Read Online The Hound at the Gate by Darby Karchut - Free Book Online Page B

looked up at the voice calling to them. Nearby, Gideon rose from his seat by the fire, journal in one hand.
    Kel O’Shea strolled into the clearing, dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a leather jacket the same shade of mahogany brown as her hair. She carried her bow over a shoulder. At her side was the black-haired girl from the hurling match Finn had noticed earlier.
    â€œKel O’Shea.” Gideon bowed his head briefly, an unusual light in his eyes. “
Fáilte
.”
    The female Knight smiled at the welcome. “Thank you. Gideon Lir. Finn MacCullen. This is Tara Butler.” She gestured toward the girl. A trace of pride colored her voice. “My new apprentice. Actually, my
first
apprentice,” she amended. “Tara turned thirteen just ten days ago.”
    â€œHello, Knight Lir,” Tara said. “Hi, Finn.” Her hair was smoothed back into a ponytail that hung forward over one shoulder. A fringe of bangs brushed her eyebrows. Her hoodie, the exact shade of Tuatha De Danaan blue as her eyes, proclaimed her a fan of U2.
    Finn stood, one hand still holding up the crate lid. “Hi.” To his chagrin, the lid slipped from his fingers and fell with a crash and a rattle. Heat flooded his face, then moved outward to his ears.
Smooth, MacCullen, real smooth
. “Sorry,” he mumbled. His face grew hotter when Tara tried not to smile.
    Gideon came to his rescue. He gestured toward a vacant chair. “Would you care for tea, Kel?”
    â€œThanks, but no. I’m putting together a little competition this afternoon. Want to join us?”
    â€œThe events?”
    â€œOh, some knife throwing, a boxing match or two, a game of hurling if we can get enough players. Maybe even a wrestling match. Which Mac Roth will win, as usual.” She looked around. “Where is he, by the way? And Asher?”
    â€œLochlan,” Gideon corrected. “Asher was the O’Neill cousin who was killed in July.”
    Finn tried to ignore the remorse that always stabbed him at the mention of the dead apprentice.
I know Gideon keeps telling me it wasn’t my fault. Maybe someday I’ll believe him
.
    O’Shea winced. “Right. Sorry, I should have remembered. They have such a huge clan, I’m always getting the kids mixed up.”
    As the Knights chatted together about the O’Neills and other families, Tara walked over to Finn. She glanced around the campsite. “Cool setup you guys have here. I like this old-school look. Kel’s got us in a tent that looks like it could take on an Everest expedition.Talk about overkill.” She nudged the wooden crate with the toe of her sneaker. “I like things more basic. Back to nature and all that.”
    Finn blinked in surprise. “You
like
camping?”
    â€œSure. Who doesn’t?”
    â€œI just thought… Well, you know. Being a girl and all—”
    Her eyes narrowed. “What does
being a girl
have to do with whether I like camping or not?”
    Finn wondered why the air temperature had suddenly dropped ten degrees. “Um…well, most girls…” He caught himself, and tried again. “I mean
some
girls don’t like—”
    â€œOh, I get it. You’re one of those guys.”
    â€œWhat guys?”
    â€œGuys that think females can’t do what males do, right?” Her voice was sharper than the edge of Finn’s knife.
    Feeling as if he were lost in the middle of a bog and sinking fast, he scrambled to save himself. “No, I’m not one of
those guys
. In fact, my friend, Savannah, is really good at—”
    â€œKel told me I might run into other Fey with this attitude. But I always thought it would be an older Knight. Not an apprentice who’s the
same age as me
.” She huffed out a breath, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. Jutting out her chin, she squared up to Finn.
    He gawked at her sudden fierceness. “I-I didn’t say