have to deal with her feelings about Niall later.
Chapter 27
Breakfast was a somber affair. Word had clearly spread about the Kelpies, and every hushed conversation she overheard seemed to be about savage, sharp-toothed horses stalking their prey in the night… the servants all seemed terrified that the horses would come for them next, the guards looked stoic and grim, and even the handful of scholars and herbalists she saw talking looked worried — one of them had a huge book and was leafing through the pages with a frown furrowing her brow. Still, there was something good about knowing that everyone in the castle was on the same page — they knew what was out there. They knew what they were fighting against. And Helen had always been of the strong opinion that knowledge was power. Maybe that was what had drawn her to being an investigator — wanting to put as much power in the hands of regular people as she could. The FBI did good work, sure — but the secrecy was exhausting. It felt good to know that everyone was as informed about the Kelpie threat as they could be.
Now, they just had to hope that the creatures could be hunted down, and safety could be restored again to the people who lived here. From what she could gather, the guards were heading up to arm themselves with extra iron weapons, now that they knew that the threat was definitely Faerie in origin. Idly, she wondered if there might be a spare weapon for her — not that she knew anything about how to use it, but the idea of having some iron concealed about her person was very appealing, somehow. She’d figured out where the armory was during her explorations of the castle, and she headed up there once she’d finished her breakfast, assuming that there’d be plenty of people around to ask about an iron weapon.
Sure enough, there were a dozen guards or so, bickering over a collection of long iron blades that Brendan was presiding over — it seemed some were sharper than others, and an argument had broken out about who deserved the better weapons. Brendan’s exasperated expression shifted when he saw her loitering in the doorway, and he hurried forward with a smile, clearly grateful for the distraction.
“Helen, what a welcome surprise.”
“Good morning, Brendan. I was wondering if I might prevail upon the armory and borrow an iron weapon.”
He tilted his head to the side, a suspicious look on his face. “You’re not thinking of going Kelpie hunting, are you?”
“God, no,” she said, blinking at him in horror. “If I had a gun, maybe. But I don’t know the first thing about these weapons. I’ll be taking every safety precaution possible. But Maggie was telling us these things hate iron, so I thought it might help to have some on my person. Just in case.”
“Can’t fault your thinking there,” Brendan admitted. “My apologies for doubting your motives. My wife doesn’t quite have the same rational attitude to these kinds of things.”
She giggled, picturing Elena stalking the forest in search of Kelpies to stab. “She’s a brave woman.”
“Bravery in the wrong place gets you killed,” Brendan said darkly. “I’m much more interested in discipline than I am in courage.”
“Watch out, lass,” one of the guards called to her, a roguish twinkle in his eye. “This lecture goes for hours if you’re not careful.”
“Ah, stow it,” Brendan snapped back at the guard, but there was a grin on his face. “Here,” he said, moving over to a cabinet. “There are some iron blades in here — small, easily concealed, but they may serve your purposes.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking of,” Helen said, taking the blade he offered her. “My thanks.”
“Just make sure you leave it outside if you visit with Maggie,” Brendan added with a grin. “She and Darter hate iron just as much as the Unseelie do.”
She left him to his work, distributing longer blades among the men, and quickly found a hiding place for the iron blade in the depths of the gown she was wearing. It was a comforting presence — not that she had any intention of seeking out Kelpies to test it on. She was very much the kind of woman who liked to prepare for the worst… and on the off-chance some Fae creature tracked her down, you never knew when something small could change the odds into your favor.
She was thinking about asking Anna for some