Cursed Rebel, page 9
Ryan, who’d been sulking on the sofa in silence since I’d attacked him, muttered something under his breath that I didn’t hear. Obviously Fin did because he paused, put his mug down on the floor by his chair, and stood up. In the blink of an eye, he was across the room, standing in front of Ryan, who stayed seated on the sofa and stretched his arms along the back of it. He tipped his head up to glare at Fin.
“I dare you to say that to my face,” Fin growled. With the firelight lighting him from behind, he looked tall and intimidating, his features hard and shadowed. A little scary.
Ryan didn’t flinch. He just cocked his head to the side and said slowly, deliberately, “You are a—”
And then he said something in Gaelic that I didn’t understand, but from the way Fin reacted, it was an insult, and a nasty one at that.
Fin lunged forward and wrapped his hand around Ryan’s throat, his other hand levelling the point of his sword against Ryan’s Adam’s apple.
Startled, I jumped off the bed, knocking the empty plate to the floor. “Whoa! Fin!”
He ignored me. He bent his head close to Ryan’s and whispered something in his ear. Ryan’s insolent expression changed, and he looked scared. I saw his Adam’s apple bob as he tried to swallow, and he choked as Fin’s hand tightened around his throat.
“Fin, don’t!” Panic made my heart pound, and I crossed the room.
I grabbed Fin’s arm, but he was way stronger than me. I didn’t even manage to shift him a millimetre. A drop of blood rolled down Ryan’s neck from where the sword touched his skin and slid over Fin’s fingers.
Shit, I thought. Then I remembered something from before I’d passed out in the snow, and scraps of old memories, bits and pieces of things my grandmother had told me, flitted through my head.
I took a breath, and then said, firmly, “Fallow, let him go. Now.”
Fin froze, tensing all over, as if I’d just zapped him with an electric current. His face went blank, but I could see the rage simmering in his green eyes as he released Ryan’s throat and backed off, moving mechanically. Then he whirled on me, eyes blazing, and I cringed. He glared at me for a long moment, long enough that I started to feel light-headed, and I realised I was holding my breath.
Suddenly, Fin lurched forward, and I stumbled back as he jabbed a finger in my face.
“Never do that to me again,” he spat.
I nodded quickly, my heart thrashing. He continued to glare at me, then spun on his heel and strode out of the room, walking right through the wall as if it wasn’t even there.
Once he was gone, I let out my breath and fell to my knees. Ryan slid off the sofa and took my arm, helping me to my feet. I didn’t even protest, too shaken by Fin’s rage to be angry at him.
He sat me down beside him on the sofa. “Are you okay?” he asked softly.
I lifted my hand in front of my face and saw it was shaking badly. Ryan frowned and slid closer, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. My heart fluttered, and I tucked my face into his shoulder, willing to forget, just for the moment, that he was a dick who’d lied to me.
“It’s okay, Luce. It’s okay,” Ryan murmured, stroking my hair.
A flash of a dream flittered through my head, the dream I’d told Nat about, the one about Ryan and me. I pushed it away quickly. It was bad enough I was confused about my feelings for Fin without adding Ryan back into the mix.
We sat in silence in front of the fire for a while, and I started to wonder if Fin was ever coming back. I didn’t want to think about how angry he was with me, or the scary fury in his green eyes when he’d yelled at me, so I curled up against Ryan. The heat of the fire was making me sleepy, so I closed my eyes and started to drift off.
Ryan said quietly, “Lucy?”
“Hmm?”
“How did you do that? To Fal—I mean, Fin.”
Confused, I opened my eyes and looked up at him. His blue eyes sparkled like ice in the firelight. “What do you mean?” I asked.
He frowned and touched his nose-ring, twisting it. “The way you used his Real name? You…you controlled him. You shouldn’t have been able to do that.”
I blinked. “I shouldn’t? But I thought…I mean, I always heard that using a faery’s Real name gave you power over them.”
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. But that only works for other fae, and only if they’re more powerful than the one they’re trying to control. You’re human, so you shouldn’t have been able to do that.”
I frowned, thinking about it. Then I shook my head. There was no way…after everything Grandma had told me…there was no way I was a faery, not even part. No way in hell. But then, I remembered an old, faded memory of her voice floating through a dark room, saying, ‘One day, the Fair Folk might come for you, Lucy… I pray the Fair Folk never find you, little Lucy. But I fear my prayers will go unanswered…’
I swallowed and pushed the thoughts away. I wasn’t a faery, I couldn’t be. But it made sense, didn’t it? Why else would she be so sure the fae would come for me? Why else would the King want me so much? What if I really was…
No. No, no, no. I refused to think about it. Instead, I asked Ryan, “But you know Fin’s Real name, so does that mean you could control him if you wanted? Why didn’t you stop him from choking you before?”
He shook his head, his long dark hair slipping into his eyes, and I noticed his ears. Pointed. How had I never noticed it before? I’d been friends with him for years, and I’d never noticed his ears. I mean, he’d always had long hair, but…it seemed impossible that I’d never noticed. And I’d felt that he was a faery when I’d met Fin. I’d known even before I saw his ears. Something inside me had reacted to him. So why had I never reacted to Ryan?
“No,” Ryan said, distracting me for a second.“Fin and I are about evenly matched power-wise, so we just cancel each other out. We can’t control each other that way, even though I’m one of the few people who know his Real name, and he’s one of the few who know mine.”
“Huh. So how do you know each other’s Real names then? I thought they were meant to be, like, secret.”
Ryan—Ryder, I thought with a flutter of unease—squirmed next to me.
“It’s a long story.”
I shrugged. “Well, it doesn’t look like I’m going anywhere.” Then it occurred to me. I sat up and grabbed the front of Ryan’s shirt, startling him. “Ryan, take me home. Please. We can go before Fin gets back.”
He looked at me sadly and shook his head. “I can’t do that. I’m sorry, Lucy.”
I gripped his shirt tighter. “Why not? Please, Ry. I hate it here, and my mum must be so worried about me!”
He sighed. “I’m sorry, Luce—”
Suddenly, there was a weird sound, like a high-pitched buzzing ringing in my ears, and Fin walked through the wall into the cabin. He took one look at Ryan and me, and scowled. I looked down. I was still gripping Ryan’s shirt, and I was practically on his lap, and I realised how it must look to Fin. I blushed, quickly scrambling off the sofa.
“Fin, it isn’t—” I started to explain, distantly wondering why I cared what he thought.
He just held up a hand to silence me. “We’re staying here for tonight. You,” he said, looking at Ryan scathingly, “can feel free to leave at any time.”
Ryan shrugged. “Come on, Fin. You know as long as Lucy’s here, I’m not going anywhere.”
I smiled a little. Despite how he’d lied to me, had betrayed me, I was still glad he was there. I felt saner with him around, and I was thankful for the buffer between Fin and me, since Pan seemed to have disappeared for good.
Fin made an irritated sound. “Fine. Then I hope you like the floor because that’s where you’ll be sleeping. Lucy.” He jerked his head round to look at me and motioned to the bed.
I scowled. “I’m not tired,” I protested, feeling stupid because I sounded like a child, but I didn’t like him ordering me about.
He glared at me. “Go to bed,” he growled.
I sat down on the sofa next to Ryan again. “You can take the bed this time. I’m staying with Ryan.”
Anger flared in Fin’s eyes, but only for a second. Then his expression turned blank, and he snapped, “Fine, do what you like.” Instead of getting into the bed, he sat down in the chair next to it and folded his arms, glaring at the wall.
I sighed. Ryan raised his eyebrows at me questioningly. I just shook my head.
He smiled, got up off the sofa, and gently said, “Lie down.”
I did as he asked, stretching out on the sofa. He wiggled his fingers over me, and a soft blanket settled over my body. He sat down on the floor, a thin mattress with a pillow and blanket appearing under him.
“Go to sleep, Luce. You’re safe,” he whispered.
I closed my eyes, snuggling into the blanket and sofa cushions. I hadn’t realised just how exhausted I was, after the long hike, passing out and then attacking Ryan. I started to fall asleep immediately. Tiredly, I yawned and murmured, “Try not to kill each other while I’m sleeping.”
Ryan chuckled. He murmured, “Sweet dreams, Lucy.”
I could have imagined it, but I could have sworn that right before I dropped off, I felt his lips brush my forehead.
Chapter Thirteen
I was standing in the icy forest, surrounded by frost-coloured trees, their blue leaves dripping with blood—shockingly bright against the paleness. I was alone, my nose and fingers stiff with the cold, my rapid breaths making clouds of mist in the frigid air. I searched the snowy grounds around me and called out, “Fin? Ryan?” My voice was swallowed by the thick snow falling in sheets.
In the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a shadow, and spun toward it, my heart pounding. “Fin? Fin, come on, quit it!” I yelled, my voice creaking with fear. I got no response. Something crackled in the trees around me, and I whirled again, my eyes searching frantically through the snow for some sign of the boys. “Ryan? Stop playing with me! You’re freaking me out!”
“Alright,” Ryan whispered from right behind me.
I jumped, my breath snagging in my throat in surprise. I turned and found him looking down at me with cool blue eyes, his black hair dusted with snow. He was dressed in his white leather trousers, but his long coat was missing, leaving him in a sleeveless white shirt that exposed the strange, Celtic tattoos up and down his arms. I couldn’t remember if I’d ever seen them before. I didn’t think so.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted you, Lucy,” he murmured, his fingertips skimming my cheek.
I gasped, my stomach fluttering at his touch, at the way he was looking at me. Ryan had never looked at me that way before; like he was hungry and I was chocolate cake. Like he wanted to devour me.
Behind me, someone shouted my name. “Lucy!”
Startled, I glanced over my shoulder, and saw Fin standing by a crystalline tree, his green eyes wide and pleading. He was wearing brown leather jeans and a deep-green sleeveless shirt. His hair was like a fiery beacon against the white all around us.
The trees were still weeping bloody tears as Fin called to me, “Please, Snowdrop. Please.”
My heart thudded, and I glanced back at Ryan, who was glaring over my head at Fin with eyes like chips of ice. There was something horrible in his expression that scared me, but I couldn’t move away. He was gripping my arm so tightly it hurt. My throat tightened, and I looked at Fin again. He was reaching for me with one hand, but he wasn’t moving toward me. It was as if he was rooted to the spot too. However, the way he looked at me…it wasn’t the same way Ryan had looked at me. Not hungry. More like…like he was drowning, and I was the slice of land just out of his reach. Like he needed me to save him.
“Please,” he said again, softly, his voice almost stolen by the rapidly falling snow.
I shook my head. “Please, what? Fin, I don’t understand!”
He looked saddened by my response, and I felt a sting deep inside my chest over the grief on his face. Then Ryan laughed, but it wasn’t like any laugh I’d heard before. It was cold and harsh, cruel and sharp as winter ice. It sent a chill down my spine, and I tried to yank my arm from his grasp, but he held on, his eyes glittering with malice.
“Come on, Lucy,” he crooned, bending his head to mine. “I know you love me,” he whispered.“Just one kiss. That’s all I want. One kiss, and you’ll be mine forever.”
A few days before, I’d have been thrilled to hear him say that. But, at that moment, I was scared. Scared of the cold look in his eyes, in the painful tightness of his grip on me. Scared of him. “No,” I whispered. Then louder, pulling against his hold, “No!”
He ignored me, laughing. I glanced back desperately for Fin, but he was gone, lost in the falling snow. I called for him, but my voice was weak.
Ryan spun me around and, staring into my eyes, he murmured, “You’re mine.”
His cold lips crashed down on mine…
I woke up gasping, my heart thrashing. The cabin was dim, the fire long since extinguished, and there was a weight across my stomach. I looked down at Ryan’s arm across my waist, felt his body stretched out beside mine, and tried to remember how I’d ended up sleeping beside him. When I’d fallen asleep, he’d been sitting on the floor. He must have moved onto the sofa in the night.
Sitting up carefully, moving his arm off me, I looked over the back of the sofa toward the one bed in the cabin, but it was empty, the blankets smooth as if the bed hadn’t been slept in at all. The chair by the bed was empty too, and my heart suddenly lurched into my ribs. Where was Fin?
Slowly, silently, I stood up and looked around, but it was empty and cold. “Fin?” I whispered, glancing back at the sofa uneasily.
A hand clapped over my mouth from behind, and I screamed against the palm until Fin hissed in my ear, “Shut up! It’s just me.”
I relaxed, but only a little. His voice tickled my ear as he whispered, “I’m going to let you go. Do not make a sound. You understand?”
I nodded. He released me, and I spun to face him. His face looked sharp and serious in the dimness, his hair and eyes blazing.
“Jesus, you scared me,” I hissed on a breath.
He scowled. “Sorry,” he said flatly, sounding irritated rather than apologetic. “Grab your bag. We’re leaving. Now.”
I blinked at him. “What? But Ryan—”
He made a low hissing sound, and I flinched.
“We can’t trust him. We need to go before he wakes up.”
Images from my dream flashed through my head—Fin’s mournful eyes, Ryan’s cruel smirk, his lips crushing mine. I shook the clinging webs of the nightmare away. It was just a dream. I knew Ryan, I trusted him…didn’t I?
I put my hands on my hips stubbornly. “He’s my friend. I’m not leaving without him. And what’s this ‘we’ anyway? I don’t trust you! Yeah, Ryan lied to me about being a faery, but at least he never kidnapped me!”
Fin’s expression darkened. “Ryan works for the Queen, Lucy. Just like I work for the King. He has the same purpose as I do—to take you to his Ruler. And believe me, the Queen makes the King seem like a— Well, let’s just say she’s not someone you ever want to meet.”
I looked at the sofa again. I could hear Ryan’s even breathing as he slept on, oblivious to mine and Fin’s standoff. I chewed my lip, uncertain. I didn’t want to believe Fin. I didn’t want to leave Ryan, my friend, whom I’d known for years.
“I…”
Ryan shifted, the sofa creaking, and Fin decided for me. He grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the wall, grabbing my bag off the small dingy table. The wall in front of us rippled, and Fin thrust me through the portal into the snow.
Chapter Fourteen
** Lucy **
I cursed, kicked and thrashed as Fin dragged me through the snow, screaming for Ryan, though I suspected he couldn’t hear me inside the walls of the invisible cabin. “Let go of me, you fucking psycho! You bloody stupid faery, let me go! I don’t want to go with you! I want to stay with Ryan! Ryan!”
Fin swore as I raked my nails down his cheek, leaving scratches to his jaw. He jerked back, glaring at me. I tried to yank my arm from his grip, but it was like fighting against a stone statue—he was immovable. I cursed some more, but when I aimed my foot for his groin, he growled and dodged. Suddenly, he let go of my arm, but before I could even think about running, he grabbed me around the waist and threw me over his shoulder.
I shrieked and whacked him between the shoulder blades. “Put me down!”
“Are you going to walk quietly, like a good girl?” he asked, his tone mild, though I could feel his anger in the tension of his shoulders.
My response was a string of swear words ending in, “…you goddamned fucknut!”
He snorted. “I thought not. I’m going to carry you until you calm the hell down. And for Christ’s sake, will you shut up already! Ryder can’t hear you.”
I growled in frustration, scowling at the back of his head, and thumped him once more. “I hate you.”
“Right now, the feeling is mutual. Now be quiet.”
He emphasised his command by smacking my arse soundly, and I yelped. My eyes widened, and my face heated, but I closed my mouth, fearing he’d do it again if I didn’t obey. In my head, I was picturing shoving Ryan’s shiny sword up Fin’s backside. It made me feel just a little better—about as good as I could feel while being lugged off like bound cattle.
Eventually, exhausted from my temper tantrum, I fell asleep in Fin’s arms. When I woke, we had emerged from the frozen reaches of the forest, and I was lying down in a grassy clearing next to a sparkling stream. The temperature was almost uncomfortably warm, like a hot summer day, and the sky was a rich, cloudless blue. The grass I lay on was spotted with daisies and dandelions, the trees around me were in full bloom with fresh green leaves rustling softly in the warm breeze.
Somewhere above me, amidst the leaves, a bird was singing—not the usual sweet twittering of a songbird, but a full violins-and-cellos Vivaldi concerto—and a hot-pink squirrel was watching me from a branch, its furry head cocked, its beady black eyes fixed on me. I blinked, hard, but the squirrel didn’t go away, nor return to a normal colour. I felt rather like Alice when she’d fallen into Wonderland. I was half expecting a talking caterpillar to crawl over my leg any moment.
