The Rabbit and the Raven: Book Two in the Solas Beir Trilogy Read Online Free

son and his friends. Bring them back to me.”
    “I promise I will.”
     
     
     
    “Here’s the plan,” David explained, “we cross through the portal with Cael, get your families as quickly and quietly as possible, and try not to attract attention. My mother will stay here with the rest of the guard, her thoughts locked on Cael’s in case we need backup. She wanted to send more soldiers with us, but Cael thought we would be less conspicuous if it was just the four of us.”
    “Eulalia will sense if we’re in trouble?” Jon asked.
    David nodded, thinking about the connection between Cael and Eulalia, the way Cael looked at his mother—how he had held her when they realized Lucia had a tool she could use to free Tierney. David had grown up not knowing his mother, Eulalia, the Dowager Queen. His father, Ardal, the last Solas Beir, had been assassinated soon after David was born. David was getting to know Eulalia and had learned some things about his mother’s life, but he hadn’t decided what to make of Cael yet.
    Cael treated David with respect, but to David, it felt like Cael was the one in authority. The man had been tried in battle and it showed. At first glance, he was just a well-toned man in his mid-thirties; but the look in his eyes and the long scar running from his jaw to his neck told a different story.
    Although David respected Cael, he wasn’t sure how he felt about the idea of Cael courting his mother. It wasn’t like he knew either of them well enough to have a right to an opinion about their relationship. It was one of those things he could focus on later, after he had figured out the rest of his new life in Cai Terenmare. Right now he had bigger fish to fry.
    David ran his fingers through his dark, somewhat unruly hair. He was grateful that Cael was willing to come with them. He was only just discovering his power as Solas Beir, and knew he wasn’t yet ready to face the greatest enemy this world had known. David pulled down some armor for himself and checked to make sure Abby’s fit well enough to keep her safe. “Come on,” he said. “Time to meet up with Cael.”
     
     
     
    Marisol watched the easy smile vanish from Ty’s face.
    “It’s cool,” he muttered. “Whatever.” Standing abruptly, he walked around to the other side of the fire, where Emily sat strumming her guitar.
    Emily smiled as he sat, and Marisol wondered if he’d have better luck with a fellow surfer. Em certainly had more in common with Tyler than she did.
    She felt bad for turning him down. He was a sweet guy—but he wasn’t entirely sober. Still, she hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings. She really hated conflict. Her natural defense was to yield, giving someone else the right of way. It wasn’t that she wasn’t willing to stand up for what she believed in; she just didn’t see the point in fighting about trivial things. The irony, she reflected, was that she wanted to study law. She had a feeling she was going to have to get comfortable with conflict, and quickly. Maybe if she could find an area in the field that she was passionate enough about, she would stop letting people steamroll her.
    She’d been steamrolled a lot lately. Most of it had to do with her mother. The world-famous Esperanza Garcia had been one of the all-time most bankable supermodels. Being that much of a household name came with a whole slew of stories publicized in the tabloids. Her history of eating disorders, her leaving modeling for painting, her sudden marriage to Marisol’s father (a wealthy, if considerably less-well-known, businessman from Dublin), their recent divorce, and the fact that Esperanza was as far from Newcastle Beach as she could get. She was focused on her new life, her boyfriend who was twenty years younger, and her exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain.
    The only part of Esperanza Garcia’s life that had remained sacred and relatively private was Marisol. Both Marisol’s mother and father had