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The corners of my mouth lifted. “I already put it somewhere safe. The ritual wasn’t pleasant, but I still wish I’d never let Jack talk me out of it. What I’m trying to figure out iswhenhe betrayed me. Those first few years were all about love and laughter between us and Fiona was this beautiful creature we made. It’s like someone flipped a switch inside him and turned him into another man.”

“When Fiona turned six and went to school, your father took Jack to task for keeping you from bonding with the necklace, as well as several other legacy things he felt you were putting off. He urged Jack to support you as a husband should support a wife with gifts like yours. He told him countless stories of how he supported Bridget.”

I drew in a ragged breath and fought not to cry. “Da was a lovely man indeed. Why have you never shared this with me before?”

“Because you were too besotted to hear anything realistic about Jack before seven years ago.”

“If ya tell me I was acting as silly as yer giggling barista, I’m going to get furious with ya.”

Grinning, Conn linked his fingers on the table. “Okay, then I’ll not point it out. A mature woman of forty is old enough and wise enough to reach her own conclusions.”

I stared at Conn and tried to see him for who and what he truly was. He was an ancient immortal who’d seen a lot in his long life. “I forget ya watched many generations of my family fall in love, wed, and have children. When I chose Jack, I must have seemed incredibly naïve to someone like ya.”

Conn spread his hands in acknowledgement. “Each person travels their own journey. Relationships come to us for reasons that only Goddess Danu understands. However, it amazes me how often history repeats within the same family.”

“How do ya mean? Who did I repeat? Not Ma and Da.”

Tilting his head, Conn studied me. He was silent for so long that I feared what he would eventually say. I could tell I’d asked something he’d wanted to tell me for a very long time.

“Your father was always a good person, even as a small boy. It was no surprise that he grew into an honorable man. When your mother and father met, Bridget thought he wastoo goodfor her. I remember every delicious second of the magickal torture she put him through before finally agreeing to marry him. Most of her beaus had tried to make her use her magick for nefarious purposes. A witch specializing in curses could become quite the leverage over a man’s enemies if a man successfully wooed her into doing so.”

“I wouldn’t turn my back on Ma if she didn’t love me. She was threatening to curse Jack today, and I know she meant it. I begged her to let things go. Will she do that? I have no idea. My mother is an unpredictable sort.”

Conn laughed. “The last person Bridget truly cursed was Peter O’Malley, your father’s brother. Every time your uncle drank, he took a swing at his much smaller wife. Your mother cursed him to get sick as a dog from booze and simultaneously gifted your aunt an iron skillet meant for his head. After a few months of suffering in multiple ways, Peter joined his wife’s church and became a better husband. Bridget left the curse in place because she said all O’Malleys except your father were notoriously mean drunks.”

I smiled because I knew it to be true. Ma told me that story herself. But I always had a feeling there were more interesting tidbits about our family that my parents kept to themselves.

“When my magick first appeared, all anyone would tell me was that my powers were a family legacy. Da was smart as a whip but had no magick. So I naturally concluded I got them from Ma. That was made easier to believe because I grew up working with her and her coven. They made potions to heal the sick and helped bring children into the world. I thought I would grow up and do the same.”

Conn shrugged. “Your father didn’t trust Jack to know the truth, and your mother went along. I wasn’t passed along to you via some unknown uncle, aunt, or cousin as you were told. That was a well-intentioned lie meant to keep Jack from finding out the source of your power.”

“Bugger the lot of them, Conn, because I thought ya came to me from Ma’s brother. That’s what they all led me to believe.”

“It was your father’s mother, feisty Muireann, who bequeathed me to you. I think your parents feared you would end up living her chaotic life, so they kept quiet about her powers and never let you visit her alone. Later when she took ill, though, your father felt guilty for never telling you the truth. I think he also felt a responsibility to see you got the magickal training his mother should have given you. She’d known you were meant to follow her but honored her son’s denials out of love for him... and you.”

I blinked in shock as I took it in. “The irony is knowing all that might have saved me from marrying Jack. I might have suspected his motives before we wed. I might have avoided my time in the cottage completely.”

“But you also might not have birthed Fiona.” Sighing, Conn went on. “So second-guessing the past is a waste of time. Jack told your father that you were his and that he was the man who would direct your magickal path. They never spoke intimately about you after that. Jack became an ambitious demon hunter and your life’s work became nothing more than supporting him.”

This time I blinked because I felt like someone had slapped me awake. “Ya should have warned me about my own powers, Conn.”

“I couldn’t because I was the one secret you successfully kept from your devious and controlling husband. He would have tried to kill me at every turn because together we are a force to be feared. I couldn’t risk Jack finding out what I was until you were ready to own your gifts. When that time came, your father was already gone and your mother didn’t know how to warn you any more than she already had. We were all holding our breaths until you found out for yourself.”

I frowned at my coffee because frowning at Conn wouldn’t do me any good. This wasn’t the news I thought I’d hear, but no epiphany was ever comfortable. And the horrible things I kept learning about Jack seem to go on and on.

I looked at Conn as I explained my side of things. “Jack and I grew farther apart each year after the first ten. Maybe it was Da’s death, or maybe I felt misunderstood. I loved Jack once, but he put emotional distance between us on purpose. Nothing I said made anything any better. Fiona was suffering from our arguing.”

“When your daughter’s magick blossomed, your magick changed. I think some part of you realized you weren’t setting the example for her you wanted to set. You got defensive when Jack criticized your magick, and then you got aggressive with him. In short, my dear guardian, you became your paternal grandmother. She had married an unworthy man as well. Your grandfather left Murieann a month before your father was born.”

I ran both hands through my hair. “Didn’t ya tire of watching yet another female in our family let a man lead her away from herself?”

Conn shrugged before smiling. “You were traveling the journey you had to travel to figure this out. My role was to walk that path with you and decide what I could safely share. By then, I’d realized that I would have to see to your training. So I did what I felt sure Murieann would have wanted me to do.”

“Is that why ya suggested we join the Shadow Breakers?”

“Yes. And that’s why I brought The Dagda to visit you on this plane. I told him you sorely needed some godly illumination about your family’s powers. He manifested as human only for the purpose of helping you. It had been a long time since he did that for anyone. I knew then that you were special.”

“Goddess, if I hadn’t met The Dagda, I would never have known much of anything.”