Page 69 of The Red Woman and the White Bear

Aisling, already comfortable amidst the mountain of pillows stacked behind her, let her head fall back against the headboard. “I will in a while.”

With an irritable groan, Rodney rolled off of the bed and went to retrieve the tray himself. He set it between them, then tore a roll in two and handed half to Aisling.

“Eat,” he ordered. “Now. You’ve not had any food since we got back to your apartment.”

Aisling made a show of taking a bite of bread. Once she had, she realized just how hungry she really was. She filled a plate with fruit then settled back again. Rodney nodded his approval.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she said to him. She hadn’t voiced the sentiment during their visit to the Seelie Court, but she wished that she had. She thought that she should say so much more often. She was lucky to have a friend like Rodney.

He nudged her shoulder with his own. “No place else I’d rather be, Ash.”

“Well, I’m not sure that’s true, but I’m grateful either way.” Aisling bit into a piece of fruit that resembled a peach but tasted closer to an over-sweet watermelon. She devoured it and would have licked the juice that ran down between her fingers had she been alone. Its pit was small; she rolled it over and over her tongue, savoring the last bits of flavor it carried.

“So what now?” Rodney asked.

“I think I need to tell Kael about Door Number Three.” She dropped the pit onto her plate and reached hungrily for the onlyother peach-like stone fruit on the tray before Rodney could take it for himself.

He sat bolt upright then, sending several grapes tumbling to the floor. “Like hell you do.”

Aisling winced; she’d expected this reaction. “He needs to know. And we need someone’s help; all we have is that picture. We don’t even know if they exist.”

“Exactly, Ash. We know nothing about them. Why tell him something that isn’t a sure thing?” Rodney pressed.

“Because maybe he knows more. There are books here, too.” Old ones—not those in the library, but the ones she’d seen organized so carefully on the shelves that lined Kael’s study. With his love of history, surely he would have at least heard of the Silver Saints.

“Listen.” Rodney shifted on the bed to face Aisling and waited for her to turn towards him to speak again. “I get that you have some sort ofsomethinggoing on with him, but that doesn’t mean you can just trust him with this.”

“I think I can,” she argued. She hoped she could, at least.

“What makes you think he will agree that it’s even a viable option? This isn’t a favorable solution for him, either. It may not be the destruction of his court promised by the prophecy, but it would still see him removed from power.”

Aisling raked her fingers back through her damp hair, frustrated. “I don’t know, Rodney. Maybe it does, and maybe it doesn’t. But I have to tell him. I have to at least try.”

“Why?” he demanded.

She chewed the inside of her cheek, hurt blooming in the spaces between her ribs. Kael wasn’t the only one with regrets; she had her own to grapple with, too. She wished bitterly that she’d never let herself be talked into this game of manipulation in the first place. Had she known Kael—had she known what he would mean to her—she would have done things differently. She would never have used him as she had.

“Because I can’t lie to him again,” Aisling said quietly.

“Ash—” Rodney started, but she cut him off.

“No, Rodney. No more secrets. We’re doing this my way now.”

He huffed, slouching back against the pillows. “Your way isn’t strategic.”

“Strategy hasn’t gotten us anywhere. We’re still no closer than we were when I came to you that very first morning after I met the Shadowwood Mother.” Aisling bit into the fruit, sucking the sweet nectar that dripped from its flesh.

“It’s gotten us to the Silver Saints,” he argued.

“Research,” she corrected,“has gotten us to a legend of an ancient Fae court that may or may not be able to be called on as a neutral ruling party.” It was dismal, really, when she laid it out that way. By the withdrawn silence that Rodney fell into, she knew he was feeling the same sense of frustration that now weighed on her shoulders.

When Kael sent for her, Aisling and Rodney were dozing on the bed, Briar stretched out at their feet. It was Methild who deliveredthe note for Aisling, and she could have sworn she saw kindness warming the old hob’s eyes when she handed over the small piece of paper before scurrying off down the corridor.

Rodney rose from the bed, stretching, as Aisling read the note. It wasn’t a long message, nor did it say anything particularly fond, but seeing her name in Kael’s handwriting brought a smile to her face all the same. His crude map, too. She would fold it up and keep it hidden away with the other. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to throw it out.

“I’m coming too.” Rodney was pulling on his shoes. Briar noticed, and immediately attached himself to Aisling’s hip.

“No, you’re not.” She slipped her own on, too, and tugged on her jacket.

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