The Sun Sídhe

4 - Watch the Damn Cattle

"Why are you here?" I snapped, rounding on Aeden. He regarded me with too-friendly amusement, gold flickering through his green eyes. It was distracting, almost as much as Ronan's dual colours. I kept my focus on them, though, seeking out any hint of his real thoughts. "What do you want? Did you know that bitch who stabbed me?"

He laughed, lifting his hands in surrender. "That's a lot of questions. Well, Maeve—that's your name, right?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. May I call you Mae?"

"No."

"Well, Mae, I did know Niamh. We weren't the greatest of friends." His eyes darkened, but it was soon washed beneath a smile. "Before that gloomy story, I'm curious—what are you doing here?"

I scowled. "This is my home."

"Then who are these humans?" He cocked his head, examining me. "Please don't tell me you're the type to lure mortals in for, ah, entertainment."

"No!" I shot upright, glowering down at him. "They're my family, you eejit."

"Family?" Aeden's smile cracked through with confusion. "That's impossible. You're a sídhe. We're a separate species."

My teeth ground together. There was something about the way he'd been referring to the others: not with anger or disgust, but a passive sort of disinterest. As if they were little more than friendly dogs at our feet. The thought set my blood alight, and I felt a few scraps of flame warm my fingers. "They've raised me. They're better family than any sídhe could be."

Aeden glanced around at Mam and my brothers, his eyes flitting from their faces to their clothes. His expression grew unreadable. There was a long silence before he shrugged, leaning back with the same cocky grin as before. "Aw, look how the blond one is blushing. You must not say you love them enough, Mae."

Conor immediately ducked his head. I opened my mouth and then snapped it shut, feeling heat climb into my own cheeks. It was easy enough to turn it into annoyance. I snarled down at the dark-haired stranger, shifting my weight off of my injured leg. "I've allowed you to come this far because you helped me, Aeden—"

"I saved your life, to be precise."

"Whatever. That doesn't mean I trust you. You followed me because you want something—"

He placed a hand over his chest, faking hurt. "Maybe I just wanted to make sure a pretty lady such as yourself got home safe."

"Is that so, leech?" I hissed. Nobody, save Ronan, was that stupidly selfless. "You've already gladly accepted a set of clothes and what was left of our clean water. Hell, if this goes on you'll probably take all of our food—"

His eyes lit up. "You have food?"

I limped forward, seizing his collar to yank him upright. "The point is that you aren't here out of the goodness of your heart," I snarled. "So spit it out. Why are you here?"

"Easy, easy." Aeden gave my wrist a little pat and, with a fluid duck, extracted himself from my grip. He scraped his fingers through his hair, pulling out a leaf as he did. He flicked it aside with a soft laugh, unbothered. "I'm not here to hurt you, or your... family."

Still avoiding the question. I whirled around with a snarl, getting the sense that this was going to take a while. My gaze landed on Conor. He was cringing into the corner, clearly wanting nothing to do with any of this. The fear in his eyes made me pause, and I sighed. "Why don't you go outside and watch the damn cattle, Conor?" I hadn't quite forgotten that they'd been left to fend for themselves outside. The beasts could probably manage—and I admittedly had bigger problems—but I was getting the sense that Conor would be glad for an excuse to leave.