When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears: The Goblin Wars, Book Three by Kersten Hamilton Read Free Book Online

apologize.”
    “Certainly,” Seamus nodded. “I’m sorry that you’ve lost your mind, Mrs. Mac Cumhaill, and”—his eyes meet Teagan’s in the mirror—“that I gave aid to a filthy goblin. Give me back my keys and get her out of my van.”
    Finn slammed his door open so hard Teagan thought it might have damaged the hinges. “Step out with me for a moment, Seamus.”
    “Why would I do that?”
    “You mentioned that the McGillahees would fight if provoked. I intend to provoke the bloody hell out of you right here and now.”
    “Don’t.” Teagan caught Finn’s shirttail as he started to get out. “He doesn’t understand.”
    “Oh, I understand,” Seamus said. All of the warmth and friendliness had gone out of him. His stare was like ice. “I can take one look at you and understand . Warriors have gone off with goblin girls before, and I’ve never understood it. Now I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I’ve felt it. But I wouldn’t have believed it of the Mac Cumhaill. You have to be better than this, Finn.”
    “Finn.” Teagan touched his hand. “What if you had found out about my mother just minutes after you’d met me?”
    “That’s not the point. The point is I won’t tolerate anyone calling you filth. Get out of the van, McGillahee.”
    “As you wish.” Seamus opened his door.
    “Gentlemen.” Mr. Wylltson’s voice wasn’t loud, but the timbre made the air vibrate around them. Both Finn and Seamus turned to look at him. “Mr. McGillahee, we will get out of your van and walk.”
    “I’m fine with walking,” Finn began, “but I’ll teach this ignorant Scotsman a thing or two first.”
    “I appreciate the sentiment,” Mr. Wylltson said. “I don’t like to hear my daughter or my wife called filth, but ignorance is never cured by violence.”
    “I’m not ignorant,” Seamus said through gritted teeth.
    “Aren’t you, then?” Mamieo leaned toward him. “Tell me, what does glaine ár gcroí mean, boyo?”
    “Purity of our hearts,” Seamus said.
    “Not completely ignorant, then,” the old woman said. “Neart ár ngéag.”
    “Strength of our limbs.”
    Mamieo nodded. “Beart de réir ár mbriathar.”
    “Action to match our speech.”
    “The motto of the Fighting Fianna,” Mameio said. “You are Fir Bolg, Seamus. You have that from your father, if nothing else. Remember who you are. Something is happening that hasn’t happened in a thousand lifetimes of men. Fir Bolg— your own kind—have walked in Mag Mell and come back to tell about it. Locked doors are opening, and creatures great and small are tumbling into this creation. Aren’t you even a little curious?”
    “Not curious enough to cuddle up with a Highborn.”
    Mamieo snorted. “It’s a fool that judges a man’s mind by the jacket he wears. Or so I’ve heard. Is the flesh Teagan wears—or your own, for that matter—any more than a jacket? The Almighty has been whispering it to me in the night, singing it over me as I sleep. A great mending is to come, and things are trending in the right direction. You want to cause the goblins trouble? Be a part of the mending, man. I’ve been pounding at the doors of the Almighty to find out how it can be done, and I have the answer.” She smiled. “All we have to do is get back into Mag Mell and let the angel in. If that’s done, the mending can begin.”
    “Oh, is that all?” Seamus took a deep breath. “Can you prove any of this?”
    “Come and see.” Mamieo dangled the keys in front of him.

Four
    “S HUT the door, Finn,” Mamieo said as Seamus took the keys.
    “Mamieo, I don’t think we should go anywhere with this Scottish idiot.”
    “Set him an example, boyo. Get back in the car.”
    “Mamieo—”
    “Give him time. The Almighty set about mending my heart by sending me a child out of the night. But it’s taken me thirty years to get the point.”
    “Which point?” Finn was still holding the door open.
    “That the Almighty heard a Highborn