Radiant Shadows
Page 71

Seth stood, placing himself between them and the High Queen. “Mother.”
For a moment, it felt that the world held its breath. Sorcha extended her hand to Seth.
He quirked a brow at her, before taking her hand and pulling her in for a hug. “I missed you.”
She pursed her lips as if she was debating chastising him. “Seth. That is not how one greets a queen.”
He laughed and kissed her cheek. His voice was low as he murmured, “It’s okay to hug your son.”
The High Queen nodded, but her gaze drifted over him like the most overprotective of parents seeking minute scratches or bruises. “Who injured you? I couldn’t see you the past few hours.”
“I’m fine.”
“It was Bananach, wasn’t it? Or”—she turned her gaze to Devlin—“you? Did you harm him?”
“No.” Seth stayed between them, drawing her gaze back to him. “My brother and I stood together against her.”
Sorcha opened and closed her mouth as she looked from Devlin to Seth and back to Devlin. Holding Devlin’s gaze, she said only, “I have one son.”
Devlin sat up. “I know that, Sister.”
Gingerly he came to his feet; as he did so, he kept Ani’s hand in his.
The High Queen took in the change in her world. Her expression was not one of pleasure as she looked at the copse of trees. “These are not of my will. Why are they not vanishing?”
No one spoke. Ani didn’t know the answer, and if anyone else did, they weren’t speaking.
The High Queen stepped toward Rabbit. “You, half- ling—”
The wolves growled. Rabbit was leaning against one of the trees, clearly under the watch of wolves.
“You are welcome here,” she continued. “You may stay and heal. There is now a cottage for you in the artists’ section. It will have what you require. Be welcome in Faerie.”
Rabbit bowed his head.
“But you”—Sorcha glared at Ani—“are supposed to be dead, yet you appear not to be. Why is that?”
“Sister, my Queen—” Devlin started.
Ani cut him off. “Because Devlin isn’t as much of a bastard as you want him to be?”
The wolves’ growling vibrated under her skin. Their eyes gleamed with the red she’d seen when she lay on the earth beside Devlin. His eyes were the same red, and she suspected her own were as well.
Sorcha stared only at Devlin. “Will you kill her? Set this right.”
“No.” Devlin clutched Ani’s hand tighter, whether to assure her or keep her still she didn’t know. “I would give any life before hers.”
“Any life?” Sorcha echoed. “Would you sacrifice my life for hers?”
“I would rather you were both well,” he said.
Sorcha opened her mouth as if to speak, but Seth touched her arm. The High Queen looked at him and was silent.
“I would stay here in Faerie with Ani, Sister.” Devlin started to kneel, but Ani refused to let go of his hand; he rose back up and looked at Sorcha.
Sorcha shook her head. “And who will feed you? Do you think to cast me off and still come to my table?”
The look Seth gave Ani was intense enough that she felt like he was trying to will words into her head. What did he say earlier? Ani replayed the things Seth had told her.
“I will,” Ani blurted. “I’ll give him whatever he needs… or find it or whatever.”
The High Queen scowled, but Seth smiled approvingly.
“So mote it be,” Sorcha whispered before turning.
And then she walked away with Seth.
Chapter 33
Devlin watched his sister, his queen, leave. There were so many questions he needed to ask, so many answers he required, but before that, he had to make sense of what Ani had done. Not only had she shared her blood with him, she’d also offered to nourish him. She had stood at his side against the High Queen. They were bound in ways he had never fathomed possible.
Perhaps we always were.
The Hound, his partner unto eternity now, held his hand in her own. All around them wolves waited.
“We made those trees.” Ani looked up at him. Her words were a question, a demand for verification. “Together.”
“And wolves,” he added. “They are flesh now.”
“Sort of.” She looked at the wolves and said, “Come.”
In a chaotic blur, the wolves began to leap into her body, vanishing inside her skin one after another. Muzzles and tails, blood and bone, fur and muscles, all and each vanished into the skin of the Hound holding his hand.
“It feels different than in dreams,” was all she said when the last one of them had entered her.
“It looks different too.” Devlin could see red-eyed wolves shifting under her skin.
“Oh,” Ani whispered. She looked down at her arms in awe. “They’re here.”
Rabbit pushed away from the tree and came over to stand in front of his sister. “Look at you, all painted up without my help.”
Ani reached out to him. “They left room for your art too, Rab. When you’re ready…”
“Someday.” Rabbit brushed her hair away from her face and gave her a look of pure adoration.
Then he glanced at Devlin. “Sorcha says I’m welcome… but the shop…” His words faded away. “The shop’s gone too. Our home…”
Devlin gestured for Rabbit to walk. “There are other artists here. Many artists. Halflings and mortals.”