The Sun Sídhe

23 - Reckless Vows

Aeden volunteered to take the first watch. It didn't matter that he'd done it several times before; he still found it unnerving to hold three lives in his hands. That night he stayed on high alert, constantly shifting his focus from his companions to the forest and sky above.

Rain fell a few times, but Maeve's barrier held. When the storm arrived—the natural one he'd anticipated—it was reassuringly normal. There were only a few distant strikes of lightning, a short downpour, and then it rolled past.

Maeve was awake for its duration. Her eyes remained wide open in the firelight, and she tensed at every peal of thunder. She rigidly scanned the forest alongside Aeden; their gazes met a few times, but neither said anything. Aeden let her be.

Once the rain petered out into a drizzle, she relaxed and fell back asleep. Her freckled face, framed by her loosened hair, looked much softer like that. One might have mistaken her for an innocent girl or, worse, the approachable sort.

Ronan woke a few times as well, probably restless and cold, but never longer than a minute. Given the amount of travel they'd done over the past week or two, he must've been exhausted. Morri certainly was, for she slept like the dead. Considering her pale skin and the flowers still woven in her hair, she resembled a corpse set for burial. That proved an unsettling comparison, though, so Aeden cast it aside.

Weariness settled in his bones after a few hours passed. His focus drifted to the moon, which had finally slipped past the cloud cover to brighten the night. Aeden stared at it longer than he should have, entranced by the mottled silver surface. His thoughts muddled over, as if it were one of those blistering, lazy summer days when the whole world seemed to nod off.

He shook his head sharply and lowered his gaze, realising he'd grown dangerously drowsy. Perhaps he'd been pushing himself too hard. His body ached, and he hadn't had much rest; his nights were infested with bad memories these days.

As he stood up to pass off watch duty, the shadows before him split. A small, dark wildcat with green fur emerged from the depths of the forest. His movements were entirely silent. The cat sí crept to the edge of the campfire and paused, his wary eyes on Aeden. They reflected the flames like flickering, golden mirrors.

He jerked to his feet, shaking off his tiredness. If anybody would be able to creep up on him, it would be another, older shapeshifter—still, unease trailed its fingers down his spine. He should've heard something.

Aeden knew this one had helped the others find him, so, stupidly, he hesitated before attacking. "What do you want?" he demanded. Since Ronan was closest, he nudged him with his foot.

The human didn't stir. Too late, it occurred to Aeden that his companions weren't awake to defend their minds against Cael's power, and his own drowsiness would've allowed the cat sí to tug at his senses, and Maeve had only ever created that barrier to keep out rain.

Aeden lunged, but Cael was uninjured and in the form of a far faster creature. It took him only one leap to reach Maeve. He shifted as soon as he was within reach, yanking her body half-upright to close one hand around her neck. Claws tipped his fingers. He crouched behind her, staring Aeden down over her shoulder.

Maeve didn't so much as flinch.

"Careful, now," Aeden growled, scrambling to figure out what to do. A glance to the side proved Morri was fast asleep, too. Something tugged at his chest, whispering, but he didn't have time to focus on it. "We've already proved that I'm stronger."

"And I have your companions imprisoned in their sleep." Cael regarded him with a dull, blank gaze. His delivery of the threat was eerily soft and lacked emotion. "I'm older than the four of you combined. Even Morrigan can't free herself from my hold in time, assuming she'd realise what's happened."