The Blood Forest (Tree of Ages #3)(70)

Iseult turned to the voice. It was Kai, beaten badly by the Aos Sí warriors and missing his bow. He cocked back his arm, launching a large stone to sail through the air. It connected with Oighear’s temple, just as she had turned to address the insolent disrupter.

She dropped to the ground and did not move.

Iseult finally managed to regain his feet and began stumbling forward once more through the remaining hail and snow, though his body was on the brink of collapse. Before he could reach the crumpled queen, Finn stepped toward her, eyes cast downward. He was just close enough to hear her shaky, breathless words.

“My quarrel was not with you, Oighear the White. You should have stayed in your forest.”

Oighear did not reply, and instead remained deathly still. Stepping away from the Faie Queen, Finn turned an angry glare to the waiting Aos Sí.

“You’re queen is dead,” she announced. “I would advise against any further action.”

As one, they dropped to their knees and bowed their heads to her.

Kai jogged toward Finn the same moment as Naoki, her wings now free. Iseult felt sick as he made slow progress toward them. Finn seemed . . . different. Had she been changed by the shroud? Had she regained her memories, recalling her lost child? Would she now lash out at her friends as she had the Aos Sí? She’d come so close to stealing Oighear’s soul. If it weren’t for Kai, Iseult was not sure what would have happened.

Finn gasped in surprise as she noticed Naoki. She crouched down, then lifted the dragon up in a loving embrace. She pulled the binding from her beak, and stroked the dragon’s head to quiet its high pitched keening.

As the dragon quieted, Finn looked to Kai with a warm, open grin lighting up her bruised and bloody face, streaked by the tears pouring from her eyes. The shroud remained in her left hand where it clutched Naoki, all but forgotten.

Iseult nearly staggered, so relieved to see Finn as he knew her to be. Her smile for Kai hinted she had not been changed by her memories. She had not become like the other Cavari, but . . . would she have the same smile for him?

Kai knelt beside Oighear and placed two fingers at her throat, checking for her heartbeat. “Dead,” he announced as he rose away from the corpse.

Finn smiled sadly at Kai. “It appears you were the ones to find me after all,” she mused. She turned her smile to Iseult as he reached her. She removed one hand from Naoki to reach up and cradle his bloody cheek. “You’ll always find me, won’t you?”

“Always,” he rasped, barely able to speak.

Observing his chains, and those on Bedelia, who was attempting to climb to her feet back where Iseult started, Finn turned to the silently waiting Aos Sí. “Remove their chains,” she ordered.

“Yes, my queen,” they said in unison. They stood, and two warriors branched off from the group, jogging toward their milling horses for the keys.

Soon enough, Iseult and Bedelia were both free, and the Aos Sí all knelt around Oighear’s corpse, muttering in awe. They had likely thought their queen invincible. Iseult had almost agreed with them, before Kai and Finn had proven the notion incorrect.

The sun revealed itself fully, wiping away the last of Oighear’s snow and hail. Finn set Naoki on the ground to bounce around happily, then turned back to Iseult, her expression suddenly crumbling. “I remember everything,” she breathed.

He couldn’t imagine what she was feeling, remembering the death of her child. Overcome with emotion, he pulled her into an embrace, feeling her body tremble, and her tears wet on his shoulder. His embrace tightened, even in his weakened state. He longed to relieve her pain. He felt her arms slip around his lower back, with the shroud yet clutched in one hand. He soaked in her touch, easing the fear in his heart.

After a few moments she seemed to compose herself and pulled away. He reluctantly released her, then watched as she turned her attention to Bedelia, standing a few paces away.

At the loss of her touch, his shoulders slumped in an odd mixture of relief and sadness. He knew Finn needed her memories, but he had desperately wished she would not have to feel the pain of losing her child again.

While Finn fussed over Bedelia’s injuries, Kai looked Iseult up and down with a wry grin. “It’s killing you, isn’t it?”

Iseult glared at him. “What?”

“That I was the one to save the day instead of you.” He waggled his eyebrows.

Had he the energy, Iseult would have punched him.

Bedelia gave Finn a million assurances that she would be fine, and finally, Finn walked a few steps toward Iseult and held out the shroud, still clutched in her left hand.

He found it odd, finally seeing it. After all that had happened, it seemed a simple, dirty piece of fabric. He looked up from the shroud and met her gaze, wanting to ask a million different questions.

She took a step toward him and forced the shroud into his hand.

He took it reluctantly.

Her lips curved into a small smile. “I realize now, my people are the ones to blame for my daughter’s death. I will right my wrongs and fulfill my promise to you, then I will crush the Cavari.”

He smiled, then took her hand, placing the edge of the shroud back in her grip. “There will be time to discuss that later.” He glanced back at the ten Aos Sí warriors, now finished gawking at Oighear. “First, let us find an inn and a hot meal.”