Three times now she’d had to resort to tying Oisinne to his palette to keep him from punching her. He flailed his arms at the slightest provocation, not recognizing his own family, insisting they must be strangers come to steal his stories.
Adhna’s embrace seemed warm and comforting. Clíodhna didn’t want to leave their luxury.
He held her at arms-length and studied her eyes. “You’ve not had an easy reunion with your husband.”
She laughed, a slight tinge of hysteria coloring the mirth. “That’s a bit of an understatement, lover.”
He frowned. “You must not call me that, Clíodhna.”
Her eyes grew wide. “And why would I not? We are lovers. It’s a fact. And you are my teacher, my mentor, and at the moment, my only hope.”
He glanced from side to side. “No place is safe from unwanted listeners, Clíodhna, even this place. I believe you had an encounter with one such—a Fae named Bodach? He spread tales of his meeting with you all through the Queen’s court.”
She shivered at the memory of the bark-skinned Fae. “He seemed a nasty sort. Will he come back? What would he want with us?”
After shaking his head, Adhna caressed her hair. “I’m not certain. He seldom interferes with mortals, but you have magic. He’s drawn to power and must have felt your pull upon the earth.”
All the fears and frustrations of the last days came bubbling to the surface. She shoved his chest away. “Then why in the name of all the gods did you teach me earth power first? He might have hurt my family! I fought him off but fell ill for days with the aftermath! We might have all died!”
He placed both hands over his heart, entreaty in his eyes. “Clíodhna, I couldn’t know he’d sense those lessons! You must believe me.”
Clíodhna paced back and forth, the clouds once again gathering above her. She wanted to believe, but after days of keeping her temper in check around Oisinne, her rage had found an outlet. She wouldn’t rein it in yet.
“You left us open for attack and just went away! Where were you when we needed protection?”
“I had duties at the court of my Queen Áine.”
Her wrath morphed into an ugly jealousy. “Duties, is it? You lounged around in her arms while that Fae attacked us, is that it? Well, it’s obvious you don’t really care for me, otherwise you’d have set up some protections.”
She stomped out of the stone circle, but he grabbed her arm and spun her around. “Clíodhna! You truly don’t understand. I can no more disobey an order from my Queen than you can flap your arms and fly into the sun. It’s not even a matter of will. I’m physically unable to defy her. She needed me, and as much as I wanted to return to help you, I couldn’t.”
Clíodhna didn’t want to relent yet. Her fury still bubbled within her, and he remained her only viable target. “Then you might have warned me!”
With sad eyes, his shoulders slumped. “Should I warn you to steer clear of the winter winds? Or the stormy sea? I can’t prepare you for every danger that exists, as much as I’d wish to. Just like any parent, I must trust in you, my student, to learn how to survive. You have done well so far, and I am proud of you.”
She spat at his feet. “That for your pride, and that for your trust.”
He ignored her vitriol and put his hands out, palms up, a gesture of welcome. Clíodhna glared at him a few moments more, still wanting to vent her wrath on someone, but his logic penetrated her ire.
Adhna must have seen the shift in her eyes. He wrapped her in his arms. Clíodhna cried then, sobbing against his shoulder as he hugged her tight.
All the frustration, anger, and helplessness she’d felt for the last days came crashing through her body. She let all the emotion flow into him until she felt like a wasted husk devoid of all humanity. When she’d calmed down to mere whimpers and sniffles, he looked at her again.
“What can I do to help now, Clíodhna?”
She rubbed at the snot on her face, wishing the rain would come back to clean it. With a mighty sniff, she let out a shuddering breath. “You might take Oisinne’s madness away.”
He didn’t need to reply. The answer came clear in his face, his eyes even sadder than they had been before. “I might calm his rantings for a while, in Faerie. But here in the mortal world? I don’t have that power.”
“Who does?”
He shrugged. “Other than my Queen, I only know of one Fae who possesses power over madness. And you don’t want to ask any favors of Bodach. You’ve already run afoul of his greed and temper once. I don’t recommend a second encounter.”
After clenching her fists, she screamed toward the sky in her frustration. Clíodhna beat her palms against the slick, wet standing stones until they ached. When she quieted, Adhna drew her into his arms again. “Let me come down to the house with you. Maybe I can at least calm him. It won’t be a permanent solution, but it may give you a few days of peace.”
Numb, she rested her head against his chest for a moment of comfort. The muddy path back down the hill, slick with the rainstorm of her own sorrow, grew more treacherous as they approached the roundhouse. She slipped a few times, but Adhna caught her, keeping her from falling.
As they came into the clearing, Adhna still held her hand in the crook of his arm. Oisinne watched from the doorway. His eyes glimmered with anger.
“So, this is what you leave me for? To couple with a stranger?”
She held
