Page 94 of Her Irish Treasures
Deadly silent, my other three treasures surrounded the changeling. Weapons at the ready.
“You’ve no such promises from me.” Aidan slowly circled the fae, both swords twirling casually in his hands. “I’m only deciding which body part to hack off first.”
Jonathan drew himself up and gave him a sneer that dripped with disdain. “Not even the mighty Spear of Lug can kill me. I’ll return when you least expect it and drag your pretty little treasurekeeper to the bottom of my tallest pillar. Or Evil Eye will eliminate you for me. Then who’ll stop me from sampling that fine flesh again, hmmm? She’s quite tasty. My hunger is almost as immense as yours, Cauldron.”
Keane’s breath hissed out. “I’ll kill you with pleasure, changeling. There won’t be enough for the Slaughterer to chop up once I’m done.”
“I already know what my first wish is,” I said.
“Be careful, love,” Doran said. “Fae be wily creatures who’ll wriggle their way out of most anything.”
I focused on Jonathan, making sure to look him in the eyes. The man who’d trapped me. Hurt me. Crippled my artist, broken my spirit, and wounded my soul. “It’s only fair to give him what he wanted to give to me.”
His eyes narrowed and he reached up to smooth his hair, running his hands over his neck. Even now, he enjoyed the sensation of his skin, as if touching his stolen body soothed him. I’d seen him do that small gesture before, never understanding its significance. He enjoyed having a human body, just as he’d enjoyed torturing me to feed himself.
“I want Eochu Bres and the human body he inhabits trapped in Fhroig’s stomach forever.”
His eyes flared wide, his lips peeling back from too-sharp teeth that clanged with each word. “Impossible. Greenshanks swore to never harm me.”
Warwick winked at me. “Oh, but it’s not I who’ll be hurting you.” He reached out to take my hand and bowed low, pressing his lips to my knuckles. “Your first wish is granted, my lady.”
“You bloody bit—” Jonathan disappeared.
“What’s a fhroig?” Vivi asked faintly.
“A giant immortal frog who’ll slowly digest him for all eternity.”
“The perfect comeuppance for such a monster.” Then she threw her arms around me and burst into tears.
30
“How bad is this going to hurt?”
Hammer spun around on his stool with an ink gun in his hand. “It’s different for everybody. It really depends on your tolerance for short, sharp bursts.”
“Don’t be a baby,” Vivi teased, admiring the delicate petals of her freshly tattooed rose on the side of her arm. “If I can do it, the badass treasurekeeper can do it.”
“I don’t really like needles, though.”
Sprawled on a ratty-looking couch, Aidan huffed out a heavy sigh. “Don’t think of it as needles but as art. You’d gladly suffer for your art and drag us all along for the ride too.”
I rolled my eyes, fighting the urge to flip him off. He’d been especially grumpy since the cave incident. I thought that after a few hours, a day at most, that he’d get over being mad at me for showing up, but we were going on forty-eight hours of him barely speaking to me.
I got it. He’d been trying to protect me by sending me away, and then I’d fucked up his plan by coming straight into the danger zone. I’d disregarded his wishes in the matter. I’d put myself at risk. It didn’t matter that we’d won. ThatI’dwon. I’d stood up to the monster who’d tormented me for years.
I fuckingwon.
I stewed silently while Hammer worked. I’d taken the four-leaf clover fromShamrocked’slogo, but I’d added,“Get lucked,”instead of the bar’s name to the design. I thought it was hilarious, but we’d see what the guys thought of it once it was finished.
The pain wasn’t bad at all. It stung, but I’d do it again. Maybe one of Vanta on my other arm.
“Huh.” Hammer swiped a rag over my arm. “That’s the weirdest shit I’ve ever seen.”
“What?” I twisted my arm, trying to see the outer side of my biceps. Black ink smeared everywhere, but I didn’t really see a design. Just streaks from where he’d wiped it. “Is it supposed to look like that?”
“No, not at all. It’s like I didn’t put the needle in. You felt it, though, right?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t horrible but I definitely felt the needle. Did it leak?”
