“Oh, I want your blood, but I want more. Your father caused me more trouble than anyone by breaking the bargain. I had to go to the head of the Unseelie and beg forgiveness. He blamed me! I trusted your father, but he stole you from us. And I have suffered for it ever since. You will pay your debt to me or suffer the consequences.” He raised his arms and deafening thunder wracked the area, making Ailith cover her ears.
Lia said, “Gruin, you rotten soul.”
Gruin’s voice dropped. “I have no soul, Lia. You know that. But we have a plan, my overlord and I. And you will help us achieve our goals or you’ll never see your bairns again. I knew you would come.” He crossed his arms and tapped his foot.
Lia wasn’t intimidated. “You destroyed a clan because of that bargain. They owe you nothing. Edan owes you nothing, and surely a wee lass of one summer owes you nothing. You had no right to take the bairns because of a decade-old mistake on your part. His father is dead. Leave it be, Gruin. Erena will not be happy.”
“Erena does not frighten me either. We want all of Islay, and you’re going to help us gain control.” Gruin set a hundred snakes slithering across the top of the hill.
“Oh, stop your dramatics,” Lia said, causing the snakes to disappear with one wave of her hand.”
“I never liked you, Lia.”
“The feeling is mutual, Gruin.”
Edan took two steps forward. “Open the hill, and you’ll have me if you promise to free the bairns. It’s a simple trade.”
“Nay,” shouted Ailith. “If you go, you’ll die, Edan. You cannot go.” Something deep inside her warned her about the hill. A vision of Edan lying on the ground, blood coming from his ears, came unbidden to her. It was a land she didn’t know.
A faery hill.
“I’ll go for my daughter. Do we have a bargain, Gruin?” Edan’s fists clenched so tight he thought his palms would bleed.
“Your blood for your daughter? I can consider that.”
“And Milo. And the other bairns too.”
“Hmm,” he said, crossing his arms and stroking his chin.
“Nay, Edan. He’ll kill you.”
Edan strode forward. “I have to go for them, Ailith.”
“Nay, don’t go. He’s lying.” Ailith ran after him, but she stopped as soon as she noticed something. The grass.
He continued to walk, but Lia’s voice stopped him. “Stay back, Edan. He’ll suck you into the hill once you’re close enough…” Her words trailed off as she stared at the ground surrounding the hill.
As Edan moved forward, the blood in his veins hummed, the grass beneath his boots blackened and withered, the faery rings collapsing into dull, broken shapes. He slowed, then stopped, his gaze dropping to the ground as unease crept up his spine. The destruction halted with him. When he took another step, the grass ahead died instantly, as though recoiling before he touched it. Step by step, the blight followed his path, and the strange warmth in his blood flow stayed with him.
A chill settled in his gut. This was no chance happening, no trick of the light. Whatever force he carried, the land itself was answering it, retreating from him in silent warning. What in God’s name was he doing to this place?
Lia moved closer, then recoiled, her face pale.
Edan didn’t stop, moving straight toward the bogle, but the creature let out such a loud screech that Edan froze. The bogle moved back, then spun around and pointed a talon at Edan. “Do not take another step. Here are my terms if you wish to see your daughter again: bring me three hairs of the banshee within seven days. My overlord requires them for his collection, and they alone will prove your allegiance to your daughter. That and your blood. Bring me the banshee hairs, and I will trade you for her. Only then will I free the lass.” He paused, his black eye narrowing. “This is but the first of what I’ll require, son of the promised one. There will be others. There will always be others.”
“Nay!” Edan yelled, chasing after the man. The bogle looked over his shoulder, laughing as he entered the hill through an old wooden door that slammed shut and vanished.
But Lia had seen inside. The smile drained from her face.
Dyna came up behind her and said, “What is it, Lia?”
The wind whipped, the trees swayed until branches broke, the cracking echoing through the air, and the hill shrunk before them once the bogle was inside.
Lia’s gaze locked on the hill. She kneaded her hands and whispered, “It’s the same one.”
“The same what?” Edan asked. “Do you know something about that hill? How to get in? Tell us. You have to tell us.”
Lia whirled around and stalked away.
