Melissa Marr - Radiant Shadows

“Hadn’t what?”

“She slipped out.” Irial scowled; at himself or at Tish, Ani wasn’t sure. “You’d think they could keep track of her, and… I don’t know why she did it.”

“She didn’t like to be caged. She did better than I do, but after a few days, she was still Gabriel’s daughter, and…” Ani shuddered at the thought of telling her father. “Does he know?”

“He does. The Hunt all know.” Irial looked lost, like he wanted to say something that would make everything right, but there was nothing. “Ani…”

She looked at him, not wanting to comfort him, not wanting to hear his words, not wanting the conversation to continue.

“Go check on Rabbit, please? I need… I need…” Ani’s words faltered. She looked past Irial to Devlin.

He crossed the room to her side.

She folded her arms over her chest, but it didn’t stop the trembling.

“Bananach would have to kill me in order to touch Ani.” Devlin said the words evenly. “Anyone killing me is very unlikely.”

Irial looked from one to the other, and then he left.

The quiet in the room was so much worse than before. It was empty. Tish wouldn’t ever come running into the studio again. She wouldn’t be there arguing over the music they played. She wouldn’t scold Ani. She wouldn’t anything.

Bananach had killed her.

Ani’s heart felt like it would stop, and for a moment she wished it would. It should’ve been me. Tish was gone, and Ani was left without her.

Ani looked at Devlin. “I want her dead for this.”

Devlin had no words for Ani as she stood there silently. He knew this was when comfort was to be offered. Logic insisted there should be something he could say. There really wasn’t. His sister had killed her sister.

Ani didn’t weep. She stared at him with dry eyes. “Help me? I need to fix… this.”

“It isn’t something you can fix.” Devlin wished there was more he could say, some word, some promise. He couldn’t. War destroyed lives, families, hope. If they didn’t find a way to nullify Bananach, this would be just the first member of Ani’s family to die.

Words weren’t of any use, so Devlin pulled her into his arms.

The tears she’d been refusing to let fall started to race down her cheeks. “I’d undo it all if I could. If you could’ve killed me, then Tish and Jillian would be okay and—”

“No. Neither of them would’ve wanted that.” Devlin kissed her forehead and held her.

He wasn’t sure how long they stayed that way. Ani wept almost silently, her tears soaking his shirt and her cries muffled against his chest. Devlin knew it wasn’t even the edge of her grief, but her brother slept on the other side of the door. She wouldn’t wail now, not when it could upset Rabbit.

Devlin listened for the sounds of movement outside in the street or in the house, but heard only Ani and those who were there to care for her. Irial made a number of calls; the timbre of the former Dark King’s voice revealed none of the fury that Devlin knew lurked not far below the surface. Irial’s family had been stricken, and of all the courts, it was the Dark Court that held family as almost sacred.

Unlike the High Court…

Somehow, in the grief that was weighing on all of the house’s inhabitants, he needed to broach the reason for their return.

Irial opened the door. “He’s awake.”

Ani stretched up and brushed a kiss over Devlin’s lips. She didn’t speak as she went inside.

Irial and Devlin stood together for a moment. There was no way to ease into the discussion, and no way to postpone it. Seth needed to be taken to Sorcha. The timing was unpleasant, but the reality was what it was. Crises didn’t abide by schedules.

“We need to talk. Sorcha is unwell,” Devlin began.

Irial held up a hand. “Let me start the coffee first? I haven’t slept yet.”

Devlin nodded and followed the former Dark King into Ani’s home. Being there was disquieting. These tiny rooms attached to the tattooist’s studio were where she had healed from the consequences of what his sister had ordered, and now it was where she wept for the consequences of his other sister’s cruelty.

His sisters were the source of her pain. He walled his emotions up more tightly. He’d do what needed to be done, and he’d try to find a way to give her a better future. Maybe I can return Jillian to her.

Ani stood in the hallway between the kitchen and what appeared to be the bedrooms. “Rab?”

“Ani.” Rabbit’s voice was raw with mourning. He stepped into the hall and grabbed Ani. “You’re safe. Gods, I was… You have to listen. You will do whatever it takes to stay safe from her. Tell me that. Tell me…. Promise.”

“Shhhh.” Ani wrapped her arms around her brother, holding him against the torrents of tears streaming down his cheeks. “I’m home. I’m sorry I wasn’t here. It’s my fault—”

“No,” Rabbit and Irial both answered.

Ani looked at them. “Yes.”

“No. Mortals are breakable,” Devlin said. “Even if you were here, she would’ve—”

Ani shoved past him back into the studio and then outside. The slam of the second door was accompanied by the clatter of the bell that hung there—and Ani’s angry scream.

“Stay.” Irial put a hand Rabbit’s arm when the tattooist started to follow. He looked at Devlin pointedly.

As if I needed encouragement to follow her…

Seeing Ani like this was so outside his realm of experience. His own emotions were as locked up as they’d ever been, but it still ripped him apart inside. Ani was hurt.

Devlin went into the studio and paused. There were Hounds out there, and she stood just on the other side of the large front windows of the shop. I could go through the window if she were in immediate danger. The threat was too much. I need to be beside her if there is an attack. He took a deep breath before pushing the door open.

She refused to look in his direction. Instead, she stared resolutely at nothing.

He leaned against the wall beside her. “It wasn’t your fault. You must know that.”

Tears slid over her face, but she didn’t brush them away. They fell down her chin and cheeks, coursed down her neck, and dripped onto her shirt. Ani glanced sideways at him. “I don’t know anything right now.”

He sighed and tried again. “What do you need?”

“Rabbit made safe, and then your sister made dead.” Ani bared her teeth. “Breath for breath. She took my sister.”

“You can’t kill her.”

“Really?” Ani pushed off the building and spun so she was standing facing him. Her feet were spread in a fighter’s stance. Her eyes were shimmering with the same sulfurous glow as the eyes of the Hounds’ steeds. “Tell me why.”

He’d told no one his sisters’ secrets. For eternity, he’d lived for them, but Faerie was coming unmade, and the mortal world would be devastated if Bananach brought about a true faery war. The time for protecting the twins’ secrets had ended.

“Come inside.” He held out his hand to Ani. It shook. The thought of her refusing him mattered more than anything should. He’d still be there if she grew cold to him, but it would ache the way few things ever could.

She looked at him with the monstrous green gaze of the Hunt. “Irial is inside. He won’t let me go after her.”

He nodded. “I know.”

“I am the Hunt. Tish is— was —my sister. She was a part of me, my best friend . I cannot just accept this. ” Ani’s tears had stopped; rage hummed in her words and body. “No one kills the Hunt without vengeance. Gabriel might not have called her Pack, but I do. ”