Page 72 of The Vanishing Throne

Kiaran doesn’t respond immediately. ‘I was Unseelie, Kam. What do you think?’His eyes are savage, fierce. ‘I wanted it to kill the Seelie queen.’

My breath hitches. Before I can answer, I hear Aithinne. ‘So, are you two going to sit there all day or are we going back to the city? Because I’m hungry.’

I turn just as Aithinne leaps from a rock that juts outunder the cliff. She lands with a soft thud, looking very pleased with herself. Her clothes are sopping wet, hair dripping, every inch of her covered in sand. And she doesn’t seem to mind one bit.

Aithinne makes her way across the larger beach rocks toward us, her movements graceful. ‘You both look miserable.’

‘I’m cold and wet,’ I say. ‘I feel wretched, and my blunderbuss is probably destroyed from the swim. No need to state the obvious.’

She glances at her brother. ‘And I suppose your face is just stuck that way?’

Kiaran pushes to his feet and I do the same. ‘What you see is the incessant, grave look of someone in possession of a sibling.’

‘Ha ha.’Aithinne focuses her attention on me, tilting her head. ‘You know, I had a kyloe look at me exactly like that once. His hair was a similar colour and everything.’

I glare at her. ‘You didnotjust compare me to a cow.’

‘No, no. I compared yourexpressionto one. Cows truly are majestic creatures, aren’t they?’ With a flashing grin, she says, ‘Don’t worry, I’m going to fix you right up!’

Before I can protest, she has her hand on my shoulder. Her power is unexpected, so strong that it upsets my stomach. I double over at the overwhelming and unpleasant sweetness on my tongue. As it retreats, I realise that my clothes are dry, my hair is dry, and I’m warm – as if I had just stepped out of the sunshine on a warm summer day.

I straighten with a scowl. ‘You could have asked.’

Aithinne starts walking toward a path that leads between the cliffs and Kiaran and I follow. ‘You would have said no out of sheer human stubbornness, and got sick on the way back from … from – what do you call it?’

‘Exhaustion,’ I say, climbing up the path. ‘I believe I require a nap.’

She’s not listening. She snaps her fingers. ‘Pneumonia! That’s it. In any case, you would have got sick and died and then where would we be? You’re welcome.’

Well, I see she’s no different from Kiaran in her use of the fine art oftact. I tug on my newly dried coat and brush off the sand with a flick of my fingers. ‘What about you? Are you going to dry yourself?’

Aithinne shrugs. ‘I like the water. Reminds me of home.’

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Kiaran stiffen at her words. A slight movement, only noticeable because I’ve become so familiar with how he stands, how he carries himself. When he speaks, his voice is as cold as the wind. ‘We should get back.’

We leave through a passage in the forest. It extends beneath the sea, just one of the many tunnels around the island that leads back into the fae city. Above us, I can hear the waves crashing and lapping against the shore as we make our way through the dark, glittering rocks. The tunnel brings us out at the border between the fae and human parts of the city: the field ofseilgflùris a line ofdefense, a wordless way of reminding any wandering humans that crossing this field puts them in fae territory.

After Aithinne goes through the fae door, Kiaran lingers with me along the path through theseilgflùr. We haven’t spoken since the beach. I wish I knew what to say to him; I wish my feelings weren’t a tangle of wants and needs and attraction.

‘Do you want me to go with you?’ Kiaran asks when we stop at the stairway that leads to the main part of the city. ‘I don’t trust the Seers not to do something foolish.’

I dread the thought of facing them, but I don’t tell him. ‘I appreciate that, but I’m not terribly certain your being there will improve the situation.’

‘No,’ he says. ‘But I don’t like you being alone with them. Not after what they did to you.’He shakes his head. ‘I wasn’t there for you both times. I won’t let that happen again.’

I almost tell him that I haven’t forgiven Gavin either. Not yet. ‘You care?’ I breathe. I know he does, but I have to hear him say it. Ineedto hear him say it.

Kadamach doesn’t give a damn about anyone, least of all you.

I wish I could get Lonnrach’s words out of my mind. I wish I hadn’t spent so long in the mirrored room convincing myself they were true. That the reason Kiaran hadn’t found me was because he wasn’t looking.

I close my eyes when Kiaran presses a palm to my cheek. ‘Kam,’ he says. ‘I just saved the Seer, jumped over a cliff, and swam through freezing water with you in my arms.’ Then he’s cupping my face in his hands. ‘What else do I need to do to show you?’

I shake my head. ‘I’m afraid I require further proof.’

‘Further proof?’ Kiaran raises an eyebrow. ‘It doesn’t involve declarations or theatrics, does it? I have to draw the line somewhere.’

‘No theatrics. No declarations.’ I stand on my tiptoes and whisper in his ear. ‘Just a kiss.’

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