Chapter 9
Chapter nine
“Mrs. Ryan died today. Aidan hasn’t spoken yet. He’s asleep in my bed, and I don’t know what to do. Death is weird. One moment she was here, and the next, Aidan is crying.” – from the diary of Oren Byrne, age eight.
Iris took a healthy drink of whiskey from her tumbler as Aidan crouched in front of her.
“Are you well?” he asked, eyes locked onto her face.
“As well as one who flees their home can be,” she commented, patting his cheek.
All of my brothers, my parents, Cethin and Abnus, and I were in the upstairs parlor.
Aidan had wanted to include Georgie, but Thomas had said he didn’t want to worry his spouse.
No one had suggested Frances join—she wasn’t the type to handle anything stressful.
And I had a sneaking suspicion that whatever had forced Iris to run wasn’t something Frances would want to know. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to know.
Aidan stood and faced us, hands behind his back.
For a moment, I saw Father in his bearing and the set of his jaw, and it comforted me as well as stabbed at my heart while that dark feeling surged.
I’d never been able to bear the mantle of heir, even though it was a burden I’d been raised under.
Aidan had been thrust into becoming lord, and he hadn’t even stumbled.
It was rather disheartening to realize how weak I was.
I’d always known it, but now, it was on full display.
“Something has been happening in Sídhetír in the last couple of months. It has been tugging on me, but my bond is still new,” Aidan said. “And I fear to delve too deep.” He grabbed Cethin’s hand, and Cethin pulled Aidan against his side, winding his arms about Aidan’s waist.
“I don’t know what it is, because it’s hiding among the natural ebbs and flows of the land, and I cannot find a source for this unease,” Aidan continued.
“But something is happening?” Phineas asked, his voice steady despite the high tensions in the room.
“Yes,” Aidan replied. “At first, it was a mere discomfort that I thought was normal or that I was overreacting, sensitive to the new bond, but certain things have happened. First, Eilis Duffy reported a mass grave robbery last night.”
“What?” Nevan asked, eyes growing wide. “Someone stole bodies from the graveyard?”
It was a miracle we hadn’t heard anything of it in Elmbury today. Nothing spread faster than gossip in a small town.
“Yes. Sometimes, in the city, I understand, newer graves are plundered and the bodies are sold to doctors or scientists for study, but not here, and we’ve had no recent deaths,” Aidan said.
“The corpses are old.” His eyes closed as he took a deep breath, and Cethin drew him even closer, pressing a gentle kiss on his neck. “My mother was among those taken.”
Vis Ryan, I thought. She’d always been kind to me. My memories of Aidan’s mother were vague, but I could recall her deep red hair, a couple of shades darker than Aidan’s, and her beaming smile that matched his perfectly.
Before any of my brother’s could ask, Aidan stated, “Margaret and Briella are still at rest.”
I saw my brothers relax. Margaret had been Father’s first wife, and she’d given birth to Thomas and Whitaker; Briella, Father’s second wife, had given birth to Phineas, Sevrin, Nevan, and Neil.
Father didn’t react to the news, so I assumed Aidan had already told him. Margaret had been Father’s love and Briella his childhood friend; if he hadn’t known, he would’ve had some kind of reaction.
“Others were taken, though. Many others,” Aidan continued. “We don’t know why. Cethin told me of Iris’s comment about the woods, and we’ve searched but couldn’t find anything.
“The second thing that happened was Colonel Tarrah Fletcher, who is in the south of Sídhetír, sent me a letter, which I received this morning. A family and their farmhands have been killed, we assume.”
“You assume?” Sevrin asked, clutching his tumbler of whiskey.
“I haven’t been yet, but I intend to leave tomorrow with Cethin. But Colonel Fletcher only found blood, no bodies. But the amount is not something a person could live through,” Aidan said.
“Fae?” I asked, then looked guiltily at Lord Abnus, who didn’t react to my comment, then Iris, who was lost in her drink. I didn’t dare glance at Cethin for fear of his reaction.
“No,” he replied. “I didn’t sense any fae. Their magic lights up in my senses.”
“How long are you going to be gone?” Neil asked, watching Aidan closely.
His intense inspection made me look closer at Aidan.
Was I missing something? Aidan’s green eyes were ringed with dark circles, and his shoulders appeared tense, but I supposed that was natural in this situation.
He hadn’t been lord long. But was it more than that? Should I be more concerned?
I hated that I didn’t know anymore.
“I don’t know. I’m going to investigate the area.
” He glanced at Father. “Jonathan will be staying here to keep Byrne Manor under control, and Lord Abnus has agreed to remain in case any fae issues present themselves. Thomas and Whit have agreed to go with me. I trust that you lot will keep everyone safe.”
Phineas nodded like he’d received a royal decree. “Nothing will happen to them.”
Both Thomas and Whit smiled, as did Sevrin, at Phineas’s serious tone. Nevan and Neil were too distracted, whispering to themselves.
“What can we do?” I asked.
Aidan smiled at me, but it was tired. “Stay safe. We’ll figure out what is happening, and I will end the threat to Sídhetír.” He swallowed and glanced at Cethin, who whispered something too low for me to hear in his ear.
Aidan had killed once for Sídhetír, and I hoped he wouldn’t have to a second time or it might break him.
The winter air was bracing and nipped at my exposed skin.
Snow crunched under my shiny boots, and the wind threatened to send my hat tumbling to the ground.
Hands buried in my pockets, I strolled alone among the gardens.
I hadn’t often spent cold days like today outside in the past, for I preferred to be in the warmth of the manor, but I found it freeing today.
Aidan’s words wouldn’t leave me. Why would someone steal long-dead corpses? It made no sense. On some level, I could understand why people stole dead bodies in the cities to further scientific exploration, but here, when the people were long dead and there wasn’t much to learn, I didn’t understand.
I wandered with no destination in mind, but rather, to enjoy the walk for what it was—talking to Sídhetír.
“Thank you for choosing Aidan,” I whispered. “He’s a far better choice than me.”
When I was younger, Father had encouraged me to speak to Sídhetír, so it would know me, learn my voice.
The land didn’t care about me now, but I couldn’t break the habit, at least not yet—it had only been three months.
While I felt apprehensive about my future, leaving home, I was glad, or I thought I was.
I shook my head. No, I was, despite my roiling gut.
“You still speak to the land,” said the only voice in the world that sent a quiver down my spine.
Lord Abnus stood behind me, wearing, as usual, black clothes—jacket, waistcoat, cravat, etc.
Even with the lack of color, he looked lovely.
I’d never seen anyone as beautiful as him, and I’d seen my fair share of fae over the years.
None of them had even come close to appealing to me as Lord Abnus did.
“I do. I don’t know if Sídhetír can or even desires to hear my voice, but I cannot help it. The habit is too ingrained to break.”
“Have you asked Lord Byrne?”
For the barest moment, I thought he meant Father until Aidan’s face appeared in my thoughts. I shook my head. “Aidan is busy. I hate to disturb him with something trivial, especially with everything going on.”
“If it’s bothering you, then it’s not meaningless, Mr. Byrne. I doubt Lord Byrne would be put out by you asking.”
I doubted he would, but I hated to bother Aidan, and what answer did I want?
That Sídhetír could hear me? That it liked me talking to it?
Neither was likely true, and I feared if that wasn’t true, it would break something within my fragile heart.
Sídhetír wasn’t mine, and yet, I cared for it.
I wanted to protect it and its people as much as my elder brothers did.
“Do you have any plans for the day? With Cethin, perhaps?” I asked. Was I hoping for an invitation to spend the day with him? Yes. Did my neediness bother me? Not enough to stop. Mother had wisely cautioned me about Lord Abnus, but my damn heart refused to listen.
“I have no plans. Cethin is rather busy with Aidan, planning their departure in the morning, and Aidan has no time to listen to the trade options my queen wishes me to present.”
I smiled. “Would you like to spend time together?”
He stepped closer to me, forcing me to look up. “Indeed.”
A sudden wind whipped up and smacked into my hat, sending it backward. Lord Abnus reached out before I could and straightened it. My pulse quickened as his hand remained on the brim and his face hovered over mine. I wanted to go up on my toes and slot my lips against his.
His hand slid down from the brim, caressing my cheek for the barest second, stealing my breath and setting my heart ablaze with longing, before falling to his side. “You’re cold, Mr. Byrne.”
“I’m alright.” I was certainly warmer when he touched me, though that would’ve been inappropriate to say. I might struggle to speak to people, but I did have social graces. Mother had certainly made sure I did.
“What would you like to do today?” I asked, struggling to keep my voice even.
Another gust of wind shot over the garden and made a shiver travel up my spine.
“Perhaps something inside,” he offered, hands curling into fists at his sides, though he leaned closer to me. My heart pounded, and I was desperate to close the minuscule distance between us.
I swallowed. However, I didn’t want to go inside.
Someone would draw Lord Abnus’s focus away from me, or the pressing situation would steal us away from each other.
I wanted time alone with him. It was a foolish notion, which I knew, and yet I couldn’t help it.
Spring was coming soon, and with it, us separating.
“We could go for a short ride,” I suggested, then added, “though I should get one of my brothers first.” There was safety in numbers.
Lord Abnus took a step even closer to me, barely a finger separating his chest from mine. “I will never allow anything or anyone to harm you, Mr. Byrne, while I’m able to prevent it.”
My heart thrashed against my ribs, and a blush burned my cheeks at his words. He probably didn’t mean any of those words in a romantic sense, but my foolish heart longed for more. But, as a fae, he couldn’t lie. Lord Abnus would keep me safe from harm.
“Do you want to go for a ride?” I asked, my chest heaving and brushing against his.
With a glance at the clear sky, he said, “If you desire.”