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Back Heir to Sevenwaters Save as PDF
Chapters (22)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Acknowledgements
  5. CHAPTER 1
  6. CHAPTER 2
  7. CHAPTER 3
  8. CHAPTER 4
  9. CHAPTER 5
  10. CHAPTER 6
  11. CHAPTER 7
  12. CHAPTER 8
  13. CHAPTER 9
  14. CHAPTER 10
  15. CHAPTER 11
  16. CHAPTER 12
  17. CHAPTER 13
  18. CHAPTER 14
  19. CHAPTER 15
  20. CHAPTER 16
  21. CHAPTER 17
  22. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I set aside my empty cup and lay down beside Becan, drawing the cloak around both of us. Something cool and smooth slid across my abraded cheek, and I put up a hand to touch it. The ring; green glass, plain and small. A woman’s size. It would fit me, I thought.

“My mother’s,” said Cathal, who surely couldn’t see from where he sat. “The only thing of hers that I have. I don’t want to talk about it, and I don’t want to talk about her. Or him. Not now, not ever. It’s better if you and I keep our distance. Anything else is . . . it’s just too dangerous. I’m not here because of a burning desire to be your friend and tell you all my secrets. I’m here because I think this whole sorry mess, every last bit of it, has happened because of me. I told Johnny I didn’t want to come to Sevenwaters. When he brought me, he brought disaster to his family. Now go to sleep. I suspect tomorrow will be a long day.”

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 10

It was not Cathal who woke me before dawn, but Becan, shrilly requesting nourishment. I fed him, yawning. Cathal reported that he had seen nothing untoward, and agreed with some reluctance to sleep for a little while I kept watch. He refused to put on his cloak, insisting that I would be too cold without it. I waited until he had fallen asleep, then laid it over him, settling by the fire with Becan in my arms. The forest was quiet. Nothing stirred in the bracken; nothing cried out in the trees above me. The moonlight was gone, and the color of the sky suggested sunrise might not be far off, if the sun ever showed its face in this uncanny realm. Although the air was cool and fresh, there was something about the place that made me feel as if I were underground, a weight pressing down on me. I longed for my little bedchamber, the familiar halls and stairways of Sevenwaters, the comfort of my daily routines. I longed for clarity of mind. What had Cathal meant, that all of this was his doing? Was it, in fact, a confession of treachery? I found myself reluctant to believe that. Cathal had fled Sevenwaters just before the attack was reported. He had distracted me at the moment when Finbar was taken. And then he had hung about in the forest instead of escaping, and come with me all the way to the Otherworld. It made no sense at all.