Chapter 36
Chapter thirty-six
“Is death like the cold? I can’t help but wonder as I stare at the dead plants in the middle of winter.” – from the diary of Oren Byrne, age fourteen.
Igroaned as I came to, head throbbing. I opened my eyes and nothing but trees in the weak light of dawn greeted me.
My stomach rolled as shivers wracked my body.
I was lying on the cold ground in nothing but my thin robe, which was partly undone.
Fir needles had wiggled under the thin fabric and were stabbing into me, making me acutely aware of how they had received their namesake.
I moved to sit up to close my robe and perhaps shake some of the needles away from my frozen body, but I couldn’t.
What was going on?
I looked side-to-side and saw my hands and legs were tied and staked to the ground. The rough rope cut into my skin, chafing, yet the feeling was distant. My fingers were blue and numb, as were my toes. But that wasn’t my immediate concern.
No. The rune in dark red liquid in the center of my chest, over my frantically beating heart, was. Blood, I was fairly sure.
More bile surged up my throat. Unable to stop it, I turned my head to the side and vomited. It splattered mostly on my shoulder, but some landed on the ground. The foul stench clogged my nose, but I couldn’t pay much attention to it.
My head hurt fiercely, and my vision wobbled, making it difficult to see. I tried to curl my hands. Pins and needles stabbed me. They and my feet were difficult to move. I shook again, trembling as a gust of wind rushed over me.
I was unable to stop more vomit erupting out of my mouth. I couldn’t turn in time, so I coughed and hacked on the putrid liquid, nose leaking with a horrid sting.
Someone moved my head to the side and patted my shoulder. “Not yet, Mr. Byrne. Worry not, I’m going to kill you, but not yet.”
Mrs. Maher bent over me, looking as she always did—cheerful, kind, and sweet. Behind her stood Blodwen, the fae with a stitched neck, and Rachel—her daughter.
“You,” I bit out.
“Me.”
“You killed Mrs. Kelly. Why?”
“She found Rachel, much like you did, and she realized what I’d done. She was going to tell you and your brothers. I couldn’t have that. She was a dear friend. I grew up with her son, but I couldn’t let her live.”
“Why?” I asked, trying to organize my thoughts. “Why would you do this?”
“What wouldn’t you do for your family?”
“Rachel.”
“She was dying. I couldn’t save her. I asked your father to appeal to the fae to save my only child, but he said no.
No!” she screamed, expression twisting. “My only child. He spun his tale of owing the fae and that the life of my child wasn’t worth the cost. Fecking liar.
He tricked and twisted the truth for his own sons, but no, my Rachel wasn’t worth it. Then Rachel died.”
“You revived her. How?”
“I did. I brought her back,” she said, stroking Rachel’s cheek. Rachel shuddered and backed away. “I knew from my ma. She passed on a grimoire that’s been in my family for a very long time. She always said it was evil, bad, but she never had a child die, did she now?”
“What about the fae?” I asked, looking at Blodwen and the unnamed fae.
“Well, I had a thought. Maybe a fae could remake Rachel? That didn’t seem so implausible. What was one more? I revived that one first,” she said, gesturing to the once decapitated fae, “thinking he could grant me a deal. He couldn’t.
“When Blodwen died, I figured she would be able to fix Rachel. She was a noble fae after all. And a light fae to boot.”
“She couldn’t,” I said blandly. Not even the fae could bring someone back from the dead. They might not die easily, but they weren’t death’s rulers.
“No. Fae lose their magic when brought back from the dead. Still, I kept them here. Why not?” She grinned something awful. “They were convenient, and I liked the feel of magic coursing through them and myself.”
Necromancy was addictive. One wasn’t enough. Nothing was enough. Or so the stories said, and I was inclined to believe it from Mrs. Maher’s smiling like a fiend.
“Then Aidan—Jonathan’s bastard son—came to power. I thought about asking him for help, but he’s not on good terms with the light fae and he has shown no ability to heal. Besides, what if he tried to take my Rachel? No, he couldn’t be trusted.”
Magic couldn’t fix everything. It wasn’t perfect. Some things couldn’t be mended no matter what the healer wanted.
“But in the end, I realized I’d already fixed her.” Mrs. Maher smiled, trying to brush her daughter’s cheek again. Rachel shied away, shaking her head. “Now you will join my collection, and Jonathan shall feel my pain.”
“Aidan will come for me. He will always come for me.” Any doubt of our relationship shattered.
No matter what, Aidan was my brother, my best friend, and the one who knew me best. He and my other brothers, my father, Georgie, and Cethin would come.
Abnus, too. He might not love me, but I was important to him.
“It’s early. Everyone will think you’re sleeping in, and look around,” she said, gesturing to the trees. “He won’t find me here.”
Not true. The previous Lords of Sídhetír couldn’t perceive the woods, but as a half-fae, Aidan could. Also, Abnus would realize I was gone. When he woke up with me missing and couldn’t find me, he would tell Aidan, who would search for me. I just had to hold on.
Like I suddenly ceased to exist, Mrs. Maher continued to wander around and collect the things she needed, humming a pleasant tune. Blodwen sneered at me while the other fae watched Mrs. Maher with hatred in his brown eyes. Rachel, though, crept closer and closer to me until she kneeled beside me.
“Please,” I begged, teeth chattering.
“I would free you and myself if I could, but I can’t. I have to follow her orders. I don’t want to be here either. She won’t listen to me. Not anymore.”
I tried to push my fingers into the dirt. Sídhetír, please, I begged. I know you can hear me, or I hope you can.
There was no response.
Tears burned the backs of my eyes. I wasn’t the heir or the lord. I was nothing. Sídhetír didn’t care about me or what happened to me. All my hopes were on Abnus waking soon and realizing I was missing, not simply off with one of my brothers.
Mrs. Maher continued to hum as her full hips swayed back and forth. She turned back toward me with a pleased smile on her face, holding a tray of knives and packets of herbs.
“I’ve never had a live person to kill and revive. I did try with Mrs. Kelly, but she died too fast. You’ll be much stronger than my other shades,” she exclaimed.
“Please. You know me. You helped deliver me!” I thrashed in the bindings, trying to break free. The ropes dug into my wrists and ankle, rubbing the skin raw.
“True, but needs must. I need more, Oren. I need more people to protect Rachel. I can’t have anyone take her from me. There are not enough people yet. But soon. Soon we’ll be safe.”
“The magic is making you insane. This is what necromancy does. It eats at you,” I said as I attempted to reason with her.
She set the tray down and rolled up her sleeve, revealing a black spot on her arm that seeped and was lined with red. “This and all the others will go away if I keep going. Only evil people succumb to the madness. I am simply protecting my child.”
I shook my head, heart bashing against my ribs. “What about Eilis Duffy? What about him?”
“I needed a patsy, and I agreed to save his daughter in exchange for his help. Aidan lent me that book of fae herbs. It helped me heal her, even though it was too late for me to heal Rachel. He wasn’t supposed to die, but you killed him. That was all your fault.”
“You forced him to attack me.”
Mrs. Maher shrugged. “You killed him. Not me.”
“Aidan believes he was the necromancer. Why would you do this?”
“You saw Rachel. I have to protect my child.”
There would be no reasoning with her.
Humming again, she grabbed a knife and brought it closer to me.
I whimpered as I tried to roll to the side, but I couldn’t.
The stakes held me tight in their embrace.
I hissed when the blade made an even cut over my stomach.
Tears burned my eyes. Blood slid over my stomach as slow as a lover’s touch.
“I have to slowly bleed you out while carving the correct sigils.” She patted my arm.
“This is going to be uncomfortable for you, but the more pain and suffering you endure, the stronger the magic will seep into you or so the tome says. Who would have thought that my ma’s stories would’ve benefited me this much? ”
She stripped off my robe, then made cut after cut as I cried out, begging her to stop. She didn’t. Humming, Mrs. Maher went about her work, making slices along my arms, chest, and legs. The sigils burned and throbbed as she carved them into my skin.
Blood drenched the dirt as trembles wracked my body when she finally set down the knife. I could barely breathe. I was numb. The pain was a distant cloud as was the cold. I was going to die. I was certain of that fact.
Sídhetír, I thought, don’t let Aidan blame himself. Please. You may not love me, but I know you love him. Save him. Keep him.
My eyes closed as Abnus’s face appeared in my thoughts. I’d never told him how I felt. The words burned in my throat. I wanted him to know, even if he would never return the sentiment.
A snarl broke through the forest as the trees shuffled in a whisper of leaves and the scrape of bark.
I looked to the side blurrily, and Abnus stood between the trees, his icy horns and wings showing. Right behind him were Aidan and Cethin as well as my brothers, Georgie, and Father. Tears burned me. I wanted to cry, but I was too cold.
Everything was numb.
Abnus rushed toward me while Mrs. Maher skittered back. He sliced the ropes binding me, and I couldn’t even move or cry out. Every sensation was distant as more and more cold seeped into me, stealing me away.
“Oren,” Abnus said, stroking my cheek.
“Mrs. Maher, what are you doing?” Aidan asked, his hands fisted.
“Protecting my child.”
“Rachel,” Aidan said as the woman peeked out from behind a tree.
“I’m sorry, Aidan,” she whispered.
Aidan suddenly lurched to the side as Blodwen stabbed at him, but a wall of earth blocked him from damage.
It unraveled from there. More people, in all states of decay, lumbered out of the woods, including Eilis Duffy.
They swarmed Aidan and my brothers. Cethin faced off with Blodwen while Abnus attacked the other fae.
So much was happening, I was having trouble following. Magic filled the air from Abnus, Cethin, and Aidan, but I didn’t know if we were winning. My eyes closed as I drifted on a cloud. I was so cold and tired. I just needed to sleep for a bit.
“Oren,” Abnus snarled, slapping my cheek. My eyes opened. “Stay with me.”
I wanted to, but by God, I was so tired.
“Abnus,” Cethin screamed, but it was too late.
Mrs. Maher stabbed Abnus, and he grunted, falling toward me. She stabbed him again and again and again, while he shielded me, before darting away.
Cethin dashed toward Abnus, but Blodwen stood in his way. Aidan waved a hand at Mrs. Maher, but more shades jumped in between them, protecting her.
Blood gushed out of the wounds on Abnus’s side and back at an alarming rate. She’d probably nicked an artery. He fell to the ground next to me, eyes on mine.
“Abnus,” I forced out.
He smiled, then his eyes slid closed.
My brothers and Father fought the rabble.
Cethin was attacking Blodwen, but even when he chopped off her arm, she kept attacking while her arm grabbed onto his leg.
Aidan was fighting the other fae, attacking with roots and the ground.
He kept shifting toward Mrs. Maher, but something always got in his way.
She raced past me with Rachel, stopping next to me to brush something in blood on my forehead. “When you die, you will come to me, Oren.”
“Mrs. Maher,” Aidan snarled, looking more inhuman than I’d ever seen him. “Get away from my brother.”
She grinned, not even paying attention to me. I wasn’t important. I wasn’t a threat. My eyes landed on Abnus, who was still bleeding. Iron—she had to have stabbed him with iron.
My Abnus. She hurt him. She’d killed Sarah Kelly and Eilis Duffy. She’d forced Rachel and so many others to rise. I might not be the heir or lord, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to let someone hurt the people of Sídhetír.
This was my home, and these were my people.
Forcing my hand to move as energy raced through my limbs, I snagged Abnus’s short sword. It wasn’t a weapon I knew how to wield, but it didn’t matter. The ice encrusting the blade burned my palm, but it didn’t matter. Pain shredded me, but that didn’t matter either. None of it did.
I rolled over and dragged my useless body toward Mrs. Maher, who wasn’t paying any attention to me.
Rachel saw me, and she nodded vigorously.
Shoving one hand into the dirt, I asked Sídhetír to help me, then I arched up.
Mrs. Maher’s eyes widened as I stabbed her in the stomach with the blade. It slid in like butter. Ice poured out of the sword, coating her dress. She stumbled back, yanking the sword from my weakened grasp. Falling to the ground with a grunt, she stared at me, then her daughter. She recoiled.
Looking at me with tears in her eyes, she whispered, “Thank you. I got lost. I got so lost.”
I nodded. “I found you.”
“You did. Oh, you did. Thank you, Oren.”
Rachel lay next to her mother, grabbing her hand, and they both simply stopped moving. All of the other corpses crashed to the ground.
“Oren,” my brothers and Father screamed in their various voices as Cethin called for Abnus.
I shifted to see Abnus, who was still unconscious. I love you, I thought, wishing I could say it, but darkness crept over me, stealing me away.