The Heartbreak Show (Bound By Ravens #3)

18. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Glenna Lonan

For the next few minutes, Cian confessed everything save how he might be a gancanagh. I rubbed my arms in the dewing chill over Caledona Wood while listening. In the distance, the faint blue and purple glow of pixies zipped between the leaves of a maple burnished in golds and oranges.

Nibbling the inside of my lip, I settled my attention onto Cian once more when he began sharing why he didn’t want to burden our brother with a quest by the Maiden when Rhylen needed to focus on the tribe. Cian wasn’t wrong. Rhylen was struggling to not fall back into old times with friends while helping his tribe move into the new times with him as a gov. Rhylen would become Cian’s partner in crime, his protector too and, well . . . he needed to remain neutral with Seren and Ravenna Blackwing.

My brother might peck at us for excluding him. But he was married to someone who could see what we were about to do. If Filena knew , and I was sure she did, she was also choosing to keep him in the dark.

The boys listened with rapt attention, Kalen seeming the least surprised of the four. That elf’s needle point observance was unnerving. He seemed far older, too. At least, older than he let on. Had he lied about his age to Carran’s military when they killed his clan?

Cian swept his gaze over our group. “Do you pointy-eared peckers agree to remain silent?”

“Is this a bargain?” Corbin asked.

“Aye,” Cian replied. “Agree to not speak a word of my birthright or my travels to Seren to Rhylen so long as I request you to keep this a secret.”

All four replied with various agreements.

I rubbed at my arms again and peered up at Seren. A heavy stone was sitting in my gut. The dread of his quest was weighing me down more and more with every passing beat of my thudding pulse. I didn’t want Cian to go to the City of Stars without me. But I needed to stay here and prep for the next two meals of the night. The entire camp was depending on me and my rotating kitchen crew. Not to mention, my brother would know for certain that a Cian scheme was unfolding if I didn’t show for work.

“If Cian is re-souled in the Mother’s bloodline”—Finn turned to Kalen—"are the Sisters Three then aspects of Danu?”

Danu—the mother of the Tuatha Dé Danann, including Cian.

“Aye, of course,” Kalen answered—and paused. “Who did you think the Sisters Three were?”

“The Sisters Three,” Cian answered dryly.

Finn comically pointed to Cian in agreement and Cian softly winked back.

Both lads had enough cheek for a second arse, stars above.

Kalen gawked at his best friend with a look bordering on incredulity. One that silently accused, “But you work for the Maiden?!”

Finn lifted a single brow that challenged, “And?” while also saying nothing aloud.

“I fear for the Folk this side of The Wilds,” Kalen sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. “Aye, the Sisters Three are the triple goddess Danu. And you, love,” he said to Cian, “are not re-souled in birth but in magic. You carry the soul of Cian’s magic. A generational curse or blessing, as it’s called in the Greenwood.”

“ Enduring Ancient One,” Cian muttered the translation of his name with a roll of his eyes. “Hilarious.”

Kalen grinned. “Cheeky gods.”

“Cheeky Moira Merrick, too.” Cian drooped against a tree in a puddle of pink silk and heaved a dramatic sigh. “Magic cursed to endure until reunited with a fecking faerie cow.” Steel eyes locked with mine. “And soul bonds with a love more powerful than the magic of his first.”

I allowed him to search my eyes, to know every melting corner of my heart while I sashayed back, “If you’re wanting me to say you’re the lady man of my dreams—”

“Oh no,” Cian cut in, that up-to-no-good grin of his bright and full. “You know what I want to hear, Glennie Lo.”

“Good thing you’re full of enduring magic, Ci-Ci,” I tossed back with a crowing grin of my own.

“Mmm,” he moaned long and slow. “I can endure hours and hours—”

“Alone.” I pet Cordelia’s bald head and Cian grimaced.

The boys erupted into laughter and I ruffled my wing feathers in preening delight.

Ignoring the smug tilt of my head and sassy pop of my hip, ignoring the fellas too, Cian shoved off the tree and took the parasol George lifted to him.

My thoughts tumbled backward a few seconds.

Did that fluffy, cuddly raccoon just . . . materialize on cue? So Cian could fashionably steal the spotlight from me?

George peered at me and moved a paw in a circle over and over. I bit the inside of my cheek. He was so adorable, but I had no idea what he was saying to me.

“He moves in mysterious ways, Glenna.” Cian popped open the parasol and twirled it behind his shoulder. Of course, he knew what I was thinking.

George began slowly walking backward into the shadows, his sweet, blinking gaze locked onto mine. A little giggle left me. “Naturally.”

“Obviously.”

Corbin cleared his throat to politely gain our attention. I was convinced Corbin Renwick was born a granda in his ancient years half of the month. The other half, he remembered to kick up his heels with the other lads.

“What happens,” he began, “when you unite the boots, ribbon, and hat with . . . your cow?”

Cian shrugged then peered at Finn who shrugged in return.

“Grand.” Corbin’s lips pursed with an ill-humored shake of his head. “What if we can’t escape that floating bird cage because of your cow?”

“You think Ravenna Blackwing would lock us up?” Owen asked.

“It’s not Ravenna you need to worry about, mate.” Finn leaned against the sheltering oak and crossed his arms over his chest. “The entire floating island is an engineered trap. Carran has no jurisdiction of the sky. The kingdom’s govs turn a blind eye at the train station, too, for passenger taxes.”

“Bastards,” Corbin muttered.

“And so,” Finn continued, “because Seren can, coercion-infused air is pumped into the ferry cars shortly after undocking.”

My jaw dropped. So that really was magic I had seen glimmering in the steam, not an illusion.

“The mortals are under a spell to indulge in their greatest fantasies. And,” Finn said with a pause, “they’re glamoured to remember little of their indulgences too. You”—he gestured with his head toward Cian—“will need to behave like you’re glamoured.”

“Everything will humor you,” Kalen added. “Pickpocketed? Funniest shite in all three kingdoms. Want to tumble with a street boy behind the warehouses, yeah? Your mum won’t remember. Your posh betrothed won’t either.” The blue-haired elf smirked. “No harm done to your reputation, love.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that. A clever trick to use on buttoned-up, scandalized-by-everything mortals. I’d sit back and crow over their willing stupidity too.

And this was why Filena and I were soul-knitted sisters.

“Work on your accent.” Finn’s voice snapped me from my internal ramblings. “You’re not a Caravan lass. You’re from the eastern cities now. Or at least a wealthy landowning family in Caledona.”

Kalen pointed his finger in Cian’s face. “And do not, under any circumstances, steal a damn thing. Not even a cigarette from a gent’s mouth.”

“I’m stealing a cow.”

“You’re reclaiming your stolen property.”

“If I do steal—”

Kalen laughed low under his breath. At the haunted sound, humor quickly drained from Cian’s face. His hawk-eyed stare on the water spirit intensified. “Rhylen in good with the Syndicate, is he?”

My wings twitched, an involuntary protective response. “My brother has a bar—”

Cian grabbed my hand and yanked me away from the group, to the other side of the oak, saying, “Shield my and Glenna’s conversation, pretty tree.”

The tree shook its lower branches.

“Did the oak just agree?” Owen asked. “Cian can talk to trees?”

“You’re standing next to a tree spirit, eejit,” Corbin replied. “Who is leaning on the pretty tree .”

“You got your magic back?”

Finn started to speak, but his voice grew muffled while the sounds of the forest grew louder—the tinny melody of tumbling leaves, the creaking groans of branches, the whirring buzz of pixie wings, the bright chirp of insects.

But not anywhere near as loud as the pounding in my ears.

Cian was spooked.