My Brother's Poisoner

er than the village. We went down the path at a run, Padraig with his stick clacking on the stones, a

It was warm, and not the warmth of a sunlit rock ei

them?"

g said. "I went rou

e stayed there with his head down while the rest of us watched. Then he

rength instead of the tide's. It is feeding on your wolves now, not the sea. That is why your

the ward fails en

a few weeks.

th. Padraig had gone quiet, and the old man's face i

he equinox. If the ward goes, the shore goes with it

, and that was when we heard th

twice in my life. It came down from the ridge in pieces, a woman's voice call

here the path turns toward the house, with two of the fishing crew around him and a third running for Maeve. His face was grey. His lips had go

put my hand on his face. "

open. It took him

ed to smile, and it turned into a

re talk." I looked up at

ng, L

oth hands. She dropped to her knees on Declan's other side and put her fingers to his throat and her ear to his chest, and she

steady and she got some of the color back into his face, and then she sat ba

. "Another collapse like this one and

ll me wh

e got to her feet and looked down at my brother, and her mouth was

ught of it. "His tea. He takes his tea

ed her hea

the herbs in it hel

said. "You

f it? The leaves. Wh

had gone sharp, and she caught herself and softened it. "Lu

was looking for in the dark. I let it go. I told myself it was my nerves, the way my hands were shaking and the

pped me. "I will sleep in the chair

and the door shut, and I stood in the

le way down the passage with his coat still on and his hair loo

into the herb

w. In da

uld go t

herbs while he is lying in that bed, every wolf in this house will know by morning that the Luna does not trust her o

at the end of it and rattled the latch, and I could feel the small distance

ur brother takes his tea, I want to be in that

rig

lder brushed my arm as he passed, and the bond woke and warmed and reached afte

. Below, in the kitchen yard, someone had emptied a teapot onto the stones. The smell came up to me on the wind, bitter and dry and

en I closed it, and went down the pass