Page 55

Gale shrugged. “You must have loved the father of your child. That’s the only reason a powerful woman would tolerate such a limiting situation.”

I thought of those early days when Jack played at being a loving husband and father, and how contented I’d been with his efforts. On good days, I never had a moment’s doubt. On bad ones, I made concessions while hoping for more good days. It had been a frustrating dynamic in my marriage. But Gale was right. I’d tolerated it because I had loved him, and I’d loved the three of us being a family.

“Yes. I loved him. I hate myself for it now but I can’t undo the past.”

“That’s probably one of the main reasons you hate your ex-husband now. He proved that you were wrong about him and it hurts. You’re probably as mad at yourself as you are at him.”

I laughed. “Well, I don’t love him anymore. I stopped feeling love when Fiona was thirteen. I picked him up from work one day and he had lipstick stains on his mouth.”

The crickets and frogs sang in the night and lightning bugs floated above the grass. “All I want now is nights like this. I want pockets of peace I can count on being there when I need them. A man to share my nights is optional.”

Gale smiled at me in the dark and her white teeth shone. The charming demoness was dressed in snug tan leggings that shaped her curves. The evening was cool so she’d tossed an expensive sweater on over the sheer blouse that hung to her hips. The woman looked as elegant as it was possible to look dressed in sneakers. It was hard not to feel jealous because being that sort of woman was so beyond me.

“Is it magick that keeps ya looking so young, Gale? Because ya look as beautiful as my daughter who’s only twenty.”

“Every five years or so, Henry and I choose to regenerate for three months. When we’re done, we look like we do now.”

“Conn says he regenerates every time he shifts forms.”

“His link to The Dagda makes regeneration different for Conn. He looks the same age no matter what he does. I’m still adjusting to his choice to look like you in his human form. I think it’s sweet of him, but I was used to him looking dark and dangerous like his father.”

I always knew Conn’s sacrifices were many. It was strange how I learned new things about him all the time, and usually from people other than him.

“I never asked him to take a particular form or look a special way. If he preferred the human form my grandmother asked him to take, he’s never said. I know he chose to look like me for practical reasons. Being friends and partners doesn’t adequately describe our relationship. I consider him family and that’s the truth.”

I heard Gale sigh at my declaration. I studied her expressionless face. She kept her feelings and concerns for Conn from ever showing. After all this time, I felt sure she had developed that habit for good reasons so I pushed my curiosity down.

“Henry and ya raised a wonderful son, Gale. Ma raised me well too. Conn—bless his heart—helped me raise Fiona. Children are a hard short-term investment that pays out in the long run. I can only hope Fiona hasn’t been warped by the years Jack stole from the two of us. We had to get by on her visiting me while I was in prison.”

“A situation I now know you tolerated for my son’s sake.”

I shrugged. “It was more for Fiona’s sake. If I’d left prison, Jack would have made Fiona’s life as hard as mine. I stayed to keep the peace until she was grown. After I got out, I learned Conn was only a catalyst for something Jack had been planning to do to me all along. He’d made a deal with demon hunters to keep me out of the way.”

We walked along in silence for a while. It was nice. I didn’t feel the need to interrupt it to keep it from being awkward. I didn’t feel that way with Mulan, either.

I really needed to be more grateful for the women in my life.

Gale blew out a breath. “Henry and I experimented to discover the proper amount of regeneration to keep us at our preferred age. You can’t tell but Henry is three hundred years older than me. His parents were two of the original Fir Bolg created from scratch by Goddess Danu herself. His birth was one of the first natural ones among his clan.”

“Did ya ever see Henry in his natural state?”

“Yes. I knew him when we both still looked like our people. Henare of the Fir Bolg was a hairy giant and very tall in the human form he crafted for himself. By the time I came along, all of Danu’s people had learned to manipulate their bodies. My natural form was true Fomorian—half-beast and half-giantess. The first time Henry saw me, he screamed and tried to kill me for scaring him.”

My laughter rang out in the evening's quietness. I’d laughed more today than I’d laughed in several weeks. “That’s the kind of story an Irish person like me can’t help but adore. It’s hard to imagine Henry being so scared of ya, though. Didn’t the Fir Bolg look like Bigfoot creatures back then?”

“Yes. He was bigger than me, hairier than me, and far less attractive from my point of view. His reaction to how I looked deeply hurt my feelings. I refused to talk to him for over ten of your human years. Then suddenly both our clans were fighting all the time. I only realized I loved him when I realized that I feared for both our lives. Henry feared for both of us as well.”

“Yers was a wartime romance.”

Gale nodded. “We met in secret to talk about what we might do to save ourselves and our families. We willingly converted to demonic form to gain the ability to regenerate in case someone ever sought our death. We made many promises to find each other if we were separated for any length of time.”

“My people love war even though they deny it. Peace is the hardest thing for humans to invest in.”

“Soon after our demon conversion, Henry and I made Conn together. He was born a demon—the first to do so. Some thought it made him less. The elders said it made him more. As he grew, it became quite clear that the elders were right. Then Connlander did the impossible by becoming king and uniting our people. He demanded that all clan members convert to demons to prove their allegiance to finding peace with each other. He was also protecting their lives, but no one saw that but him. Henry and I didn’t see it, either. Not until Danu sent The Dagda to conquer us.”

I shook my head in wonder. “And all this happened before the Great War.”

Gale nodded. “Conn’s childhood wasn’t as terrible as it might have been, though. Children were rare among either of our clans and they feared Danu’s wrath if they harmed us. We lived on the edge of Henry’s village and people mostly left us alone. Our son was born in the middle of our people fighting with each other. As he grew up, Henry and I told him of a time when peace had reigned and the hearts of our people were not closed to it. Our stories of peace shaped him in ways we could have never guessed. We also saw Danu’s hand in his life. He was one of her chosen.”