Forty-One

I

awoke in the back of a horse-drawn buggy, swaddled in a scratchy wool blanket smelling of wet animal. I had no idea how much time had passed. Warmth slowly flowed back into my body but only at my core. It was a small bit of coal smoldering inside my belly. I could barely move or stay awake. I stared up at the incredible scattering of stars and thought that if I wanted to, I could fall into them. Into forever.

The rhythmic sway of the buggy rocked me like a baby. Each clop of the horse’s hooves took me farther from Rising Sun Manor and from Finn. One thought of him and my heart exploded, countless bursts of light competing with the stars.

His mother had said I wasn’t safe. She must’ve known what he was capable of. But then why did she say I had done something to him? What kind of human steals the aura of another like a greedy child grabbing candy and then blames the candy?

The Arrazi. The ones wiping out the Scintilla.

I was so naive.

Thieving Ireland. My happiness was stolen. My beliefs about how the world worked—those had been taken, too. I had come no closer to finding my mother than I was back at home with a box of treasures scattered across my floor. I wanted to be home, safe, with my dad. I never should have left.

Warm tears seeped into my temples as I closed my eyes and drifted away.

I came to as I was being carried across a crunchy gravel walkway. Outlines of trees rose above me like black clouds. At my side, Clancy’s deep voice whispered, “Praise be, he didn’t sleep with her. It was a holy show back there, though.” He snorted. “That’s what happens when you send a boy to do a man’s job. It’s a good thing, aye, works in our favor. Can’t have the maiden spoiled. This is good.”

An icy fear clutched my belly. I pushed as hard as I could away from the arms that carried me and fell to the gravel. It bit hard into my cheek and lip. I tasted the iron tang of blood. For a moment, I could only see black shoes in front of me, and even that image faded in and out. It had taken everything I had to push away.

I willed my chin upward and tried to focus on the blurry faces. But all of my strength evaporated when I saw the man who had been carrying me. He’d finally caught me. He yanked me to my feet like a rag doll, holding my shoulders so hard I was sure I’d wear the bruise of his fingertips forever. He looked hungrily into my eyes, his smile curling up fast and sinister. “Just a taste? She’s taunted me for months. You’re the only reason I held back.”

“You and I both know you’re lying, Griffin. You didn’t hold back. You’re glowing like a fookin’ candle. You took lives like you were taking seconds at dinner. You took from her in America, and had you gone too far and killed her, I’d have killed you.”

Griffin looked down, contrite, but his hands still clutched me like a vise. “May I?”

Clancy waved him on. Answered with a nonchalant air, as if the man had simply asked for seconds of beef stew.

I was overcome by confusion and the bitter stab of Clancy’s betrayal. I tried to kick my feet but wasn’t even sure they left the ground. My aura yanked violently into Griffin’s. I could not swallow. Could not catch my breath. It was like having an enormous hole ripped into my chest and bleeding into thin air. I was evaporating. Slipping away to the spiraled heavens.