Dark Isle(25)

I let out a groan, my eyelids sticky as I opened them.

Trees swayed above me, the leaves heavy with moisture that I could see even at this distance. A few birds sung in the branches and the ground below me was soft, but none of it was a comfort. Not now, not after what I’d seen.

Bile rose up once more. The taste of rotting flesh and thick dark mud from the deepest swamps filled my mouth. Turning my head to the side, I puked up black sludge till I was dry heaving. Hands held my head and wiped my face.

Shaking, unable to do anything but blink and adjust my head, I tried to mumble a question.

Luke came into view, his face haggard, his eyes ringed with purple as if he’d lost a boxing match. “You’re through the worst of it, believe it or not.” He stroked my forehead with a damp cloth then dribbled something into my mouth. The sweet taste of lavender and honey erased the last of the sludge. Fairy Honey coursed through my veins and I gave Luke a smile. He put his finger to my lips. “No, just listen, don’t talk.”

“Aednat has been guarding us, and she helped draw out the worst of the poison from the bite in your shoulder. There has been no contact from Nuadha, though I suppose that’s a good thing.” He frowned, the crease between his brows deeper than I would have thought possible.

“Ashling,” I whispered, surprising myself with the hoarse quality of my voice.

“Nothing new. But I’m sure she’s fine; Balor wants to make her happy.”

I wanted to sit up. The urgency filling me had nothing to do with the Banshees. The voices had said that there was an evil coming, an old evil. They must have meant Chaos. But was it going to use Balor? Or would Balor try to use it?

Struggling, I forced myself into a sitting position, and, though Luke grumbled about me doing more damage, he helped me.

“Where’s Aednat?” I whispered, resigning myself to the fact that at least for now, my voice was not up to snuff.

“She’ll be back in a bit.” As he spoke, his hands never left me. When they weren’t tucking a strand of wayward hair back behind one of my ears they were rubbing my good shoulder or just touching one of my hands. I’d judged him harshly, thought he was arrogant and unkind, when maybe he’d been just as freaked out about the prophecy as I was.

The pain in my shoulder was easing, thanks to the Fairy Honey. But it didn’t ease the heavy ache in my heart.

We sat there, not talking while we waited for Aednat to come back. Luke didn’t seem all that upset by the fact that I wasn’t speaking. But the silence bothered me.

“Cora was my grandmother,” I blurted, wincing at the pain that the sudden outburst cost me.

Luke blinked slowly, as if the words I’d spoken were in another language. “What? How would you . . . that can’t be possible.”

“When I was out of it, the voice of my grandfather showed me things, in the past. And I saw Cora as I passed through.” I chose my words carefully.

“You’re the line of the snake, but you can’t be her granddaughter,” Luke said. “That would make Darcy her daughter. But they didn’t act like mother and daughter.”

I frowned up at him. “Darcy and I don’t really act like mother and daughter either, so why would it be so strange for the two of them to act weird?”

He shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, stopping when the bushes in front of us rustled.

Aednat tentatively stepped into view, a woven basket full to the brim with berries in her arms.

“Aednat hears your words, Quinn. You walked on the other side, where death waits, didn’t you? What did you see?”

Luke snorted. “I don’t think that’s true. Or I’d have heard about it.” And there was that arrogance again.

Aednat’s blue and green eyes met mine and she gave a slow nod. “Look at her Shining boy. She is different. She has seen the other side and returned.” Luke met my eyes, then shrugged.

“No, I don’t see anything different. I’m happy she’s alive, that’s enough for me.” His fingers stroked along the tops of my hands. “No more talk of dying and souls, she’s had enough for one day.” He glowered at Aednat over my head.

With a move so swift I wasn’t sure if what I was seeing even happened, Aednat pushed a small mushroom into Luke’s face and crushed it in her fingers. A puff of spores exploded out of the plant; Luke took one breath and slumped to the side, his breathing settling into a deep sleep in less than a second.

“Now, Shining boy sleeps, and we talk about the other side. You and Aednat,” she said, as she slid down into a cross-legged sitting position. She offered me the basket and I picked a handful of berries, mostly salmon berries that squished pleasantly in my mouth.