, to disappear in the collar of her mantle.

War paint.

I don’t comment on the changes in her appearance. Whatever my queen wants to wear is fine with me.

By the time we sit around the table, three of the other crows have taken their skins. They’re mantled in black; their faces decorated the same as my mate’s. Instead of a black line through her lip, Brangwy has a red bone pierced through hers. Kathu’s lines are bright blue and run from the corners of her mouth instead of the center. I’ve never seen them as “sisters” before.Now, sitting together in their mantles, their eyes gleaming, their power thickening the air with familiar flavors, I see it. They are a fractious family, cawing and clacking at each other. But against a common foe? They are united.

Didrane remains in her crow form, seeming happy to remain on my twin’s shoulder. She settles down, looking like a large, white cushion, and tucks her head against Luca’s jaw. He strokes her ruffled throat. I’m reminded of when we were Blackey and Whitey and I thought frequently about eating her. I give her a wink. She clacks her beak sleepily at me.

The demon sits heavily across from Caileán as steaming cups of lemon tea and platters of long flatbreads, laden with anchovies, pancetta, mozzarella, greens, and toasted nuts appear between us.

I’m only a second behind Luca in grabbing one of the anchovy flatbreads. The house bwg know what cats like.

The demon nods at the small tin Caileán’s set on the table. “Pretty sure those are Mordeh’s daughter’s bones,” he says, telling everyone what we concluded on the beach. “From what Charybdis told Caileán, Mordeh’s own mother, Licyssa, kept the remains away from Mordeh. I’m guessin’ it was part of a power-play over the gates to the Dransbych. Mordeh’s in control of ‘em now. We give the bones back to Mordeh, sit back, and watch her go after her dame now that Licyssa don’t have that bit of leverage. Weakens the Dransbych and keeps the water demons busy for a century or two. Win-win. Or we give ‘em back to Licyssa, sit back, and watch her use ‘em against her daughter?—”

“No,” Caileán says softly. “I know double-crossing your allies is expected in Hell, but it’s not the way I intend to rule.” She opens the tin and rests a long, black claw on the tiny skull. “I offered Mordeh an alliance. Charybdis bid me to return the bones to her mother. If Mordeh is that mother, I’ll fulfill Charybdis’ charge?—”

She lifts her hand. A green droplet runs down her claw. It sizzles on her skin, carving a raw line down her finger to her second knuckle.

“Baby—” Rhodes reaches across Luca to heal Caileán but she waves him off, staring at the wound before she draws the tip of her tongue along it. Blood washes over her lower lip and trickles down her chin.

“It tastes ... like betrayal,” she whispers.

“Caileán—” I begin.

She shakes her head, dips her claw into the tin again, and brings out another glistening drop.

Hraena lunges across the table, wrapping her hand around Caileán’s wrist. “I lost you for over a thousand years. I can’t lose you for another thousand. If someone needs to taste it, let it be me.”

Caileán breaks into a soft smile, even as a tear runs down her cheek at her sister’s loyalty and centuries of loss.

“The only three who tasted this poison the first time sit beside me. It has to be them,” Caileán says sadly.

Rhodes wraps his hand around Hraena’s, his fingers dwarfing hers. “It has to be me. I can flush out any poison with my Element, and ... I remember how it tasted.”

Over Luca’s whimper, Caileán nods and tips her hand toward Rhodes.

The wound on her finger fills in with clean, pink skin. The human’s tongue flicks out and scoops the drop of poison off Caileán’s claw.

He shudders, tucking his head down between his shoulders. Luca wraps his arm around the human’s shoulders. “Rho. Rho, are you?—”

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