Page 88 of The Crown of Moonlight

“I’m only going out for a bit,” I say.“No need to move.”

It’s past midday.I don’t need to check the sun’s position to know that—the heightened senses that connect me to the landscape haven’t left me.

The hills are swollen, the earth rich and dark, leaves glistening, and puddles gleaming silver among the rocks.But wind still lashes the bracken, whipping the branches together with a sound like gnashing teeth.

I scan the glen below.A corner of the church near Mairi’s village is visible in the distance, and beyond it, a long column of black cattle moves north in the direction of Dun Uilleum, surrounded by dots in the scarlet of the uniforms Vheara’s soldiers wear.Plumes of smoke, thicker than the peat of chimney fires, rise skyward in various places.Not Mairi’s village—the smoke is all farther away than that—but I’ve no way of knowing what is burning.

My arms tingle as the hairs rise along them.Pressure swells within me, and I want to seize the wind and pick up every one of Vheara’s soldiers and blow them out to sea, wipe them from existence as though they’ve never been.

Standing here, helpless, the cavern walls close in.I glance back at the Riders before slipping out onto the hillside, but no one stirs.

Two steps later, Lorcan materialises beside me.“Did you think no one was keeping watch?”

My heart skips a beat.“For the enemy or to keep me from leaving?”

He shrugs.“Either—both.”

“I’d be stupid to try to get to Muilean on my own.”

“I don’t know you.”

“You haven’t given me a chance.”

He steps closer, the ever-present knife rolling absent-mindedly across his knuckles.Hilt and blade skip bone to bone without drawing blood, then flip to land flush in his palm before he flicks the knife again to repeat the process, faster and faster with a whisper of steel on skin.

Like Chyr, he towers above me.The Evers all do, but there’s something in the green of Lorcan’s glittering eyes that makes my mouth go dry, and not in a pleasant way.

He leans in closer.“Your very existence forces Chyr to choose between his oaths to the High King and his honour and loyalty to the Compact.You’ll damn him to the Gloaming or destroy him.Destroyus.What more do I need to know?”

I turn my back on him and start to pull on my boots.

“Where are you going?”he asks.

“To get the clothes I washed earlier.To get some space.”

Without taking his eyes from my face, Lorcan stills the knife and holds it against his side.I don’t retreat.

“I won’t let you be his downfall,” he says very quietly.“Chyr is the best of all of us, and he’s paid the price for others all his life.He accepted all the guilt for Fionn’s crimes as if he deserved to be punished for the sin of being his father’s son.We were the only ones in his corner then, and we’ll protect him now.”

I give a slow nod of acknowledgement, my heart hurting for the wounded young man I’ve glimpsed within Chyr occasionally.“What happened to his mother?”

“No one knows.”Lorcan slides the knife into a sheath at his wrist.“But all the things you think Siorai are?That is who Fionnwas.If Chyr’s mother is still among the living, and she managed to escape him, I wouldn’t blame her.”

“I can.Who would leave a child with someone like that?”

“Fionn never bothered himself with Chyr except to use him as a whipping boy, someone at whom to focus his rage on the rare occasions he was even there.”

“All the more reason.”I finish tugging on my boot.“And Chyr’s uncle?”

Lorcan stares past me, down into the glen.“Chulainn was no better.He’s more careful than Fionn, that’s all.Power can do wonders for a reputation.”

Except for the cold glitter in his emerald eyes, Lorcan’s face holds no expression.I tighten the plaid around my shoulders to keep myself from shivering.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I need you to understand what Chyr is to us—to every one of the Riders.”He glances down at the Shadehounds, and they watch him coldly with their moonlight eyes.Shade steps forward, but Lorcan ignores the large male and bends until his nose nearly touches mine.“We would die for him.Kill for him.Crush little flowers without a second thought.”

“Thank you for the warning.”I manage to keep my voice steady.