Page 66 of The Wind and the Wild (The Keepers of Faerie #1)

Tynan’s jaw feathers. I watch something pass between them I cannot name.

Carefully, Tynan maneuvers me back inside the room before shutting the door between us.

Aidyn makes an uncomfortable noise, trying to sit up farther, but Niall catches him by the arm.

The look that passes across the faerie’s face has me hurrying to his side so poor Niall isn’t the only one telling him not to stand.

“ Stop it,” I say, holding a finger before his face. “ You’re not getting yourself killed or so help me I will go right behind you and you’ll put me in danger too.”

Aidyn’s lips part in offense. If I didn’t know him so well, the look in his sharp eyes would have me withering.

Niall, bless him, does release Aidyn’s arm and back away, though only by a step this time.

Una maneuvers behind him, the four of us crouched on the pillows against the wall, listening, while Aidyn and I keep frighteningly intense eye contact.

Finally, his eyes flicker to the door. His fingertips brush against his middle, against his still-healing wounds. Whispering, he says, “ Not him too.”

My throat burns, and I do not know what to say to such a thing, for I would not want my da going out to look for a monster. My father is not a terrifying ancient faerie who has already slain many of such creatures, but I suspect it would be no less horrifying.

“ Your father is insanely terrifying,” I murmur. “ I think he’ll be all right.”

As I say it, I’m not sure it’s true. Against one or two of the hounds, perhaps it would be simple, though Tynan was certainly unsettled each time we were confronted with one of the creatures.

If there are more, will he put himself back into safety? How far did Dauna go in her search? I know there are more Keepers skirting the borders of Faerie and the human world, but they are busy rounding up dozens of other monsters. I wonder if there are many more Unblessed than there are Gentry.

The roof above us creaks as if something is skittering across, and Una gives a restrained squeak, putting her hand on my arm.

“ Is there a level above us?” I whisper. I’ve never seen stairs going up from here.

Aidyn gives a little shake of the head, glancing up.

I cannot read his expression, though the way his arm winds around my waist says he is more concerned than he lets on.

No barking can be heard—surely, if they were hunting us, we would hear.

Perhaps it’s only the goblin finding its way onto the roof despite the brownie.

Or it’s Dauna, though a part of me insists she wouldn’t make so much noise, not with how silently and softly Aidyn walks even when injured.

The room is dark save for the fire still crackling low in the hearth, sending soft moving silhouettes into the corners of the walls.

Still, my eyes tell me I see shadows of feet from the other side of the door.

Aidyn pushes himself up, leaning his chest against my back as he readjusts his sword into his palm, a soft breeze rustling my skirts.

Una’s breath catches. I reach back and grab her hand where she’s hidden behind Niall.

Aidyn’s breath tickles my ear. Another set of heavy pants ghosts from the other side of the door.

From the way his arm weaves about my waist, I think he’s trying to ease me behind him.

It doesn’t move me much. I’m afraid to breathe, let alone crawl around him and risk making a sound.

Instead, I grasp his arm woven about me.

There’s another pant of hot breath and a soft creak against the wood, as if a weight is pressing against it.

Aidyn is whispering something that has my head fuzzy and my ears dull to noise as if full of water.

My heart flutters faster, but I know better by now than to think he is enchanting me.

Still, I give Una’s hand another squeeze in case she is beginning to panic.

Niall’s breath is picking up, but he isn’t trying to get away.

The old brass lock snaps, and I flinch. Aidyn’s voice falls still, his blade brushing against the grains of the wooden floor.

A familiar dark shadow slides within the crack of the doorway, bright eyes gazing at us in utter stillness.

With Aidyn’s spell gone, my eyes burn and my throat tightens, but I’m holding myself too tight to cry.

Its shoulders push in, filling the doorframe, but still, it merely looks at us.

I’ve never seen one so close and so lacking in violence.

Shadows seem to drip off its shoulders onto the floor, and I cannot discern if it’s the firelight or my eyes playing tricks.

A second one slides up behind it, smaller and no less terrifying, hunkered lower to the ground as it looks between its pack mate’s legs.

Aidyn whispers something in his own tongue, and the bigger hound cocks its head. I can only image what he’s trying to impart—that we are not the ones they’re looking for, that we mean it no harm, that we only wish to be left alone...

Do the Unblessed understand such things?

My lungs burn, and my breath shakes when I let it out.

It sets another paw into the room, easing inward in a slippery strange movement, lips rippling over its teeth in a silent growl.

Hopefully nothing has happened to Tynan.

I wonder if Aidyn would know, would feel it in his soul.

The softest breeze still flutters across the floor, but I do not know if Aidyn has the strength to throw this beast through the wall as he did only a short time before.

Certainly he hasn’t the strength to fight with his blade, and Niall with his little axe will be no protection.

The smell of a storm fills the air again.

The smaller hound yips and scatters as the air around it crackles and snaps, and through the larger’s legs I spot Tynan frozen on the steps, hair tangled and a trickle of blood on his cheek.

His lips part, one hand held up from the last burst of magic.

In the dark, those eyes matching his son’s look terribly bright. And afraid.

Would his magic kill us if used so close?

He leans forward as if meaning to step closer, though the remaining hound does not turn to check the threat behind it. Aidyn’s head shakes ever so slightly, a soft word falling from his lips I know no meaning of but must mean no.

Tynan falls utterly still.

The beast’s eye rolls across the room, and I get the distinct feeling it has settled on me, my partially ruined hand held tight to Aidyn’s arm across my chest.

Does it know me? It cannot know me, cannot be one of the same ones from all those years ago, can it?

The hound steps forward once, pulling its paw back as I notice the salt and iron spilled from my pockets onto the wooden planks. I do not believe such a little thing will give it pause for long.

Without meaning to, I slide my hand over to squeeze Aidyn’s.

His thumb locks over the back of my knuckles.

Throat burning, I release him to slide my fingers down into my pocket, brushing over the piece of fabric I picked up.

When I drag it out, the hound’s eyes flicker to the scrap of white speckled with blood from what Niall’s fists accomplished.

I cannot quite bring myself to hold it out entirely but move my hand in front of me where its face won’t come too close to ours.

Aidyn’s fingers clamp around my forearm anyhow, preventing anything worse.

The handkerchief doesn’t quite cover my ruined finger.

“ We didn’t do it,” I say, voice cracking so terribly I wonder if it understands, if it understands human language at all. “ Only him. Just the one. We are not all like that.”

Its head cocks, a bright angry intelligence in the large sliver of an eye pointed in my direction.

The handkerchief flutters between my fingers, shaking as they are.

I open my mouth several times and close it just as many.

How simple it would be to send it away from us and to another human on the other side of the trees.

Even when he brought it upon himself and threw us all into danger before him, it seems a terrible thing to let fall from my lips.

Finally, I say, “ I’ll make a bargain with you.”

Aidyn whispers something that sounds like a warning, but I cannot catch the words.

I swallow thickly. “ Leave him be as long as he stays out of your woods. As long as he stays on the paths and returns to the city, let him. If he ever steps foot back in these trees or lays a hand on your kind again, do whatever you will. None of the rest of us here mean you any harm. Let him take his fate into his own hands.”

Its breath lets out in a huff, sending back the leaves Aidyn’s magic scattered its direction.

“ If you do, I will give you his name,” I whisper. “ You may hunt him anywhere.”

Its breath comes out in another long snort, surprisingly warm along my skin. Aidyn’s hand tightens nearly painfully around my arm. Its paws stand a little closer together, avoiding the salt, shoulder blades sharper and straighter, as if it’s drawing itself up. A dark red tongue licks over a tooth.

A voice shivers out so deep it wraps about my chest and clings to my soul.

I cower back into Aidyn’s arms, letting him pull me farther away as Una gives off the tiniest squeak and Niall breathes out an oath.

The handkerchief drops from my hand, fluttering to the floor in a lick of white against the shadowy room.

In my ear, Aidyn whispers, “ It agrees to your bargain.”

I swallow again, my voice lost to a tight throat, and manage to whisper, “ Blain. His name is Blain Haskel.”

Its head cocks, the one closest bright eye caught on mine.

It slides to Aidyn next, and I can’t help but wonder if this one looks familiar to him after gaining all these wounds.

Another soft groan rolls over the floor, leaves brushing over its feet, as Aidyn’s magic has not quite left the room.

Una’s hand tightens painfully about mine.

With a jump that has Aidyn snatching me back, the hound twitches to the handkerchief, breathing in a deep snuffle of noise before blowing it aside with a snort.

With a sweep of its tail, it flees the room, ghosting past Tynan on the steps, where he flattens himself against the wall.

His hand rises with that bright long blade, but he does not strike, some unreadable expression on his face.

As soon as it passes, he crawls up the last few steps and gets to his feet, bounding to our sides and putting a hand against Aidyn’s shoulder.

A few quiet moments pass.

Softly, Aidyn says, “ They have left.”

The pressure around my chest unwinds, and I glance up at Tynan, who wipes the fleck of blood from his cheek and nods, sliding his sword back into its sheath.

Una’s breath catches, and I hear her dissolve into soft crying.

Numbly, I scoot back over Aidyn’s leg to hug her while Niall continues staring up at Tynan with confusion and relief.

With my other arm, I drag Niall over—he starts, then wraps us in his big arms. Gently, Tynan nudges us onto the side of the pillows and puts his son back properly on the bed, laying him down while Aidyn scowls.

“ All will be well,” Tynan says a little shakily, though it strikes me that it cannot be a lie. “ I could not entirely find the passageway. I will barricade the blue door and wait for Dauna to return.”

I squeeze Una’s shoulders, picturing exactly what will happen in the dark to the man likely still guiding his wagon back to the city if he steps off the path.

My stomach turns, but no regret has sunk in.

We know better than to wound Faerie. He knew as well, from the time he fled the woods those years ago.

I gave him a chance to save himself, and if he returns, I will tell him so myself.

Midsummer is not quite over until the sun rises once again.

“ All will be well,” Tynan murmurs again, and places a hand on Aidyn’s hair.