Page 111 of The Falconer

Crimson suits you best.

I grit my teeth and thrust the memory of my mother’s death back where it belongs. I open that deep crevasse within me and shove my pain inside. Those images of my mother’s dead body are buried in a coffin to be sealed in my heart.

Can you name them, Aileana?

Polaris, the centre ring. I draw a finger to the arrow pointing south and turn the next one in relation to that in the device. Capella. The symbols that represent Pegasus. Orion.

North. I recognise the shape of Cassiopeia. The Plough.

I rotate the rings until they match, the way they would on a star map. How could I not have seen this before? So many old monuments correspond to celestial alignments. They are constant, like the moon.

Last ring. The eastern alignment of stars and the fae will be trapped again—

And Kiaran will be trapped with them.

I look for him and watch as he slices effortlessly through adaoine sìth’s armour. When he fights, he’s pure grace. Movement that any warrior would envy. I’ll never see it again.

But I have to do this. With my eyes closed, I click the last symbol into place. And wait. The clanging of metal and booms of power still echo through the park. I open my eyes and look down at the seal. Nothing happens. My God, is it broken? Did I do something wrong?

‘Two minutes.’ Kiaran fights his way into my line of sight, pausing only to run his blade through anotherdaoine sìth. ‘I said two minutes, remember?’

‘Something’s wrong,’ I say, beginning to panic. ‘It’s not working.’

‘Then you didn’t position them right—’

Lonnrach swings his blades at Kiaran. Kiaran dodges. If he were anyone else, the movement would have looked smooth, easy. But I know better. Kiaran is tiring. He’s already used up so much of his power by lending half of it to me.

Kiaran recovers with a small smile at Lonnrach. ‘You’ve improved.’

‘The benefits of prison, Kadamach,’ Lonnrach says. ‘All I had was time.’

They leap at each other, blades raised. Power ignites around them, so brilliant I can barely see them through it, just shadows of their bodies as they strike and slash at each other. The energy crackles so thunderously, I can barely hear the sounds of their weapons clashing.

When the light fades, they’re both bleeding from various cuts. Kiaran has a serious injury on one arm, a deep gash that’s bleeding copiously through his shirt.

‘Don’t you want to help him, Falconer?’ Lonnrach asks. He finally takes his eyes off Kiaran and looks right at me. ‘If you imprison him with us, there will be no end to his torture.’

I hesitate. I glance at Kiaran again and all I can think about is that look of regret and vulnerability, the promise of what could have been between us.

Kiaran throws himself at Lonnrach. ‘Activate the damn seal, Kam!’

Power bursts around them and I focus again on the seal. Kiaran’s right. I can’t let myself be distracted. I have to do this.

I stare at the seal, wincing as another burst of fae power strikes the shield. It ripples around me, beginning to falter. I focus on the symbols. What am I missing?

‘Aileana,’ a voice whispers in my mind. I know that voice.

‘Mother?’ I whisper.

‘Aileana.’ I hear again. It sounds like her. That beautiful, calm voice. So tender, so familiar.

No. It can’t be her. I lift my eyes from the device. Sorcha is standing amid the dead bodies Kiaran has left in his wake, smiling her hellish grin.

Rage flares inside me. She doesn’t deserve to be trapped alive with the others. She deserves to feel my hand tearing through flesh and breaking bone so I can steal the beating heart from her body just like she did my mother’s.

No. I need to activate the device. Ihaveto.

Sorcha grins, as if sensing my struggle. I try to focus on Kiaran, on how I need to keep my rage coiled tight so he stays alive.

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