Page 65 of A Divided Duty

“All of them?” I said.

“You don’t sound sure.”

“I’m not. I mean, I’m almost sure, but Kennis is Baobhan Sith, and she healed when she drank my blood—”

“She’s Baobhan Sith. She would have healed from drinking a cow’s blood,” said the Luidaeg, dismissively. “Her line is built to run on blood, not to work with it. She doesn’t count in the same way.”

“—and I know the royal family of Silences has used it alchemically, to make healing potions for themselves.”

“And that would be necessary for most people who wanted to use your blood for something,” said the Luidaeg. “Being a blood-worker isn’t just about parlor tricks. It’s about being able to use what the blood contains even before it’s been processed into its final form. Blind Michael was a blood-worker, one of the strongest Father produced before your line. Our sister likes to take all the credit for being able to bend and braid the blood, but he was among the greatest of us in the practice of that art. Luna is her mother’s daughter in every way that matters, but she has her father’s gift for blood in some ways.”

“How is that possible?”

“How is anything in Faerie possible? Let it go, and accept that you need to stop bleeding for every broken bird that crosses your path. It won’t always help them.”

“All right,” I said, yielding the point. Beside me, Tybalt groaned and opened his eyes, his fingers tightening on mine. I turned to offer him an encouraging smile. “Welcome back, babe. How’s your head?”

“Throbbing,” he said, unhappily. He twisted enough to bury his face against my shoulder. I reached up to stroke his hair.

“Poor sweetheart,” I said, voice low, and returned my attention to the Luidaeg. “Luna definitely grabbed Raysel. She admitted it after she recovered from her injuries enough to wake up. But when she got to the skerry, someone already knew what she had done. She and her mother were attacked, we think by Riders, and Raysel was taken. We don’t know whether she’s still in the skerry, and even if she is, we had no way of tracking her after everything they’ve done to muddy the trails. We decided to come back to the Summerlands so we could visit Shadowed Hills and question the people there. Luna didn’t tell anyone her plans. That means someone saw what she was planning, and took steps of their own. Our best shot at actually figuring it out is talking to the folks who might have been in a position to act.”

“And what are they going to do with her?”

“The Rider who actually answered our questions said, ‘What will be done to her is no better nor worse than has been done to all the rest of us.’” I shook my head. “I don’t know exactly what that means, but I’m guessing it’s nothing good. I don’t think we have a lot of time.”

“Well, then, I’m sorry to have slowed you down.” The Luidaeg leaned to the side, picking up two familiar tapers from the floor, and stood to walk over and offer them back to me. “You’ll need these later, when you want to get back to my sister.”

“It seems a little too easy to get there.” I took the candles, sliding them into the side pocket of my gown.

The Luidaeg looked at me flatly. “You’re traveling down a nearly inaccessible road that you can use only because it allows you, using a candle that burns only for the one whose blood it bears to light your way, and you think that’s easy?”

“Compared to what I had to do the first time, yeah.”

“My brother is dead. Be grateful for that. And keep moving, because your road’s not finished yet.”

“Hear that, sweetheart?” I twisted to look down at the striped top of Tybalt’s head. “We need to get moving. Are your legs working again?”

“I feel as if I’ve been out drinking with Will and his players,” he said, in a bleary voice. “Those were men who could hold their liquor, far more than I have ever been capable of doing.”

“No booze this time, I’m afraid, but we did get to see the Luidaeg without her masks on, so there’s that.” I stood, tugging on his arm to try to get him to follow me. “Come on, kitty-cat, get up.”

“I am up,” he said, not moving.

“All right, stand.” I tugged his arm again. “I’m not going to ask you to carry me home in this condition. I’m calling Danny.”

“What?” Tybalt’s head finally snapped up, eyes open and focused. “No, we’re not doing that. I’ll carry you, as we had planned.” He stood, somewhat unsteadily.

I eyed him. “You try to carry me like this, you’ll drop me. Look at this logically, Tybalt, and let us take the simpler route.”

He sagged. “If you insist.”

“I do. You’re exhausted, and you were even before the Luidaeg knocked you out. You haven’t slept in a full day. I really don’t want to get dropped in the Shadow Roads.”

“Listen to the lady, tomcat, you’ll be happier in the long run,” said the Luidaeg.

I pulled out my phone. “Danny will be glad he can be useful, honest,” I said. “Just give me a second.”

I stepped off to one side and pulled up my contacts list, selecting Danny’s name. The phone rang three times before it was cut off and a jovial voice boomed down the line: “Toby! You’re alive! Of course you’re alive, you’re unkillable, but still. You’re calling me! Does that mean you’re not mad at me anymore?”