Neve gave me a long, silent look before she sighed, smiling wryly and shaking her head. \u201cWell, I guess if you want to know, you want to know.\u201d She tilted her face back toward the clouds and sky again, the faraway look returning. \u201cSome of this I know you\u2019ve heard before\u2014about how we ran wild with the children of the clan chiefs of old, how we grew close to them and got into the worst and best sorts of trouble with them at our sides. Teague loved one of them with his whole soul. Seamus dallied with another, though he didn\u2019t love her.\u201d She shot a faint, weak smile in Leinth\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n
The other woman gave her a reassuring smile of her own. \u201cI\u2019m well aware of his past relationship with Brighid of the Imbolg,\u201d she said. \u201cMarin and I have had that discussion as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neve slanted a curious look at me and I shook my head. \u201cIt\u2019s not important.\u201d<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t look convinced, but she shrugged and went on. \u201cPhelan was cousin to them by way of their mother,\u201d Neve said. \u201cTo Brighid and Ciar. Perhaps that\u2019s why he spent so much time with them\u2014because of the blood link.\u201d Another smile ghosted across her face. \u201cOr maybe because they were just the most like us. They threw caution to the wind even though the weight of responsibility hung heavy on their shoulders. Ciar was training to be a druid almost as soon as he could talk and Brighid…she was a warrior-born if I\u2019ve ever seen one, and I\u2019ve seen many.\u201d<\/p>\n
My cheeks grew warm. Where was she heading with this, I wondered, unless it was just trying to make me pay for not coming to her rescue, for agreeing that she should tell us some stories of old? I didn\u2019t think it could be that, not really.<\/p>\n
Could it?<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe that\u2019s why they seemed to have a target pinned on their backs just like we did.\u201d Neve shook her head. \u201cMaybe that\u2019s why Ciar was taken and almost lost.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d Carolyn asked, her voice little more than a whisper.<\/p>\n
I swallowed hard and answered for Neve. \u201cCiar was the Ridden Druid. They nearly lost him forever\u2014and before Seamus, he was the only man to ever walk away from the Wild Hunt and survive to tell the tale.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Neve gave me a long, silent look before she sighed, smiling wryly and shaking her head. \u201cWell, I guess if you want to know, you want to know.\u201d She tilted her face back toward the clouds and sky again, the … Continue reading