Page 14 of The Vanishing Throne

I remember Lonnrach’s words.No one has seen the Cailleach for thousands of years. The heirs she left behind to rule were … unworthy.

‘The Cailleach?’

Aithinne doesn’t answer right away. She tosses up another light and it sizzles as it disperses. Shadows flee through the trees in trails of gleaming fur and burning eyes. There are more than there were before. They’re so quick that I can barely see what they look like, but from their height, they’re bigger than wolves.

Finally, her gaze flickers to me, her expression unreadable. ‘Aye. When the Cailleach left, themarachose not to align themselves with either kingdom,’ she murmurs. ‘This forest belongs to them now.’

A low growl comes from behind us, a rumbling, full-bodied sound. All the fine hairs on my body stand straight up and I shiver. Going through this forest is like wandering the Highlands at night, with wildcats lurking in the darkness, just waiting to pounce.

I know with certainty that themaraare watching and preparing for the moment Aithinne’s light dims just enough, and I’mtheirs. They wouldn’t even take me back to Lonnrach. They’d devour me, flesh to bone.

Aithinne is quick to make sure that never happens. As soon as the stars twinkling above us begin to dim, she casts up more. They flicker, so abundant and beautiful, as if we were looking at the night sky through the trees instead of her own created light. As if we are at the centre of a private galaxy.

‘Quickly, Falconer.’

Aithinne increases her already hurried pace. I can barely keep up with her any more. The muscles in my legs are already trembling. I haven’t used them this much in a long time.

I’m breathing hard, shaking all over. Lonnrach’s venom has this effect if I go too long between bites. My stomach cramps with nausea.

I try to ignore it and continue, only to stumble and lose my balance. Gasping, I realise I was mere inches away from impaling myself on one of those blasted tree branches. ‘Wait,’I call, skirting around the branches with more care. ‘Slow down.’

Though no emotion crosses Aithinne’s features, I can sense her urgency. ‘Very well.’ She slows ever so slightly, just enough for me to catch up. Though we maintain haste, I match Aithinne’s pace with only a little difficulty. The pain is bearable.

She sends up another light, bursting up to the tops of the trees. This one reminds me of nights in Edinburgh beneath clear skies. Moonless winter evenings spent in the garden when the stars are bright and abundant.

I can’t help it. My fingers brush one of Lonnrach’s marks at my wrist and I picture the Edinburgh he showed me. My home is gone and in its place is ruin, destruction. Perhaps I really am just leaving one version of perdition for another.

‘Aithinne? What’s it like in the human realm now?’ At her hesitation, I say, ‘I know what happened immediately after the battle. That Edinburgh was destroyed.’

I almost ask her how long it’s been, but the question sticks in my throat. I can’t. Not yet.

She seems reluctant. Her hand is cupped, a ball of light swirling in her palm. ‘It’s difficult out there,’ she says carefully. ‘But you’ll be with your own kind, at least.’

My breath hitches in surprise and I stop walking.You’ll be with your own kind.Surely she can’t mean … ?

I reach out and clamp a hand around her wrist. ‘There are survivors?’

Aithinne seems surprised by the force of my words. ‘Well. Aye.’

Ibreak.I can’t help it. When she tries to move away, my grip tightens. Hope is a traitorous bastard and I’m letting it squirm its way into my heart all the same. ‘Catherine. Gavin. Their surname is Stewart. One of them might have a wee pixie with them. Does that sound at all familiar?’

Something flickers in her gaze as she tries to extract herself from my grip. ‘I can’t say.’

I breathe a curse then, a vile one I learned from Kiaran. I don’t give a damn about whether Lonnrach has discovered I’m gone, or even about themarasurrounding us. I need to know. Hope already has its claws sunk inside me, deep and relentless. After all that time I spent thinking I was the only one left, Aithinne has given me my single most important wish and now she won’t share a thing.

Maybe Lonnrach and I are the same. Maybe I’m just as bad as he is, just as monstrous and beyond redemption. It’s the only explanation I have for why I sink my fingernails into her skin until I know it hurts. For why I would have put the blade to Aithinne’s throat if I had a free hand to reach for it.

For why I find satisfaction in seeing her wince. ‘Tell me,’ I say, the threat clear in my voice.

There’s no fear in her gaze. I’ve never met a faery who didn’t feel at least a bit threatened by me when they discovered I could make their impenetrable fae skin bleed. ‘I said I can’t.’

‘Don’t toy with me. It’s a simple question. Catherine. Gavin. A pixie named Derrick. Have you heard those names?’

I sink my fingernails in deeper. I ignore my sudden memory of the Violent Aileana in the mirrors, how gleeful she’d be. How she’d smile at me now in pride. I tamp down my disgust at my actions and hold fast. ‘And no faery riddles, either. I am in no mood.’

The light is dimming. Invisible paws shuffle in the dirt around us. The heavy, hungry gaze of predatory fae settles on my shoulders. They breathe together as a collective, and it’s as if we’re inside a living forest. The air around us heats from it, growing sticky and wet. But I can’t release Aithinne now. Not yet. Not until she tells me.

‘The light is going out,’she says, no emotion in her voice.

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