He exposed muscled forearms, which I was surprised to see were covered in tattoos. The intricate images were not the familial sigils and whorls Sage had on his chest and shoulders, but a much more ornamental mural. I saw the likeness of a vargr among the thorns and honeysuckle that wrapped around his arm. The flowers caught my eye because I knew he must have gotten them for Aodhan. Others had often told me that I smelled of honeysuckle, and I wondered if my brother had as well.
“So,” drawled Rian, his eyes still down on his sleeves, “whichof you would like to go first?”
Of course, neither of them volunteered, but I could see them glancing at one another as if they both hoped the other might offer.
“I will flip a coin,” Rian offered, digging a hand into his pants pocket to produce a gold coin from Mionlach, which he showed them. “Grain for Arren. Fish for Finn.”
He flipped the coin into the air without another word, catching it and slapping it down on his bare forearm.
“Grain,” he declared, raising his head to give Arren a wink that made my cousin shrink.
“I refuse to be—” Arren began to speak.
But Rian was no longer listening. He stepped through the ward as if it were not there, advancing with predatory intention toward the dryads. Fighting him did not even seem to occur to either of them as they scrambled to get out of his path. Before either of them could do anything more than cry out in fear, Rian had seized Arren by one of his antlers and dragged the other male out of the ward.
I glanced aside in surprise when Ciaran met them with rope in his hands. He used it to tie Arren to the chair that Rian had vacated as soon as Rian had shoved my shaking cousin down onto it.
“You cannot do—” Arren attempted to protest again, but Rian gripped a fistful of his long red hair and yanked his head back at a painful angle.
“You will not speak again unless it is to answer my questions. Venom and spite will do you no good with me. Better to give me what I want,” Rian warned him.
“Everyone in the Rowan Wood knows where she is! And they will come for hersoon,” Arren growled.
“What progress has my father made on the harness?”
I had blurted the question before I could help myself and moved over to stand next to Rian over Arren.
The other dryad turned his head with a grimace as he pulledagainst Rian’s grip in his hair and spat toward me, but luckily he missed.
“Kinslayer! I do not answer to filthy little—”
Ciaran drew a blade behind Arren and grabbed one of my cousin’s furred ears, pressing the carving knife against the base of the appendage to interrupt the dryad.
“If you value your vanity then youwillanswer her,” growled the other rider.
Arren sputtered, looking furious as his eyes rolled like he was looking for a way out of his circumstances.
“Hurry now. My patience is waning,” Rian chirped.
“It is complete,” Arren admitted finally, causing dread to sink like a stone into my stomach. “Of course, he must test it on the one for whom it was made, but I have every confidence in his success.”
“And who else can use it?” I asked him.
Arren hissed. He was evidently even more displeased by my questioning then he was by the violence of the two male riders, but I didn’t care.
“Only him,” Arren grunted when Ciaran pressed his blade tighter against his ear. “He has… pacified Laisren with promises to bind you to him when you are returned. Of course, Laisren is not fool enough to believe that now that An Díothú Mór has been enacted.”
“Where is the harness?” I snarled in a disgusted fury. Wherever it was, I needed to get it and destroy it!
“Do you really think Brogan is free with such details?” Arren scoffed at me.
“Is there really nothing else of interest youdoknow, little stag?” Ciaran asked with a vicious edge in his tone. “Perhaps some detail you know we would find useful that we have not thought to ask about?”
“No,” snarled the dryad indignantly.
“Good,” said Ciaran before he cut through Arren’s ear with one rough slice. I was startled when my face and Rian’s weresuddenly splattered with Arren’s green blood that smelled of jasmine and vanilla. “Then we can address the crimes you committed against Aodhan and Ornella,” Ciaran declared.
The dryad had jerked, but the cut was so clean that the pain was delayed. It was not until Ciaran dropped the ear into his lap that Arren started to scream.
