Dark Fae(31)

Bres began to pace. “It might work. If we had someone in camp who could report back to us about her movements, we could find someone who to influence Nuadha.” He glanced up at Luke. “You could do it. We’d be able to trust you, and you’ve always been able to bend Nuadha to your way of thinking.”

Tapping his fingers on the edge of a chair, Luke nodded. “Yes, that would work. You and Quinn could wait just outside of the army’s camp for my signal.”

I lifted my hands up. “Whoa, I wasn’t thinking of leaving Luke behind. I was thinking someone else could do this, one of the council members maybe.” That sounded feeble, even to me.

Luke smiled. “Who else would you trust?”

“What if she figures out that you’re on our side?” I whispered, thinking of the black tendrils that had devoured the Fomorii, her own army. I started to shake. “I can’t lose you.” I looked to Bres. “Either of you. There has to be another way.”

Though we spent the next hour working through different scenarios, none worked as well as the first. I fought the two boys on it, in spite of the fact that it had been my idea at first, but in my heart I knew it was the only chance we had to get close to her. The plan was to set Nuadha free that night, before any suspicion could be roused.

When the Council came back, I informed them that we would have an answer for them in the morning. They left as quickly as they’d come, seemingly happy to be out of the presence of their new “leader.”

We had several hours before it was even dark, and both Bres and Luke insisted that I try to rest while they readied the plan. After the ride in on the Aughisky, and the time spent in the scorching hot Barrier, I didn’t argue.

I was shown to a darkened tent where a bed and clean clothes were laid out for me. A basin of hot, soapy water had never looked so heavenly. I stripped out of my jeans and t-shirt and scrubbed far too many days worth of dirt, fear, and blood off my body.

Slipping into the clean clothes, I wondered at how well they would fit. Snug khaki-coloured pants that tucked into a pair of leather knee-high boots, and a white blouse that was nearly see-through, clung to me as if tailored for my body. If it hadn’t been for the camisole, it would have been indecent. Fully dressed, Carnwennan in its sheath and strapped to my hip, I lay down, sleep claiming me instantly.

“Quinn, please, I don’t have much time.” I opened my eyes to Ashling leaning over me in the same white dress as before, her eyes full of fear. It was a dream, but it felt real.

“Ash.” I pulled her into my arms and hugged her to me, feeling how frail her body had become.

“I can’t help you, there is nothing I can do, but I wanted to see you again, one last time,” she whispered into my hair.

“Don’t say that.” My words caught in my throat. “We are not saying goodbye; that isn’t how our story ends.”

She started to cry and I rocked like I had when we were younger, and when she’d been afraid of the dark. “Ash, we can get through this, just like everything else.”

“Don’t lie to me,” she said, pulling back so she could look me in the face. “I know you had a sword made, one that would kill Chaos. I’m not angry. I understand, but don’t lie to me.”

I closed my eyes, tears spilling down my cheeks. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

She grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “You are the strongest person I know, Quinn. You are my hero, the one person I look up to. Don’t let me down. Don’t let her win.”

I put my hands over hers. “Do you remember when we used to wonder about mom, if there had ever been someone she really loved?”

The change in subject caught her off guard. I told her about Wil, about how Cora had forced Darcy to produce a child with Lir, and then Balor, And how Wil was still waiting for her.

“I think you’d like him. There’s something about him that seems so calm, so easy to just be yourself,” I said. Ashling was sitting beside me, our arms around each other. “It’s amazing to think he’s waited all this time for her.”

“Love makes us do crazy things,” she whispered. “I think I’m falling in love with someone, but I can’t tell him that. Not now, not knowing what is coming. But it doesn’t stop me from going to him as often as I can, just to talk to him.”

Her confession surprised and hurt me. Ash deserved a chance to have a shot at love, to find out all about what that meant, how it felt to love someone with all her heart and have that given back to her tenfold. It hurt that she would rather spend time with this new man in her life rather than me, but I did understand. Just the thought of leaving the two boys made my own heart ache with enough pain to steal my breath away.