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“Swear I won’t touch you this time, son.” Mol’s boisterous voice rang out as the hoofsteps turned into the crunch of light boots over the forest floor.
I flinched from a sharp stab of grief. “Don’t call me son.”
“Alright,” she said, quieter this time. “Already put my foot in my mouth, haven’t I?”
“Mol,” Nua began anxiously, “I’m not sure if now is a good time…”
“I’d wager Ash doesn’t think any time is a good time to see me.” She chuckled. “But I heard you, laddy. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but… I heard what you said.”
“Great,” I bit out. “And I suppose you have plenty of opinions on it.”
“Well, actually…”
Stopping abruptly, I turned to face Nua and Gillie and shook my head wearily. “I can’t do this.”
“Wait, Ash.” I heard Mol jog closer. “I’m sorry, laddy. I know I can be a touch… abrasive at times. But you can too, can’t you? You’ve got quite a temper on you.”
I flushed and rubbed my face, turning to her with a sigh. “What do you want, Mol?”
“I heard what you said. About ignoring it.” She gazed down at me, blonde brows drawn into a frown. “You can’t just ignore it.”
“What do you mean?” I mumbled defeatedly.
“I mean you can’t ignore what’s now a part of you, and if you have been…” Her lips thinned. “That hasn’t been working too well, has it?”
“Guess it depends on what’s supposed to happen,” I muttered. “On what the Higher Spirits have decided.”
She crossed her enormous arms and cocked her head. “What’ve you been doing since becoming king?”
I bristled. “What? I’ve done loads.”
“I don’t mean what you’ve been doing for everyone else. I mean what have you been doing? For yourself? Since…” She waved a hand in my direction. “Getting this enormous dose of fae power?”
Slowly, I glanced at Nua and Gillie with a perplexed frown. “I don’t… know.”
“No potioncraft? No visiting the forest? No making deals and bargains or learning wordcraft or…”
“I haven’t exactly had the time,” I snapped defensively.
“So you’ve been full fae for, what, months now? And yet you’re still living like a mortal.”
I stared at her in confusion. “What?”
She chuckled and jerked her chin to the left. “Why don’t you come to our sidhe, all of you, and talk?”
I stiffened. “Talk about what?”
Mol shrugged, already striding in that direction. “Everything.”
I didn’t move. “I don’t want to. I want to spend the day with Nua and Gillie.”
“Ash…” Nua approached, brow creased with worry. “Can we? Please?”
I wavered, staring at my brother’s pleading face, then sighed and scrubbed my forehead. “Okay.”
“We’ll have that drink too,” Mol called as we started to follow her.
Chapter Thirty-One
