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“And I’d be fine.”

“Well, I don’t want to stab anything.” He kicked the sword back to his father. “I won’t do it, Papa.”

“I’ll do it!” Vanna rushed to her feet from her seat beside me and all but skipped to Nix. “I’m allowed, aren’t I?”

“Aye, but in a moment. I’m working with your brother first.”

She groaned dramatically. “But he’s a baby. He doesn’t even want to.”

“I’m not a baby.” Mirobhail’s eyes brightened to glowing blue spheres. “I just don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Well, I do.” Vanna stood strong, shoulders broad with confidence. “I’ll win, I bet.”

I laughed, rocking Aein in my arms. She’d just fallen asleep, and if I stopped rocking now, she’d wake up in a heartbeat.

“Oh, you think?” Nix asked.

“Iknow.”

“Alright.” He nodded to Mirobhail. “Go sit down with your mum.”

“I’m not a baby,” he said again, brows furrowing deep into his gaze. “You know that, don’t you?”

Nix’s eyes softened. “Yes, I know that. But you’re going to learn how to use this sword today.”

Mirobhail rolled his eyes and appeared beside me. When Nix kneeled before Vanna, and Mirobhail thought Nix couldn’t hear him, he said, “I’m never going to kill someone, Mum. I don’t need to know how to use a sword.”

My sweet, sweet boy.

I tucked an arm around his shoulders and pulled him in, giving him a kiss on the forehead. “I hope you never need to know how, páisde, but you don’t know that.”

“Idoknow that.” His glare turned on me. “I won’t do it, Mum. I’ll never kill anyone.”

“Never?” I asked. He shook his head. “What if someone came into your bedroom while you were playing with him?” I pointed to Friel chasing butterflies with Heylel a few dozen strides ahead in the field of wildflowers. “What if me and Papa weren’t there, and someone tried to kill your little brother?”

“You and Papa are always there—”

“But if we weren’t.” I tucked a tendril of black hair behind his ear. “If we weren’t there, and someone needed to protect your little brother, or your little sister, you wouldn’t kill to keep them safe?”

The fire in his eyes burned out, replaced with concern. I could practically see his heart beating faster. “Do you think that’ll happen?”

I wished I could say I didn’t, but yes. I believed that point was inevitable.

We’d run to the Land of Light more than a year ago, and we hadn’t left since. There’d been a target on our heads then. It was still there now. We relied on this world itself for refuge, but I had no doubt that one day, the men who wanted us dead would find a way to get here.

Ever since we’d come here, we taught our children everything we could. They knew how to lapse, open an egress,closean egress, a thousand defensive spells, not to mention the barrier spells Nix made them recite nightly. Each of them—even our toddlers—knew how to use every single one of their abilities.

Friel was a terrifying sight to behold when Nix taught him to yank lightning from the clouds, but a terrifying toddler was better than a dead one. Aein didn’t talk very well yet, although her twin understood every word she spoke, but she could lapse like her life depended on it. She was skilled with fire. Specifically, settingmeon fire when I tried to change her out of a dress she loved.

Vanna was a force to be reckoned with all around. This was the first time Nix started showing them how to use blades, but she harnessed all of mine and Nix’s abilities as easily as she understood walking. She could lapse, control lightning, wind, water, air, fire, and mind. She didn’t seem to have inherited my ability to open the tree of life, nor Nix’s power over death, but none of the children had those so far. They seemed unique to us for the time being.

But Mirobhail…

Mirobhail had a great grasp on his abilities, even abilities I didn’t know existed, like his intense connection to animals. He could calm even the strongest beast. But when it came to defensive abilities? He wouldn’t do it.

I could get him to use them in play, like throwing balls of water at one another, or lightning with Nix, but that was the extent of it. Herefusedto harm another creature, even if he knew we wouldn’t actually be hurt.

I adored how kind he was, but I needed him to understand how to defend himself.