“Stay close to Darragh. You may go wherever your instincts implore you. Just know that not all aes sídhe feel very kindly toward witches,” he admitted.
“I know,” I reassured him, seeing the strain in his eyes as he was torn between his promise to guard me and being present for his family. “I will be alright. I promise! Please go and be with your family, Rian.”
“I will find you after,” he advised me, and I nodded, trying to convey how confident I felt to put him at ease. Something in my smile seemed to placate him because he looked relieved as he stepped away. His gaze rose to Darragh behind me, probably to relay instructions through their mindlink, but my attention was behind him.
The female at the fire had stood up and looked initially gleeful to see Carrick. But then Rian turned, and I saw her falter in surprise. Her eyes darted back and forth between the two men with growing alarm before she dropped the knitting in her hand. Her hand flew up to the beaded collar of the shawl around her throat, her face scrunching in anguish as her legs gave out. Luckily, Carrick reached her in time to seize her into a hug and held her upright.
“Come,” Darragh urged me, holding out an arm while Rian walked toward the sobbing couple.
I turned away, accepting Darragh’s offer and clenching his arm. But the moment we took a step in the direction of the rest of the aes sídhe camp, I felt that instinctual tug. The one that had made me ask Rian to bring me here.
I paused, drawing Darragh to a stop as I turned back in the direction of the nearest fire. I saw Rian encouraging Carrick and his aunt into the tent to speak more privately, so I pulled Darragh toward the firepit. The demidragon came without fuss and remained silent as I bent to pick up the knitting that Rian’s aunt had dropped. I set it on the piece of wood where she’d been sitting and then stepped toward the fire, waiting for my gut to speak to me again.
That was when I noticed a strange stone in the middle of the firepit. Shivers of intuition erupted across my flesh the second my eyes landed on it, and I knew this was the reason I needed to come here.
“What is that stone?” I asked Darragh.
“It is ateine ceangal. Five were given to the aes sídhe by a fire god called Elius long ago. It is used by the Sua to communicateat a distance,” explained the shifter.
“Five,” I repeated, my skin rippling with awareness and my pulse hammering with adrenaline as the Unseen, the All-knowing, abruptly moved close. Close enough to touch me. To share breath with me.
Only four. Now only four,the flames whispered with hissing and crackling voices within my mind.
“And what happened to the fifth stone?” I asked.
Darragh was silent behind me, and he looked shocked when I glanced back at him over my shoulder.
“How do you know something happened to it?”
“The flames whispered it to me. Please keep talking about the stone,” I urged him. He appeared skeptical as he glanced at the fire but nodded in agreement.
“Each stone belongs to a tribe. When Rian’s people were destroyed by the Fuath, their stone was lost.”
Not lost. Not lost.
“You are sure it is lost?” I pressed him.
“No one has gone to look for it yet, since it is almost impossible for anyone but aes sídhe to use it, but it is not in the hands of the Sua anymore,” Darragh clarified.
Enemy ears. Enemy eyes,hissed the flames with such urgency that I shivered from the dread of the warning.
“How… would someone else use it?”
“It would require someone to be able to touch it while it is in the fire,” Darragh answered with concern.
Enemy ears! Enemy eyes! Enemy! Enemy! Enemy!
The flames chanted with such vehemence that I had to close my eyes and breathe through my growing alarm. Then I looked down at the stone in the firepit, which now felt like a viper in disguise that was poised to strike.
“It has been compromised,” I whispered.
“Compromised? You think someone else is listening?” Darragh confirmed in disbelief.
“I know it,” I stated confidently, and without thinking, I bentforward to reach for the channelling stone.
Someone shouted at me and moved so quickly toward me that I shrank instinctively in fear of further assault.
Ihatedthat reaction. The one where I lost all control of myself and dropped to the ground on my backside to cover my head. My breath sawed in and out of me so hard that my lungs burned, I felt dizzy, and my head pounded.
