Keagan sat with his legs hugged to his chest, his chin propped on his knees. He stared unblinking into the depths of the spring, huge, silent tears rolling down his face. Faolan’s heart clenched. Misery choked him. He had followed his son to the private sanctuary. This had been their place. Keagan’s and Ciara’s…Faolan felt like an intruder.
Ciara had left them. Moreover, she’d never revealed she was an immortal. How could she have kept it hidden? How could she have lied to them all these years?
Faolan watched his son, his little head bowed as he wept beside the pond. He raked his fist against the rough bark of the tree as though trying to claw his way through the despair. In addition, since Ciara was immortal, what could’ve stolen her away? What could have possibly overcome her? She should’ve been all-powerful. Faolan sickened at the thought. He collapsed against the tree, raising a shaking hand to cover his eyes. Only one answer came to mind: Ciara must’ve chosen to go.
Keagan heaved a rock into the blackened pool. He sniffed as the rings rippled into ever widening circles. Faolan drew his hand across his eyes. He had to be strong for the boy.
“Keagan.” Faolan stepped around the tree, holding out his hand. He swallowed hard against the throbbing in his chest. He had to put his pain aside for his son. “Come away from here, son. The hour grows late and there is naught here but painful memories.”
Keagan turned from the water and rubbed his sleeve across his face. “I wasna crying, Da. I was just looking for answers.”
“I know, Keagan. Ye are a fine, brave lad. ’Tis just the brisk wind that can sometimes bring the sting of tears to the surface.” Faolan couldn’t resist a proud smile as he tousled the boy’s hair. Damn, if the boy didna have the look of his mother right around his eyes.
Keagan interrupted Faolan’s torturous appraisal. “We have to find a way to get her back, Da. We have to fight to bring her back home.”
Faolan inhaled a great shaking breath as though he were about to roar. However, when he spoke, his voice rasped with weariness as though he’d aged a hundred years. “She’s gone, Keagan. And we don’t know where. She’s left us and she’s not coming back.”
“She didna leave us!” Keagan shouted, rolling his shoulder out of his father’s grasp. He moved a few steps out of Faolan’s reach, fixing his father with a cutting glare. “Mother loved us! She would never leave of her own accord. She had to have been stolen away.”
Faolan clenched his fists, staring up through the branches of the trees as though the bits of sky peeping through the needles held the answers he needed. How could he explain it so Keagan would understand? Immortals differed when it came to love. The legends taught of the fickleness of their emotions. His son was too young to understand. Faolan laughed bitterly to himself. He didn’t understand it either.
“Keagan, your mother loved ye more than life itself. But she was an immortal. It must’ve been time for her to move on. She chose to leave us, Keagan. We must accept it…and we must move on, as well.”
“No, Da. Ye are wrong. Mother said ye would never understand and that ye wouldna listen with your heart. Ye must listen with your heart, Da. She said when the time was right, I must ask ye to show me the mystical library. What is the library, Da? Please, ye must tell me.” Keagan circled his father, staying just out of Faolan’s reach as though he were a dangerous beast.
Faolan raked his hands through his hair and silently cursed Ciara. She had seduced him, drowned him in desire, made him incapable of functioning without her. And now she’d left cryptic messages with their son to give the poor boy false hope that she might someday return. Faolan’s gut burned with her betrayal. His stomach churned with rage.
“What is the library, Da? Please…if it will help us find a way to bring Mother back…please, won’t ye tell me what it is?” Keagan took a step closer and laid his small hand on Faolan’s arm.
Faolan looked down at the small trusting fingers resting on his forearm. The tiny hand. The fingers so small. Faolan heaved a shuddering sigh. It wasn’t Keagan’s fault Ciara had left them behind. What harm could come from telling him?
“The library is Grandmother Rachel’s old workroom in the northernmost tower of the keep. We’ve kept it sealed off since Grandmother died. There is more magical knowledge and lore hidden in that room then ye could hope to read from now until ye become a man.”
The goddesses' pool behind them shimmered. Keagan glanced at the water then turned back to Faolan with a grin. “There must be something in there. Did ye see the goddesses' pool react? They dinna want us to go there, Da. Did ye feel it? Did ye feel the surge of energy that passed through the clearing when ye spoke of the magic in the room?”
“I felt nothing, Keagan.” Faolan sighed. The boy was imagining things. Faolan looked up at the swaying trees. The wind had merely rippled the pool.
“Mother said this is Brid and Cerridwen’s special place. They are here, Da. I feel it. They are watching us. Concentrate, Da.” Keagan squeezed his father’s hands as though willing him to see the magic in the air.
“I feel the wind, Keagan.” Faolan’s heart sank as he looked at his reflection in the pool. Memories of Ciara ached in his chest, making it difficult for him to breath.
Keagan’s face fell as he released Faolan’s hands. “Will ye at least show me Grandmother Rachel’s library?”
Faolan’s reflection frowned up at him, his mouth flattened into a saddened line, his brow creased as he stared into the water. Why was the boy being so persistent? He was just going to be disappointed in the end. “Someday, Keagan. When you’re older. Someday, I’ll show ye the library.”
“But we need it now, Da!” The goddesses' pool shimmered again. Keagan pointed and yanked on Faolan’s sleeve. “Did ye see it this time? I told ye they do not want us looking at Grandmother Rachel’s things.”
Faolan scrubbed his face with his fists.God’s beard!The lad was as worrisome as a mid-summer midge! How the hell could he shield the boy from more pain if he wouldn’t leave off this nonsensical notion?
“Keagan,” Faolan groaned through tightly gritted teeth. “The hour grows late and I am weary. We will discuss the library another time.” He hugged the boy away from the quicksilver pool and nudged him in the direction of the path leading back to the keep.
“But, Da—”
“Home, Keagan, now!”
* * *
“Not another word, Keagan!”Faolan warned as he pushed his untouched plate of food onto the floor in the midst of the wiggling group of dogs. “Now go tend to your lessons with Maxwell. This discussion is over. I will hear no more of this senseless chatter!”
