Page 97 of The Vanishing Throne

Familiar power rushes through me, hot and brutal. I’ve felt it before when killing fae, but this time it’s stronger, near overwhelming. It’s electricity through my veins, beneath my skin until I’m about to burst.

I jerk away from the Cailleach. ‘No.’

Then I reach out, palm up, and power explodes out of me. It slams into her. She’s lifted off the ground, her body smashing into one of the trees.

I’m on my feet and walking toward her slowly, deliberately. Power grows inside me, hotter as I approach. When the Cailleach looks at me, I see the first flicker of fear in her gaze.

‘Tell me how to get out of here,’ I say, my voice low.

Her eyes spark. ‘Never.’

She raises her staff to ward me off, but I’m too fast. I grab hold of the staff and tear it away. With a sharp cry, she lunges for it, but I’m quicker than her frail old body. I dodge out of her reach.

Without her staff the Cailleach looks even older. Her body is skin stretched over bones, her eyes dull.

I release my power again. The burst hits her so hard that it snaps the tree in half.

Then I hear it: the pounding of boots through the forest to my left. I turn just as Aithinne bursts through the trees, panting hard. She’s shaking with exhaustion.

‘There you are!’

Her arms are around me and I suddenly forget all about the Cailleach and my powers.Take me back, I almost tell her.Take me with you.

‘Good god, you are a difficult woman to find,’ she says. ‘Thebrìghwasn’t—’

Her words cut off and her entire body goes rigid. I realise the Cailleach is on her feet. She’s staring at Aithinne with her young face, the skin smoothed to perfection. Her expression is unreadable.

‘Màthair,’ Aithinne whispers.

‘It’s been a long time,’ the Cailleach says.

Aithinne rakes her with a look and sways on her feet.What’s wrong with her?‘Not nearly long enough,’ she says. ‘I would have preferred another thousand years before seeing your face again. Perhaps two.’

‘Daughter—’The Cailleach reaches for her, but Aithinne jerks back, shaking her head.

‘So I’m back todaughternow, am I? After you wanted Kadamach to kill me.’ She laughs bitterly. ‘What was it you called me after I made the Falconers?Masladh bith-bhuan,mo màthair. Your eternal shame.’

I look at the Cailleach sharply. Before, I only wanted to force her to tell me how to get out of here. Now I’m tempted to smack her with the staff. On principle.

‘Aithinne,’ I say deliberately, before I do something I may regret. ‘Let’s go.’

As we turn to leave, the Cailleach calls Aithinne’s name. ‘If you let the Falconer die, you’ll have your powers back. The throne will beyours.’

Aithinne sighs and I notice then that she’s trembling. ‘Oh,Màthair,’ she says sadly. ‘You’ve never understood, have you? I don’t want it. I don’t think I ever did.’

Then she gently takes the staff from me. In an instant she has a blade in her hand, slicing down her palm. Her hand is shaking so badly that the cut is jagged. She holds onto my arm and presses her bloodied palm to the intricate carvings of the staff.

‘Goodbye,Màthair.’

‘Aithinne!’

Aithinne lifts the staff and slams it to the ground. The Cailleach cries out while the ice from her staff freezes the ground at our feet. The fire is snuffed out to smoke. Above us, clouds build from nowhere, dark and thick. I hear a distant boom of thunder.

Lightning strikes the staff and Aithinne and I are enveloped in light.

Chapter 32

I gasp and choke. Beach rocks dig into my arms as I twist to cast up the water from my belly. I vomit and cough, my lungs and chest aching. I rest my foreheadagainst the frigid stones as I heave in air, shivering uncontrollably. My shift is soaked and clings to me like ice pressed to my skin.

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