Page 31

AVA

I chewed my lip as the phone rang, the night mist dampening the leaves beneath my pacing feet.

This was my last phone call.

In and out of the glare of the van’s headlights I moved, certain that my every step was watched by either Ciaran or Ty, eyes hidden behind the black of the windshield as they made their final preparations.

I cradled my arm against my stomach for warmth as I started to panic. She wouldn’t pick up. I wouldn’t get to hear her voice one last time before—

She picked up to my relief.

Ebony’s voice came on over the phone. “…don’t care how, just get it done. Hello, Ava?”

“Ma?”

She sucked in a breath. Then for a moment there was silence.

“Ava, what’s wrong?”

I hadn’t meant to frighten her. But knowing that this could very well be the last time I spoke with her, the word I’d never used with her just came out.

Ma.

It was a name most Irish girls had uttered more times than they could count. They’d whined it, shouted it, giggled it, rolled their eyes with it.

It was a name I’d always longed to call Ebony, but I never did because I felt I hadn’t yet earned the right to be her daughter.

It took being on the verge of oblivion to say ‘fuck it.’ I deserved a mother’s love just as much as anyone else, no matter what had happened in my past.

But I forgot that Ebony would read my use of ‘Ma’ out of the blue as a sign that something terrible had happened.

“No, no, everything is fine,” I said, probably a little too rushed. “I just—I was just thinking about you is all.”

Ebony was a smart woman and I hadn’t been that convincing. Surely she sensed something wasn’t right.

But perhaps she also sensed that this wasn’t the time to push.

“Oh. Alright.” After a moment, she added, “I think about you, too, Ava. More than you know… and certainly more than I say.”

I turned my back to the van to hide the start of tears in my eyes. I worried they would interpret them as signs of second-guessing.

I was more determined than ever to bring these fuckers down. I felt like I was stronger than I had ever been.

But I was sure that even the strongest woman in the world could be brought to her knees by her mother’s simplest affections .

I knew what I was saying. I knew it would worry her. I knew it was a step forward neither of us had ever taken. I knew Ebony would not sleep that night for fear of just why I said it. But I couldn’t stop myself. I had to speak.

“I love you,” I said even as my throat constricted with emotion.

I’d never told her before.

But I did.

I loved her.

Underneath her reserved exterior and brusque attention was a woman who had opened her home to a young orphan.

She was the only mother I could ever remember having.

I covered my mouth so Ebony wouldn’t hear my strangled sob. Tears ran hot down my cheeks.

I thought we’d have so much more time to break through each of our reasons for withholding ourselves from the other.

I always imagined a future where we’d meet up for mimosas in the city and stay up late cuddled next to one another in her bed with a pint of chocolate chip ice cream between us.

I’d pushed it off too late and now I might never have it.

I regretted all the missed opportunities which I’d let slip through my fingers like water. I hadn’t expected this phone call to hurt this much and I struggled to keep breathing.

“Oh…” Ebony’s voice cracked. “I… I love you, too, Ava.”

If this was the last moment between us, I hoped Ebony could find comfort in it. I knew it would be difficult for her if things did not go as Ciaran, Ty, and I intended.

Either I would go missing and she would never know what happened to me …

Or the article I sent to Lisa just in case would catch like wildfire and she would know more of the nightmares I’d experienced than she could ever possibly forget.

As I hung up, Ty stepped to my side, silent, his presence heavy with unspoken tension. I held out my phone for him to take—I couldn’t take it with me where I was going.

He took it and in return he held out a small sharp hairpin blade.

“If anyone dares to touch you,” he said, the violence sharp in his voice, “give them hell.”

His jaw tightened, his hesitation stretching the moment between us. When his eyes finally met mine, they carried more than his words ever could—a quiet, lingering goodbye.

“Thank you,” I murmured as I pulled my hair up.

“Here, let me.” Ty’s voice stopped me.

I hesitated for just a heartbeat. I didn’t need him to do it; I was more than capable of securing my hair on my own.

But something in his expression—a kind of quiet reverence—made me turn.

His fingers brushed the nape of my neck as he gathered my hair, his touch both gentle and deliberate.

My eyes fluttered shut at the shivers running down my spine as he twisted and pinned it into place.

The blade slid softly into the bun, and then I felt his warm lips press against the curve of my neck. For a fleeting moment, I let myself savor the contact, the way it steadied my heartbeat and softened the edges of my fear.

Ty turned me around gently, his hands warm against my shoulders, his eyes filled with love and… pride .

I love you for believing in me, I wanted to tell him. I love you for seeing the strength in me before even I did.

But before I could speak, he slipped a ring onto my finger—a delicate band with a ruby stone that gleamed like blood.

“Another gift? Ty…”

I still had his engagement ring burning a hole in a drawer of my dorm room.

For a moment, his fingers lingered on my hand, turning it slightly so the light caught the gem.

“I only ever wanted you to wear diamonds,” he said softly, wistful. “But…”

With a flick of his thumb, the ruby shifted aside, revealing a tiny, sharp pin beneath it.

My breath caught as he continued. “It’s dosed with the deadliest poison from one of the professor’s vials. A mixture of wolfsbane, oleander, and Belladonna, which he called The Dark Queen.”

I stared at the lethal mechanism, the weight of the ring suddenly unbearable.

Ty pressed the stone back into place, his expression unreadable. “They’ll be incapacitated within ten seconds and dead in thirty. But it’s for one use only. One attacker. So choose wisely.”

I touched the cool band of the ring, letting its significance sink in. My voice came out low, almost detached as I vowed, “It’s for the High Lord…”

The words escaped before I could stop them. “Or if I’m taken alive… me .”

“No.” Ty’s sharp tone snapped my gaze to his. His expression darkened with horror, his hands tightening on my arms. “You can’t— Ava, don’t even think it.”

“I know more than anyone how depraved they are,” I said, my voice rising. “I’d rather die than let them—than go through that again.”

“If this goes wrong—if anything goes wrong—” Ty said, his voice firm and unyielding, his grip tightening on my arms, “Ciaran and I will do whatever it takes to make sure you survive.”

“Don’t you dare talk like that,” I snapped, cutting him off before he could say more.

The idea of him and Ciaran plotting behind my back, deciding that their lives were expendable to save mine, sent a jolt of fear and fury through me.

I couldn’t bear it. The thought of losing one of them was excruciating, but losing both ? The dread clawed at my chest, threatening to crush me whole.

But Ty wasn’t finished. He leaned in closer, his voice dropping into a low, commanding tone. “I’m serious, Ava. I’ll be nearby just in case. But if it all goes to shit, you run. Run and don’t look back. Promise me .”

I shook my head, resolute, even as my chest ached with the weight of the moment. The thought of leaving either Ty or Ciaran behind was unbearable. The idea that this could be goodbye? I couldn’t accept it.

“I’m not running,” I said, my voice firm despite the lump in my throat. “We do this together or not at all.”

Ty’s lips twitched into a faint, sad smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Stubborn girl. It’s part of why I fell in love with you—”

He hesitated, lifting his hand to brush a stray strand of hair from my face, his fingers lingering at my jawline, his touch warm and achingly gentle. His gaze softened, but I caught the flicker of fear behind it, the vulnerability he tried so hard to hide.

“Why I keep falling in love with you,” he said, his voice faltering. The words hung heavy in the air, a truth too raw for either of us to fully bear. “Ava, if this is the last time that—”

I pressed my lips to his to silence him, to stop him from saying something that might shatter me completely.

He kissed me back with a desperation that stole my breath, his hands sliding to crush me to him like he could hold me there forever.

It wasn’t just a kiss—it was everything we hadn’t said, everything we couldn’t.

It was love and grief and fear swirling together; it was hello and I love you and goodbye, and I clung to him like he was my anchor in the storm.

My hands gripped his shirt, pulling him closer, as if holding him tighter might keep him safe.

I lost myself in the feel of his mouth, his tongue, his hands claiming me, letting it drown out the fear, the uncertainty.

For a moment, the world beyond us ceased to exist. There was only Ty, and the way he kissed me like it was both the first and the last time he ever would.

“I love you more,” he whispered against my mouth.

“This isn’t the end, Mhaor,” I said softly, though the words were as much for me as they were for him. “Don’t you dare say goodbye to me.”

Ty let out a shaky breath, resting his forehead against mine. For a heartbeat, we stayed like that, the space between us filled with unspoken promises.

“Then don’t give me a reason to, Ava,” he murmured, his voice low, steadying.

I heard Ciaran’s footsteps approaching, the weight of each step an unwelcome reminder of what lay ahead.

Reluctantly, I pulled back from Ty, though my hands lingered on his chest for a moment longer.

“I love you,” I mouthed to him.

Resolve hardened in my chest as I thought of Liath, the missing girls, and all the lives the Sochai had destroyed. I couldn’t let them win.

Ciaran’s shadow fell over me as he stood at my side.

“It’s time,” he said, his voice rough. His eyes lingered on my face, betraying more than he probably wanted me to see—worry, pain, and something far deeper that made my chest ache.

Ty pulled back, his mask of calm precision slipping into place so effortlessly that it almost hurt to watch.

I envied the ease with which he could hide his emotions. I rubbed my thumb over the ruby stone on my ring, its sharp edges grounding me as I glanced between the two of them.

“We’ll all make it out of this,” I murmured, mostly to myself. My resolve solidified as I looked at the two men I couldn’t bear to lose.

“Together,” I said, my voice firm as steel. “Or not at all.”

The forest was quiet in a way that made every sound sharper, louder. Ciaran’s boots crunched on the brittle twigs and fallen leaves, each step like a gunshot against the stillness.

The cold bit at my skin despite the warmth of his chest radiating against my side. My head rested in the crook of his neck, his scent—something clean, woodsy—mingling with the damp, earthy air around us.

I let myself imagine, just for a moment, that he was carrying me to my bed, not toward the dark unknown.

“It’s not too late to stop this,” Ciaran whispered, his voice cracking slightly. “Just say the word, Ava, and I’ll turn around. We don’t have to do this.”

I forced myself not to respond, to resist the tug of his desperation, keeping my breathing steady, my body limp in his arms. Every fiber of me screamed to reassure him, to tell him I wasn’t afraid—but I couldn’t.

If I gave in now, his resolve might crumble, and we couldn’t afford that. Not with what was at stake.

He adjusted his grip on me, pulling me closer like he could shield me from the world if only he held me tight enough.

His voice dropped lower, edged with raw pain. “I’ve spent these last few years protecting you. Every single thing I’ve done has been to keep you safe. And now, you’re making me hand you over to them. How could you do this to me? This is killing me, Ava.”

The guilt hit like a sucker punch, sharp and twisting.

My chest tightened, and I wanted to scream that this wasn’t about him, about us—this was bigger than either of us could even begin to grasp .

But I stayed silent, my lips parted just enough to mimic the slackness of unconsciousness, and let his words hang in the air, unanswered.

If this was killing him, then what would the rest of the night do to us both?

Ciaran’s steps faltered, his voice softening, shifting from desperation to something quieter, almost hopeful. “Fine. We can run. You, me… and Ty. We’ll figure it out. We can… share you.”

The absurdity of his suggestion drew a small, involuntary laugh from me despite the tension.

“Don’t lie,” I whispered into his ear. “You couldn’t share your schoolbooks with Ty. There’s no way you’d share me.”

Ciaran’s breath caught, a faint hitch audible in the stillness. His grip on me tightened, as though holding me closer would make his words truer.

“If it meant you were safe,” he murmured, his voice a fierce, quiet promise, “I’d do anything .”

My heart twisted painfully at the sincerity in his tone. Images of Ciaran and Ty swearing to sacrifice everything for me flashed through my mind. Their vow to protect me—at any cost.

The rage bubbled up from deep within, fierce and unrelenting.

I couldn’t stop myself this time, my whisper turning into a hiss against his ear. “No. You don’t get to die for me.”

Ciaran froze mid-step, the forest swallowing the sound of his halted motion. For a moment, the only thing I could hear was the steady thrum of his heartbeat against my side.

His arms tightened around me protectively, his grip almost painful. When he finally spoke, his voice was soft but unyielding, carrying a weight I couldn’t deny.

“You don’t get to decide how I feel, Ava. I love you, and I would die for you.”

His words hung between us, heavy and unshakable.

I wanted to scream, to argue, but I couldn’t. Not now. Not when we were this close to the tomb, this close to stepping into the lion’s den.

Through the slit in my eyelids, the trees parted like curtains, revealing the passagetomb ahead.

It rose from the earth like a relic of an ancient and terrible Celtic god, its moss-covered mound seeming to breathe in the silver light of the moon. Morning glories twined up its sides, their haunting purple blooms almost ghostly in the dark.

It seemed to pulse with a silent life of its own, beckoning us closer with an air of malevolent patience, as if it were waiting to swallow us whole.

The entrance loomed before us, a stone face interrupted only by a faint outline of a door in the ancient rock.

Ciaran slowed, then stopped. His grip around me tightened, his fingers pressing into my side as though grounding himself. The tension in his body radiated into mine, and I could feel the unspoken war raging inside him.

He glanced down, his face shadowed but his eyes searching, almost pleading, his voice softer than I’d ever heard it. “This is it.”

I didn’t respond, didn’t dare. I kept my breathing steady and my body limp, even as my pulse thundered in my ears. My resolve was iron, but the weight of the moment pressed heavily on my chest .

Ciaran’s head dipped lower, his breath warm against my skin. His lips found mine in a kiss so soft, so achingly final, that it felt like it might shatter me.

Panic twisted in my chest, the overwhelming urge to respond almost breaking through my resolve. But I didn’t move, didn’t give in.

The kiss ended too soon, leaving my lips cold.

He pulled back, his breath hitching, shaky and raw. His forehead brushed against mine, and for a second, the world seemed to pause, suspended in the silence between us.

“I love you too, Scáth,” I whispered, the words barely a breath, but I knew he heard them.

Ciaran straightened, his shoulders stiff with determination as he balanced me in his arms as he pressed his father’s signet ring into a small depression carved into the stone wall.

The sound that followed was deep and ancient, the groaning of mechanisms long dormant. Stone shifted against stone, grinding and echoing in the clearing, as the entrance slowly revealed itself—a spiraling staircase descending into darkness.

A blast of icy, stale air washed over me, carrying with it the scent of damp earth and decay. The oppressive weight of the tomb pressed down on me, even from here.

Standing at the threshold, Ciaran tightened his hold on me, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Last chance, Ava…”

His voice cracked slightly, the plea in it cutting through the cold air.

But I didn’t respond, my silence more resolute than any argument I could make. I couldn’t afford to waver now.

Ciaran took a step forward, crossing the threshold into the tomb. The cold air enveloped us immediately, seeping through my clothes and sinking into my bones.

The staircase spiraled down, the shadows growing darker and heavier with each step. The walls seemed to press closer, the damp stone radiating an oppressive chill.

I kept my body slack in Ciaran’s arms, my breathing even.

Even as we descended farther into the jaws of a beast.