Stone of Destiny(58)

“Saoirse had you come to help us?” I asked. “That makes no sense.”

Niamh nodded. “She said Aoife had changed her plan at the last minute and you were in danger. Where is she? Where’s Liam?”

“There’s a fháillan mine deep within that cave,” I said, pointing back the way we’d come. “She was about to kill me and Ethan and do the binding, but Ciarán showed up and stopped her. He caused a rockslide and we just barely made it out. Liam...Liam didn’t make it.”

“Come, let’s get you back to my house,” Niamh said, her face pinched. “It’s not far from here.”

“Wait, what if Liam somehow makes it out?” I said, seeing Aoife in my mind somehow rescuing him and continuing with the binding.

Aodhan’s jaw hardened. Niamh looked away.

“Liam knows his way, right?” Ethan said, glancing between them.

“Of course,” Niamh said, but she didn’t meet my eyes.

Aodhan carried me to Niamh’s house and Ethan stayed by my side as he walked. When we arrived, Aodhan sat me in one of the chairs in Niamh’s dining room. I laid my head on the table. My lids felt way too heavy and my thoughts were hazy. It wasn’t until then that I realized how much I hurt, inside and out.

The last thing I remember was Ethan standing in front of me. “Is she going to be okay?” he asked, but everything slipped away before I heard the answer.



I opened my eyes to darkness. It took a few minutes before everything that happened came back to me.

I bolted upright and realized I was in a bed. The blankets moved and I felt Ethan sitting up next to me.

“Hey,” he said, reaching out a hand and touching my cheek.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“We’re in one of Niamh’s guest rooms. You were in shock and Eithne said your body needed to shut down so you could rest. You’ve been sleeping for a few hours.”

“Eithne was here? But what about…” Ethan put his finger over my lips

“Shh,” he said. “Niamh went to get her after you passed out. She healed your ankle. You had a very nasty break.”

I tried moving my foot. There was no pain.

Liam’s look of panic flashed in my memory. “Liam. Oh God, Liam.”

“Come here,” Ethan said, pulling me into his lap and smoothing his hand over my hair.

Tears welled in my eyes and spilled down my cheeks again. I buried my face into Ethan’s shoulder. Liam was gone. I’d barely had a chance to know him before he was so violently torn from my life. And chances were my mother would be, too.

“Look at me,” Ethan said, grasping my chin to tilt my head up so I’d meet his eyes.

I shook my head. “It’s my fault. What was I thinking?”

“You were trying to make things right,” he said, wiping away my tears.

I dragged in a ragged breath and nodded. “I was.”

“You should try to get some more rest,” he said, tilting his head to the side. “And then I want to take you home.”

I didn’t want to rest, but I did want to go home. As far away from Tír na n’Óg as I could get. Ethan helped me to my feet. For the most part I felt fine, if a tiny bit stiff.

We walked into the dining room where Niamh and Aodhan sat talking with Eithne and Diarmuid. They all looked up when we came in.

Eithne came over to where I sat down and, hands fluttering around me, asked how I was feeling.

“I feel completely fine,” I said, my voice still a little wobbly with tears. I sniffed. “I really just want to go home.”

“Of course,” Niamh said, giving me a tight smile. “We’ll go right away.”

“I’m coming, too,” Aodhan said, getting to his feet.

“But, what about…” Niamh started to say.

“I don’t give a damn about any of that,” Aodhan said. “Deaghlan can handle that without me.”

“Don’t leave on my account,” I said, frowning at Aodhan.

“I’m coming,” he said, and his tone was final.

The journey back was fast and uneventful. I was barely even aware of my surroundings as we went through the portal. Ethan drove us from Wheelwright back to Stoneville and all I could think about was going to my mother. If she were going to be taken from me, too, I wanted to be with her for as long as I could.

We went to Liam’s house first so Niamh could call the decoys back and get briefed on what we’d missed.

My decoy said I’d been granted the leave of absence I’d applied for. I’d been working at the hardware store and spending most of my time with Ethan, Jeff and Nicole planning the wedding. Nothing out of the ordinary happened with my mother during our time away. My grandfather had been to a specialist because of chest pains, but they’d put him on medication and he was doing well.