A Thief of Nightshade(23)
get
over
here!”
he
whispered hoarsely.
“No. I’m fine on my own. Go back to Galydon! What good is the help of someone who lies? How do I know I can even trust you?” She tripped but caught herself. She glimpsed at Aislinn’s frown as he searched the street intently, waited a moment more and then rushed across, rising up on two feet to pin her to the wall.
“You’re drugged, you don’t know where you’re going and you’re bleeding.”
She tried to duck under his arms but was too slow. “I am not, they’ve already scabbed over.”
“I’m not talking about the wounds on your back, you’ve got blood running down your neck, courtesy of your little friend at the Crimson Stair,” he snarled. “I will not chase you all over Rheavon just because you think you know something. You don’t know anything and I can’t go back to Galydon, you’d be dead in a matter of days.”
“I’m dying anyway,” she said quietly.
“What difference is it to you? You have no concerns for the kingdom of Man or my world. What have you to gain that you never even paused in deciding whether to help me or not? It appears you aren’t telling me a lot of things.”
“Appearances aren’t everything.”
She gasped. It had been there for her to notice all along, but she hadn’t until just that exact turn of phrase. Aislinn’s voice, his bitterness, his knowledge of the human world and those in it, coupled with his causal manner with Tabor all suggested that he hadn’t merely known who Jullian was. She reached up, and touched his face.
“No, they aren’t,” she smiled sadly.
“I thought I heard Jullian’s voice when I woke up, when I first met Lilly...”
He wanted to name our firstborn son, Aislinn.
Aislinn lowered his head. “You’d been out for days ... delirious.”
“No. I heard you. You’re wrong, I do know something. Discovering that Jullian had been
brought
back
destroyed
everything you’ve been holding onto.
That’s why your demeanor changed so much after you found out where I was from.”
Aislinn dropped onto all fours and started to move away from her.
“You’re Jullian’s brother,” she said.
He stopped, without turning around to face her, and growled low ... a warning to let him be.
Lipsey had gathered moss and leaves for them to sleep on by the time she made it back to the hill.
“Oh no, you’re bleeding!” he squeaked.
“So I’ve been told.” She could barely stand up anymore and gratefully curled up in a ball on top of the bedding he’d prepared. She was just closing her eyes when his shadow fell over her face, his tufted ears twitching as he poked her.
“Where’s Aislinn?”
She groaned, rolled over and tried her best to ignore him. “I don’t know.”
“Is he bleeding, too? What happened, did you find the crimson lady?”
She laughed. “Lady Crimson and yes, we did. Aislinn isn’t bleeding any worse now than he was before we left, he’s fine.
He’s just ill with me.”
Lipsey plopped down beside her, his tiny arms crossed over his chest. “What will we do now? I should go look for him.”
She rolled back over. “And just what would you do if you found him? You do realize how small you are.”
He giggled, “Yes, small, no doubt.
Why is he ill with you?”
She didn’t know whether to reveal his secret or let Aislinn tell him. “Because I reminded him of some very painful wounds.”
Lipsey snatched his tail, shoving it into her view with one hand. “I had my
tail caught in a door once. I thought I was going to die.” He smoothed the fur at the tip.
She smiled, and patted the squirrel on his well-meaning head. “Good night, little one. With any luck, he’ll be back here in the morning.”
“How did you know?” Aislinn’s voice woke Aubrey from a dreamless sleep.
She labored to open her eyes, certain that she’d just returned from Rheavon and that when she did manage to look up, the sky would be lit by the sparkle of stars.
Instead,
light
flooded
her
already
overworked senses. “Know what?” she whispered.
“The meaning of life. What do you think I mean?” he snapped.
“Well,” She sat up, regretting it when the pull on her back was stronger than she’d anticipated, “between the Lessening and the drug I was given, I’m lucky to know my own name. I suppose you meant to ask me, nicely, how I knew you were Jullian’s brother?”
Lipsey tilted his head like a dog that hasn’t quite understood what his master has asked of him. “How could a bear be the Prince’s brother? Now that doesn’t make any sense at all.”
Aubrey gingerly made it to her feet.
“It does if the Sidhe’s punishment for helping Jullian escape was turning Aislinn into a bear.” She looked at Aislinn. “I knew because you said something that Jullian once said to me. Your voices are almost identical.” She added forlornly, “Jullian’s lacks the sting.”