Page 39 of The Red Woman and the White Bear

Once, and only once, had Aisling’s mother confided in her about the allure of the Fae. She’d come home with a stupid, dreamy smile on her face and stars in her eyes and spoke of a faerie who had twisted flowers into her hair. She said he had tasted of overripe berries when they kissed. She’d drawn him, too, but had never shared that sketch with Aisling. Her words, as beautiful as they’d sounded, stuck with Aisling as more of a warning than a promise. She’d been lured away from her family, from her husband. Surely it could only have been the result of sadistic trickery.

But now Aisling wore that same stupid grin and saw those same stars. As she lay in bed, willing herself to sleep, she couldn’t help running her fingertips across her lips. Brushing them over the bruises forming on her hip. Those she pressed into, relishing in the slight pain that made her wince. Her mind was a cloudy haze of emotions that swirled lazily, all of them too far out of reach for her to grasp. She let them play as her eyes fluttered closed, though it wasn’t long before one filtered through all the rest: anxiety, suffocating and intense.

Sleep remained out of reach, and she spent the day tossing and turning in the bed until she couldn’t stand it any longer. In the early evening hours, Aisling bundled into her cloak and pulled on her slippers and left her chamber to roam aimlessly through the halls of the Undercastle.

Preparing for the rest of the court to wake, servants flitted through the corridors like elusive shadows. Hobs, with their spindly limbs and permanent expression of impatience, carried written messages and baskets of linens and tubs full of hot water. Wide-eyed imps with skin the color of raw egg yolk darted from one hidden corner to another with brooms and tiny hand tools. Aisling stuck close to the wall, doing her best to stay out of their way as they rushed past. None paid her any mind—they didn’t even seem to notice her there. Or, if they did, they pretended not to.

Beneath the cloak, Aisling’s frame trembled. The shakes had beset her mid-afternoon, after she’d woken up for the hundredth time, and she hadn’t yet been able to quell them.

She knew now that she’d been granted complete freedom. She could have left. She could have ascended those worn, winding stairs and headed straight for the Thin Place. She wouldn’t have even had to run, as it seemed there was no longer anyone monitoring her. Not even Methild, who Aisling suspected had been asked to act as her sentry since Kael began leaving her door unlocked. But now, she was held there by two things: her purpose, and the king. Though in a much different way, she was still his captive.

As she walked, she replayed scenes from the night before in her mind. He had exposed himself to her in such a raw, painful way. He’dallowed himself to be utterly vulnerable, despite the lengths he went to in hiding that side of himself behind layers and layers of bitterness and cruelty. That armor he wore of an unyielding and invincible ruler, however well he’d conformed to it, concealed someone made fragile by years of feeling out of control.

She could relate. Aisling hadn’t felt as though she’d had a modicum of control since the moment she’d been pulled into the prophecy, but Kael’s surrender made her even more determined to reclaim it. She could be the Red Woman just as much as she could be his.

Having felt nearly invisible since leaving her chamber, Aisling was startled when a hob cornered her and handed her a tightly rolled sheet of parchment.Join me in my study,it read in thin, looping script. There was a crude map sketched below showing the way. She was grateful that it was oriented around her chamber and the library or it would have been nearly as useless as the message itself. It was undoubtedly from Kael, though, and the thought of seeing him again—of being alone with him again—brought a flurry of butterflies to take wing in her stomach.

But she was stopped midway by a strong hand that gripped her wrist. Aisling jumped and whirled around to find Lyre. He gave her a wan smile and pulled her hand to rest in the crook of his elbow.

“Let’s you and I take a walk,” he said. Something under his genial tone made Aisling’s skin crawl. The way he kept her arm pinned against his side felt incongruous with his overly friendlydemeanor.

“I was on my way to meet Kael,” she argued when he began leading her in the opposite direction from the study. “He’s expecting me.”

“He can wait.” When she looked up at him to protest, she noticed for the first time that his eyes seemed to reflect the low light of the torches like mirrors. Like the eyes of a cat.

Lyre led her around the corner and through a door deep in a shadowy alcove. Had Aisling passed it on her own, she never would have known it was there. This chamber felt colder than the corridor. Symbols, and runes like those carved into the forest floor in The Cut, were etched into the stone walls. There was a large painting at the far end of a dark entity, with shadows rising from it similar to Kael’s. She recognized it without having to ask:the Low One.Aisling shivered. She knew that Kael valued his connection with the deity highly, but the foreboding figure left a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Once inside, Lyre released her arm and took a seat in a high-backed chair. He gestured to another, and after a moment’s hesitation, Aisling sat on its edge. She pulled her cloak tighter around her body as though she could hide her discomfort from his shining, searching eyes.

“I’ve heard whispers,” he began, his voice low and measured. “Whispers that I’ve found to be…interesting.”

Beneath the cloak, Aisling dug her nails into her palms. “Whispers?” she prompted. She was so full of secrets now; he couldhave learned about any one of them.

Instead of elaborating, he hummed. “You must know that I am quite well connected, not only within this court. I think you’d find my reach to be rather impressive.”

“I don’t have time for riddles, Lyre.” She made to stand, but a sick curiosity held her in place. She wanted to know what he knew.

“I’ve learned much from my connections over time that I’ve used to secure my place here. For example, were you aware that Kael’s father was merely a lord, and his mother gentry?”

She repeated what Kael had told her the night before: “The crown is passed by magic, not blood.”

Lyre nodded his approval. “And how do you think that infant, born in the farthest reaches of our territory in a dominion that has since been claimed by the Seelie Court, was discovered?”

He was bragging now, and Aisling was quickly losing patience. “What does this have to do with me?”

“My connections tend to have a way of illuminating certain things.” He rose then, circling behind his chair to pace leisurely. “Things like your true identity.”

Ice flooded Aisling’s veins and her lungs constricted painfully. Though she had long feared this moment, knowing that her secret was not as concealed as she had hoped, nothing could have prepared her for the sharp terror of hearing the accusation out loud.

Lyre stopped his movement and doubled over at his waist in an elaborate bow. “It is a true honor to make the acquaintance of the Red Woman, in the flesh.”

Aisling swallowed hard, unable to choke back the lump forming in her throat. Her mind raced in an attempt to come up with astory to cover her lie. But all rational thought had gone out of her head, along with the ability to string together a coherent sentence. “How?”

“It is a rare thing here, the hatching of Luna moths. Each year, we’re blessed with one, maybe two. But this year, they filled the night garden. Every leaf, every stone, every tree was covered in them.” He resumed his pacing, running a hand across the spindles of his chair each time he passed. “And then, changes on your side of the Veil. The Shadowwood Mother has been sending sprites to do her dirty work for countless years; it was not difficult to realize that if I kept a close watch over them, one might eventually lead me to something of interest.”

“You send hunters after them?”

Lyre narrowed his eyes. “On occasion, if a patrolhappensto spot one crossing between realms, they may take it upon themselves to follow behind. It is no secret how handsomely I reward those who bring me valuable information. It took a while for me to determine how these events were connected, but all things become clear with time.”

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