Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(42)

“Oh, goddess, no,” he said, his voice a small prayer. “Please, no.”

Neil pulled back the curtain and he and Sarah rushed in the room. I could hear the sound of many footsteps scrambling across the floor outside.

“Something’s happening,” Neil said. “Everyone’s freaking out.”

Declan rushed to the open windows of the room. He stared out and I saw him stiffen. “No.”

I followed him and my eyes could make out three women in the distance. They were the source of the mournful song, for I recognized it as a lament now. They kneeled by the stream and seemed to be washing clothes.

“What are they?” Sarah stood behind me.

“Why is everyone terrified by women washing clothes?” Neil asked.

“Bean si,” Declan whispered as though he didn’t want to say the name too loud.

Neil and Sarah looked at me, confusion plain on their faces. Declan had used the Irish name for the washer women. He could just as easily call them by their Scots name, Bean sith, for it all meant the same thing. These women popped up in all Fae worlds.

I shook, a chill blanketing my body because I knew the name. I looked at my friends and used the term they would understand.

“Banshee.”





Chapter Ten





“So these women sing and wash stuff and then kill someone?” Neil asked, staring out at the banshees. We had moved out of the small room and back into the ballroom where we had a much better view of the stream.

The three women were dressed in white and each had flowing blonde hair. I couldn’t see their mouths moving, but I knew the song emanated from them.

“No, wolf. The banshees warn of coming death. They are not the ones who carry out the deed.” Miria looked pale as she watched the women. The queen stood beside us, at the front of the crowd that had gathered.

The entire ball had stopped and everyone stood at the open windows, staring out at the sight. The sound of their voices was oppressive, as though it had weight and motion. Their song filled the ballroom as the previous music couldn’t. It vibrated along the marble, and I could feel it on my skin.

“They are not harmless, though.” Herne watched the scene with dark eyes. The goblins guarding him were the only ones who looked excited at the current events. Their red eyes danced as they looked around, probably wondering which of the sidhe would be a corpse soon. Herne’s voice was serious. “I wouldn’t approach them if you have a set of balls. They don’t take kindly to men in their space. Apparently grief is women’s work.”

“Don’t stand too close.” Daniel tugged on my waist. He tried to pull me away from the window.

“Yes, why don’t we take her back to our apartments?” Dev suggested, his face tense. He didn’t like the banshee’s appearance any more than Declan had. “She’s probably tired, and I don’t want her around something so unsettling.”

“I’m not unsettled, Dev,” I said irritably. I was going to fight them for nine damn months. I was pregnant, not an invalid. I had no intention of spending the next nine months of my life in a bubble. “I am, however, curious.”

“Yes, Your Grace.” Braden looked strangely aggressive when everyone else was cowering a bit. “I find it curious that the banshee wail not a day after the Unseelie invade our territory.”

“It was hardly an invasion,” Dev argued. “They sent an envoy.”

“What exactly are you accusing me of?” The vessel was completely gone, his personality wiped out by the dominance of the Hunter. His brown eyes pinned the duke, who had to look away.

“I was just making mention of the coincidence in the events,” the duke said, fooling no one.

Declan was far stupider than the duke. He stepped straight up to the Hunter. “You know damn well what Braden is saying. You show up with your demon dogs and suddenly one of us is going to die. I do not think there is anything coincidental about it. I think you planned it this way.”

The Hunter’s smile was savage. “You think it’s going to be you, don’t you, Declan? You think I’m going to kill you.”

“Well, the thought had occurred to me,” Declan replied through clenched teeth. “You’ve threatened me often enough. Perhaps I should try taking you out first.”

They were almost at each other’s throats when Padric pulled Declan off and Devinshea tried to talk to the Hunter. “Let’s stay calm. There’s no reason to believe Declan is the one who’s going to die. That’s just his paranoia. It could easily be one of the villagers.”

“No, son,” Miria said quietly, but with a resolute firmness. “There are three. The Three would not show up for a villager. It is an important death. It is more than likely someone of royal blood.”

The hall erupted in conversation. Everyone speculated on which of the royal family would die and what the cause would be. Arguments began and escalated quickly to the point of violence. Immortals didn’t handle the potential end of their existence well. I personally was wondering how they thought that yelling at each other was going to solve the problem. As far as I could tell, it would only possibly make the prophesized death happen that much faster. I had an easier way to stop the speculation.

“Neil, could you give me a hand down?” I asked quietly while all the attention was elsewhere.