21. Liath
LIATH
My arms were still wrapped around Lorcan’s waist when he pulled back from me.
“I have something to tell you,” he said roughly. “I came here to tell you…”
Tension pulled visibly through his body while he dragged a hand through his hair. Gold flashed on his hand.
I grabbed his wrist before he could pull away.
The signet ring gleamed beneath the low firelight, the engraved SC burning into my retinas.
The Sons signet ring.
He did it. He became one of them.
This was what we had planned for. This was the entire point of him going back into Lasair Manor.
But seeing the ring on his hand felt nothing like victory. Horror rolled through me at the sight of that cursed ring sitting on Lorcan’s finger like it belonged there.
A splinter of doubt moved sharply through me. Was Deargán right?
The thought sickened me.
Then I noticed the blood, the swelling spread around Lorcan’s finger beneath the gold band.
I gasped, my fingers moving toward his swollen skin. “What did they do to you?”
Lorcan jerked his hand away and shoved it behind his back.
“The ring.” His voice sounded strained now. “It has thorns that dig into my skin. I…” He swallowed once. “I can’t get it off.”
Dread spread slowly through my body. The Sons were already sinking into him deeper than we anticipated.
A terrible thought rose behind it. What if he never got it off?
Deargán’s voice moved suddenly through my head. “Didn’t think you’d agree with what he did to your friend.”
Fear sharpened instantly through me. “What did they make you do?”
Lorcan’s eyes shut briefly. “Please understand, I didn’t have a choice.” His voice broke low and rough. “They would have just sent someone else to do it. The trial… if I failed, they killed me. I wasn’t going to leave you unprotected.”
Every word made the dread inside me climb higher.
“Lorcan.” My voice came out thin. “What did you do?”
He looked at me, his features already in ruins. “They made me drug someone.”
My hands dropped slowly to my sides as the room tilted around me. Images slammed brutally through my head. Bridgit screaming. Her nails splitting bloody against the walls as she went mad. As they dragged her to Magdalene.
“Who?” The question barely made it out of me.
Lorcan’s throat worked visibly. “I’m sorry.”
My body snapped tight. “Who?”
Lorcan’s voice dropped almost to a whisper. “Nuala.”
No.
No, no, no—
My legs were already moving. I sprinted for the tower door, my legs pumping hard, even as my mind still spun.
Lorcan shouted something behind me but I ignored it.
The icy stone stairs blurred beneath my bare feet while I flew down the tower in my nightgown.
I raced across the courtyard, cold air clawing against my skin, past the statue of Deirdre and Naoise locked forever in their tragedy, and into the woods.
Branches scraped at my arms as I aimed toward the Ravenwood staff quarters where Nuala lived with her family. Sharp rocks and frozen twigs cut into the bottoms of my feet.
I barely felt any of it.
Nuala.
Please.
Please let me be in time.
Up ahead through the trees, light blazed harshly from all the windows of Nuala’s tiny cottage despite the late hour.
A unmarked white van sat parked outside.
My breath caught violently as screaming tore through the night, the sound ripping straight through me.
Nuala.
No.
I burst forward through the trees.
Strong arms caught me violently around the waist and yanked me backward hard enough that my heels carved through damp earth.
Lorcan.
I opened my mouth to scream.
His hand clamped hard over it.
“Liath, please,” he breathed raggedly against my ear. “They’ll catch you.”
Somewhere underneath the horror, I knew he was right.
I still fought him, my elbows and feet kicking out, tears pouring hot down my face while panic and fury tore through my body.
Lorcan held me, both arms chained around me like irons. He was too strong.
The front door burst open. Men dragged Nuala outside.
My chest hollowed out.
I was too late.
And there was nothing I could do. Nothing I could fucking do.
Her hair hung wild around her face, her eyes huge and shiny beneath the porch lights. She clawed at the men restraining her while incoherent screams ripped from her throat.
This was not the loyal, determined girl who stood by my side.
The Sons had already turned her into something unrecognizable.
Lorcan had turned her into something unrecognizable.
I made a broken sound behind Lorcan’s hand.
As they pulled her into the open back of the van, Nuala looked out toward the trees straight at me.
Our eyes locked across the road.
For a split second, recognition flashed instantly through her face. My Nuala looked back at me, a pleading look in her eyes.
Help me.
Then the black mouth of the van swallowed her up. The doors slammed shut, cutting her off from me. The engine roared as the van pulled away.
She was gone. They’d taken her.
I shoved at Lorcan’s arms. This time he let me go.
I spun toward him, shaking hard enough that my teeth chattered. “If anything happens to her,” I vowed through my tears, “I’ll never forgive you.”