Page 46 of Why Broken Wings Fray

“How can you say that?” I forgot myself so quickly. “Saoghal might be divided into four, but it is one, as it has always been. How can you wish its downfall so easily?”

Killian warned me by tightening his grip on my hand but I yanked it away from him.

“I owe you a great life debt,” Queen Tonn hissed. “So I shall accept your poor manners and your quick tongue. But do not push it.”

“I am sorry. I… I love this world, Your Majesty. I love it like I’ve never loved another thing. So it is passion that drives me to talk freely, it is fear that allows me to forget myself. I do not know what to do with either.”

Her features softened somewhat. “Saoghal is, and always will be, eternal. It has survived many risings and many fallings. In a thousand years, pixies will roam it just as we do, now. Do not fear for what you cannot control, sweet Olivia.”

I shook my head several times. “I cannot let it go so easily. I cannot accept that blood will spill, red from the skies, red in the waters, red across the meadows, and red in the trees. It is not right.”

“Perhaps. But it is necessary.”

“Why?” I was aware how nasally and whiny it came out, but I was truly ready to beg the Queen of Uisge if I must. Tadgh must have known, because he leant even heavier into his wrists, watching me with a predatory intrigue.

“Do you remember the day Choilltean was attacked?”

Of course I did. I would never forget it. It was my first day here and blood rained down from the heavens, limbs scattered across the beauty of the forest floor, and I still awoke to the screams.

So I nodded.

“And you recall the poisoning of Uisge?”

Another horror that I would never forget, another nod.

“The Rachainn were cruel, yes. There is no arguing that. But what you do not understand is that it is a learned behaviour. For decades – centuries – the pixies of Saoghal have waged war on one another. Before the Rachainn, it was for the division of Saoghal itself. Before that, it was for the ways in which we varied. At some point, it started with one King against another King, and Saoghal has only known war since.”

I was shaking my head again. “So be better. We can be better. The four kingdoms can be better.”

Her smile was pitiful and made me sink against my chair. “My point is that King Ronan of Choilltean believed that treaties and pacts would keep Saoghal safe. Before him, King Tearlach of Speur believed that bloodying his sword and denting his shield would keep Saoghal safe. Before that, Queen Tara of Reultan believed that removing her kingdom altogether would save her people. Before her, King Cillian of Uisge, King Kealan of Cluaineach, King Finnian of Speur, and King Ellery of Choilltean believed that the division of their kingdoms would bring Saoghal peace. And in between them all, there have been dozens of others, dozens of plans, dozens of good intentions.”

I couldn’t help but to frown.

“And yet they all ended in the same way.”

“So, what? You truly believe that fighting, slaughtering, and mass-destruction is the only way forward? Are you that barbaric?”

“Mother…” Tadgh snarled as he watched Queen Tonn shift into a far more terrifying version of herself. “Olivia means well.”

I did. Sort of.

“When people challenge our most sacred of ways, the very things set by the gods that do keep Saoghal safe, yes. Yes, Olivia, fighting is the only way to right it. And Raegan… Oh, that poor boy, he made a grave mistake.”

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My quick loyalty to Raegan was definitely going to get me killed one day.

“It was not a mistake!” Howling, I cared little for how desperately Killian was yanking at my arm to calm me. “How can you not see that? How can no one see that? What was he to do? Claim one throne and face a war between Cluaineach and Choilltean?”

“Yes,” Queen Tonn sighed. “That is exactly what he should have done.”

Even Tadgh frowned across from me.

“I say this with… No, fuck it, I say it as I mean it: I am disappointed in you, Queen Tonn. You are like the rest of them. You would have condoned the war of Cluaineach and Choilltean because they are not your pixies, isn’t that right?”

Killian was surprised that I swore, considering I had kept that under wraps for most of my stay. Tadgh wasn’t, though. He was enjoying it.