“How do you plan to do that?” asked Ornella.
“By ensuring that it is against Riordan’s best interests to allow her into the Vale,” Rian explained simply as he straightened. “There is nowhere else she could go, so if we can take away her only option to flee, it will prevent her from destroying this court with a mass exodus.”
“How will you convince Riordan?” the dryad pressed, her deerlike ears perking up with renewed interest.
“You are going to bring your witch friend here as our prisoner. Not only will it dissuade him from endangering this court whilst she is here, but she may also be able to provide us with direction on how to get Sage back.”
“Yes!” Ciaran agreed right away, clearly well pleased with this idea, but Rian focused wholly on Ornella whose expression had gone cold. It was impossible to know what she was thinking as she processed his plan.
“He would never risk putting her in danger. If Amira were in the Autumn Court, Riordan would do anything to ensure it was safe here for her,” she agreed thoughtfully.
“What if taking her does the opposite of your intention and incites him to violence faster?” asked Darragh.
“He can either stick to our bargain, and she will be completely unharmed, or he can defy me and watch me rip out her throat,” Rian stated unflinchingly.
“Killing her would incite him into immediate action. There will be no more diplomacy or attempts to avoid the loss of life,” Darragh cautioned Rian. “We should only kill her if we are ready to meethim in open battle.”
“War was inevitable the moment he took Sage and destroyed the Spring Court,” Ciaran stated dismissively. “We should just kill her once we are finished with her. Regardless of whether Riordan keeps to the bargain.”
“And areyouat peace with this fate for your friend?” Darragh asked Ornella.
The dryad had drawn her knees up and was clenching them to her chest, glaring at the floor while she listened impassively to their exchange. Her face was devoid of all emotion as she raised it to look at Darragh.
“Amira stopped being my friend when she allowed my mate to be taken from me by monsters.”
“If we can get our hands on the mate of the Vale King, he isnotgetting her back in one piece,” Ciaran insisted. “Riordan and Balor must be made to pay for all that they have done. I want them tobleedfor it!” he snarled.
“I hear you, Ciaran, and theywillatone. But the fate of the witch belongs to Ornella alone,” Rian insisted firmly before he looked at the dryad. “Sage is your mate, and the witch is your friend. It will be your choice, but it is not one you must make right now,” Rian reassured her.
Ornella was silent for a moment before she suddenly rose to her feet with a fluid and powerful grace.
“I protected and provided for Amira in Uile Breithà when she would have died. Despite my reservations about helping a witch! I sacrificed myself to the Wild Hunt to save her and her mate, and I bargained for your clemency for them. And yet, whenIwas the one who neededher, Amira juststoodthere and watched as Sage was dragged away from me!” she ground out. Her voice trembled from the rawness of her emotions, and I knew just enough of her to recognize that it was uncharacteristic.
Ornella reached the other side of the table and leaned on it with her palms splayed as she faced Rian. He was watching her with a rapt scrutiny because he also knew that this display wasvery unlike her.
“It has always been a matter of time before everything good is taken from me. But I cannot allowthis. Iwill notallow it. I amdonesacrificing and bargaining for Amira. All I want is my mate home and safe. I don’t care what we must do to make that happen,” she hissed before turning her head to Ciaran. “Do as you wish with her.”
Chapter eighteen
THERE IS ALWAYS VENGEANCE
Ornella
My mind was still reeling from the meeting with the other riders and Nuala as I followed Ciaran and Rian to where my cousins were being held prisoner. Rian was planning to kidnap Amira and bring her back to the Autumn Court. He would threaten Riordan with her life in order to keep the Vale King from collapsing another court.
And then Ciaran wanted to kill her.
Wasthisthe reason I had been compelled to save and provide for a dying witch that day? Rapport? So I could be the one to lure Amira into a trap and bring her to the Autumn Court? Had I really been made her keeper all this time only to now become her executioner?
I had given everything for her. My time. My power. My protection. My life. But now…
Now there wasnothingthat could justify this gaping hole she’d left in me when she allowed Sage to be taken. There was no apology. No reasoning. No forgiveness.
I steeled my mind against the questions plaguing me with uncertainty. Questions that the Tithriall had not seen fit to answer even when I had screamed them last night. Surely if they were not worthy of answers, then they were not worthy of being asked at all.
The yurt where my cousins were being held did not appear much different than any of the other tents, but it did have a wider berth around it. There was no campfire outside with rowdy fey shouting their greetings or rising with reverent murmurs when Rian passed.
There were two orc guards posted at the entrance who both bowed to Rian with a level of esteem that was rarely observed among their kind. And they barely even glanced at Nuala whose unique beauty would have usually drawn immediate interest. But tucked under Rian’s arm the way she was, she might as well have been invisible to them. But what continued to astonish me was Rian’s humility as he inclined his head to them in mutual respect before he ducked inside the curtains they held open for him.
