Page 107 of The Falconer

I slowly raise my eyes to his. They’re the most vivid blue I have ever seen. They stand out against his pale skin and salt-white hair. He is beautiful, magnificent. Power rolls off him like steam from his horse. I can’t look away – and I don’t want to.

‘Come to me,’ Lonnrach says.

His voice is soft but commanding. Compelling. I feel him in my mind, the same way I felt Sorcha’s touch back at the loch. Only his power doesn’t try to break me. It entices me. It steals through my veins and takes me over until the tension and fight leave my body and I can resist him no longer.

Too late I remember Kiaran’s warning when he gave me the armour, that it wouldn’t protect me against faery influence.Damnation. I buck against it, but Lonnrach’s presence is too soothing, too strong.

I step out of the locomotive, but Kiaran’s hand tightens around my wrist. ‘I don’t think so.’

Lonnrach remains focused on me. ‘You’ve always been selfish, Kadamach.’

‘And you’re an arrogant upstart,’ Kiaran replies calmly. ‘This isn’t selfishness. I just don’t like you.’

Lonnrach smirks at him. ‘You mean you don’t trust your Falconer. If she’s as powerful as you hope she is, she should be able to resist my compulsion. Let her come to me.’

I don’t remember Kiaran releasing my wrist, or walking over to Lonnrach. Everything in my peripheral vision is hazy, tunnelled. I try to shake my head to clear it, but can’t. I have to free myself. How did I break from Sorcha’s influence?Think.

It’s too late. I’ve already approached and the horse’s heart beats at my eye level. Compelled, I smooth my palm over the creature’s shoulder. How can metal be so soft? Like fur, but sleeker.

Lonnrach curls a finger under my chin. When my gaze meets his again, it’s as though I’m being dragged underwater by an inexorable current. My body isn’t my own, and neither is my mind. I am in dark, cold water and my other senses are muted, dulled. There is only taste. Flower petals drag along my tongue and it’s not unpleasant.

Lonnrach studies me. ‘So you’re all that’s left,’ he murmurs. ‘How very brave of you to come.’

His voice makes my body feel light as air, millions upon millions of molecules floating weightless. I have to break his hold or he’ll kill me, easily. I try to push against his presence again, but he only invades me further. His power is calming, not violent or brutal like his sister’s. That only makes it worse.

‘How old are you?’ he asks.

‘Eighteen.’ I sound so far away, as if I’m hearing myself from the other side of the meadow. I have to kill him now. My hand shifts toward my blade, but his power stops me.

‘So young.’ He strokes my cheek. ‘It’s such a shame.’

He makes me lean into his touch. ‘Are you going to kill me?’

‘Eventually.’ He bends down and whispers, ‘You see, you have something I want.’

‘What is that?’

Lonnrach’s lips curl with the hint of a smile. ‘Plenty of time for that.’ He glances at my armour. ‘Well done, Kadamach. She’s quite exquisite.’

‘You shouldn’t underestimate her,’ he says calmly. ‘She’ll cut your throat.’

When Lonnrach studies me again, his gaze rakes me from my toes to my face, long and slow. ‘She looks tame enough now. But I always did love a Falconer in armour. Metal suits you best.’

Something snaps inside me. A torrent, a wave of awareness and everything comes rushing back.

Crimson suits you best crimson suits you best crimson suits you best crimson suits you best—

That’s all I need to break his influence. Wrath rises inside me with the strength of a surging storm. Kiaran’s powers strengthen it, intensify it, and the air around me becomes charged with it, mine and Kiaran’s combined. It crackles with electricity and when the first drops of rain hit my armour, they spark like bolts of discharge.

Lonnrach stares at me in surprise. I feel his mind in mine, enticing. Weakening. I snap our connection – and smile. In an instant, my blades are in my hands. ‘If I have something you want,’ I snarl, ‘you’ll have to fight me for it.’

I jump and swing my arm up, slashing him across the cheek. It’s a superficial cut. A warning. I smile as the blood trickles down his face.

Lonnrach’s eyes narrow. He speaks again, calmly, but this time he faces his army. ‘Destroy it all.’

Chapter 37

They’ve been waiting for this. Lonnrach has barely finished speaking before acù sìthleaps at me with teeth bared, enormous claws extended. I throw myself under it and whip one blade up. It slices deep into the beast’s left flank and blood splatters warm against my cheek.

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