Page 95 of Let Slip the Dogs of War

“Where were you? We said he could be a threat!”

“I met the witch in the halls.”

Oisin’s back goes rigid. “She’s here?” His power floods into the wards, strengthening them, even if that will do little to stop her.

Well, maybe not. She seems to care nothing at all for Oisin, so I do not think she will expend the energy to kill him. If Aodhan cannot finish the job, it does not matter to her.

What matters is that I suffer. My parents, Ronan, and I… I am not certain about Iagan’s fate in her eyes. He means something to her, but I do not have the time to get to the bottom of it.

“She was. Is. I am unsure.” I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. The aches that have wracked my body all day are becoming worse. “I do not believe Dante and the others made it through the veil.”

“What?” That one word is as sharp as the crack of a whip. “They cannot—We must—”

“Find them, yes.” Except I can think of little past the pounding in my head and the desperate urge to close my eyes and sleep. Will pushing Dante through the veil save him? I might have enough power to force it open. It would be the last of me if I did that. “My rooms. Now.”

Oisin does not argue, following me agreeably from his rooms, though he is careful to close the doors behind us and drag together the tatters of his wards. I collapse onto the sofa once we’re inside and he watches me in silence.

“She did this,” I say. The pieces are falling into place. “She tricked me into believing my fate is to wear a crown. I swore I would fulfil my fate or my soulbond and I would perish, and that deal is draining my magic.”

Oisin nods, understanding instantly. “The crowns are draining the rest. And the others? Ophelia?”

I do not believe Dante is dead. I truly believe I would know if he were. “She and Aodhan have trapped them here, and now—Dante will not survive. Not for long.”

“Perhaps longer than you,” Oisin says and shrugs when I glare at him. “He has little in the way of magic. The deal you made… It may not have its claws in him.”

That is unlikely, but then we both know that. He is trying to make me feel better, but that is not what I need. “Regardless,” I say, the word painful, “Ophelia and Grant are with him. That is, if Aodhan has not killed Grant outright. I have no doubt he will have tried to defend them when they were taken.”

Oisin nods. “What do you want me to do?”

“We need to find them. Or you—You need to find them. Make sure all three of them get through the veil, if you can. If not…”

“I’ll send her back,” Oisin says quietly. “All three of them will get back.”

Whether or not they are alive when he does that is another question entirely.

“I did not know that it was Aodhan’s villa I was visiting,” he continues. “The fae I met always passed it off as his own.”

“Who is he?”

“No one you would have heard of, but like most Seelie, he is dismayed with how we have been treated. I thought he was looking for a more peaceful solution. He contacted me after Aodhan first took me to the court.”

“And now?”

Oisin scoffs. “Aodhan was working with him the entire time, wasn’t he? It was likely that fae who pointed me out. He wanted me to push back against rulings that would unfairly affect Seelie fae—which I did. I would have always done that. But now…”

“Now,” I murmur. “Now none of them will get what they want. The witch will see this realm destroyed.”

“Huh.”

We sit in silence. My eyes slip closed, but I do not fall into slumber. I still sense Oisin sitting across from me, deep in his own contemplation.

“I will go at first light,” he says, and it takes effort for me to open my eyes again.

“You… will?”

“To find them,” he says. “I would go sooner, but I fear leaving you vulnerable when Aodhan might be near.”

“He likely is. He won’t kill me.”