Page 93 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

“Your brother,” Sage repeated, and his face fell in a way that made my heart beat faster in fear.

“Do you think that is a bad plan?” I asked in confusion with his expression. He looked like he might be sick.

“You really did not…” he trailed off, eyes dropping to the ground between us as he appeared to think again.

“If you know something then tell me so I can come up with something else,” I insisted in frustration with him. Something about that sombre look in his eyes was making me incredibly anxious, and I hugged the bundle of clothes Asha had given me a bit tighter.

Sage seemed to gather his resolve, and then he faced me squarely, both hands rising to clench on my biceps.

“There is no easy way for me to tell you this, so I am going to be blunt,” he warned me. “Your brother is dead. You… Aodhan was…”

It felt as if my entire world tilted on its end and then sat there for many moments as his words buzzed around my head. Sinking in with gradual, overwhelming horror.

“Aodhan was an Autumn dryad,” I tried to object, shaking my head as if I could reject his words.

“Why would you think that?” Sage asked me.

“He smelled like Autumn!” I explained, my voice high from rising panic.

“He spent all his time here. You smell of Autumn too! But he was a Summer fey. He was your—”

“There are three royal bloodlines, Sage. How do you know he was my brother?”

“His father was Brogan Lann a’Chridhe,” he declared, and I jolted. It had been many centuries since I had met someone brave enough to speak my father’s name outside the Rowan Wood.

“No,” I breathed, shaking my head again as I tried to turn away from myanam, but Sage held me before him.

“He was exiled about a hundred years ago. Rian found him after he—”

“That was why!” I hissed, and the ground suddenly felt like it would fall out from under my feet completely as the full implications of this revelation hit me. I vaguely heard Sage call my name, but my mind had plunged back onto a battlefield drenched in the blood of forest elves.

“That was why they came looking for me after so long. They threw away their coveted male heir. They needed me again, and they attacked the Foraoise because ofhim,” I pieced together in a sudden rage.

I distantly felt Sage’s arms envelop me and squeeze tight enough to be painful, but it actually felt really good, grounding, whilst I felt so disconnected from my body.

“First my throne. Cathal’s life. My mother. My people. And then… Andnow…”

My claws extended from my fingers, propelled out by my sheer fury and anguish. I felt them poke Sage, but he hardly flinched and refused to release me.

“Now there is no one else to take my place in Sumarra. I thought his birth had taken everything from me, but now with his death…”

I startled, realizing I’d been speaking all my thoughts and feelings aloud, realized how monstrous they must be to someone like Sage who loved his family. I tried to pull away only to have him tighten his hold on me again.

“It’s okay, Summer,” he said softly, tucking my head under his chin to hold me closer. “It’s alright to be angry. But this does not have to change anything,” he attempted to console me. “Those people are not your responsibility now just because your brother is no longer an option.”

“You don’t understand,” I whispered, pushing my head against his chest as if I could hide from the eyes I worried might alreadybe watching in the trees. “I have spilled the blood of Danu, and it would have echoed in every corner of the temple in the Rowan Wood. A challenge not unlike the one you might issue to a rider in the Wild Hunt. Except this one was issued to every eligible descendent of the three royal clans.”

“What… What does that mean, exactly, Summer?” Sage asked me, his voice deepening with concern, but he had already guessed what I would say.

“My people are coming, Sage. Every warlord who has been awaiting the opportunity to take my father’s place will be coming for me. And my father will want to get to me before they do, so he can finally harness me and use my power to defend his place as their wretched king.”

Chapter twenty-seven

THIS WILL ENDURE

Ornella

Sage grew very still, so distracted by what I had revealed that his thumb barely moved over my spine as he tried to keep comforting me.

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