[This post is from Gray Miller’s point of view.]
“They’re going to try to stop us and I can’t let that happen.”
Sitting on the cot in the quarters they’d been given for the duration of their stay, Gray watched Aoife stuffing things into her backpack, his frown only deepening as he watched her, listened to her. He hadn’t been entirely sold on the idea in the first place and the resistance everyone else was displaying was starting to tell him that his instincts had been correct.
“She won’t stop,” Aoife said, continuing to pace, her boots echoing softly on the wood. “She won’t stop just because she’s gotten her claws into Marin’s brother. Why can’t they understand that? How does that not make sense to them?”
“Why would she take Marin’s brother?” Gray asked, hoping to avert another tirade that might—probably would—end in frustrated tears. “I mean, there had to be a reason, right, and it doesn’t seem like it was to trade him for someone else.”
Aoife stopped, staring at the wall in front of her, her lips thinning. A raspy breath escaped her a second before she shook her head slowly. “I don’t know. I wish I did. Marin’s brother—he was someone else before, in a past life. I don’t know if I’ve told you about the Imbolg and the Ridden Druid, though.”
“I’m guessing that’s why she’d want him, then? Because of who he used to be?” Gray frowned, leaning back. “What do you know about it?”
“Nothing,” she said, her voice edging toward the breaking point. “It doesn’t make sense unless she’s somehow biding her time and lulling us into a false sense of security. It wouldn’t be the first time. She always comes back, though—she always comes after them again and it’s never good when she does.” Aoife squeezed her eyes shut and Gray could see the tears on her face. “I have to stop the cycle, Gray. Seems like no one else has the guts to do it, so I’m going to have to do it myself.”
