After it was done, she felt a little bit like a rag that had been wrung out of water. Tired. So very very tired.
Scáthach ran a hand through her hair. “That is a grievous tale indeed. Not the one I thought you were going to say.”
“Really?” Elva asked. “Can I know what you thought was happening on this mountain?”
“I rather thought it was someone from my past coming to haunt me.” Scáthach gave her a sheepish grin. “I’m ever so glad to see it’s not, but I do apologize I brought you into this.”
“That’s all right.”
“Now, we need to figure out how to help this man.”
She couldn’t have startled Elva more if she had said they should tear the castle to the ground. “What?” Elva bit the inside of her lip. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not heartless, Elva. I do not trust men, nor do I think they are a kind lot, but I don’t like to see people who are suffering. This is injustice. No one should have to suffer through a life of a curse.”
Gods, she agreed. Thank every ancestor that Scáthach saw this situation the way Elva did. With the two of them thinking of a way to break this curse, she was confident there was a fix.
“What do you suggest?” Elva asked.
“You said you’ve never seen the man’s face, but you’ve seen the bear quite often?”
Elva nodded.
“Then there’s some connection there. He claims you aren’t supposed to see his face, but maybe, just maybe, you’re supposed to.”
That didn’t seem like a faerie curse. Elva wanted to tell her that, but there was more wisdom in this human woman than most. She gestured for Scáthach to continue.
“I have a candle in my bag. I’ve used it most nights to note my journey here through the mists into the realm where both humans and faeries can exist. However, I will give it to you. Light it when he falls asleep and look upon his face. Perhaps that will break the curse.”
“Or make it worse.”
“Sitting and doing nothing is certainly making it worse already,” Scáthach replied. She reached into her bag and brought out the nub of wax and wick.
Elva took it with more than a little trepidation. Would this be going against everything he’d asked of her? Although, he hadn’t really asked for anything as of yet.
Donnacha had been a perfect gentleman while sharing her space. He’d taken the time to make sure she was comfortable with him being there, to explain he couldn’t change it and wouldn’t have imposed if it had been his choice.
But he’d never said she couldn’t look at him. He’d never said she couldn’t take matters into her own hands and… what? Violate his privacy in this way?
Would that make her the biggest hypocrite?
Scáthach reached out and covered Elva’s hand, curling both their fingers around the candle. “I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do. This is a choice you will have to make, as you’ve been here and I haven’t. I will say I think it’s the right thing to do. If I were here, I’d want to do everything in my power to break his curse.”
“What if it makes everything worse?”
“Isn’t it better to try something than nothing at all?”
And therein lay the answer to a question that had been sitting at the back of Elva’s mind. She was a woman of action. She wanted to help, but doing nothing as he expected… It wasn’t going to work for her.
Scáthach was right. They had to do something, try something, because she wasn’t happy with him suffering like this. A bear during the day, and a man hiding in the shadows at night? That wasn’t a life worth living. She refused to stand by and allow him to suffer like this anymore.
It was time to take things into her own hands.
Elva nodded firmly. “I will do what I must. First, I will ask him if I might see his face, though.”
“That’s fine. It’s a good first step, and if he says nothing?”
“Then I will light the candle that night.”
Was this the right choice? She wouldn’t know until she took the leap, but it still felt wrong.
Scáthach stood up. “Come then, see me out of the castle.”
“You’re leaving? Already?” Elva stood as well, not sure how she felt about her greatest mentor leaving. It had been a relief to have Scáthach there.
Perhaps that was just her need for a mother showing its ugly head. Scáthach always made her feel as though someone had wrapped a warm blanket around her shoulders. The warrior woman took control of every situation she strode into. It was her way.
Now, Elva would return to a life where she had to do something, anything, but unfortunately all the choices were her own. No one else would be helping guide her in the right direction.
“Yes,” Scáthach replied with a chuckle. “There are many who still need my training. But you?” She reached forward and took Elva’s face in her hands. “You are so much stronger than the rest of them. I’ve always known that.”
“I didn’t show up strong.”
“No one does. You all arrive at my door broken with your hearts hanging from your chests. I know what it feels like to have a man betray you. To rip out everything you were and are.” Scáthach leaned forward and pressed her forehead against Elva’s. “You have become something so much more than the pretty little faerie who walked all the way to the Isle of Skye.”
Elva hoped the warrior woman was right.
12
Something had changed, and he didn’t know what it was. Donnacha stepped into the darkness of her bedroom and felt as though he’d walked into a warzone. She wasn’t seated in the chairs as they usually did before she grew tired enough for sleep.
Instead, Elva was already sitting on her side of the bed,
