Cillian
Saoirse is quiet as we drive back down to the castle. A little too quiet for my liking.
She keeps her face turned towards the window so that I only catch glimpses of her expression. When I do, her jaw is tight, her eyes distant.
But that’s the way it is with Saoirse. The moment you think things are going well, she pulls the rug right out from underneath you.
As infuriating as it is, I’m self-aware enough to understand that that’s one of the reasons I’m so damn attracted to her. She’s mysterious and complicated and unpredictable in a way I have never encountered before or since.
“What’s on your mind?” I ask when we’re almost at the lake.
“Nothing,” she mumbles.
I grit my teeth. But I can’t force her to talk to me. I can’t force her to trust me, either.
Just before turning the corner, I notice a billow of smoke wrinkling in the air.
As we round the bend, my eyes zero in on the car stalled in the middle of the road, a few yards away from the bridge itself.
It’s got two punctured tires hissing air and a pattern of bullet holes in the rear fender. The back glass has shattered and caved in.
“Fuck.”
“What is it?” Saoirse asks, sitting up a little straighter. “Kinahan?”
That was my first thought, too. Then I notice the license plate on the car.
“Not Kinahan,” I growl, speeding up until we’re right behind the fucked-up car. “It’s mine.”
I park and leap out of the vehicle. Rushing to the driver’s seat, I expect to find it empty.
But it’s not.
“Kian!”
My brother groans and tries to lift his head off the steering wheel, but he barely manages. His face is slicked with blood and his eyes are fluttering between reality and unconsciousness.
“Fucking hell,” I roar, peeling him off the wheel and leaning him back against the seat’s headrest. “Kian, what the fuck happened?”
His eyes flicker to me and beyond me. I sense Saoirse at my shoulder.
“I was ambushed on the road,” he groans with immense difficulty. “Fuckers tried to get me. But I was too fucking smart for them.”
His voice fades off in another warble of pain. He looks like death warmed over.
I’m not about to sit here and watch him wither away in front of me. “Come on,” I say through gritted teeth. “Let’s get you inside.”
I help him get out of the car. Every motion draws another hiss of agony from him.
I look around for Saoirse, only to see that she’s disappeared. Then I realize that she’s calling for help from the side gate next to the portcullis.
The gates open a minute later and Eiric runs out towards us to loop an arm underneath Kian from the other side.
“Come on, brother,” I tell Kian. “You’re going to be okay.”
“They were looking for you,” Kian tells me, choking a little on his words. “They were looking for all of us. You, me, Ma, Da.”
Fear grips me immediately.