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“Eochu Bres de Cailleach.”
Bres stopped mumbling, his eyes blinking out of sync as he turned them to Ash. A hand waved weakly through the air, as if he was trying to slap Ash away.
“You will never harm anyone else again,” Ash ordered him. “You’ll never come to the village or the palace. You’ll never go into the forest. If you ever see another living thing, fae or animal, you’ll walk the other way. You’ll never hear another voice after this. You’ll be alone.”
He straightened and returned to my side. I slipped my hand under the back of his shirt to stroke his skin as I gave the two guards a nod. “Take him.”
Bres started yelling slurred, unformed words with his ruined tongue as the guards hoisted him up. He couldn’t even get his own feet under him, and his head lolled weakly as they dragged him away.
“Now then.” Golra stepped forward as she eyed the mess left behind—the shattered glass and whisky staining the wall, the pool of blood and saliva, the bronze teeth and the limp, wet tip of Bres’ tongue. “I’ll get this cleaned up. I believe your breakfast is getting cold, King Lonan. Seelie King,” she added, eyeing Ash with mild intrigue.
I nodded, leading Ash around the mess. “Appreciate it, Golra.”
“I have some ideas about what to do with Prince Cethlen too,” she piped up jovially as we walked away. “If you are interested in hearing them.”
Cethlen’s room was close to Bres’, and I knew he would have listened closely to that entire ordeal. At the mention of his name, he started banging on his door.
“Brother, please,” he called, voice shaking with fear. “I can help you. Lonan—”
I ignored him, guiding Ash down the stairs as he peered back at the door.
“Um… what are you going to do with Cethlen?” he asked uncertainly as we made our way to the dining room.
I looked over at him with a tiny smile. It had come to me in the night, when I’d had a disjointed dream about bounding through the forest as a wolf before thick, sulphurous smoke had surrounded me, and I’d caught a glimpse of a familiar place just before I woke.
“I’ll tell you over breakfast,” I said to Ash.
Chapter Forty-Four
Ash
Being king suited Lonan.
I could already see it. He was calm and relaxed as we ate our breakfast, despite what had just happened with his brother. The staff still seemed wary, but I suspected Golra’s approval would go a long way among them.
I was interested to see how different his days would be to mine. He’d mentioned that there seemed to be less for him to do, but when we made our way into the front hall, there was already someone waiting outside the doors to the throne room.
When I saw who it was, I stopped dead.
“Idony?” I stared at her in disbelief.
She tossed back her long red braid and lifted her chin, eyeing me with a raised brow. And was that… Cethlen’s hellhound in her arms?
“Well, well,” she said briskly, looking me up and down. “The half mortal has returned, now a fae king. Quite a journey you’ve had, eh?”
“Um…”
I was so confused. Why the fuck is Idony here? I wanted to ask Lonan. With Cethlen’s dog?
But I didn’t want to be rude, so instead, I slowly said, “Yeah.”
Side-eyeing Lonan, I saw his mouth twitching. He leaned in to kiss the side of my neck. “Idony is my adviser.”
“Ugh.” She huffed and whirled around, using her shoulder to heave open the throne room door. “Must I watch this lovey-dovey shite? Just like Sloga and Faulis.”
“Okay, what?” I hissed to Lonan once she’d vanished into the throne room.
He chuckled, wrapping his arm around me to follow. “When Sloga arrives, we will tell you everything.”
