\u201cWe got into all kinds of trouble when we were growing up,\u201d Aoife said softly once she found her voice again. \u201cOur parents couldn\u2019t figure out what to do with us, how to keep us out of trouble. We ran wild with the children of the local clans\u2014the Imbolg, the Fianna, the D\u00e1ire\u2014we knew them and loved them like we would love family. Seamus and Teague, they had lovers among them, the chieftain\u2019s daughters of the Imbolg and the D\u00e1ire. Teague had a child with Mair\u00e9ad of the D\u00e1ire. He loved her so much and his father was so angry for it. War was coming and we needed allies and my uncle felt like Teague had ruined himself with Mair\u00e9ad.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that how you guys felt?\u201d Gray asked, his voice barely louder than the crunch of their boots in the melting snow.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d she said, shaking her head hard as bile pooled in her belly. She\u2019d been angry with Teague for it\u2014angry because his actions had endangered so many, angry because what he\u2019d done had cost them Seamus, her favorite cousin\u2014but she hadn\u2019t felt like Teague was ruined<\/em>, had she? Aoife took an unsteady breath and exhaled it as a sigh. \u201cI love my cousin, Gray.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo you\u2019ve said.\u201d He shoved his hands into his pockets. \u201cBut I also know that you resent Teague and your brother. You\u2019ve made that pretty clear in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wish I didn\u2019t. I know I shouldn\u2019t. They\u2019ve made choices that they thought were the right ones\u2014and maybe they were and I just didn\u2019t realize it\u2014but it\u2019s damned hard to deal with the fallout. Really, really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re allowed to be angry at them for whatever the hell they did.\u201d<\/p>\n Whatever the hell they did.<\/em> She snorted humorlessly. \u201cWe went into exile beyond the borders of this world after the war started and it became clear that it was run or die. Phelan stayed behind. My uncle was livid, but Phelan said he couldn\u2019t abandon them, couldn\u2019t walk away from his duty. He abandoned us instead.\u201d Her stomach lurched. She\u2019d never admitted that to anyone before\u2014that she\u2019d felt like her brother had forsaken her, left her on her own, utterly abandoned and bereft.<\/p>\n When they\u2019d crossed the brink to the Otherworld that had birthed her people she\u2019d found herself utterly alone.<\/p>\n He abandoned me. Gods and monsters, he abandoned me for them. What would make a brother <\/em>do that?<\/em><\/p>\n Tears stung in her eyes and she straightened her spine. When she saw him again, she\u2019d get the answers.<\/p>\n She knew that for certain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWe got into all kinds of trouble when we were growing up,\u201d Aoife said softly once she found her voice again. \u201cOur parents couldn\u2019t figure out what to do with us, how to keep us out of trouble. We ran … Continue reading