Page 28 of The Vanishing Throne

‘It was here to incapacitate me and findyou,’ Aithinne corrects. ‘You interfered with its second mission when you protected me.’ She glances back at the remains of her invention, at the ink-black blood splattered across therubble. ‘Sending my own weapon was a message. A declaration to me.’

‘How very sentimental,’ I say as we make our way down the battered thoroughfare to the west end of the city. ‘I particularly enjoyed the part where it smacked you off your arse and clear across the square through a building.’

‘Arse.’ Aithinne’s face breaks into a smile. ‘Your language is very expressive, especially the swear words. I’m quite fond of fu—’

‘Good god!’ I glance at her. ‘What on earth has Kiaran been teaching you?’

‘That one,’ Aithinne says proudly, ‘I learned in the mounds. Part of it was below an inn where they played fiddles and sang vulgar songs withthatword. You can put the sword away now.’

I hadn’t realised I was still holding it. The blade drips black blood onto the street as we descendthe long hill to Dean Village and the Water of Leith. The destruction is less apparent in this part of the city; it was already overgrown with trees and vines before the Wild Hunt.

I hold out the weapon to Aithinne, hilt first, but she shakes her head. ‘You keep it,’ she says. ‘I should have given it to you before.’

‘Why?’ It’s a powerful weapon to give away so lightly.

Before I can blink, she has my wrist in a vicelike grip, pulling me to a halt. Gone is her smile, and with it our easygoing conversation – which had helped me forget, just for a moment, that we are surrounded by the ruins of my city.

Her eyes are so intense now, the way Kiaran’s get just before a battle. Despite her human-like body, she’s still fae, and a faery’s temper can come as quick and fierce as a storm. When I’m with Kiaran, I forget that about him sometimes; now I’ve done the same with his sister.

I should never forget. For my own protection, I can’t make that mistake.

I try to pull away, to ignore the way my heart begins to race. She has me by the wrist.By the wrist. I can’t stop the sudden flash of Lonnrach opening his mouth to bare his teeth, his grip hard, fingers over my pulse.

This is really going to hurt.

As if sensing my memory, Aithinne’s hold loosens. She tugs open my fingers until my palm is visible. My blood is smeared across my skin, mixed with the ink-black of themortair.

‘Fuil nan aiteam chathach,’ she tells me firmly, her eyes never wavering from my own. As if willing me to understand. ‘This is the blood of your lineage. I made blades for all the Falconers, and now it’s the only one of its kind left– just like you.’ She presses the hilt into my hand and closes my fingers around it. ‘Consider it an apology.’

‘For what?’

‘For everything,’ she says softly.

With that, she releases me and walks away, a slight limp to her stride. I follow her, my injuries beginning to ache now.

I have questions for her –so many that I don’t know where to begin or what, really, to ask.Later, I decide. When we are out of immediate danger and I have time to think.

If such a time ever comes.

I stay silent as we travel through the village of Dean, where the grass between the cobbles reaches our knees and thick vines cover the destroyed buildings around us. Nature has claimed the once picturesque village, as if humans left this place centuries ago. Without anyone here to tame the ivy and foliage, the plants and trees have blossomed freely.

The few buildings left standing are overtaken, marble and stone cracking and breaking under the onslaught of vines and roots. After all the trouble Edinburgh went through to make the city clean and immaculate, now it’s a ruin.

I’m exhausted by the time Aithinne and I reach the Water of Leith. This place used to be surrounded by quaint stone cottages, raised up along the banks and nestled in the valley the river runs through. Now the buildings have gone, and only thick trees and the occasional traces of old walls remain.

This is where I met Kiaran. I so naively went on my first hunt – and found my intended victim, aneach-uisge. I attacked the water-horse with an iron blade, the metal I discovered to be useless against fae. The creature nearly drowned me. Without Kiaran’s intervention I would have died that night and the Falconer lineage would have gone extinct with me.

Right there. I’m surprised by the memory, one less faded by Lonnrach’s influence. Water rushes over my boots, but I pay it no mind.That’s where it happened.

I haven’t been here since that night, but I recognise the rock formations, how they jut out of the water near one of the falls. The water-horse attacked me there. I can still taste the river water at the back of my throat, the grit of dirt on my tongue as I fought back.

‘Falconer?’

I ignore Aithinne and slowly make my way along the bank until I reach the spot where the water-horse tried to pull me under. I disregard my aching muscles to crouch next to the rock and rest my fingertips on the jagged top. Four years have passed here since that night and the ridges are still so sharp. I vividly remember how theeach-uisgedragged me into the river, the skin at my back sliced open on the vicious edge.

I swear I can see the stain of my blood on the rock, now rust-coloured and faded to become part of the stone. My injury from that night took forever for the mechanical stitchers to close.

I still bear the scar, spanning from my neck to lower back. My badge of survival. My first one. There was no going back to my old life after that. It’s my brand now, a claim on my soul.Falconer.

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