“Come on, eat something.” Caom pulled the cloth free with a flourish. “You’ll feel better.”
I exhaled and forced myself to take a pear. I was pretty sure more sugar would make me feel worse, but I’d take fruit over the stack of honey cakes that smelled cloyingly sweet and looked sticky.
“So what do you want to do today?” Caom asked cheerfully, sitting down opposite me and taking a honey cake. “We can take you into the village. Or just for a walk. We’re in the Mild Months, so nothing is quite as beautiful as it could be—far too warm—but unseelie lands are still breathtaking. If you get up early enough, the mist over the fields is—”
“Have you been reading this?” Idony had wandered back into the living room, and she reappeared holding theNovice Drachmsmithbook.
I nodded, chewing morosely on my pear. It was juicy and sweet, perfectly ripe, and just slightly powdery on my tongue.
“Eowan gave this to Briordan when they were young,” she said to Caom with a little smile, which made her face shine. “They were such lovesick fools.”
“You knew them?” I asked, staring between her and Caom. “I thought you said they haven’t lived here for more than a century.”
“They haven’t, but yes, we knew them.”
I stared at Caom. “How old are you?”
He flushed. “Not that old. Nearly two hundred.”
I choked on my last bite of pear, but said nothing.
“So is Idony! That’s young for Folk. Notyoung-young. We’re adults. Young adults. In our prime.” He grinned at me, taking another bite of honey cake with sharp teeth.
I cleared my throat, setting down the pear core. “If you say so.”
Caom chuckled.
“Of course, not as young as you. Just twenty-one. Flushed with youth.” He winced. “Well, maybe not this morning.”
“How do you know how old I am?”
He paused. “You told us yesterday. In the cart.”
“Oh.” I couldn’t remember, but my brain hadn’t been at its clearest thanks to beingpoisoned.“So what happened to Briordan and Eowan? Why aren’t they here anymore?”
Caom and Idony shared a look. He cleared his throat. “Briordan became a master drachmsmith. So skilled that the Carlin employed his services.”
“Oh. So… did they move into her court then?”
“No.” Caom fiddled with the last of his honey cake, tearing it apart. “He angered her one day. I’m not sure how. Refused to do something, maybe.”
My gut tightened. “What happened to him?”
“He and Eowan fled before she could kill him.” Caom looked at me, his copper eyes dim with sadness. He gestured out the window, towards the forest. “They went into the woods.”
I looked out the window, at the looming forest that was dark and ominous even in the morning sun. “Are the woods dangerous?”
“Yes.” Caom leaned forwards, gazing at me intently. “Wild lands that separate unseelie and seelie. Solitary Folk live in them. Dangerous Folk. Folk untethered to a court.”
I swallowed. “But… you said Odran was unseelie, and he lives in the forest. Why doesn’t he live here?”
Caom rolled his eyes, sitting back. “Odran does as he pleases. He’s unseelie—just—but he spends most of his time out there. He sometimes comes to the lakes here though.”
I stayed silent, remembering the kelpie’s whispered words to me yesterday.‘I’ll tell him.’I wondered who he was talking about. Nua? Did he know Nua?
I pushed back from the table and stood. “I need to get dressed.”
I felt much better with some food and water in my belly, my headache reduced to a dull throb at the back of my skull.