Caledonia Fae 03 - Enemy of the Fae (22 page)

The elder lifted a bar from the door. Faeries didn’t like doors in their homes. He had turned his own house into a prison. “Did she gain access to earth magic with their bond?” Munro asked Oron.

“Only water,” Oron said. “We shield her earth powers as well, although she has no training in the Ways of Earth.”

Munro nodded.
Curious.
When he and Eilidh bonded, all the Ways of Earth opened to her, not just his stone sphere. “If I may, elder? She may be more cooperative if you stay outside while we speak to her.” The girl was unlikely to open up in front of her grandfather, whom she resented at the best of times.

Oron hesitated. “Very well,” he said after a pause. “I will continue to contain her access to the flows from without.”

When the trio entered, Munro’s eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness. Without her powers, she couldn’t even illuminate the room, but why would Oron not give her a light? Even the sharp-eyed fae didn’t live in complete blackness. She sat on a bunk, hugging her knees, wearing the same trousers and shirt she had worn almost twenty-four hours before when Munro sent her back from Aberdeen.

Because Flùranach knew and liked him much better than she did Eilidh, he spoke first, protocol be damned. “Hi, Flùr,” he said. “Are you okay?”

She glanced over, but her eyes quickly flicked behind him to Eilidh and Griogair. “No,” she said flatly.

“Yeah, I guess not much of anything feels okay right now.” He put his hand behind him and tried to signal the others to stay back, hoping he might get through to her. They’d been friends not too long ago.

“They won’t let me speak to him,” she said. As he approached, she studied him more closely. “You look different. You feel different too.”

He didn’t want to go into his experiences and especially didn’t want her to realise Rory’s potential. “I’ve been through some changes lately too. Scary, isn’t it? I was talking to Tràth about your accident. It must’ve been frightening to lose yourself in the time stream.”

“It’s very loud. I wish…” She twitched slightly.

“What do you wish?”

“I wish it would go away.”

Munro raised an eyebrow. “You still see the time stream?”

She nodded. “It screams at me. But I can’t control the flows around it like Tràth can. They won’t listen to me. I wish none of this happened and we could go back to the way things were before.” She looked so small.

“Flùr, I need to ask you about Rory. Your bond doesn’t sound like mine with Eilidh. Can you tell me exactly what you did?”

Tears welled in her eyes, and she shook her head.

“Please? We need to understand so we can help him. I know you didn’t plan to hurt him.”

“You’ll undo the bond. You want to take him away from me.”

“The bond can be undone?” Munro glanced to Eilidh sharply, then back to a weeping Flùranach. He couldn’t imagine his bond with Eilidh could be reversed. But if Flùranach thought it possible to release Rory, he wasn’t one to doubt her. She’d proven she should not be underestimated.

“No!” she screamed, flinging herself up from the bed. She stood face-to-face with Munro. Even though her powers were blocked and she wasn’t as physically strong as him, he needed willpower not to back down from her thunderous display of anger. Beneath the lashing fury, he detected fear. She was lying.

“Do you understand why you’re in trouble?” Munro said, reminding himself that despite everything she’d been through, in many ways, she still thought like a child.

“Because I tricked Rory into running away even though the queen told me to stay away from him,” she said. “But she doesn’t understand.”

“And why else?” Munro prodded.

“Because the bond didn’t work right.”

“Do you know what rape is?” Munro asked quietly, searching into her eyes for some indication of whether or not she understood.

“I didn’t do that,” she said. “Rory loves me, and I love him.”

“When I lived in the human world, I was a cop. It’s like being a Watcher. I’ve met a lot of people who’ve been raped. Sometimes the person who does it is someone the victim knows, trusts, sometimes even loves. That’s because rape isn’t about love. It’s about power and violence, one person saying, ‘I can take
anything
from you, and you can’t stop me.’”

Flùranach sat on the edge of the bed, pale and stricken.

“Bonding wasn’t Rory’s idea,” Munro said. “Did you use your astral abilities? Did you use your magic to make him say the words? Did you force him onto the ground and tear his clothes?”

“Stop it! Stop!” Flùranach said, hugging herself and rocking back and forth. Rory cried out in the next room, and despite the thick walls, Munro clearly heard his reflection of the girl’s distress.

“Every minute you hold his bond against his will, you’re violating him.”

She cried in earnest and clamped her hands over her ears. “I can’t let him go. I love him,” she wailed.

Munro knelt in front of her but kept a distance. He had no idea what she might do. “If you love him, you
must
let him go.”

“As long as we’re bonded, they won’t kill me,” Flùranach hissed. “Because killing me would kill him.” Her pale eyes pleaded with Munro.

“The queen doesn’t want to kill you. She needs you. The whole kingdom needs you to find more druids like Huck, the American. You’re the only one who knows how. But how can we trust you when you’re hurting Rory so much?”

“I don’t want to hurt him,” Flùranach said. “You must believe me.”

“I do,” Munro told her. “You’re scared, and you want him to be yours. I understand how that feels. I love Eilidh, but she chose Griogair as her mate, not me. We’re still bonded, but I’ll never have her to myself the way I wanted.”

Flùranach glanced up at the prince consort, then turned her eyes back to Munro. “Do you hate him very much?” she whispered.

“I wanted to at first, but sensing her happiness through our bond makes me realise how wrong I would be to take that away from her. How could I hate him? He’s like a brother to me, and he loves her too. Their love feels good to me now, and I like it when she laughs with him and holds his hand, because I love her in truth. Do you love Rory in truth? Or is yours a selfish and shallow love?”

“It’s not,” Flùranach said. “I do love him. I love him more than anyone understands.” Her voice had gotten quiet and still, and her tears stopped. She stared at the ground. “Our bond is half formed. I forced him to say the words. My power entwined his. The stub of his power has withered.”

Munro wasn’t clear on the visualisation, but he didn’t ask for an explanation. “Can you unwrap your end of the bond?”

Flùranach shook her head. “Mine has grasped onto him with little hooks. They won’t let go.”

Munro remembered the first runestone Ríona showed him, the one where the fae fought with their slaves, human druids. Had they been held by bonds like this one? Those runes might hold the answers. “Okay,” he said. “I’m glad you want to help him. We do too.”

She carefully avoided all eyes in the room but Munro’s. “I never meant to hurt him. I just wanted him to be mine.”

Munro’s heart ached for her. Even though he’d talked her around, she still didn’t seem to fully understand what she’d done or that what she
wanted
wasn’t the most important thing in the world. “To help Rory, we’re going to take him to the Halls of Mist.”

“What?” Her eyes flew open wide.

“I think the portal will dampen your bond and give him some relief from his pain until we figure out how you can release him. Here’s the thing. You have to want him to go, or Rory won’t leave you.”

“I do want you to take him, if you can make him well. I want to prove I’m not doing what you said.”

Munro smiled at her. His heart still weighed heavily from what he’d seen, but at least now he had a glimmer of hope, perhaps even hope for both of them. He stood and met Eilidh’s eyes. “We should move him now,” he said, his voice low. The thought he didn’t want to add was
before she changes her mind.
Yes, he had hope but also enough experience to understand this wasn’t the end of Rory’s troubles.

Flùranach’s eyes flicked to Eilidh as a thought struck. “I heard that,” the girl said.

Munro turned back to Eilidh, sensing her surprise. “I did not mind-speak to you,” the queen said.

“You don’t have to. You think I’m terrible and my grandfather should sever me. I’m
not
terrible. I’ll let Rory go to the Halls of Mist, and once he gets better, he’ll tell you how much he loves me. If anyone is terrible, it’s my grandfather.”

Munro frowned with sympathy. “I know you think he’s being harsh, but he’s trying to protect you and Rory both. This has been scary for everyone.”

“He’s the one who lied to the queen, not me. I made a mistake, but he’s the traitor.”

“What?” Eilidh snapped.

“He revealed the truth in his mind when we fought. Queen Cadhla didn’t die. She’s still alive. He held her prisoner for two moons.”

“Impossible,” Eilidh said, but Munro sensed her momentary uncertainty.

“Test him,” Flùranach said mockingly. “If you’re so certain, probe his mind.”

Munro was worried that if they got into this strange twist of an argument, they’d lose their chance to help Rory. He lowered his voice and spoke to Flùranach. “We have to go to the Halls of Mist. We’ll talk about this again when we return, all right?”

“You believe me?” Flùranach said, her eyes full of hope. She’d shifted from angry young woman to frightened child again. “He said you wouldn’t.”

“You did the right thing by telling us,” Munro said, careful with his words. “We’ll definitely look into it when we return.”

The Caledonian fae only used carts for transporting goods, preferring their own two feet over being carried. But at dusk, Eilidh’s servants arranged for Rory to be taken to the portal in as much comfort as possible. While she waited for the other druids to arrive to accompany them, Eilidh pondered Munro’s conversation with Flùranach. As far as the fanciful stories about Oron keeping Cadhla alive, Eilidh wanted to dismiss them, but her thoughts haunted her. The girl had always been trouble. Eilidh trusted Oron with her life. What motive would he have for deceiving her? On the other hand, what if the girl spoke the truth?

The tragedy of the entire situation with Flùranach plagued Eilidh. The girl had so much promise and seemed willing to help Rory, but Eilidh wouldn’t let Flùranach’s crimes go unpunished. As queen, she had to govern from a position of strength. Yes, they needed Flùranach’s abilities, but Eilidh wouldn’t risk being viewed as weak.

Not only that, but the faeries who’d opposed Eilidh’s reign, the ones afraid of those gifted with the Path of Stars, would be appalled at the use of astral powers to overpower and dominate. The attack went to the heart of their fears of the azuri, and specifically of her. When they discovered the victim of the crime had been draoidh? If Eilidh didn’t react swiftly, she might find the tide turning against her.

She was so lost in thought, she didn’t notice Munro’s approach. “What’s troubling you, my love?” he said, careful to keep his voice low. The others had arrived as the sky darkened and were helping get Rory settled.

Eilidh shook her head. She wasn’t ready to share her fears with him, partly because he still held affection and loyalty to the girl. Despite what she’d done, Quinton wanted to save her. “You handled the situation well,” Eilidh said, hoping to deflect his ever-curious nature. “I hadn’t thought it possible to break a bond, and what’s even more surprising is that she agreed.”

“Are you worried that we’ll discover our bond could be broken?” His deep blue eyes swirled with the new depths of his magic. Eilidh found herself unable to look away.

Griogair saved her from having to answer. He trotted up and said, “We’re ready to depart at your command.” The expression on his face showed he hadn’t missed the intensity of the exchange between Eilidh and Munro.

Everyone in the courtyard stared at her and Munro. Apparently her mate wasn’t the only one who noticed. How long would they be able to carry on this pretence? It was one thing to be discrete in public, but another to try to fool those they interacted with every day.

“Thank you,” she said to her mate and ignored the chagrin on his face. She didn’t care if expressing her gratitude made her appear common.

A small honour guard accompanied them, as was traditional on royal visits to the Halls of Mist. She signalled to their leader to depart. They used earth and air flows to propel the vehicle forward, and the others ran behind. Two other faeries gifted with the Path of Stars loped beside Rory’s cart, keeping him almost completely sedated. Although Flùranach had sworn she wanted him taken, some measure of inner conflict must have remained. Come nightfall, Rory had proved reluctant, despite the girl’s claims of desire to help.

They travelled to the portal without incident, allowing Eilidh time to contemplate. She realised how infrequently she had time alone with her thoughts. Usually she had a busy night, bustling from meetings with the joint conclave to hear about matters of state to attending official events, presiding over hearings, and appearing at public functions. Her days were spent with Munro, except in the case of this most recent morning, which she’d spent with Griogair. Their relationship was newly budding, but she enjoyed that their friendship had begun to grow into something deeper. Munro hadn’t been jealous, even going so far as to encourage her to follow what happiness she could find. Somewhere inside, she harboured a niggling worry these relationships would all fall apart, causing her to lose them both.

Munro turned and winked at her from his position ahead. He looked magnificent with his shimmering golden skin and hair. Even the tips of his ears had grown more pointed, enough so she noticed the beginning of a curl. She had to school the smile threatening to cross her lips. Winking at a queen. What was he thinking?

They arrived at the glowing sphere that would transport them to the Halls of Mist, and Eilidh and half her honour guard stepped through first, followed by Griogair, then Munro with the other druids, and finally Rory and the two azuri fae. The remaining Watchers would use their earth powers to propel the cart through the sphere.