Tara, under my uncle’s rule, had become a secretive maze of doors, mirrors, and stairs. Exploration was a strong suit of mine as a child, and I had a fair memory for how to find my way through it. I only hoped the fortress hadn’t shifted any of its paths since I’d gained my maturity.

I set out to inspect Bodb’s bedchamber first since it was closer than the prison. As I passed through the halls leading to the living quarters, the wall-folk were as stationary carvings. They all seemed suspended in a passive sleep, unaware and uncaring they might have duties to fulfill. A spearman had paused in mid-leap. Flirtations between a noble lady and her suitor froze with them open-mouthed and laughing. The only one who could order them to cease like that was Bodb.

I stopped short at the bottom of the final stairwell before my destination. Bodb’s quarters were part of a long row of identical chambers lining the hall. Did it lay six or eight doors in? Was the direction I came from the correct perspective to count from?

Soft footfalls approached at the other end of the corridor.

I opened the room closest to me and withdrew into it. The canopy bed’s curtains were drawn shut, the plain furniture unadorned and the hearth dark. Protocol kept the guest quarters a blank slate so that anyone staying in them could glamour the place to fit their tastes. The absence of any decor assured me it was not already occupied. I went to close the door behind me while the stranger passed by. It remained a mystery how anyone else had entered Tara’s underbelly from below, unless Bodb himself had granted them a passage.

“Do you get how many people are going to want to kill you because of this?” a very familiar voice said in colloquial, American accented English. “At least six for her. One very pissed off Lady of Irons for me. Did you see the chain on my arm?”

“How could I not?” Another replied in the Aos Si tongue, a subtle hiss to his words. Fergal? Why had he gotten a hold of Maya? And why would he be that far from Bri Leith with her? “Its foul magic burned me far too much while tying you.”

“Then take us back. Let us go. I know how to keep my mouth shut. And who’d believe Etain if she blabbed?” Maya prattled on. “Why even risk it?”

“Those of lower position submit to those above them. When one’s High King asks you to fetch something, one does it out of duty. Your kind used to understand that.”

“So Bodb’s the bastard who put you up to this. Don’t you work for Daire’s dad? The Midir guy? I bet he won’t like you dragging his wife into this.”

“I should have gagged you before you woke.”

I dared to peek out and opened the door a crack. Fergal carried Maya under one arm and cradled Mother in the other. Maya’s hands and feet were bound with a tight cord made from a snake’s shed skin while my mother hung limp against Fergal, unconscious.

“I’m surprised you didn’t magic my mouth shut, already. Plenty of your people tried it,” Maya continued.

“A waste of power when a rag would suffice.” Fergal set Mother down with reverent gentleness. Once she was out of his grasp, he turned a scowl on Maya. He shoved her front first into the nearest wall and held her there by the back of her neck like some misbehaving hound. “Take this as your punishment for not separating yourself from kindly Lady Etain and cooperating.”

“It’s not my fault she bit you when you pried her off.”

“She wouldn’t have needed to if you hadn’t taken her when you fled.” He fashioned a strip of white linen from the air.

“You’re just bitter I got the jump on you when you tried knocking her out the first time,” Maya retorted.

Fergal wrapped the rag around Maya’s mouth so it pressed in harder than an excessive bit for a horse, then tied it off behind her head. Anything my human accomplice said after that turned to a garbled mess of syllables.

Fergal dropped Maya and she landed in an unceremonious heap. She groaned and a muffled slew of curses followed. Fergal started tracing over the planks of the door in front of him, tapping points in a pattern too calculated to be random. Bodb’s quarters were the eighth room from the stairs, I remembered. It was upon that entry my father’s guard drew his arcane combination.

I had to tell someone about Bodb’s subterfuge, but who? Brigid still skirmished with him in the front hall. Aengus would rush to my and Mother’s aid, but I had doubts Bodb would listen to his youngest sibling in his paranoid state. That left summoning Father, the High King’s trusted successor, who had the only hope of aiding my aunt through strength as well as sense.

I ducked back into the room and took out the mirror Brigid had given me weeks ago from my belt pouch. The situation left me no choice but to attempt using it in the dark. If I illuminated the mirror to see it better, Fergal might notice the light shining under the door. It was enough risk scrying Father so close to someone who was trained to detect my magical signature.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

I felt around the edge of the mirror and called up the looking glass in Father’s library. It glowed a soft gold, then pulsed as I awaited an answer.

Maya screeched from the hall. Fergal must have finished opening Bodb’s quarters.

Father’s face appeared in my mirror. “Why are you calling?”

“Because I just caught my nursemaid, Fergal, kidnapping your wife for our High King.” I glared at his bored tone. “Is that not serious enough for you to take notice?”

“Where is she?” Father leaned in, knuckles going white as he gripped his desk. There was the reaction I needed.

“Being carried into Bodb’s bedroom,” I said.

“Open your mirror.” Father stood, lifting his mirror with him and making the angle from which I saw his side tilt.

I should have suspected that he would try to come through immediately, but then he would find Maya and interfere. There was a simple trick Uncle Aengus had used on his mirror once to keep Father from barging in to fetch me back to Bri Leith. Perhaps I could replicate it. What were the Ogham he used? Rowan for protection. Alder for strength. Oak for stability. I wrote each character upon the frame so it would hold its small shape and Father couldn’t fit through.

Father pawed at his glass, obstructing my view with his palm. His hand slid away a moment later and he growled. “Boy, stop being insolent for once and let me through!”

“Use the main entrance. Aunt Brigid is already waiting for you.” I shrugged and didn’t resist flashing him a triumphant smirk. “Also, come armed. Bodb is in a mood.”

“What kind of scheme have you trapped your mother in?” Father snatched his sheathed sword from nearby. “Stay where you are until I’ve fixed this mess.”

“No. I’ll handle Mother.”

“Daire—”

I wiggled my fingers in farewell and tapped the mirror, cutting off his connection. His sour visage disappeared.

With Father on his way, Maya and I stood a better chance of escaping with Riona and Mother. Bodb might overwhelm my aunt by herself, given his experience and position over her. Against Brigid and Father however, the battle would rage to a standstill and afford us more time.

I checked Fergal’s process, peering outside once more. He had the door to Bodb’s quarters propped open with his foot as he dragged Maya inside. She wriggled and thrashed, kicking out with her bound feet. If he sealed the room, she would be trapped there.

“This is a surprise, finding you here in the halls of Tara.” I bolted from hiding and shoved my fidgeting hands behind my back. “With my unconscious mother, no less…”

“Lord Daire?” Fergal started and showed me his empty hands. “Have no worry, little lordling. I was about to deliver Lady Etain back to her quarters in Bri Leith.”

Maya went rigid and gawked up at me, as shocked as Fergal.

“How did she come to be here in the first place?” I strolled closer and nudged Maya with my toe. “And with my sister’s changeling too? You are busy.”

“The changeling was an errand for the High King.” Fergal sneered over his shoulder as he narrowed his green eyes down at his quarry. “A good thing as well. She was cavorting with Lady Etain in a manner I found most suspicious. Unfortunately, your mother had one of her fits and thought this girl was your lost sister. I had to subdue her until I had delivered Riona’s wench.”

“Ah, so Bodb asked Father to deliver Riona’s changeling and Father ordered you to do it?”

Fergal clenched his jaw.

“Well?”

“No.”

“So Father isn’t aware you’re doing this?” I quirked my head to one side as if the answer was not obvious. Aos Si society had a militaristic hierarchy that held it together. At the top of it all was Bodb, but his authority was only as strong as his Lords. My father kept his household in check by demanding that those under him served no other, even the High King. Anyone caught doing otherwise was treated to a harsh punishment and ejected from Bri Leith as a traitor. “That could only mean Bodb ordered you himself.”

“What do you want?” Fergal asked.

“I’m already here with my esteemed aunt. I will deliver Mother home.” I knelt and hefted up my mother into my arms. “And you will leave me alone with the changeling.”

“Really?” Fergal grimaced between Maya and I. “Is that why you were cavorting with her? Your taste in lovers is your own, but in front of Lady Etain?”

“Perhaps I want to barrage her with questions since she’s the only modern human I have ever met.” I rolled my eyes for emphasis. “What business is it of yours?”

“If she outwits you and escapes, it’s my hide not yours.” Fergal loomed over me, knowing full well my rank and blackmail was worth nothing in a fight. “We have no idea what spells and ideas Fuamnach’s spawn has been filling her with.”

“I have enough Aos Si blood in my veins to handle one human girl.” I lifted my chin and assumed the haughty authority I had learned from every other Aos Si noble, covering myself in the same lazy mannerisms. “Besides, it’s also your hide if Father finds out about your divided loyalties.”

“Fine.” Fergal offered me a short bow. “I swear I will leave the door open and be on my way.”

“And I swear, from this point on, not to reveal that you serve anyone else but Midir the Proud.” That oath didn’t take into account that I’d already told my father about his guard’s crime. It would be pleasant not having to worry about Fergal’s meddling anymore, but I kept those thoughts to myself.

Fergal sped away, back to whatever secret portal he had been permitted to come through. I set down my unconscious mother and rushed to Maya’s side. She made hinting grunts and jerked her chin at her wrists. I glamoured a sharp silver knife into my palm and sawed through the shimmering cord binding them.

Maya’s hunched shoulders loosened as she rolled the gag down her neck. The tight linen had rubbed the corners of her mouth raw. “Please tell me you didn’t let him get away clean.”

“I may have mentioned something about Fergal to Father before this little rescue.” I slashed the second cord around her ankles.

“Good.” Maya looked over my serene mother as she rubbed the angry red marks on her wrists. “Is Etain alright?”

“She should be. Fergal has been with my family long enough to value her as the Lady of Bri Leith. He wouldn’t do her any serious harm.” I hooked my arms behind Mother’s back and under her knees as I picked her up from the floor. “What about you?”

“Just a couple-dozen new bruises. What else is new?” Maya massaged her side as she stood. “How’s Rio doing?”

“You shall see for yourself when I find her. Coming across you and Mother was an all too happy accident.”

“You know where she is?”

“No, but Bodb is distracted for the moment and I know my way around.” I walked ahead of her, beginning our long trek deep into the bowels of Tara. “If she’s not in his private quarters, she’s not likely to be in any of these abandoned guest rooms. That only leaves the prison.”