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“Foalan?”
“My lady, she did follow his orders in aid of his cause, but after speaking with her...” Sighing, he rose to his feet. “After speaking with her, I knew immediately something wasn’t right. She was ranting and raving about how much she loves Meallan, that she would do anything for him, and they’re going to be together forever.
“Absolute nonsense because I know enough about my brother to know he’d never mate with a chimp faeriken. I don’t need to be a healer to know she’s under the influence of a love spell.”
I felt Alisdair’s silence like a weight against my back.
“Is there any way to cure her of its effects?” I asked.
Foalan nodded. “It takes time, and she’ll be a danger to you until then, but the healers can return her addled mind to its proper state.”
“Then, we treat her, but we do so far from the castle. She cannot return until she’s well.” I faced Alisdair. “Do you agree?”
Face shadowed, a sharp bob of the chin was his only agreement.
Damn fucking Meallan and his love spells. His pack may have sworn an oath warning them off attacking Alisdair directly, but they were wreaking more than enough havoc on his life through the loophole.
“We’re leaving,” Alisdair barked in my direction. “Now.”
He grabbed his cane and entered the castle, leaving me to trail behind. I followed—catching up to him easily.
These days, Alisdair was more and more open to talking to me and having real, honest conversations. But not in front of an audience.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I wish I could hunt down that bastard and kill him for you myself.”
“It’s not for you to apologize to me. It was you he tried to have killed not once but four times.”
“Let’s both agree we hate that furry little shit and want him dead.”
“Agreed,” he growled.
I squeezed his hand. He squeezed back, leading me around the wrong corner, going the opposite direction of our bedchamber.
“I have something for you.”
“Ooh, a present?” I half joked.
“You may call it that if you like.”
I was even more intrigued. I pelted him with questions as we turned down hallways, and found ourselves in the east wing.
The hard line of my shoulders went taut, remembering the night he found me in the east tower, and flayed my heart alive, shouting that I would never mean more to him than a good fuck.
Don’t think about that. Things are different between you and Alisdair now. He’s different. He asked me to stay with him.
But he hasn’t told you he loves you,whispered another, quieter voice.
I pushed both out of my head, along with my memories of that horrible night. If Alisdair was willing to forgive me poisoning him and throwing me off a cliff. I could forgive him for losing his temper when he found me trespassing in the one room he asked me not to enter.
We turned one final corner, and came face-to-face with glass-paned double doors.
“What’s this?”
“Another hidden part of the castle,” he replied. “Or at least it was hidden until it was ready for you.”
Alisdair pushed open the doors, and the gift of speech was stolen off my tongue.
My mind flashed back to that first night wandering the halls with Eadaoin. I peeked out of a blurry, frost-covered window and saw what looked like a conservatory. I forgot all about it when Alisdair chased me away from the tower.
