Chapter Sixteen
Ash
Odran’s lake wasn’t the one I’d seen him in when the unseelie procession stole me from my home. At least, I was pretty sure it wasn’t. I didn’t recognise this part of the forest at all, but then, I had been poisoned when I’d woken up in that fucking cart.
I briefly wondered if Caom knew what had happened to me. And then I wondered if he’d known all along what the Carlin’s plan was, or if he even cared that I was gone.
We hadn’t seen any guards on our way here. This part of the forest appeared to be completely deserted. Maybe that was why Odran had picked this lake. I’d only met him briefly, but he’d seemed… introverted.
Despite always being naked.
“Is, uh… Will he be naked again?” I asked hesitantly as we approached the lake nestled deep between the trees.
Its surface was a clear blue green, but I couldn’t see any pale face with black hair watching us from the water.
Gillie laughed. “Make you uncomfortable, does it lad?”
I flushed.
“No. I mean, it’s just… kind of distracting,” I grumbled, which made him laugh harder.
“He does have a nice, pert—”
“Gillie,” Nua hissed, smacking his arm.
“Come now, my seelie fae.” Gillie pulled him into his side and kissed Nua’s cheek. “You know you’re my only love. For all of eternity.”
Nua seemed mollified by that, tipping his head onto Gillie’s shoulder as we walked. I smiled a little, staring down at my boots and trying to ignore the ache in my chest. If seeing them so in love and devoted to each other made my insides hurt with… something, that was my problem.
“You know we’re here, you old water horse,” Gillie called when we reached the bank of the lake. “Come on.”
A pale forehead plastered with black hair that gleamed green in the sunlight broke the surface of the lake, followed by two big black eyes that gazed at us moodily.
“I was napping,” Odran rasped flatly as he rose from the water. He nodded at me. “Ash.”
“Um, hi,” I said, quickly looking over at the trees ringing the lake when he emerged onto the bank, just that long strip of pondweed draped over a shoulder and down to his hip.
It concealed absolutely nothing this time.
“Did you bring drinks?” Odran asked Gillie, water dripping from his pale, nude body onto the mud.
Gillie laughed. “Not here for a social call, old friend.”
Odran grunted in disapproval. When I felt his eyes on me, I looked back at him.
“Full fae now,” he commented, looking me over. “It suits you.”
I flushed. Why did so many of the Folk have to be so ridiculously beautiful? Especially the ones who liked to walk about completely naked.
“Tha—” I laughed nervously at my aborted thanks. “Um… I appreciate it.”
“Odran, do you know of any hidden spots to watch the courts arrive at the Midsith?” Nua asked, sounding anxious.
The kelpie’s black eyes shifted over to him curiously. “Why?”
“Ash wants to watch. He wants to… see the Brid.”
“Ah.” I resisted the urge to fidget under his intense gaze when it shifted back to me. “Understandable. You’ve learned much these last few months, it seems.”