“Right.” I looked between Phelan and Cariocecus, my brow furrowing. I could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on. “Are you two done baiting each other?”
“He tried to break my face,” Cariocecus said, feigning innocence. I swore under my breath and massaged a temple.
“You tried to break Thom and I,” I retorted. “And tried to kill all of us, and subverted one of our friends…do I need to keep going? Because I’m sure I can come up with more.”
Cariocecus just stared at me for a moment before he glanced away. “No,” he said, his voice even, perhaps even a little remorseful. “You don’t have to continue. I’m well aware of the wrongs I’ve done unto you and yours, Seer. I’ve no need to be reminded.”
“Good.” I crossed my arms and stared at him. “Then you can keep explaining.”
His eyes narrowed briefly before he let out a soft sigh and nodded. “Very well. There are tales that the Taliesin seems to want to forget—”
“How the hell do you know that’s what I am?” Phelan demanded as Thom slowly let him up from the snow-covered ground.
“It’s a rather poorly kept secret in some circles,” Cariocecus said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the metal of the archway again. “It began when someone sorted out that Seamus the Black had been the Taliesin before you and then began to think about who the mantle might be passed to when he’d left your homeland. Chief among the possibilities were you and the Lord Teague, but the latter was summarily dismissed soon after. Men watched you, Wanderer, and the pieces began to fall into place. No matter how secret you think your intentions may be, how quiet you make your moves, someone will always notice.”
Phelan’s eyes narrowed dangerously and a muscle in his jaw twitched violently. I smothered a wince as I turned away from him and back toward Cariocecus.
“You’re still baiting him,” I said, tone light and even. “I’m not sure I like it.”
“I know he’s not a fan,” Thom growled. “Stick to business, Cariocecus.”
“Well, I am trying,” he said, eyes narrowing slightly, “but a certain troublemaker is making that difficult.”
Phelan shook off Thom’s grip. “I’ll leave.”
“No.” I looked between the two of them, voice soft. “If this is going to work, we can’t have the two of you constantly at each other’s throats. It won’t do us an ounce of good to even try. Either you two make some kind of peace or the deal’s off.”
My stomach gave an uncomfortable flutter at the idea of just giving up, but I hadn’t been sure that this little alliance was in our best interest in the first place.
When had I started to think otherwise?
That was enough to make me shiver.
Phelan gave me a baleful look for just a second, then sighed and drew himself up a little straighter, a little taller.
“Fine. I will make a concerted effort to treat him with some modicum of respect.”
“I will endeavor to do likewise,” Cariocecus said.
“Good.” I exhaled a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. Don’t push your luck, Marin, you can’t hope for much more than what they’ve just agreed to. “Now that that’s settled, tell us how you know that Seamus is alive.”
“I did already say that it was because the Lady of Sighs told me. In exchange for my sparing the Wanderer’s life, no less.”
“I still don’t believe that,” Phelan said. “I don’t know how you expect me to.”
“Believe it,” Cariocecus said, “because it’s the truth. She was in a cabin surrounded by Hamrammr, possibly about to get torn to shreds.” He shook his head, looking at Phelan again. “When you piss off goddesses, you pick some of the best, you realize that, don’t you?”
“It’s not like I try,” Phelan retorted.
“Of course not. It’s just the way about you.” Cariocecus grinned momentarily, then continued. “I came to her rescue, of course. I’ve always had a soft spot for your little sister, Wanderer. She’s so much sweeter than the rest of you, but with such steel in her spine.”
Thom put a restraining hand on Phelan’s shoulder and I swallowed another sigh.
Yeah. This…isn’t going well. Not at all. “So she told you that Seamus was alive because she was grateful that you’d saved her life?”
“Oh, no, she bargained,” Cariocecus said. “She bargained for her brother’s life and I granted her that boon. Then she told me. Of course, I suspected that he was still breathing because the signs point to it—and there are some who have scryed his blood in the world, started to track it.”
Phelan’s eyes narrowed. “That could just have easily been his offspring.”
“Indeed,” Cariocecus said, tone thoughtful and eyes distant. “Indeed.”
Christ. I don’t like where I think this is going. I don’t like it at all.
