Page 96 of Where Broken Wings Fly

He paused, turning to face me. “You don’t think…”

Yes, I do.

He scanned my face for any inclination to what I was thinking, but came up short and frowned. “It cannot be.”

I blinked an answer back to him. He sighed.

“We have a traitor in our midst.”

37

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Killian dropped me off in the guest-chambers.

I wanted to be alone. I didn’t want to be alone.

I wanted to ask him to stay. I didn’t want to ask him to stay.

By the time I sorted through my own emotions and tight chest, Killian was gone. Fate had made the decision for me, apparently, so I grumbled to myself, shut my door, and wandered over towards the bed. I let the back of my knees hit the edge of it, dragging my back down and onto the sheets where I stared up at the ceiling.

It was strange. So much had happened, so much darkness and terror, yet I still felt more alive than I had in years. It was this place. I had known that the entirety of my stay, but it truly engrained itself into me then. Whether it was the magic in the air, the pixies themselves, or the concept of Saoghal, I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that it had crawled beneath my skin and was now a part of me, whether I liked it or not.

At that thought, I groaned and twisted onto my side, pulling my knees up and against me where I hugged them with all of my might. It was in that strange fetal position that I noticed the spreading warmth across my body, almost as if Saoghal itself was with me, that I wasn’t alone even when no other body occupied the same space as me. With a smile creeping over my face, my eyes started to flutter shut, and I let sleep drag me down.

~

A second, a minute, an hour, a day later — who knew — a knock tapped against the door to my room.

I was sprawled out on my front, none of my limbs in a position that was comfortable but spread across the bed like some mangled creature. I awoke to a pool of drool at the corner of my mouth and a new sort of heaviness in my head. Groaning, I pulled myself together and rotated onto my back, content to stare at the ceiling.

The knocks came again, assuring me that it had not been a dream and someone was actually wanting access.

“Come in.”

I remained on my back, staring at nothing, as that person moved into the room and shut the door behind them.

Somehow, I knew who it was long before he spoke.

“You are alive, are you not?”

I pulled my chin to my chest just to glare at Raegan, who for once wasn’t dressed in jewels and chains and rings but wore nothing but a plain dark shirt and dark pants. For the first time since knowing him, he had his hair pulled back into a mockery of Killian’s infamous bun. His ears were on show.

With a tiny smirk on his face, he took a few more steps into the room and looked around it, taking a quick note of everything that was in there. Which was nothing, in reality, only what had been there when he had granted me the room weeks ago.

“I had wanted to talk to you, before…”

I nodded, pushing up onto my palms where I watched him cautiously.

“What you did yesterday, Olivia… Thank you.”

“You’re thanking me?” I was glad I had sat up, because I nearly choked. “What for?”

“Not many would have done what you did. I understand now why Urram wanted you there. In a way, I think you saved us from ourselves.”

There was nothing to say to that, so I just frowned at Raegan.

There was something brittle to his voice, to his face, as he looked at me. “My mother was a wonderful female.”