Page 11 of The Vanishing Throne

‘Kiaran.’Is she daft?‘He said—’

‘Hmm.’ She considers for a moment. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know anyone by that name.’

I edge closer to the castle, away from her. Maybe she’s a guard for Lonnrach, here to make sure I don’t make it out of here alive.

I search for a platform nearby. If this faery is one of Lonnrach’s soldiers, I can’t risk waiting for Kiaran’s sister. I’ll either have to fight or flee, and in the state I’m in, this faery could tear through me like gauze.

Flee it is.

‘Are you thinking about jumping?’ the faery asks.

My voice hardens. ‘No.’ I didn’t survive all that and get this far just to jump.

‘Because it wouldn’t be a good decision. You’d fall right to the bottom.’ She smacks her hands together. ‘Splat. Emptied into the sea on the other side of theSìth-bhrùth. A human, of course, would never survive such a thing.’

‘Likely not,’ I say drily. So Lonnrach has sent a deranged faery to guard me. He must have beenverycertain I’d never make it out.

Maybe Kiaran’s sister is on the other side of the castle. I push to my feet and start walking, nearly letting out a groan when the platform the faery is on follows me. Oh, confound it.

‘You have blood on your neck. Is it yours? Have you noticed?’

I freeze. My fingertips immediately feel for the bite marks there, the last ones Lonnrach left on me. Fear quickens my pace. I have to get out of here before he returns. I can’t go back to that. I can’t.

I try to hold myself together so I don’t stumble, but my knees are trembling.Stay calm. You’re going to escape. You won’t go back there.

‘So is it?’

For god’s sake.I whirl on her. ‘Is itwhat?’

She nods to my neck. ‘Yours.’

I narrow my gaze. ‘Has it escaped your notice that I’m mere seconds away from leaping over there and boxing you in the throat?’

Her hand immediately smacks against her chest. ‘Oh. But I rather value my throat.’

Maybe if I ignore her, she’ll go away? I continue my circuit around the castle, finally reaching the other side. I sigh. There’s no one else to be found.

I begin to assess my surroundings on this side. I step toward the ledge and look down again.

‘You keep looking down there.’I grit my teeth at her voice. So ignoring her doesn’t work. ‘If you’re not thinking about jumping, is there something you need?’ she asks me. ‘Something you lost?’

‘If you must know,’ I say tightly, ‘I’m trying to get off this blasted platform.’

‘That’s a relief,’ she says. ‘I was afraid what you’d lost was important and we’d have to find it at the bottom of the sea.’

Before I can blink, the faery’s platform is right in front of me and she’s grabbing my wrist to yank me aboard. I pitch forward with a sound of protest. By the time I right myself, our tiny island of rock has moved away from the castle and into the space of the ravine.

‘What on earth do you think you’re doing?’

The faery merely lifts a finger, licks it with a quick darting tongue, and raises it into the air. ‘Feeling for wind. Under the right conditions, I’ll be able to open a door between the worlds without Lonnrach detecting.’ She gives me a slow smile. ‘It’s a gift.’

I narrow my gaze. ‘So youareKiaran’s sister.’And you’re completely mental.

‘Hmm?’ She’s not looking at me. With her finger still in the air, her eyes have gone shadowed, their molten-silver irises swirling and swirling. ‘No, you must be mistaken. I’m Kadamach’s sister. This Kiaran fellow sounds like trouble.’

Confound it. ‘Kiaran.Is. Kadamach.’

‘Ah.’ She wiggles her finger as she checks the wind, never breaking her look of intense concentration. ‘Well. That certainly explains why you keep mentioning him,’ she says absently. ‘I’m Aithinne. You must be the Falconer I’ve had a devil of a time finding. Pleased to meet you.’

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