Page 79 of The Falconer

‘What’s so funny?’

Kiaran straightens. ‘When you picked up that pistol, I never expected you to shoot me.’

I smile and laugh, too. ‘Didn’t you always say never to draw a weapon unless I intend to use it?’

‘So youdolisten to what I say.’

‘When it suits me.’

Kiaran surprises me by moving too fast again, shoving my chair back from the table. Then he leans in, his arms on either side of me. ‘That might have amused me this time, but try it again and I’ll break your pistol.’

I match his stare. ‘Break my pistol and I have about fifteen other weapons that will do the same job.’

His grin is slow, downright seductive. ‘I knew it since the day I pulled you out of that river.’

‘What?’

‘That you would always challenge me.’

Unable to bear the intensity of his gaze, I turn my head and study his injury. The burn on his palm is healing over, and the Lichtenberg figure is slowly disappearing back down his arm.

I frown as the fernlike pattern reveals a brand on the inside of his wrist. I don’t remember ever seeing it before, or perhaps I’ve just never paid enough attention to notice. The design is burned into his skin, the scarified flesh upraised. An elaborate series of swirls, intertwined with each other, delicate and intricate. Whoever designed this had been painstaking in its detail. The shape is something I’m unable to identify, a symbol I’ve never seen.

Only fae metal can leave permanent scarring – and even then, only faintly. To make scars like these, the lines would have had to be traced over and over again with a sharp, burning-hot blade. It must have hurt a great deal while it was being carved. Compelled, I reach out to touch it.

Kiaran wraps his fingers around my wrist. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Your brand. What does it mean?’

Something flashes in his eyes, an emotion I can’t identify. After a second, it’s gone. He releases me. ‘It doesn’t mean a damn thing any more.’

I’m beginning to realise how much our secrets define us. A few days ago, he and I would have hunted together and returned to our respective lives, the same as always. Now our boundaries are fading, and we grasp those last few secrets we still do have, because baring one’s soul is so much more difficult than pretending.

‘All right,’ I say calmly, tugging my hand from his.

As if realising he’s betrayed some emotion, he straightens and stares down at me. ‘Come with me.’

I blink. ‘Where?’

‘Must you question everything?’

‘Aye,’ I say. ‘It delights me to annoy you whenever possible.’

His mouth quirks upwards. ‘I’ve noticed.’

Chapter 26

Kiaran and I sit silently in the ornithopter as I fly us through the clear night sky. The cold air up here sears my skin and I pull my raploch coat tighter around me. I rest my hand on the helm and watch the ground slip by below us. We soar over the countryside beyond the city, where everything is still and quiet. Houses are sparse, identifiable only by the dim candlelight shining through occasional windows amid the dark farmland.

Kiaran hasn’t spoken a word to me since we left Charlotte Square, as if he senses how badly I want to ask him about the girl he loved and what happened to her.

I look over at him, taking in his features, his pensive expression. I try to imagine him as an unrepentant monster like the fae I kill. What was it aboutherthat made him change? I would never have thought thesìthicheanto be capable of falling in love with humans. Predators don’t come to love their prey.

Before I can ask, Kiaran speaks. ‘Set us down there – by that dismal-looking residence.’

I peer over the helm. ‘Dalkeith Palace?’

At his nod, I swing the helm, circling the clearing until I find the perfect place for us to land.There– behind a line of trees that should shield us from view of the palace windows, if anyone happens to look out while we’re here. The machine settles softly onto the ground and I pull the lever to retract the wings.

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