Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride [24]
Bran held up his hands in surrender. “Not today. Dad’s just spent an hour making me practice in the dark.”
“You need the practice.” Her father came out of the darkness. He held out his hand. “Speaking of which, it’s not yours yet.” He motioned, and Bran returned the ancient bow to his father. Brannoc took it lovingly, then closed his eyes, willing the bow away. To Brid it appeared as if the bow was there one second, then gone the next.
“We’d better head homeward.” Brannoc began to walk out of the clearing and into the woods, Bran a step behind him. Sean fell in with Brid, following a few steps after.
Brid watched the back of her father as he slid between the trees. “I wish he wouldn’t make Bran practice. Not yet.” Animals traveled quietly in the woods beside them, the tiny movements obscured by shadow. “Does he have to prepare him so soon?”
“Even Dad won’t live forever,” Sean whispered. “Mom didn’t.”
“I know,” she said, “but I like to pretend that Dad will.”
The scene blurred again, her mind picking out another night.
“Ooooh, them’s fightin’ words,” Brid said. She dropped into a crouch. Sean mimicked her, pacing slowly to the side. They circled each other, all smiles suddenly gone. This time Brid advanced first. She dropped low and kicked out at Sean’s ankle. He moved back and she missed. He ran forward before she could recover, knocking her over. Brid spent a second with her face in the dirt before she was able to twist around. After a few moments of grappling, they ended up in the same position they’d been in before, with Brid pinning her brother down using her knees.
She heard the slightest rustling to the right of her, and she knew it was Bran before she saw him. As it was, she barely managed a half turn before he knocked her over. Bran held her restrained for only a second before letting her go. He didn’t have to press the fact that he’d won. They both knew it. He helped her up, dusting her off at the same time.
“Sorry,” he said. “Dad insisted.”
“It’s okay,” she whispered. She felt stupid. Brid hated feeling stupid. It was a useless, unhelpful feeling.
Brannoc joined them. “That’s enough for today.” He looked at Brid, and his face softened. “Why don’t you boys go back to the house? Check in with your brothers and see if everything’s okay?” Sean and Bran nodded and left, Sean throwing an apologetic look at his sister over his shoulder.
The woods grew quiet as her brothers’ footsteps moved farther and farther away. Brannoc let the silence hang for a few minutes, crossing his arms and giving Brid time to process her mistakes. As he always did.
“Do I need to apologize?”
Brid shook her head.
“Did Bran?”
Brid felt her eyes begin to water and hated it. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “He was right to do it—you both were. I was overusing the move. He knew it. I knew it.” She felt tears roll down her cheek and hated that too. A tánaiste should know better. Her father wiped her cheeks with his knuckle.
“So why did he say sorry, then?”
“Because he knows I hate to learn my lesson.”
Brannoc grabbed her shoulders. “And because he knows you’ll be too hard on yourself.”
“It was a dumb mistake.”
“And one much better made on the practice field, don’t you think?”
“I can’t make mistakes like that anymore, Dad.” She felt her anger leak into her voice.
Brannoc laughed. “What, just because you’re next in line now, you can’t screw up?”
Brid looked at him. “When I’m taoiseach, mistakes will get people hurt.”
Brannoc let go of her shoulders and brushed her hair out of her face. “You aren’t taoiseach yet. That wonderful responsibility still lies with me. Worry about that when the day comes. Hopefully, it will be a long time.” Brid opened her mouth, but he silenced her. “You’ve got to stop putting this pressure on yourself. Although I applaud that you’re taking the position seriously, if you keep beating yourself up over small errors in judgment, you’ll never make it to pack leader. Mistakes are our best teachers.”
“I thought pain was the best teacher.”
“Pain is a good teacher, not the best. You’ve got