Page 93 of The Vanishing Throne

Kiaran stands and his anger is dark, vicious. Shadows crawl from the ground, thick and heavy and hungry. It’s become so cold that the flesh of my fingers is red, numb. A thin layer of ice covers the loch. Frost forms along the trunks of the trees around us and along the damp pebbles at my feet.

‘You created their kind.’ His voice is a savage whisper. ‘You sent them to slaughter my subjects because you couldn’t do it yourself. I may have started the war between us, Aithinne’ – his voice drops to a rumbling growl – ‘butyou owe me this.’

Her head snaps up, eyes blazing. ‘I owe you nothing. You’re not the only one who lost those under your protection.Youdrew first blood, Kadamach. ’

Kiaran looks down at the woman’s body, his anger dissipating. ‘And how dearly I’ve paid for it.’

Something softens in Aithinne. As if she hasn’t seen this side of him before – or has, but not for a long time.

I can sense the history between them, the years before their war. Were they a family once? Before all of this? Kiaran was willing to be imprisoned for eternity to save Aithinne. They share such a long past. I wonder how it ever healed.

‘I’ve never asked you for anything,’ he says quietly. ‘Never. Bring her back. Bring your damn Falconer back.’

‘I can’t,’Aithinne says. ‘I’m sorry, I—’

‘You need my blood,’ he says, sounding so mechanical.

He draws his knife from its sheath and brings the blade down across his palm. I flinch at the same time Aithinne does, watching the blood pool there. Watching how the cold has gone out of his gaze until all that’s left is the part of him that I’ve come to care for.Kiaran.

‘Take it,’ he tells her. ‘Take however much you need.’

If you’re willing to do your part, I’ll do mine.

I never thought I’d hear you offer that again.

His blood. Kiaran offered it for her, and he offered it again to bring me back. This was the moment that separated Kiaran from Kadamach. He was willing to try and save us.

‘Kadamach.’ Aithinne’s commanding voice cuts across the darkness, unyielding. She’s not swayed, even though her gaze is full of pity, grief. I can tell she wants to help him. ‘Kadamach,’ she says again, more gently this time. ‘I said I can’t.’

‘Why?’ He speaks in anger, but I can hear the defeat, the breaking of hope.

‘Because,mo bràthair,’ she replies, ‘I can’t bring back anyone you’ve killed.’

A breath explodes out of me.He killed her. Hekilledher.

I didn’t love her nearly enough.

No wonder he pulled away from me when I told him thatKadamach was capable of love. A sentimental fool, he called me. Because he had already killed the woman he loved.

‘Why?’ I don’t know if I’m asking myself or the Cailleach. ‘Why would he do that?’

‘I told you,’ the Cailleach said stonily. She watches the scene before us as if she’s seen it a thousand times, without an ounce of compassion. As if she doesn’t care how much her son grieves, and finds it a bit disappointing that he does at all. ‘Kadamach was not made to love. His gift is death.’

Tell me, how much do you need to learn about my past before you understand that there isn’t a single part of me that’s human?

He may not be human, but as I watch him mourn the woman he lost –the woman he loved – I see that she left him with some small piece of humanity.

I was mistaken before. The first emotion I saw in Kiaran wasn’t longing; it was shame.

The truth is we’re both running from whatever fate has been decided for us. He is the faery whose gift is death and I am the girl whose gift is chaos.

We go together like fire and black powder.

Wherever she goes, death follows.

I wonder whether the voices Daniel heard were talking about all the people I’ve lost, or if they were talking about Kiaran. Perhaps he’s my curse. Perhaps I’m his weakness. Together we left the world in ruins.

Kiaran runs his fingers over the woman’s face again, tracing the scar that bisects her eyebrow. I watch him want her. She made himfeeland he lost her and I ache for him.

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