The Unicorn Hunter Read Online Free PDF Page B

argue?’ cried Queen Niamh, her hands fluttering around her face. ‘How can you argue when such a tragedy has befallen us all?’ She pulled at her long golden tresses, but Maddy couldn’t help but notice that instead of tearing at them she sort of fluffed them up so her hair would look fuller.
    Sorcha rolled her eyes. ‘Luckily the mare isn’t dead yet. A reasonable discussion about what we are going to do would be preferable to bickering like we’re only a few centuries old, but that’s not possible, is it?’
    â€˜What are you implying?’ hissed Niamh, her grief forgotten and her blue eyes narrowed to slits. ‘We’re not the ones who blocked treaty after treaty—’
    â€˜But
you
are the ones who made the air burn and nearly ripped Tír na nÓg apart, trying to become the dominant court instead of sharing power as we are supposed to do,’ snapped Sorcha.
    â€˜And what would you have done if you had been winning?’ asked Niamh. ‘How noble would you have been, sister, if you had had the upper hand?’
    â€˜Peace!’ said King Nuada. ‘We must put aside our enmity and join together to face this bigger threat. Someone has done this to the sacred unicorn. Someone who does not care about tearing apart the fragile fabric that holds our world together.’
    â€˜Nuada is right,’ said Seamus. ‘Now is not the time to rake over old fights and hurts. The mortal world and Tír na nÓg are already changing. It is growing too cold too quickly, and if the mare dies we will not see summer again. An eternal Winter of starvation faces us all.’
    â€˜And wouldn’t that be wonderful?’ said Niamh. ‘For one of us at least.’ She glared at Liadan.
    The Winter Queen’s face remained as impassive as granite. ‘My sister queen wrongs me. I rule for the good of Tír na nÓg, as does she. I live for balance and prosperity. It would not serve my court for the Land to be thrown into chaos.’
    â€˜You lie with every word you speak!’ screeched Niamh. ‘Your whole rule is nothing but disorder and riot! You are not fit to wear a Tuatha’s crown and I will never be your sister.’
    â€˜Spare me from the spite of females,’ groaned Seamus.
    â€˜Do
not
include me in those words. I can show a measure of self-control,’ snapped Sorcha. Yells and insults began to rise in the courts as faeries on all sides traded insults and Liadan cocked an eyebrow at Sorcha. Aengus Óg laid a soothing hand on his wife’s arm while glaring at Nuada. ‘Control your wife,’ he said.
    The Spring monarch let out a humourless bark of laughter. ‘I’m not the one who cannot put a rein on my wife’s passion. Or had you forgotten?’
    Aengus Óg’s face turned black with anger. There was clash of swords on shields as the Summer warriors began a menacing beat, faces set as hard as stone as they reacted to Spring’s insult. The glow around the Summer and Spring regents began to swell again as they faced off, Seamus shouting at them to be calm, as a windbegan to rise, whipping dead leaves into the air. The wind smelled of rain and it tore around the Sighted, tugging at their clothes and howling in their ears. Maddy began to shiver as it blasted full into her face, its icy touch numbing her skin as if her clothes were made of tissue. Dark clouds rolled in overhead and the air was ripped apart by lightning. Bolts leaped from the purple-black storm clouds and stabbed at the ground, scattering faeries and leaving a stink of ozone in the air. The dead leaves began to form a shape, a whirlwind between the courts that spun faster and faster, rising higher and higher. A clap of thunder crashed and the whirlwind exploded in every direction, scattering leaves, the speed turning them into knives that slashed soft human faces. Maddy screamed and squeezed her eyes shut, and felt Granda curl his