Fire and Bone (Otherborn #1)(104)

Something changed when I saw Niamh’s mutilated body. Something twisted in my gut, shifting reality for a moment. And it was Sage I saw, broken and bloodied. But unlike the last time I thought we’d lost her, this time I was only thinking about myself instead of my master. I was thinking how I wouldn’t get to hold her again. How that smile in her eyes would flash out.

And I knew I’d be lost if that happened. It’s more than the protector bond now, more than duty. Somewhere in all the madness my heart’s become hers.

“Niamh’s dead because of me,” she says, breaking into my stunned thoughts. Torment fills her words.

“You can’t blame yourself for this, Sage.”

“But—”

“No.” I take hold of her arm and gently turn her to face me. “You are not responsible. You won’t go down that road, do you hear me?”

She nods, tears filling her eyes.

“Whoever did this, we’ll make sure they feel it,” I say, knowing she needs to believe justice is possible, even if it’s not. “The bastard will go down, Sage.”

Something crackles on the other side of the pool, and a loud pop fills the air. Water sprays from the fountain in a sudden burst, and Marius emerges. He walks quickly toward us on the surface of the water.

“What’s happened?” he asks. “Where’s Aelia? She called me and said Niamh was poisoned.”

I rise and step out of the pool. “In Sage’s cottage.”

He’s heading in before I can catch up. Sage stays behind, probably not wanting to see Niamh again. James took off when I wasn’t looking, thankfully; as a shade, he wouldn’t want to stick around for the master’s arrival. Aelia is in Sage’s cottage alone, sitting on the couch, looking down at her friend’s body.

“In my own house,” Marius growls, staring at the mess.

I pick up the black velvet bag and hold it out to him. “It’s a ring. Appears to be from the House of Morrígan as a tribute to Sage.”

He takes it from me, then steps closer to Niamh’s body, crouching to see her wounds. “Kieran’s been missing for several days, which is concerning. And I can see him wanting Sage pliable before the Emergence. But why did he wait so long? He had several chances to use his trickery on her, and he barely scratched the surface.”

“It really could be anyone,” I say, thinking of my brother Finbar. This smells like something he’d do. And he hasn’t had much access to Sage, which would make him desperate.

“The only thing to do is investigate the poisoned ring. Magic might reveal who created it, or at the very least where it was made. That would point us in a direction.”

“I’ll do it,” Aelia says, surprising me.

Marius stands again and looks at his daughter. “It’s too much for you, little Lia.”

Aelia sniffs and wipes her cheeks. “I’m not a baby anymore, Daddy. I can do this. She was my friend. Pixie or not, I loved the stupid girl.”

Marius nods and takes her hand, urging her to stand. Then he says gently, “Tell me what you need.”

I leave them to their father-daughter moment and go to get dressed, preparing my head for the hunt.

I’m back in my cottage, pulling on a shirt, when Sage comes through the ferns behind me. “What did Marius say?” she asks.

She’s staying a good distance away, like she’s wary of me. Or maybe she’s just wary of us. Like I am. I don’t turn to her. I don’t think I can take the sight of her sad eyes after having had my hands on her just a few minutes ago. I’ll only want to comfort her again. “Marius and Aelia are going to see if they can get a hint of where the poison was made,” I say, “and I’m going to go threaten people until I find the killer.”

“I want to go threaten people.”

Now I look at her. “Right bloody no.”

“Why not? I can’t just sit here.”

“Did you miss the part where someone was trying to put you in a coma, Sage?”

“Exactly,” she says. “Which means I’m not any safer here than I am out hunting for the guy.” She steps forward, pointing at the door. “I know you don’t want me to feel guilty, but we both know that girl out there would still be alive if it wasn’t for me. Let me at least try to make this better.”

I study her determined features, the flash of life in her eyes, and like a fool I want to kiss her again. I turn away, grumbling curses under my breath as I grab my knife belt. Then I head for the bathroom and say over my shoulder, “Get dressed. We’re leaving as soon as Aelia has a direction.”





FORTY-FOUR

SAGE

I’ve just finished showering and dressing when Faelan calls from outside my cottage. “If you’re coming, Sage, I’m leaving right now. Meet me out front.”

I hurry outside, trailing him to the car.

“Where are we going?” I ask as we pull down the driveway onto the main road.

“Romania,” he says. Because that’s completely normal.

“Like, the country?”

It turns out that the poison was made in Romania of all places. Faelan explains that Marius knows a guy in Bucharest who we can contact. Apparently, he’s the only druid in the area who makes that specific species of poison. When I ask how we’re going to fly to eastern Europe and back in a day, since I’m guessing he doesn’t want me to miss my own Emergence ceremony, he says we’re not flying.