Chapter One
“I’m telling you, there’s something going on there,” Emer repeated, feeling more ridiculous each time she did so.
“Emer.” Alannah spoke in that tone, the one that made Emer feel as though she were about knee-high instead of her twenty-three years. “It’s not haunted. People just tell those stories to get attention.”
Emer took a long, deep breath. “I’m not talking about other people’s stories,” she said. Again. “I went there myself this morning.”
Alannah’s sea-blue eyes blinked at her. “Alone?”
“I’m not a child who needs minding. If I wish to take a walk to the forest, I have every right to do so.”
Why did Alannah insist on mothering her so? It was one thing to worry over her safety, but getting cross that she walked somewhere alone was absurd. Even for Alannah, it was too far.
“I know you’re not a child, Emer,” she began, but her tone implied otherwise.
Emer jumped right on that. “You don’t, though. You treat me the same now as you did when I was ten. Would you walk to the forest alone?”
Alannah rolled her eyes. “Of course I would, but I know how to defend myself. I have a sword. I have training—”
“None of which would help you against a ghost,” Emer pointed out.
“Ghosts aren’t real, Emer.”
“Come with me to the forest and I’ll prove it to you.” It wouldn’t be the first time since their parents died eight years ago that Emer had attempted to do so, but she knew she heard something otherworldly in that forest. Mayhap this would finally be the day Alannah believed her.
Alannah’s sigh of defeat signaled Emer’s victory.
“Fine. But if we go all this way and there’s no sign of a ghost, we get to buy a dagger at the fair instead of a cart full of ingredients.
” Without waiting for Emer’s response, she tromped across their cobblestone courtyard and down the earthen path toward the great oak forest of Tethba.
Emer hurried to catch her. “There’s no way to make that fair,” she argued. “You could see a ghost right in front of you and call it fog and I’d lose.”
“We could bring Glasny,” Alannah offered unhelpfully.
“He can’t walk that far with his injury still healing. We need to set rules.”
“If I can’t explain it logically, you win. I will admit the possibility that the forest is haunted.”
Emer didn’t like that one bit. Alannah would be able to explain away almost anything, as she had every other time Emer tried to convince her that there was a way their parents were still with them even after all these years.
Alannah’s disbelief didn’t impact Emer’s convictions, but Emer wished Alannah the same comfort she found in the notion.
If only her stubborn sister would give it half a chance.
“What if we do the opposite this time?” Emer tried. “If there’s anything that could be a ghost, I win.”
“The wind doesn’t count.”
Emer’s ever-present smile returned full force. “Agreed.”
The two-hour walk to the edge of the ancient forest felt like a year.
Emer always enjoyed her sister’s company—aye, even when she was being difficult—but her skin buzzed with anticipation over their wager.
If she lost, she’d have to give up her share of the coin they set aside to spend at the fair in Cruachan Aí every summer.
Cruachan Aí, the king’s city in their kingdom of Connachta, hosted one of the largest festivals in all of éire every midsummer.
It lasted an entire turning of the moon, and folk traveled from each of the kingdoms to partake in the revelries.
Every year, Emer looked forward to shopping the merchant stalls for rare and unusual cooking ingredients.
If she lost this wager, she’d lose her shopping money. She shuddered at the very thought. Thankfully, she’d been here just after dawn this morn and had heard the unmistakable sound of a ghost from deep in the trees. This time, she’d finally convince Alannah.
Near midday, a dark expanse of twining branches loomed before them, marking the border of the kingdom of Tethba. Emer lifted her face, soaking the warm sun into her skin. This would work. It had to. Then, mayhap, Alannah would start taking her opinions more seriously.
The moment Emer stepped into the trees, all trace of the sun disappeared, her cheeks cold in its absence.
They stayed on the dirt path, carved out of the underbrush by centuries of travelers, packed hard by horse hooves.
Ruts from cart wheels kept Emer’s attention from fully focusing on the noises of the woods.
“Where were you when you heard this ghost?” Alannah asked once they’d walked so far they couldn’t see the field from which they’d entered.
“A little further,” Emer replied, checking once more to ensure she didn’t wrench an ankle in the deep ruts. “I was picking mushrooms.”
Alannah halted, yanking Emer’s shoulder. “You weren’t mistaking the Fair Folk for ghosts, were you? I have no desire to fall into a fairy ring.”
“Of course not,” Emer tsked. “It wasn’t bells or laughing or song. It was a sad, low moaning.”
“Alright, then.” Alannah released her. “Show me.”
Emer found the spot where she’d left some of the yellow, petal-like beauties behind, nestled in the gnarled roots of a massive oak. She stood beneath its branches, just as she had hours ago, and listened.
A bird chirped happily from above them, answered by another to her left. Something small wiggled about in the brush on the other side of the path. And—that was all.
“We’ll give it a little bit,” Alannah told her, sitting atop a large, mossy root. “We came all this way, so we may as well give it a fair chance.”
Emer joined her, sitting in expectant silence. She didn’t know how long passed while they waited. When the wind whipped through, howling angrily, Alannah finally stood.
“That wasn’t what I heard,” Emer insisted. “It was an actual voice.”
Alannah nodded, turning back the way they’d come. “I believe you.”
She didn’t. Of course she didn’t. How could she? They’d walked for hours just to hear the wind in the trees. Emer swallowed back her disappointment and forced a smile she didn’t quite feel. “Thank you.”
“Maybe we can still nab a few spices at the fair.” Alannah shot Emer a sideways glance, her sky-blue eyes twinkling. “To compensate for your bad luck.”
Alannah’s smile brightened Emer’s mood measurably.
Her sister deserved every good thing. She worked herself to the bone running their hostelry alongside Emer.
She’d sacrificed the latter years of her childhood to raise Emer when their parents died.
Even though Alannah’s victory wounded Emer’s pride, she wouldn’t begrudge her it.
Emer was disappointed, aye, but she wasn’t a poor loser. Alannah won the wager and, with it, her new dagger. “Only after we buy your dagger.”