“We don’t have until next month.”
Because he saw the puzzlement, and some fear, when what she had reached up inside her, he held out a hand to stop Marco and Morena at the gate.
“Let it come, mo bandia. It’s yours.” He took her hand to steady her. “Knowledge is as much a weapon as a sword.”
She curled her fingers with his, looked into his eyes. Steadied. “The curtain parts. It cannot hold. And when it clears, he sees. The child, the bridge, the key. The blood of his blood. Daughter of the Fey, of the gods, of man. When he sees, he knows. And they slip and slide through the cracks to bring the dark where the white robes worship, and plot and plan. Blood sacrifice, blood magicks. It begins there.”
“When the veil thins,” he finished, because he saw it, too. Felt it with her, through her, in himself.
She shuddered. “I don’t know what that means, except he’s coming.”
“No, not he, not yet.” Absently, Keegan pressed his lips to her forehead. “But he’s picked his time and his place, and the weak-minded among us who’ll follow him.”
“I couldn’t see, not really.”
“We’ll work on that, won’t we?” Keegan said in a tone as absent as the kiss.
“There was water—an ocean, I think—and cliffs, and a stone building on them. Not here, and not Odran’s cliffs.”
“Not here, no. In the south. South,” he said as he gestured Morena and Marco to come ahead.
“You okay, Breen? You’re so pale.” Instinctively, Marco put an arm around her. “What the hell, Keegan?”
“Sure she’s fine. Just not used to the seeing as yet. But she saw well enough, as did I.” He looked to Morena. “We know when and where he’ll try a strike, and so we’ll be ready for it.”
“South, you say? The Pious?” She bared her teeth. “Bloody fanatics. They’ve sworn oaths.”
“And some break oaths as easily as a twig underfoot. On Samhain. I need to send a falcon to my mother.”
“Amish will take your message. He’s faster than most. Should I get Harken?”
“And Mahon as well if you would.”
“War’s coming. Why are you smiling?” Breen demanded.
“It was coming in any case. But now we know how and when and where. You’ve given us a weapon, and we’ll use it. Ah, pity sakes, woman, he meant—or will mean—to send his demons against us with us unaware, and on a night, a holy night, where we honor those who came before us. When we reach out to them, and them to us. We’d be in ritual, in celebration, in homage. Instead, through your gift, the trap he means to set we spring on him.”
“My grandmother. I need to warn her.”
“Not to worry, we’ll see she knows. And she’s nothing to fear tonight, nor do you. Feck it all, woman, you did well. Be pleased with yourself. Now go back over, and help Marco with the baking.”
“We’re still going? To the mines?”
“And why wouldn’t we? Your training doesn’t stop, and you need what they mine, don’t you? Take her along, Marco. She could use some of the wine she likes.”
“Me, too.”
“Tomorrow then.” Keegan swung on his duster, picked up the sword she’d dropped without realizing it. “An hour earlier. Don’t be late.”
“He’s …excited,” Breen marveled.
“Okay. Come on, boy, I think we’re going back to Ireland. I think I get it,” Marco added as the dog scrambled up and raced ahead of them. “Sounds like the bad guys are planning a sneak attack, but now it won’t be a sneak because you had one of those vision-type things, so they know the plot. Samhain’s Halloween, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m going to google that, get more juice on it.” Marco glanced back when they reached the stone wall across the road. “Wow, man, look up there. Two moons. They really have two moons. I have to think about that later. Let me help you over.”
“I’m okay. I’ve got it. You’re right. He’s right. Knowing’s a weapon. And nothing’s going to happen tonight, or until Samhain.”
Except Odran would finally push Nan’s curtain aside and see her. She wasn’t sure how she’d handle that when the time came.
“Hell, I wasn’t thinking. We’re going to have to walk back through all those woods in the dark.”
“It’s all right. I can bring light.”
“She can bring light,” Marco mumbled as they climbed the seven steps. Then laughed when she tossed out all the pretty little balls of it. “You’re a wonder, girl. I’ve got so much to tell you. Just a whole crap-load. But I gotta ask …”
Distracted, he climbed onto the tree and through without thinking about it. Then stopped, stared. “If I wake up and this is all a dream, I’m going to be pissed. Anyway, I was going to ask before we walked through freaking worlds, what am I baking and why?”
She explained on the walk back to the cottage, and listened to Marco talk about his day. Learning to ride—his favorite part of it— and through to his visit to Morena’s grandparents’ cottage—his second favorite.
“Is every day over there this wild?” he asked as Bollocks headed straight to the bay.
“At first, I guess so. You just never know what you’re going to see or do.” She started the fire before heading toward the kitchen.
“Like that. Like watching my best girl start the fire from across the room. Let’s have really big glasses of wine.”
“Yes, let’s.”
“Enough leftover pasta for dinner. Good thing,” he decided while Breen poured generous glasses. “Since I’m going to be baking for Doc and Sneezy.”
“I’ll help. I’m completely on cleanup.”
“First things first. I’m going to take a long, hot shower, get me some pj’s on—you do the same. Then we’re going to drink more wine, eat pasta. Then we bake.”
“A shower and pj’s. Best idea ever. As soon as I fill Bollocks’s bowls.” But she leaned against the counter first, let the day drain away as much as it could. “How’s your ass?”
He turned, wiggled it. “High and tight and proud.”
“I meant from the saddle.”
“A little sore here and there, but nothing much.”
“God, I could barely walk after my first lesson. I could hate you if I didn’t love you so much.”
She pushed off to fill the dog’s bowls. Let Bollocks know his dinner waited.
“You and Keegan went at it hard. And hot.”
“The fire-to-water trick was my secret weapon—at first.”
“I don’t mean that, girl. I mean …” Rolling his eyes, Marco waved a hand in front of his face. “Hot.”
“Honestly.” When Bollocks raced in, she walked over to shut the door and saw the pixies had come to guard. “It’s not about sex.”
“I know hot when I see hot. And if you don’t tap that man again, I feel sorry for you, girl.”
“We’ve got a lot more to think about than sex.”
Another eye roll. “That’s why you gotta grab the good stuff when you have the chance.” He swung an arm around her as they started for the stairs. “And I’d bet my new harp that man brings the good stuff.”
“Maybe. Yes. But we’re focused on saving worlds here.”
“Not much point if you don’t grab that good stuff. I’m maybe going to need a cold shower now.”
She pushed him toward his room and split off to her own.
CHAPTER SIX
Always an early riser, Breen started her day before the sun. She watched the pixies flicker and flutter outside the garden door while she squeezed in a predawn workout. She expected Keegan to put her through her paces—in his unrelenting style—so she’d damn well be prepared for it.