All's Fair (Fair Folk Chronicles Book 4) Read Online Free

niches in the wall. At one time, the various recesses had been used as perches or dance floors by the smallfolk. Now, most of the ones along the back wall were full of candles, dried flowers, or other small memorials to Riocard, Orlaith, and the other fallen. There were fewer now than in May. Some of the denizens of An Teach Deiridh had longer memories than others.
    "He puts apples by his buddies' burial mound, too," Megan muttered.
    "Old-school offering for the dead," Ashling commented from Megan's shoulder.
    "I've been reading some of Mr. Subtle's stuff again. He said that apples are an old-school offering by humans to the sidhe."
    "They were. But that's because we've died once already," Ashling explained readily. "Full-blooded faeries are all living our afterlives."
    "Uh-huh. And how does that square with the 'evolved from baby laughter' theory, the 'stewards of the gods' theory, the 'descendants of the gods' theory, and all the rest?" The pixie had given Megan plenty of explanations these past two years.
    "Less squares. More roots."
    "Okay then." Megan wasn't going to interfere with Ashling's being Ashling. Not in the shadow of her father's portrait.
    Instead, she walked over to Tiernan. He nodded.
    "Majesty."
    "Majesty."
    "At least we're on good terms with each other. Only our friends seem to call us that."
    "Not all my friends call me that," Megan insisted.
    "Well, you have more of them than I."
    She let things be silent for a while. "At the memorial service," she said, finally. "You said, once there was the screaming, that it was done."
    "It was, in important senses. They say the goddess Brigid invented keening because it was so essential to let go. To not let the ties that bind drag the living along. Goodness knows she had to do enough of it."
    "Right, she lost a kid .... Dad said. At Mag Tuired?"
    He nodded. "Yes. Just before Mag Tuired, technically. One of her sons tried to kill the others on his father's behalf. Take out the Gods' smiths, ruin their support. That is the story, at least."
    "Her husband was Fomoire?"
    "Bres was half, and he was always closer to the Fomoire, even when he had power among the Gods."
    "How did that marriage ever seem like a good idea?" Megan asked.
    "Sometimes, people want peace."
    "And her kids ended up killing each other. Gosh." She looked at the murals. "But, anyway, if it's all let go at the funeral, why apples?"
    Tiernan drew himself up. "You're born into family. You die into family." He sounded like he was reciting something, but unlike his past petty xenophobic rants, this sounded...different. "And they deserve something."
    "Do you... feel bad?" Megan asked, watching his eyes. "Because she only reinstated you because she had to?"
    "She didn't have to."
    "Everybody says this place only recognizes blood of the line."
    "You can form or link a bloodline without genetics. There are ceremonies. Family works a lot of ways. If she really only cared about succession, she had plenty of ways to replace me."
    "So you don't feel ba—"
    "I feel much worse."
    Uncertain of how to respond to that, Megan found herself staring at Tiernan's hair. Most of it was still as white as his sickly-pale skin, but since his coming to An Teach Deiridh, the red streak was getting wider and slowly being joined by others. Maybe someday he'd be a redhead again, like his aunt—and like the Goddess, and like Megan.
    Tiernan had started talking again. “There are things I did that she never knew about. Things part of me feels I should undo, out of respect for her decisions, but I'm stopped by my responsibilities to others and... and because it is still so difficult to trust the Northman.”
    Megan sighed internally at Tiernan's being his stereotypical self...and then reminded herself that she didn't fully trust Inwar's priorities either. Agreeing with Tiernan about that was somewhat uncomfortable.
    “Well, she definitely tried to make up,” she said. “Got you the suit and all.”
    “Yes, as you have your