Ivy's Choice (The Fey Quartet Book 3) by Emily Larkin Read Free Book Online Page B

it slowly. His jaw unclenched, but anger still burned in his eyes. “Midnight to dawn? Is that correct?”
    “Come an hour after midnight. Your brother’s transformation is . . . unpleasant. If you witness it, you’ll be upset. Too upset to be in the same room as Larkspur afterwards.”
    Tam’s jaw tightened again. After a moment, he said, “Larkspur’s coming?”
    “She has pledged to.”
    They came to the edge of Glade Forest. Ahead, the cottage nestled in the meadow. Low evening sunlight cast long shadows and tinted the grass golden.
    Ivy halted. “When Larkspur comes, you must control your emotions, regardless of what she tells us. Your anger and distress hurt her. She’s very close to breaking.”
    “Hazel told me.” Tam turned to her. The anger was gone from his face; in its place was concern. “I’m so sorry, Ivy. If there’s anything I or my father can do to hel p— ”
    Ivy smiled reassuringly at him. “Thank you, but there’s no need. In three days, the gift will be taken from her.”
    Tam flicked a brief glance at her crutch, but said nothing.
    “Tell Cadoc Ironfist, too, please,” Ivy said, ignoring the glance. “No emotion. You must remain calm.”
    “I’ll tell him.” Tam looked across the meadow at the cottage. “We’ll be here one hour after midnight.”
    “Take care Aleyn doesn’t wake and follow you.”
    “He won’t.” Tam snorted, a contemptuous sound. “Cadoc can drink him under the table without even trying.”
     
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    TAM DAPPLEWARD WAS as good as his word. He and Cadoc Ironfist arrived an hour after midnight. Ivy unlatched the door and let them in. Tam looked past her eagerly. “Hugh?”
    Hugh stood, steadying himself on the trestle table, one blanket knotted around his waist, a second draped over his shoulders. “Tam?” he said hoarsely.
    Tam brushed past Ivy, stumbling in his haste. Ironfist entered more slowly, ducking his head. When he straightened to his full height, he loomed in the room, his head almost touching the ceiling. His face was tough and craggy beneath the close-cropped beard.
    The brothers hugged for a long time. Tam, when he released Hugh, was unashamedly weeping. Ironfist then stepped forward and embraced Hugh. Ivy was astonished to see that his eyes were damp, too. Not as tough as he looks .
    “Aleyn?” Hugh asked, sitting again.
    “We left him snoring.” Tam sat alongside Hugh and gripped his hand.
    Side by side, the similarities between the brothers were obvious. They had the same height, the same lean muscularity, the same high-bridged nose, but Hugh’s jaw was wider than Tam’s, his cheekbones blunter, his hair black instead of honey brown. His eyebrows were strong, dark slashes. The combination of jaw, cheekbones, eyebrows, and nose gave his face an innate sternness.
    Tam peered around the tiny room, and glanced at the door to the bedchamber. “Where’s Hazel?”
    “Gone to fetch Larkspur. They’ll be here soon.”
    Tam nodded, and turned his attention back to his brother. “You’re thinner.”
    Hugh shrugged the comment aside. “How’s Father?”
    “Beside himself with worry—and trying not to show it. He wanted to come, but I got down on my knees and begged him not to. He’s been short of breath the last two days. I was afraid if he came I’d lose both of you in one week.” Tam’s grip on Hugh’s hand tightened, his knuckles whitening.
    “He thinks I’m dead?”
    “He thinks you’ve been called to Faerie. We all did.”
    “Faerie?” Hugh’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead. “Me?”
    “Aleyn said . . . he told us that a man had ridden up to you both in the forest, mounted on a horse the color of fresh-minted gold. The man had a terrible, cold beauty and his eyes were as black as midnight. One of the Fey, obviously. Aleyn said the man asked you to accompany him—just you, not Aleyn—and that the two of you rode off into Glade Forest. The inference was clear.”
    “We searched the woods around Dapple