“The Talamh crown will belong to the kin who can bond to the Talamh HeartStone,” Enya interjects.

Mabh turns to face Croi. “Come here.”

We’d much rather die, thank you.

“Come here!” Mabh says again when she gets no response.

Croi doesn’t move.

Mabh sighs. “You made me do this. Remember that.” Her eyes glow for a second, and then she says once again, “Come here!”

This time Croi’s limbs move entirely without her permission. Her feet step forward despite her struggle to stop them. They carry her all the way to Mabh’s side.

She used blood compulsion on us.

The use of this spell, possible only between people who share blood, is forbidden. It intensifies Croi’s pain and exacerbates the final breaking. Croi stumbles, and Mabh grips her by the arm, her grasp punishing.

“Do you know who this is, Saraid?” she asks the Robber Queen.

The Robber Queen shrugs. “Does it matter who she is? In your hands, she is probably nothing more than a pawn.”

“My daughter, Saraid. Years ago, you said you wished to see her. Remember?” Mabh says. Croi bows her head so she misses the startled look on the Robber Queen’s face.

“Where is the HeartStone?” Enya, not caring for the matters between the fae, asks. “If it isn’t present when the hour for the Saol ceremony arrives, calamity will follow. It won’t be just a handful of kin who will die. The Caisleán will also fall.”

Mabh cups Croi’s face with her hands. The contact is cold and repulsive. Croi tries to shrug her away, but two of Mabh’s companions come forth and grab each of her hands. She doesn’t even have the power to struggle.

This is it.

“You will forgive me for this,” Mabh tells her. Then, without giving her a moment, she plunges a hand, tipped with sharp metal claws, into Croi’s chest and tries to tear out what feels like her heart but is actually the HeartStone that has been hidden in her chest for seventeen years. Croi screams, but Mabh isn’t moved to mercy. Croi can feel the HeartStone lodged in her heart. She can feel it being pulled. She feels it crack; a fragment of it remains embedded in Croi’s chest while the rest of it is torn out.

“Here it is!” Mabh crows victoriously, raising the blood-covered HeartStone in a gesture of triumph.

As soon as the HeartStone is visible, the Robber Queen’s soldiers pour into the hall. Mabh pushes Croi away, and her soldiers surround her, protecting her and the newly harvested HeartStone.

Croi lies on the stone floor, convulsing with pain. Her clothes are bloody, her chest bare to the world. The chill spreads, and her eyes darken, but just before they do, Croi raises her head and meets Uaine’s eyes.

A wordless plea rises from her, but the dryad turns away.

Mabh raises the hand containing the HeartStone, and the soldiers around the Robber Queen still.

“The Talamh crown belongs to the kin who holds the HeartStone.” Her words are sharp, piercing the stale air of the central hall. “Take her into custody.” The Talamh soldiers don’t move. “Immediately!”