Beyond the Pale: A Thin Veil Novella (The Thin Veil Book 3) (8 page)

Kier clutched the starstone around her neck and began to sing the song that activated it, but Brion stopped her. “We don’t have time, Kier. And you must not distract the king while he is in battle.”

She dropped the stone and grabbed a cloak from her wardrobe before following her brother. A group of guards stood ready as they exited the Hall. They formed a circle around Kier, so that she was hidden in their ranks. “Where are we going?” she asked Brion, but he just shook his head, and she fell silent.

They walked for several minutes, until they came to edge of a dark forest. Kier tried to peer through the trees, but she could not make out any discernible path. Leaving the guards behind, Brion led her into the woods, moving branches to the side and helping her over fallen logs. They walked for what felt like hours, slowly picking their way through the trees. It grew darker and darker, and finally she asked again, “Brion, where are you taking me?” His only response was to lift a finger to his lips. Her legs and back burned, and she was covered with scratches. The baby, however, seemed to have fallen asleep, lulled by the motion of Kier’s flight into the woods.

“Here it is,” Brion said quietly.

“Here
what
is?” she answered. She could barely see anything around her, just vague tree-like shapes in the darkness.

“A hidden shelter. Known to but a select few.” He wrapped his hand around the branch of tree, as though he were about to break it off. But instead of breaking, the branch swung down like a lever. With a barely-audible creak, a door appeared in the trunk, just large enough for a person to squeeze through. Brion motioned for Kier to go first. “It can only take one at a time. I’ll be right behind you,” he said.

Kier stepped gingerly into the tree, maneuvering her belly so that it did not get scratched by the bark. The inside of the tree smelled of moss. As soon as she was through the door, it closed, and she felt the ground beneath her feet begin to descend. She reached out a hand to steady herself, and discovered that the trunk around her was moving, too, as though the whole tree were sinking into the ground. After only a few moments, it slowed to a stop, and the door re-opened.

She stepped out into a dimly lit room, where Lorcan stood waiting for her.

For a moment, she stood frozen, unsure of what to do. Then she remembered her brother. “Brion, run!” she yelled into the still-open door, hoping the sound would travel upwards. “It’s a trap!” The door closed and ascended once more, and she turned back to face Lorcan.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“This is where I live,” he said calmly. “It’s nice to see you again, too.”

“What do you mean, this is where you live?” she asked. “Why would Brion bring me here?”

“Because you were on the losing side, and he wanted to keep you safe.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked. The baby was awake now; Kier could feel her stirring. Just then Brion stepped out of the door, which had reappeared behind her. “I know you think he’s a villain now,” Brion said, nodding toward Lorcan. “But he’s doing what is right for our people. He has more ambition in his little finger than Brogan does in his entire body. You were right to love him. Our parents chose the wrong husband for you.”

“No,” Kier said, shaking her head. “You’ve been brainwashed.”

At this Lorcan laughed. “Not brainwashed, my dear. Let’s just say your brother has seen the light. Thank you, Brion. You can leave us now.”

Brion hesitated. “You swore she wouldn’t be harmed.”

Lorcan gave him a scornful look. “Of course she won’t be harmed. But she
will
be made useful.”

Brion left, and the door disappeared, leaving her and Lorcan alone together. She had once been so comfortable in Lorcan’s presence, but now she wanted nothing more than to get away from him.

“You did not respond to my letter,” he said, his eyes fixed calmly on her.

“I burned it,” she spat back.

“Hmm. Shame. Tell me, how’s the baby?”

“She’s none of your business,” Kier said through gritted teeth.

“She? So it’s a girl, is it? How sweet. She
is
Brogan’s child, no? Or have you taken up his habit of sharing the wealth?”

“Of course she’s his. Why do you care? What do you want from me?”

Lorcan steepled his long fingers, bringing them to his lips. “I want many things from you, Kier. It appears I shall never have some of them—faithfulness, for example. But what your brother said was partly true. Now that the commander of the king’s army has decided he prefers my vision of the future to the king’s…well, let’s just say the Hall is not a safe place anymore. This unfortunate war will soon come to an end, my dear.”

“I find it hard to believe that you brought me here just to keep me safe.”

“Not
just
to keep you safe, no.”

“Then what? Are you going to kill me?”

He looked at her, amused. “That would defeat the purpose of keeping you safe, now wouldn’t it? No, as I said in my letter, which you so unceremoniously cast aside, I merely wish to speed things up and put an end to all this in-fighting. I would have brought you here before, of course, but your security was heightened rather significantly, I must say. Which is why I needed your brother. It took him awhile to come around, but I’ve learned that most people can be…persuaded, if you know what’s important to them.”

“So you’re using me to get to Brogan,” she said.

“You always were a smart girl.” Lorcan started to pace around the small room. Several small doors lined the walls. She wondered where they went, and if she might be able to escape through one of them. “He’s quite safe at the moment,” Lorcan continued. “I have given explicit orders that he is not to be killed. I need him alive to open the sidhe, you understand. If he refuses, I’ll have no choice but to kill him, then
I
can open the sidhe. I’ll kill him eventually, anyway—it will be much more convenient to be able to open the sidhe whenever I want than to force him to do it each time I need to travel. But he is still quite beloved, oddly enough, so I need to solidify my position as king first.” He stopped pacing and gave her a sharp look, as though just remembering she was there. “However, he has proven more elusive than I had anticipated. A slippery eel, your husband, though of course, you already knew that. Anyway, I grow weary of this game of hide and seek. So I’ve decided to speed things up. He’s welcome to make a trade—himself for his wife and child.”

“He won’t do it—he won’t let you massacre innocent people just to save my life,” Kier seethed.

“Hmm, he might. He’s
so
noble, after all. But let’s say you’re right, and he cares even less about you than we already thought. No matter. You have provided me with a back-up plan.”

“And what is that?”

“I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out already. You told me yourself that the child you carry is Brogan’s. Which means the chances are very strong your child will also have the ability to open the sidhe. Tell me, you haven’t named her yet, have you?”

“You…monster,” she said, backing away until she hit a wall. “You swore I wouldn’t be harmed!”

“But I didn’t say anything about the little princess inside you,” he said. “We should be able to extract the child with no lasting damage to you. In fact…” He stared at her shrewdly. “I believe I may have had things backward. Brogan should be my back-up plan, not the child. If it turns out the infant does not have her father’s gift, then I’m quite certain he will still exchange his life for yours.”

“Lorcan, listen to yourself! This isn’t you!” Kier screamed.

“Oh, it is me,” he said. “It’s what I should have been all along, if I’d had the nerve to use my gift to its full potential.”

“I don’t believe that,” she said, shaking her head. “The man I loved was gentle and kind; he would never have killed an innocent child.”

“I wasn’t gentle; I was
afraid
,” he spat. “Did you think I would cherish the child you had with another lover? Her death will give our people a new future. Sacrifices must be made for the greater good, Kier!”

“You’ve gone insane,” she said. “Please, if you ever loved me at all, don’t do this!” Her mind was reeling, and inside the baby was thrashing so much Kier could barely draw breath. She could feel the weight of her starstone around her neck, but she dared not use it to contact Brogan, lest Lorcan see where he was. If Brogan knew she was in danger, he would come to her at once, which was exactly what Lorcan wanted.
There must be another way
, she thought frantically. Her hands were burning, and she longed to let loose a torrent of flame that would consume everyone in this place. But Felix had warned her to not use her fire gift while she was pregnant, for fear that the baby would not survive the heat generated in her body. Still…if she didn’t, her child would die anyway.

“Looking for an escape?” Lorcan asked. “You wouldn’t get very far, even if you managed to find one. The woods are peppered with my soldiers.”

Kier took a deep breath, and raised her arms.

“You could try that, of course,” Lorcan said almost lazily. “I’m surprised you haven’t already, to tell you the truth. I wanted a chance to show off my latest ability.”

“What ability?” she asked, lowering her arms.

“A little something Gorman gave me. Just yesterday, in fact.”

“Gorman?
No
.” Gorman and his wife Siesyll were friends of hers. Gorman had always laughed about how useless his ability was—an invisible shield of protection. He had joked that he needed to make more enemies so he could use it once in a while.

“Mm-hm. So you can burn this whole place down if you’d like. I’ll still be here, waiting.”

“I won’t let you harm my child,” Kier said, her fists clenched and her eyes blazing.

“You don’t have much of a choice,” Lorcan said. He walked slowly toward her, and she looked desperately for a way of escape. “We could do it now. The healer in this fortress is much more talented than that oaf Felix. He’ll make sure you don’t feel a thing. When you wake up, I will have your daughter’s power.”

Kier felt herself start to shake, a trembling she couldn’t control. She felt as though all the power was being drained from her. The baby was suddenly still—what had happened? And then she felt the wall behind her change. She turned around. It was a sidh. Had Brogan made it? Was he about to walk through, to his death? Then the baby kicked her firmly, and she realized the truth.

Her unborn child had made this sidh. Without thinking, Kier ran through it, and collided with her husband in the middle of a battlefield.

“Kier! What are you—” Brogan said, staring at her in shock. Then he saw the sidh, and saw Lorcan, who still stood on the other side, open-mouthed. Brogan and Lorcan locked eyes for a split second, then they moved toward the shimmering air between them, Brogan with his sword drawn; Lorcan with his arms outstretched.

A roar ripped through the air beside Kier. She watched as Ruadhan threw himself toward Brogan, flinging out a hand toward the sidh just as the other two Danann reached it. It snapped shut instantly, and Brogan stumbled, falling through the now-ordinary air onto the ground.

“Why did you do that?” he bellowed at his steward.

“Because Lorcan would have killed you!” Ruadhan roared back.

Kier screamed. A searing pain had just ripped through her shoulder—an arrow that had been aimed at Brogan or Ruadhan—or at her. Another pierced her thigh.

“Get her out of here! Use a sidh—I’ll close it!” Ruadhan shouted at Brogan, who ran to his wife and scooped her up in his arms.

“Not the Hall,” she moaned. “It’s under attack.” He nodded tersely and thought for a moment, but Kier screamed again as the very ground began to crumble beneath them.

“Go!” Ruadhan yelled, and Brogan knelt down, still holding Kier, and pressed his hand into the ground. She could feel them falling, but only for a second, and then they were lying on soft grass in a small hidden glade on top of a hill, surrounded by trees.

“Where are we?” she asked faintly.

“On the very edge of our kingdom,” he said. “Very few ever travel here. It was the only place I could think of that would be safe.” He started to tear his shirt into shreds and bind up the wounds in her leg and shoulder. But the cloth was soon soaked through with blood.

“I need…Felix,” she moaned.

“His place was ransacked this morning,” Brogan said, looking stricken. “I don’t know where he is. Kier, what happened?”

Haltingly, she told him about Brion’s betrayal and Lorcan’s attempt to kill their child. Brogan listened, horrified. “I should never have left you alone,” he said.

“We trusted Brion,” she muttered. “It’s not your fault.”

“But how…how did you open the sidh?”

“I didn’t. Our child did. She must be very powerful, Brogan. She brought me to you.”

Brogan laid his head on his wife’s stomach, and began to weep. “I cannot lose you. Either of you.” He closed his eyes, his ear pressed against her taut skin. “I have not done right by you, little one,” he whispered. Then he straightened up. “Kier—there is only one way to keep our baby safe.”

“What?” she said,

“You must go to Ériu. I’ll open the sidh here, where no one will find it. Once you are safely away, I’ll bring Ruadhan here to close it. Lorcan will never be able to find you—or our child. When he is dead, I’ll come back for you.” He closed his eyes again, as though concentrating on something very far away. When he opened them again, he said, “Yes, she will help you.”

Kier gasped as a new pain ripped through her, this time from her abdomen.
Not yet
. “Come with me,” she said.

He started pacing around the clearing, looking for something. “I can’t,” he called back. “I must protect our people, our land. You will be safe with Maeve.”

“
Maeve?
”

He stopped pacing and looked at her. “I’m sorry. I know…it will be difficult.” He knelt back down beside her. “I didn’t tell you this before, but she is a druid, a powerful one. She’ll be able to heal you and protect you.”

“But—”

“You’re my
wife
, Kier. And you carry my child. I don’t want to leave you. But I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you and our baby safe.”