Page 94 of The Falconer

‘We’re facing an apocalypse,’ he replies. ‘There is not enough tea in the world to calm me.’

I draw the last symbol and the electricity tingling at my fingertips vanishes. My body stops shaking and I exhale a long breath, dropping the charcoal to wipe my tired hand with a kerchief.

‘Finished.’

Kiaran leans in to inspect my work. His warm shoulder is so close to mine that if I scoot over only a wee bit more, we’d be touching. As I inhale his scent, I can’t help but shift closer, closing the gap between us and pressing my side to his. The taste of his power only grows more intoxicating. He turns to look at me, and our faces are a mere breath away. Everything around me fades and blurs and my gaze drops to his lips.

‘Does it look all right?’ I whisper.

Gavin’s voice sounds so very far away. ‘Get back, faery. Now.’

Bloody hell. I recoil from Kiaran, suddenly aware of what I almost did. My cheeks flush and my heart speeds up in embarrassment. I swear, I was tempted to kiss Kiaran – and in front of Derrick and Gavin, no less. What iswrongwith me?

‘For once, I agree with the Seer,’ Derrick says. ‘Keep your distance, or Iwillbite you.’

Kiaran picks up my drawing. ‘Try it and I’ll pluck your wings off and feed them to you.’

Derrick hisses. Gavin just looks interested, as if wondering whether such a thing might be possible.

‘Well,’ I say brightly, ‘we’re getting on splendidly, aren’t we? Glad to see you’re all becoming friends over your mutually violent desires.’

‘Not me,’ Gavin says. ‘I’m just here for the tea.’

‘Not the company?’ I put a hand to my heart. ‘I’m wounded. I thought you liked me.’

‘More often than not.’

Kiaran sets the paper flat on the table between us. ‘Shall we discuss this, or would you prefer to socialise?’

I blink up at him. ‘Please continue.’

‘A clock and a compass were added to theiuchairdesign.’ He indicates the symbols at each point. ‘These are meant to correspond to a lunar event – an eclipse, in this case. The cardinal points keep the power intact wherever the device is placed. As long as the clock works, so will the device.’

‘Why an eclipse?’ I ask, leaning forward.

‘Sìthicheanare at our most powerful during lunar events, especially eclipses,’ Kiaran explains. ‘The symbols on the device channelled that power to imprison them. But no system is infallible. With each eclipse, those inside tried to break free, and the seal wore thin over time.’ He glances at me. ‘This wasn’t supposed to be permanent. It was only put in place until they found a better solution.’

‘So we’re just going to implement this “temporary” solution again with only one Falconer remaining to activate it,’ Gavin says flatly. ‘Bloody brilliant, you are.’

Kiaran glares at him. ‘It’ll be different this time.’

‘How?’ I ask. I put up a hand before Gavin can say anything. ‘We don’t exactly have a wealth of options to choose from.’

Kiaran is closed off again, which means he’s hiding something. ‘You said it – we don’t have any other choice.’

Derrick lands on the paper, his tiny feet delicately walking amongst the symbols. The slightly-too-long hems of his trousers drag behind him, smudging the charcoal here and there. He bends down to trace a line. ‘For something impermanent, this is brilliant. A singlesìthichewouldn’t be able to escape this kind of prison at all. Whoever helped the Falconers knew what they were doing.’

‘Aye, she did,’ Kiaran murmurs.

I frown in surprise. ‘She? You knew her?’

Kiaran won’t look at me. ‘You could say that. She’s my sister.’

Derrick cackles. ‘Your sister! Not at all crabby, like you. She mixed my milk and honey once and told me I had the best sword swipe she had ever seen. Shared a trophy with me, she did.’

I glance between them. ‘Have I missed something? No one told me Kiaran had a damn sister.’

‘You never asked,’ Kiaran says, with a dismissive shrug.

---