Read Online Beyond the Pale: A Thin Veil Novella (The Thin Veil Book 3) by Jodi McIsaac - Free Book Online

in our lives. I’ve often wondered how our bodies would react if we were to live like humans—in a world of toil, in which we fight for our very survival and struggle to feed our children…” His piercing blue eyes met hers. “Would I be correct in saying that you have been under a fair amount of stress lately, Kier?”
    To her own dismay, Kier burst into tears. Felix looked startled at first, then sat down next to her on the bed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I have to fix it,” she whispered. “I drove him to this. If I had stayed with him, if I hadn’t married Brogan, none of this would be happening.”
    Felix turned her head so that she had to look at him. “No, Kier. I know you two were…close. But he deceived you. You had no idea he would respond like this. And there’s still time. We can still stop him. None of this is your fault. Now I need you to lie down so I can examine you.”
    She stifled her tears—what was wrong with her?—and tried to come up with a plan for how she could find a druid who would help her. Meanwhile, Felix hovered his hands over various parts of her body: first her head, then her heart, then her stomach. She felt each part of her grow warm as he passed his hands over it, chanting softly under his breath. It was a pleasant sensation, and she began to feel herself grow calm and sleepy. This disturbed her.
    “Wait,” she said, sitting up. “What are you doing?”
    “I’m just helping you relax while I examine you,” he said, gently pushing her shoulder so that she would lie back down.
    “I don’t want to relax,” she said, resisting his hand and sitting up straight again.
    His voice was strangely urgent. “Kier, what you’re planning—it won’t work. You said yourself you can’t do this without a druid, and you know full well that there are none in Tír na nÓg. You’d have to go to Ériu to find one, and all the sidhe are closed.”
    “Not all of them,” Kier said bitterly.
    “They are, actually.”
    Both Kier and Felix jumped at the voice from behind them. Brogan stood in the doorway. “You were right,” he said, his face ashen. “I’ve been a fool.”
    Neither Kier nor Felix said anything, but Felix edged away toward the row of cabinets that stood at the opposite end of the room. Kier sat up.
    “How are you feeling?” Brogan asked tentatively.
    “Fine,” she answered without elaborating.
    “I should have been honest with you,” Brogan said. “It’s the least you deserve. The human woman—Maeve—well, we’ve been together for years, long before you and I were married. And I do care for her. But my priorities have not been where they should be. My priority is you, Kier. You’re my wife. I know ours was an arranged marriage, but I have grown very fond of you. And I believe you feel the same way about me. It hasn’t been a torrid love affair, but maybe, with time, our affection for each other can grow into something deeper. Once all of this is over.” When Kier still said nothing, he continued. “I told her that she would never see me again.”
    Finally, Kier spoke, a small smile on her lips, “You’re a good man, Brogan, and a great king, when you’re thinking clearly. You’re a dreadful husband, but you’re right—maybe that can change. What’s important is that we don’t give Lorcan any access to Ériu. You and I…we’ll figure that out later. Thank you for telling me the truth.”
    Then she swallowed her desire to either kiss him or punch him, and told him everything she had learned. Then, haltingly, she told him of her plan to become the dyad. “I just need a druid to help cast the spell,” she said.
    A strange shadow passed over his features, and he shook his head firmly. “It’s far too dangerous, Kier—we don’t even know what a spell like that would do to you. It could kill you!”
    “But don’t you think it’s worth the risk?” she said.
    “Not to me,” he said.
    “It’s our best chance,” she insisted.