Page 37 of The Vanishing Throne

At the same time, we both remember we have an audience. Kiaran looks rather repelled by the whole exchange, and Aithinne has her head slightly tilted in unabashed interest.

Aithinne says to Kiaran, ‘That’s lovely. Isn’t that lovely? You didn’t greet me like that when I saved you.’

‘I was unconscious,’ Kiaran reminds her.

‘Oh. That’s right.’

‘You!’ Derrick flies from me, hovering in the fog just over the grass. The other two faeries look up. ‘Notyou,’ he snaps at Kiaran. ‘I’ll get to you later. The one who saidI’ll be right back with the Falconerand returnsthree bloody years later. What the hell happened?’

Aithinne seems to consider that for a moment. ‘No, no, I most certainly saidI shall return shortly. I only spent about two months on the other side—’

‘Or the equivalent of three years in human time, you ridiculous ninny. Don’t pretend you didn’t know.’

‘Derrick,’ I say sharply.

‘What?’ Derrick zips around me. ‘She let me believe you were dead. I haven’t seen her foryearsand she couldn’t even send word that you were alive—’

‘It’s notidiotic,’ Kiaran says in a low voice, ‘to misjudge how long it takes to dismantle the wards Lonnrach set up in theSìth-bhrùthwithout being detected. You couldn’t have done it.’ He steps forward. ‘Aithinne brought Kam back. Now stop complaining.’

‘Make me,’ Derrick snarls. ‘I’ll slice your insides to ribbons before you grow it all back.’

‘Kam,’ Kiaran says, his eyes never leaving Derrick. ‘Control your pixie.’

‘Control me?’ A wee blade is suddenly in Derrick’s hand. ‘I’m going to gut you, you sonofa—’

‘I don’t think so,’ I say, grabbing Derrick’s wings. He yelps in surprise when I manage to pinch them together. It took me the longest time to learn that trick and I only had to use it when he tried to hunt cats in the back garden.

He hangs there helplessly, his arms crossed, a murderous glare on his face. ‘I’m not apologizing,’ he says sullenly.

‘I won’t ask you to apologize,’ I tell him. ‘Just put the blade away.’ When he looks like he isn’t going to, I say firmly, ‘Derrick. The blade.’

Derrick thrusts the blade into its sheath at his waist with a hiss. ‘There. Are youpleasednow?’

I place him on my shoulder and press my cheek to his wings. The physical contact always calms him down, even when he’s at his angriest. ‘Thank you.’

‘Don’t do that,’ he says sternly, leaning away, but I persist. ‘Stop it. You’ll never soften me. You’re not winning. You’re not – damn it.’ He crosses his arms again. ‘Fine. I’m sorry, Aithinne,’ he mutters. Then he looks at Kiaran. ‘Sorry not sorry to you, bastard.’

‘Well,’ Aithinne says. ‘It’s nice to see some things don’t change.’ She leans in toward me. ‘They’ve been fighting like this forthousandsof years.’

‘Don’t you dare say it like that,’ Derrick snaps, suddenly angry again. ‘Like this is some petty rivalry. You know better than that and so doeshe.’

Aithinne goes still. ‘Aye,’she whispers. ‘I do.’

What on earth just happened? Everyone is silent after that. Kiaran stares at Derrick with that unfathomable gaze, like he wants to say something – but he won’t. Whatever it is, his regret isn’t enough.

‘Kiaran—’

‘Don’t, Kam,’he says stiffly, and steps toward his horse to grab the reins. ‘To prevent any future reunions like this one, I’m going to ride ahead and let the others know you’re not dead.’ He speaks to me without his eyes meeting mine, because it’s a damn faery half-lie and he knows it. ‘Aithinne will bring you the rest of the way.’

Aithinne steps aside as he swings his lithe body up on the horse, settling neatly in the saddle. ‘Kadamach, you don’t have to—’

‘I do,’ Kiaran says shortly. ‘The pixie and I have never kept good company, and he can block you from being detected by Lonnrach better than I can.’ His eyes flicker toward me and I wish he would show his emotions again. ‘I’ll see you soon.’

Nudging thehorse, he rides off – so fast that when I blink, he’s gone through the fog as if he were a ghost. The rest of us are quiet, only the hum of Derrick’s wings between us.

‘Would someone mind telling me what the bloody hell that was about?’

‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ Derrick says shortly. ‘But I’m glad he’s gone. If he gave you that calf-eyed stare one more time, I was going to vomit up all my honey.’

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