Page 135 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

My mother discreetly shook her head while we sat in Sassha’s stone hut sipping tea whilst Rian regaled the Sua with tales of our adventures. They talked about his hounds of wildfire and her wolves which seemed to be as fond of him as the Sua because they curled up at his feet. He sat closer to her than he usually would and had allowed her to touch his arm when she offered him her condolences. When it came time to discuss her peoplejoining the other villages in the settlement, all he had to do was ask her. She agreed to go wholeheartedly and claimed that she had always known he would aid them.

“I am getting the sense Rian can be a bit of a cad,” Summer giggled to me quietly once we left the blushing Sua behind. “I thought your people were… wholesome.”

“He may be much more liberal with himself than I am, but he is always honest about it with his lovers. And this was not truly like that. Sassha has been half in love with him for the better part of a century, but she is sworn to Diarmaid, a guardian of virgins. Rian knows that she will never act on her attraction, but she does enjoy flirting with him. And he is always prepared to use everything to his advantage when he must,” I explained with a shrug.

“So… would he have fucked her if she was up for it?” she asked bluntly. I should probably have been used to her crudeness, but she still managed to take me off guard.

Summer smirked at my wide-eyed reaction, and I was sure she actually enjoyed riling me. She kept her head tilted curiously at me as I glanced ahead to ensure Rian was engaged with Ciaran.

“If he thought it would get him what he wanted.”

“And what did my brother think of his… coquetry?” she wanted to know.

I grimaced in uncertainty of how much I really wanted to disclose to her concerning the rather colourful bedroom life that Aodhan had shared with Rian. And anyone else the two of them frequently invited to share in it…

“Let’s just say they were both very open-minded males so it was never a problem,” I suggested, and thankfully, she seemed to know not to press for anything more.

Rian anticipated that Imogen Firebane of the Aes Rurrinn would be much harder to convince, which was why he had decided to leave her to the last of all the Sua.

Her village was built into the edge of the cliff above the valley with mud and grass huts connected together by rope bridges. Her hardy people farmed hanging gardens and domesticated dmirr herds that could scale the sheerest of cliffs with their cloven hooves.

It took even more coaxing to get Summer to climb the rope ladder suspended hundreds of feet above the valley than it had to get her to go into the underground village. Once we reached the village, I noted the bustle around us seemed to be much more organized than the average day-to-day village life.

They have already been warned, I guessed down the bond to all my brothers, and they agreed with me.

Maybe Imogen will be nicer than usual,Ciaran mused, but we all shared a sense of doubt between us.

Sure enough, the Sua had already been warned by Eive and Sassha via theirteine ceangal. Imogen’s infamous temper seemed to have worn off by the time her sentries brought us into her home.

“I will not waste your time here. I have already given the order for my people to pack,” Imogen told my mother, barely pausing in her packing of her hut to speak to us. “We will be ready for the Wild Hunt after Aes Mirr has been moved. But I do want to know how you will do it,” Imogen insisted, finally turning her fiery eyes on Rian. “How do you intend to defeat so many enemies without an army or the use of the most destructive elements of your collective power?” she demanded.

“It is simple,” Rian assured her, completely unfazed by her obvious suspicion. “I am going to talk to them.”

“Talk to them?” Imogen blurted at the same time as both my mother and Ciaran. Even Darragh was staring at him like he worried Rian had lost his mind.

You said blade and shadow!Ciaran reminded him.

“I have given it all great thought,” Rian reassured us. “And I am going to start by attempting to ascertain what it is that they want,” he insisted as if this were the most logical thing in the world.

“Theywantto destroy us!” Imogen shouted at him in exasperation. I could almost see her questioning whether trusting him was the right call after all.

“That much is very evident butwhy? And whynow?” Rian insisted, unbothered by any of the looks that were thrown his way. “I need to know if it has anything to do with the blight that is infecting their home. A sickness that they might not realize will only spread faster if they manage to kill all of us.”

“You expect thosemonstersto speak intelligently with you about anything? They are beasts with unquenchable appetites for death and destruction!” Imogen objected.

“All I know for sure is that thosemonsterswere smart enough to conjure magic to thwart us. They managed to infiltrate our homeland with an unsettling efficiency that required careful strategy, organization, and leadership,” Rian pointed out unapologetically. “I understand that no one herewantsto admit it, but they outsmarted us!”

Imogen hesitated and a heavy silence ensued as we all grudgingly allowed his words to sink in.

“He is right,” whispered Summer with a glance up at me as her ears tucked back. Imogen knew it too and was unable to meet any of our eyes as she deliberated.

“So yes, I will try totalkto them. But do not worry,” Rian reassured us, “there is no part of me that is willing to allow their crimes to go unpunished. My people and my mother aredeadbecause of them, and I do not care how reasonable their excuse may be for any of it. Once their usefulness to me expires, I will bring a swift and brutal retribution down upon them somewhere very far away from here. Undoubtedly when I scorch Uile Breithà.”

“Then you must plan to use them against the humans,” Summer realized aloud at the same time that I did.

“Indeed,” he admitted with a wicked grin, pleased that we finally understood. “You said we can not afford to risk so many fey lives in this war,” he reminded her. “And you say the Fuath are beasts with unquenchable appetites for destruction. So are the humans,” he pointed out to Imogen who appeared intrigued as she agreed. “All we must do is put them together. And watch them destroy one another.”

I was still trying to wrap my head around the plan Rian was concocting as Summer and I emerged from my portal into a beautiful, late afternoon sky. I simply could not decide whether it made him mad or an absolute genius. Unleashing the Fuath on the humans would be akin to turning a living nightmare upon them and condemning them to a fate of sadistic violence and torment. It would be a villainous measure to take, and yet I could not deny it would solve all our problems if Rian could convince the Fuath there was a better world for the taking.

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