Read Beyond the Pale: A Thin Veil Novella (The Thin Veil Book 3) Online
Authors: Jodi McIsaac
Tags: #A Thin Veil Novella
Beyond the Pale: A Thin Veil Novella (The Thin Veil Book 3) (11 page)
Nevan curtseyed. “Good morning, Your Majesty,” she said. Cedar smiled at her friend, who looked more like a fairy than any of them with her platinum-blonde pixie cut and glittering white dress. Together they started walking toward the Hall, with one of the guards in front of them and the other two behind. Cedar could have used a sidh, of course, but she enjoyed these morning walks with Nevan, who was bubbly and talkative and had assigned herself the role of Cedar’s—and Eden’s—tutor in the ways of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Each morning as they walked to the Hall together, she told Cedar more about the history of her people and would quiz her on the previous day’s lesson. They met at other times for more in-depth lessons, but Cedar had discovered that Nevan was quite politically astute, and she always felt more informed—and better equipped to make decisions—after their walks. It was the ideal way to head into a Council meeting.
“Tell me about your parents, Nevan,” Cedar said. “You mentioned the other day that they’re Elders. The only Elder I know is Brighid—are they like her? Can you still speak with them even though they’ve gone back to the Four Cities?”
Nevan laughed, a tinkling sound that always brought a smile to Cedar’s face. “I’m afraid Brighid is quite unique,” she said. “She has the most outrageous qualities of both the Elders and the humans, which distinguishes her from both races. But all the Elders, my parents included, are different from us. They’re a step more…godlike, I suppose. They’re more powerful and dominant than we are. You’d probably consider them melodramatic. They each seem to exist in their own self-contained world, whereas those of us who are their descendants are more interconnected, both with each other and with humanity—or at least we were back when we visited Ériu more.”
“Wasn’t it hard for you when they left?” Cedar asked. She couldn’t imagine voluntarily leaving Eden behind, knowing she would never see her again.
“Not really,” Nevan answered with a shrug. “I wasn’t a child anymore, and they weren’t the kind of parents that you’re thinking about. I wonder about them occasionally, but we didn’t have a close relationship like you and Eden do…or even Finn and his parents. As awful as it sounds, it wouldn’t really bother me if I never saw them again. And who knows? Maybe I will. They left us for the Four Cities, but that doesn’t mean they’ll never return.”
Cedar thought about her own birth parents, Brogan and Kier, and wondered what her childhood would have been like if she’d been born and raised in Tír na nÓg. Would they have loved her like Maeve had loved her? Kier had sacrificed the last bit of her power to give Cedar the gift of humanity in the hopes of shielding her from Lorcan. That had to mean something, she thought.
They walked in silence for several minutes; Nevan was apparently waiting for another question, but Cedar was distracted, her attention drawn to the beauty that surrounded them. She couldn’t believe how quickly the land had rejuvenated in the past few weeks. The grass beneath her feet was no longer dry and coarse; it was as soft and tender as the flowers that dotted the fields and filled the air with a gentle fragrance. The trees, which had been dead and barren, now hung with heavy blossoms. Some were even beginning to bear fruit. Cedar had been delighted to discover that the queen had her own orchard, a maze of trees and bushes that were now bursting with life.
In its natural state, Tír na nÓg was always in the height of spring. There was no fall or winter here, at least nothing that lasted more than a day or two. The plants would bloom, bear fruit, and when the fruit had all fallen or been picked, they would bloom again, a never-ending cycle of growth and beauty without the darkness of death and winter. This cycle would repeat until the end of time—or, she supposed, until a new calamity struck Tír na nÓg.
Cedar was lost in thought when she heard a voice call her name from behind them. The guards stopped first, and then stepped aside when they saw Rohan approaching. “Good morning, Your Majesty,” Rohan said as he dipped his head toward her. “Good morning, Nevan.”
“Good morning, Rohan,” Cedar replied, with only a slight roll of her eyes this time. Perhaps Riona was right, and she should just get used it. To her surprise, Rohan grinned at her. He’d become much more lighthearted now that they were back in his homeland and he wasn’t responsible for the lives of so many.
“Your father used to hate it too, you know,” he said. “He was my best friend, and had been for many years, and when we were alone, he insisted that I call him Brogan. But he deserved it—the title, that is. And so do you.”
Cedar smiled gratefully. “Thank you,” she said. “Any news?”
“Always. Do you want the good news or the bad news first?”
“Um…the bad news, I guess.”
“Deaglán is causing trouble again, even from behind bars.”
“What’s he doing now?”
“It’s not what he’s doing so much as what he’s saying. The people are curious about you, Your Majesty. Deaglán is encouraging the rumor that you are Maeve’s child, not Kier’s.”
“What?” Nevan exclaimed. “They still think she’s part human?”
“How could they think that?” Cedar asked. “The Lia Fáil chose me. They all heard it at the coronation.”
Rohan nodded. “Yes, but it will take some time to convince everyone that the humans are not our enemies. And everyone knows you grew up among them. Some think that you are the child of a human and a Danann, even though we all know that such a thing is impossible. They are concerned that the Lia Fáil was mistaken.”
Nevan looked disgusted, but Cedar slowly nodded. She, too, had heard the whispers. She noticed the conversations that were hushed the moment she entered the room, saw the sidelong, doubting looks. Even in the throne room she could sense it, when her lack of knowledge about the Tuatha Dé Danann was displayed by some question or topic she didn’t understand. She saw the glances the Council members exchanged when Gorman, whom she had chosen as her steward, had to whisper a correction or explanation in her ear. For a while she’d asked Nevan, who was on the Council, to explain things to her telepathically—but she just looked spaced out while she listened to Nevan’s explanations, so they had scrapped that idea after a few days.
“Let them talk,” she told Rohan. “I don’t want to address every little rumor about me. I’ll just have to win them over with time. What’s next?” She started walking again, with Rohan and Nevan beside her. She could think better when she was moving.
“Ah, that’s where my good news comes in. We’ve finished questioning the druids that were involved with the attacks on you at Tara and Edinburgh Castle. We used the goblet of Manannan mac Lir to ensure their truthfulness, and it appears that all of them were acting on Nuala’s direct orders. We found a starstone among Liam’s things that matches the one belonging to Nuala, so we assume the plan was for him to recruit the druids and for her to work her persuasive spell on them through the starstone. With your permission, we’ll release them.”
Cedar frowned and tried to shove her hands into her pockets, only then remembering that she was wearing a dress. “I don’t think so. Liam couldn’t have been working alone. At least some of them must have been helping of their own free will.”
“There’s something else you should know. We’ve been trying to answer that very question, and we came across something very interesting. Liam
wasn’t
working alone—not at the library, at any rate. His assistant there is also a druid. Her name is Helen Sullivan.”
Cedar and Nevan both stopped walking and stared at him. “Can you give us a minute?” she asked her guards, who fell back a few paces, out of earshot. “There’s another druid at Trinity College? He never mentioned that. Was he training her?”
“We’re not sure exactly what their relationship was,” Rohan said. “But Liam was more than just a librarian. He was Keeper of Manuscripts. It’s a very old and prestigious position. He was in charge of the Book of Kells and the other ancient manuscripts in the college’s library. Helen was the Assistant Keeper of Manuscripts, and since his ‘disappearance,’ she’s been promoted to the top job.”
“Where is she now?”
“Still at the college, as far as I know. I’d like to bring her in for questioning, but I wanted your permission first, and of course I’ll need a sidh to go and get her.”
Cedar exhaled loudly. “I
knew
he couldn’t be working alone. Of course you can bring her in. Let’s go right now!”
“What about the Council meeting?”
“That can wait,” Cedar said. “This is more important.” If Liam had someone helping him, she needed to find that person—
now
.
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Jodi McIsaac grew up in New Brunswick, Canada. After stints as a short track speed skater, a speechwriter, and a fundraising and marketing executive in the nonprofit sector, she started a boutique copywriting agency and began writing novels in the wee hours of the morning. Jodi lives in Calgary with her husband and two feisty daughters.