This time I was more ready to take the dream potion than with Manannan’s cave. I fidgeted with my stomach as Rio served dinner. I gave her the excuse I wasn’t hungry—I’d binged for breakfast and lunch to make sure. The roast beef smell still taunted my nose and made my taste buds cry.
Rio sat across from me, but further away. The distance stung when I didn’t think about it. I had to remind myself she was avoiding temptation: me. As she ate, I gabbed about other kinds of poker I should teach her once she got elected.
She nodded along but spaced off into her plate as she nibbled at the food. Sometimes her eyebrows would go up and down with some unspoken thought. It seemed like neither of us were in the mood for dinner right then, having it for ritual’s sake.
“You still there?” I snapped in front of her. “You’re not really into the card game talk, are you?”
Rio jumped, and her attention bolted to my hand, then my face. “You just described the difference between Texas holding something and a card going wild.”
“Oh yeah, you’re spacing out hard.” I laughed and leaned back on my hands. “What’s on your mind? More planning how to win over the southern queens?”
“Not them.” Rio sighed and flicked her meat to the side of her plate. “No Bean Sidhe or subject of Mumhan will answer when I call them now. With less than a fortnight until Samhain, my time runs perilously short. I’m strategizing for the one I already expected to vote in my favor.”
“That’s the guy to the west that Midir’s visiting, right?”
“Yes.” She glanced over her shoulder and her lip curled. “Speaking of the horselord… stay here. Don’t wander into the hallway and be quiet no matter what you hear.”
I blinked. She’d shown me off to a few of the people in the sun and moon mirror. Daire had warned me this guy had a kink for human women, though. Was that why she wanted me to stay hidden?
Rio got up and headed toward the mirror with naked women riding a herd of horses. She swiped the black curtain over it away and addressed a reflection I couldn’t see. “Yes, King Finvarra?”
“I noticed you didn’t reply to my invitation.” He had a deep voice and his chill cadence made him seem buzzed on something. “It’s a pity. I was hoping I could show you and your pet the wonders of my hills.”
I kept where he could shove his hills to myself.
“I don’t mean to offend, but I received word that the entire Dagda’s Brood would attend.” Rio’s tone stayed even, diplomatic. “Circumstances being what they are, I would rather visit you when they are off seeing to other matters.”
“Midir plans to head to Uliad tomorrow morning,” Finvarra said with a pleased lilt. “You both come the evening after he leaves, and I’ll give you a grand little welcome, just the three of us.”
“It’s a tempting proposition.” Rio stayed cordial, but tight. “My companion will be indisposed for that night, though. You’ll have to make due with the two of us.”
“What possible plans can a changeling have that her master can’t alter?” His pleasant demeanor turned skeptical. “I only caught a glimpse of her when Bodb announced his stepping down. Why deprive me of what Manannan’s hoard has already seen?”
“I will not debate this point, your majesty.” Rio’s fingers clenched to fists at her sides. Her glow didn’t darken, even though her eyes started to. “I will be happy to meet with you and discuss my intentions of how to use my reign, but my companion will not accompany me.”
“Your sire brought his and she was a pleasant eye-full. He’s been a proper guest, and even helped me host this little gathering you refuse to attend.” The underlying threat made his laid back nature turn creepy. “If you can’t even offer to do the same, perhaps casting my vote his way is the best thing for Connacht. He’s proven far more flexible than Bodb already. Imagine how liberal he could be when he has the Key’s power behind him.”
“If you think for a moment Midir the Proud of Bri Leith will allow you to pursue your whims as you like, you’ve let yourself be deceived by what few charms he has left.” Rio hid her mocking, catty giggle behind her hand. “Are you so gullible? Perhaps Connacht is as lowly as the other provinces say. Plentiful but never prosperous. Is that how you want your rule remembered?”
“Insulting the council you wish to sway is a terrible idea if you desire to rule over them, Lady of Irons.” Finvarra’s vocal color went flat.
“It sounds as unwise as siding with the old regime, who have never given you what you desire in exchange for your loyalty.” Rio ran her hand over the mirror. The glow went out. A hang up without saying goodbye.
Rio reined in her dark particles as she walked back over and methodically sank to her old spot. Her posture stayed rigid as she folded her legs under her and smoothed her airy gown. Stiff and controlled, in a mood.
“You handled him like a pro,” I said when the quiet stretched too long. “Why didn’t you want to bring me, though? He pretty much promised he’d vote for you if you did. I’ve put up with pervy ogling at work plenty.”
“The only way to buy his vote is to allow him to do more than stare. He would want to spend a night with you unsupervised.” Rio shook her head as she dug her nails into her skirt. “From there, he would ply you with potions or magic to win your compliance, then give you back to me as a shell of yourself. Do you think that’s worth his vote?”
Every hair on my body stood up. Chills ran through my veins at the casual way she described it. All I could do was gulp and shake my head.
“My thoughts exactly.” Rio’s stiff shoulders dropped, and she set her dinner aside. “However, his vote is still crucial. If I am to win it without involving you, I have to stoop to tactics that would churn your stomach. That’s why I wanted to save him for last when I had secured the other votes I need through merit.”
“That…makes sense.” Part of me didn’t want to know what she meant and brushed it off as making deplorable, but empty promises. I got up and escaped to my cot. Hopefully I’d let enough time pass for Daire to get ready. “I should head to bed.”
Rio came to the cot with me and tucked the blanket under my legs. When I laid down, she smoothed my bangs back and pecked my forehead, her lips barely brushing my skin. She’d made that a new nightly habit ever since she told me she liked me. It was still restrained, but enough to tell me her interest.
I breathed deep, closed my eyes, and slipped into the dangerous dreamland Daire’s tea concoction sent me to. Time to pull another heist.
* * *
I woke up to that sensation of swimming through the air, the same I’d felt when Daire and I went for the Spear. Rio had changed to Queenie the fox and laid curled up beside my cot. She had her hackles up and her eyes narrowed down the hallway. Was she watching for something? Guarding me? Waiting?
I nudged my sleeping body’s arm off the cot so it fell on Queenie.
The fox jumped as the hand landed on her dainty head and sagged down to her stomach, tipping her over. That would buy me a minute.
I glided down the hall to the mirror with the horses and slid its curtain aside. The mirror let me slide on through so much easier than when a fleshy body weighed me down.
The empty welcoming area I flew into had swirling horse carvings in every wood beam, long table, and chair like an artfully vandalized cafeteria. Muffled music and chatter rumbled from the other side of the massive double doors behind me. Its thick beams and copper hardware made the exact words and notes too rough to understand. I turned my ghostly self toward the smaller openings on the opposite wall that led down more halls. One on the right and one on the left. Reciting “eenie meenie minie mo” landed my finger on the left. It was as good a place to start as any.
Finvarra’s place had as many guest rooms as Tara, most of them with lights under their doors. Bodb’s abandoned maze couldn’t compare to that much activity. I passed one room that stood out—its door was taller than the others and had a grown horse surrounded by baby farm animals carved into it. Calves, lambs, chicks, all of them stood around the bigger animal’s hooves. The livestock could be the king’s way of reminding everyone he stored the food dispenser in there if he had a dark sense of humor.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
I crouched with my cheek pressed to the cool floor and peered in the gap under the door. It was thinner than the space between bathroom stalls, but if I squinted I could make out the bottom of things. Daire described the Cauldron’s room as full of mirrors with a pedestal in the middle. This one had flickering light on one side and a rounded board with a long curtain pooled around it. The empty guest rooms at Tara had fireplaces, and the shape of the curtained off area reminded me of Daire’s circular bed. A couple of sandaled feet stepped into view with a tan skirt dragging behind them, confirming my guess. Another occupied bedroom.
I took off further down the hall and turned the next corner. Going straight ahead led to more closed rooms with flickering lights, then occupied guest rooms, until a large open arch broke them up. It led to a wide staircase going deeper in. I slid down those stairs and another huge archway framed a copper bowl as big as me, surrounded by mirrors. Bingo!
The domed space could’ve held a small stadium and hundreds of mirrors layered the ceiling. Their reflective middles were browned out like when Bodb cut off Rio’s access to her burrow, a bunch of empty frames waiting for pictures. That must mean no one could use them like security cameras. I hadn’t run into any guards on my way. Daire had somehow convinced Finvarra to leave his sacred treasure vulnerable.
So far, so good. Next: wait for Daire to catch up so he could make the portal. He could also explain how we’d carry and bury this massive thing. It could hold at least three people with room to spare, like the big pot from the kids’ story about a town that makes stone stew for everyone.
I floated circles around the room while I waited, and made twenty laps before I got worried. Daire should’ve been there by now. He said he’d know when I fell asleep. Should I have signalled him that I was there already?
I dug out the silver mirror that had crossed over with me from the side of my bra and tapped it. The past week or two calling him made sending mental signals through it as easy as using a cell phone.
The mirror pulsed on and off. Daire usually picked up before ten flashes. It went on for twenty, then twenty-five. No answer.
“I’m coming.” Daire’s face appeared in the glass, and he bounced like he was on the move. Watching his background made me dizzy as it swerved up and down with his jog. “I was dealing with my family.”
“Everything alright?”
“For now,” Daire said. “Father told Aunt Brigid about my sickness. Bodb guessed aloud that my human blood was causing it, and Uncle Aengus promised to look into it later.”
“Your dad’s bringing it up in the open?” I squeezed my eyebrows together. “Wouldn’t he want to keep that private?”
“Yes, considering he…” Daire trailed off as he looked up, off in the distance where I couldn’t see. The image in the mirror blurred as something shoved it somewhere else. My next clear picture was a generous shot of Daire’s backside with his gold embroidered dress shirt barely covering his ass.
What was he—
“Who’s that, Little Daire?” A woman’s smooth crooning interrupted my thought. “You’re still too young to have a sweetheart among any of the Aos Si.”
“Lady Una.” The picture quivered. Daire’s hand shaking? Was he scared because she almost caught him? “I tired of the feast and decided to wander your estate a bit. I didn’t expect anyone to be around.”
“You’re making trouble?” Lady Una spoke higher like a patronizing stranger when a kid did something cute. “I also grew bored of the feast. This estate and the entire celebration is more my husband’s domain than mine. Shall we spend our mutual boredom together?”
Daire’s muscles tensed under his long shirt. The whole image shifted as he stepped back. I caught the edge of a door with a horse surrounded by baby farm animals. “I’d rather retire to my own quarters, m’lady. Your offer is generous, but I would make terrible company at the moment.”
“How could Tir Na Nog’s only youngling displease me?” A looming shadow and a tan skirt blotted out anything beyond Daire. “You strike me as just the right company.”
Daire pressed himself against his mirror and the frame scraped against something hard. That lady cornered him against a wall.
I’d passed the horse door earlier. It’d be easy finding my way back. Daire’s magic was weak, and if that woman was as much of a cougar as she sounded, he couldn’t defend himself. I sped away from the Cauldron, sprinting up the stairs and launching myself off them into a glide.
* * *
I zipped down the hall and turned that corner, bumping into a wall as I took my turn too wide. A brunette about Rio’s height dressed in a tan gown with shimmering decorations leaned over Daire. He inched and side-stepped away. She glided in his way, cutting off his escape and herding him toward the bedroom door with the farm animals.
I pushed off the wall and flew through the air, making a beeline for her. My Superman moment landed my elbow into her spine. It threw my weightless body off course. I flipped and twirled into the opposite wall.
She fell forward and caught herself on Daire, planting both hands on either side of his head so she trapped him between her arms. “Was that an attack or a nudge to keep going?”
“I’m not sure what you mean m’lady.” Daire’s Adam’s apple bobbled as he gulped. Could he not see me? “I need to leave, and you are being very discourteous by preventing that.”
“I am not your host, my husband is.” She swept his loose hair away from his neck. “I’ve seen how you carry on with any pretty thing who comes your way. Why am I so different? I should be better. I wield tenfold the power they do with experience to match.”
“I’ve had my fill of experience and power from my family. Those don’t attract me. You don’t attract me.”
“What does? I can become anything your heart desires.”
“I desire that you cease invading my intimate space without my clear invitation,” Daire said through gritted teeth.
“Now you’re playing coy.” Una smiled, eager and pointy.
“None of my family will stand for this treatment.” Daire reached for a dagger in a sheath on his belt. “My father, King Aengus, Queen Brigid, even the High King Bodb Derg will retaliate.”
“Not if you don’t remember.” Una traced down Daire’s neck to his collarbone.
Daire drew his knife.
Una grabbed his wrist in a too-fast-to-follow motion, and pinned the knife over his head. “It can be my little secret.”
This chick wasn’t leaving me another choice. I threw myself at her from a different angle and grabbed for her arm, the one holding Daire’s weapon away.
Una swayed as I bounced off her like a trampoline. I had force, but no mass to back it up.
“Yes. Struggle. Raise your power against me.” Una glowed brighter and a hot force came off her in waves. She dug her nails deeper into his wrist. “But you won’t deny me!”
“I’m not—” Daire’s voice cut off into a whimper as an unseen power clamped his jaw shut and threw him flat against the wall. The dagger fell out of his jerking fingers and clattered at Una’s feet.
Rio had shown me how to knife fight a little during her combat lessons. The best places to shoot for in my reach were all the soft parts of Una’s face: ears, cheeks, eyes.
I grabbed the little knife from the floor and risked another second to take aim. She could bat me aside or the tip might bounce off a bone. I’d only have one shot. I couldn’t miss.
I lunged and thrust at her eye. It’s point went in with a pop like cutting into a ripe grape. The blade caught on something hard and curved—a bony socket? I jerked away and the handle shuddered against my palm as it scraped.
Una shrieked and reeled back, rattling my ear drums. She pawed at the knife sticking out and slipped on the slick blood oozing over it.
I grabbed Daire’s arm and dragged him until he got the idea and ran after me. We kept going through the hall, to the arch, down the stairs. I let go of him and flew to the Cauldron. Once his stalker caught up, she’d be pissed. We didn’t have time to be methodical.
“Maya?” Daire focused on me as he panted, my hand to be specific. But he couldn’t see me, right?
I followed his eyeline and looked at my hand. My arm had the same faded quality as back in Manannan’s caves where I could see through it. A red splatter covered my fingertips to my wrist in solid contrast. Daire must have followed that.
Light from the room’s dull glow flickered off the blood as my hand trembled. I’d never seen that much before, not even when I accidentally cut my forehead on some scissors while cutting my own hair. That knife had gone deeper than that, and the red dribbling down my wrist wasn’t from me…
No, we couldn’t panic yet. If Daire could see the blood, so could other people. I gave Daire a thumbs up, then jabbed my finger at the giant copper bowl on its pedestal.
“Right.” Daire dug out his mirror from his belt pouch. “Grab its handles and rumors say it will shrink for you.”
Those rumors better be right. I grabbed one side as I hovered above it. Only holding that didn’t seem to do the trick. It stayed huge. I stretched across to the other handle.
Daire clenched his jaw as he glowed. His labored breathing staggered. He grabbed the ends of his mirror and pulled, grunting with the effort.
“Find him!” Screeched Una from the hall.
Faint, rolling footsteps pounded after her.
I stretched as far as I could go, only holding on by my longest fingers. Tapping the other side wasn’t enough to trigger a change.
A shadow darkened the arch way at the top of the stairwell. The wave of runners passed over it, but a few strays raced down the stairwell.
Daire gasped as he yanked his mirror as wide as his arm span and held it there.
My shoulder popped as I pushed myself an inch further and curled my fingertips around the other handle.
The Cauldron snapped from the size of a decorative park sculpture to a punch bowl. I fell on top of it, almost losing my grip.
Daire fell to one knee, and the mirror spasmed with his hold. The image in the glass had pine trees and rolling patterns of white and pale blue flowers, the winter section of his garden. It flickered a beat, reflecting a polished copper pot attached to a floating red hand.
I dove from the pedestal and rolled into the garden. It spit me out by a small pool of water in the middle of a gray-stoned courtyard. I looked behind me. No one else came through.
I dropped the Cauldron and it clanged against the rocks paving a path. Maybe it blew up again, maybe it stayed small. I didn’t check as I rushed to the water. The pool rippled and showed an empty pedestal with a browned out layer of mirrors behind it. It flipped around, and Daire heaved over the edge of the picture. Sweat dripped off his forehead, dribbling down his neck and staining his collar. Webs of blue sky reflecting off the water interrupted his green outfit. He’d almost lost the portal.
“Fetch the King and Queen. Now!” a guard shouted behind him. Had he seen the Cauldron, Daire, or both?
I shoved my hands into the water and grabbed two fists fulls of Daire’s shirt. Bracing myself on the courtyard, I tugged back on him.