CHAPTER34
Cathy scanned the tangled canopy, searching for any sign of movement. The sun was well over the horizon, though only a few feeble rays managed to penetrate the perpetual twilight of the unseelie forest. Aodhan must surely have read her note by now.
She pushed back her sleeve, examining her wrist yet again. His golden mark still twined up her arm—faded now, as though dimmed by distance, but definitely there.
Maybe it didn’t mean anything. He’d linked his aura to hers long before she’d sat on his back, after all. Perhaps he’d already severed the steed bond, leaving this lesser connection to wither and die on its own.
But she didn’t think so. If she concentrated, she could feel a spark of that white-hot power. Distance had stretched the bond to a thin, taut line between their hearts, but instinct told her it was still there. All she had to do was reach out and grasp it—
She tugged her sleeve back down. Either Aodhan hadn’t done the ritual yet, or—more likely—he had, and it hadn’t worked. He could be on his way even now, unwillingly drawn to her side.
“Kevin!” she called. “Hurry up. We have to keep moving.”
“Mom!” His exasperated voice drifted over her shoulder. “You aren’t helping. Some things can’t be hurried, you know.”
Cathy repressed a sigh. “You should have gone before we left.”
“I didn’t have to go then.” His tone turned reproachful. “And anyway, someone didn’t give me a chance. Just yanked me out of bed and hustled me through a portal. I still don’t see why we couldn’t say goodbye.”
“I told you, Kevin. We had to leave before Aodhan woke up. Otherwise the bond would compel him to come too.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Kevin muttered.
“It is bad. It’s wrong to force anyone to do something they don’t want to do.”
“You make me do stuff I don’t want to do all the time,” Kevin pointed out, with a child’s unerring eye for any flaw in parental logic. “You’re doing it right now.”
“That’s different. You’re not an adult. Sometimes you don’t know what’s in your own best interest.”
“Neither does Aodhan,” Motley said.
Cathy shot the raven shifter a dirty look. “Are you sure you can’t take us directly to Maeve’s hill?”
“Warded,” Motley said cheerfully. He was perched on a log, not looking at all dismayed by the unplanned delay. “Maeve locked me out after Cuan left. Can’t open doors in the court anymore.”
Cathy peered down the narrow path they’d been following, searching in vain for any sign of the fairy hill. “And you can’t put us any closer?”
Motley’s face was the picture of innocence. “Hard to find good doors out here.”
Which was not exactly a ‘no.’ Cathy was starting to feel distinctly undermined. Even Noodle seemed to be engaged in a subtle war of sabotage. The puppy had taken advantage of the stop to flop down, chin on the ground and paws splayed out. From his tragic posture, anyone would have thought she’d dragged the dog on a fifty-mile hike rather than a theoretically brief walk.
She cast another worried glance up at the dense leaves overhead. Even though the bond told her Aodhan was still far away, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he could turn up at any moment. If she was being totally honest, part of her hoped to see him plunge through the branches, his bright horn banishing the shadows.
Cathy gave herself a mental shake, shoving the selfish vision back down. “Come on, Kevin. You must be done by now.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming.”
Kevin reappeared from behind a tree, rubbing his hands down the sides of his pants. Cathy opened her mouth to rebuke him about hygiene, then thought of how much time it might take to find anywhere to wash. She pressed her lips together, making a mental note to thrust him into the shower the moment they got back home.
“I’m hungry,” Kevin announced. “Can we stop for a snack?”
Cathy repressed the urge to beat her head against the nearest tree. “Kevin.”
“What? I didn’t get any breakfast.” He reached for her by now rather battered purse. “Come on, Mom, you must have something in there.”
In all likelihood, he was right, but Cathy clamped her elbow over the bag. “I’ll make you something as soon as we get home. Now come on. We can’t keep stopping like this.”
“Okay, okay.” Kevin got all of two steps before halting. “Hang on. My shoelace is untied.”