Page 35 of The Vanishing Throne

‘Learning what?’

‘How to feel.’ Kiaran glides his fingers down my arm and I shiver. ‘How to empathize.’ He looks up at me. ‘How not to behave when you’re upset. None of it comes easily to me.’

I can’t resist any more. I touch him, tracing the veins at the back of his hand and wishing I could say the right thing. I used to assume the fae were simple creatures, unfeeling and dangerous. I’m learning, too. Just like him.

‘Why is Aithinne so different from you?’ I ask. His sister might not understand tears, but Aithinne’s more open about her emotions than he is. She doesn’t bury them.

‘My sister and I were raised separately, in different kingdoms.’

I draw my hand up his wrist. The skin there is smooth, so smooth. ‘Which kingdom were you raised in?’

He’s quiet. As if he’s preparing himself for my response. ‘Unseelie,’ he says.

Unseelie.The shadow fae who slaughtered indiscriminately. Who used humans like playthings.

You’re not the first pet Kadamach has discarded.

I flinch and almost draw my hand away, but something about Kiaran’s touch stops me.Not Kadamach, I tell myself, pressing my palm to his.He’s not Kadamach any more.

‘In the Seelie Kingdom,’ he continues, ‘Aithinne wasn’t taught to suppress all emotion. She wasn’t taught that emotions are a weakness.’

‘What about me?’ I ask. I can’t help it. ‘Do you think me weak because I feel?’

Because I stopped fighting?

‘No. Never.’ Kiaran cups my cheek. ‘That’s what makes you Kam.’

My breath catches. His lips are so close. ‘MacKay,’ I whisper. ‘I—’

Kiaran steps back abruptly, putting cold distance between us. Mere seconds later, Aithinne’s footsteps echo as she returns. ‘Mortair,’ she whispers urgently. ‘Just over the hills.’

As if on cue, thunder rolls in the distance, startling me. Fat raindrops suddenly beat against the roof in a constant rhythm, almost as loud as the thunder. I hear a screech from the outside, high-pitched and wailing. I remember that call from the battle in Queen’s Park.Sluagh.

‘Damnation,’ Kiaran says. He reaches for the fire. The flames snuff out in an instant and the smoke is pulled into his palm. The scent of burning strengthens for a moment before it dissipates completely.

Aithinne crouches to press a palm to the stone floor. Her power is suddenly stark on my tongue. ‘Mortaircan sense heat, too, Kadamach.’

‘Shh,’ he says.

I try to quiet myself, not daring to move at all. What I had thought was thunder is anothermortair, its steps growing louder, ever closer. The walls shake. Dirt falls from the rafters and the entire structure groans and trembles. Rain drums hard and fast on the floor. At the far side of the room, the horses are still; they don’t even blink.

Anothersluaghscreeches, closer this time. They’re looking for usin the ruins. My hand automatically goes for the hilt of the blade, prepared to pull it out and fight.

Kiaran is suddenly right next to me with his back pressed to the wall. ‘Don’t.’ I ignore the shiver that goes through me at how close he is. ‘If they find us, they’ll alert the others. Don’t move, Kam.’

Others?

Themortair’s footfalls shake the structure. I press my lips together to muffle my surprisedgasp.

It’s here. Themortairis here. Directly on the other side of the wall. The whirling mechanism of its clockwork interior hums as it powers up the weapon. The purr of the weapon grows faster, louder, louder.

I shut my eyes, my heart slamming painfully hard.

‘Your heart,’ Aithinne breathes.

With a soft curse, Kiaran immediately shifts closer. ‘May I?’ he asks.

He’s asking permission? I’m so surprised, I nod.

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