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My beloved hatedthe prospect of a life of war. He always had.

But it was more than battle itself that haunted my Cú Chulainn. It was the threat of it, the weight of a kingdom on his shoulders, the burden of lives contingent on his defense.

Yes, I'd lost him for a time to Emer. He seemed to love her now that the faerie had been wiped from his memories. But life with her, life in Ulster, would always be the life of a champion, the life of one on whom the security of the kingdom relied.

I'd tried to intervene before—I'd tried to complicate his relationships, to interfere with matters of the heart. But as much as he loved Emer, he hated war just as much.

So long as they remained married, I'd have to show him that he'd never be more than the very thing he'd resisted becoming since he was but a boy. He'd have to be a warrior. For, Emer would never leave Ulster. It was her home. She was not the adventurous type who'd run off with my beloved—not as he'd once fancied he might do if he were to marry Fand. Emer craved stability. She desired children.

But Cú Chulainn would never bear her children. His seed would never take hold in the womb of a plain woman like Emer. It was only because Aife waslikehim that she found herself with a child.

I couldn't help but laugh at the irony of it all...

That I should give Ulster a virile bull, the most fertile that the isles had ever seen...

It would sting. It would water the seeds of discontent in his marriage that had been there from the start.

And, if my plan worked as I'd hoped, it would prime him to desire a bride more suited for his... unique... constitution. Not a brute, like Aife. But a goddess who would gladly open her womb to his seed.

I took it upon myself to inform Queen Mebd of Connacht that Ulster had acquired Donn Cúailnge. She would undoubtedly seek an alliance, one that King Conchobar was too stubborn in his old age to ever accept.

Still, more seeds were sown. This time, the seeds of conflict that, over time, might sprout into war.

And when it came to matters of war, I was queen.

Cú Chulainn wouldn't have a choice. He'd have to fight.

And when the time was right I'd appear to my beloved again... I'd offer him a way out... a chance to escape it all and take his place at my side to rule over the realms of both the living and the dead. What man could ever refuse such an offer?

Before, I'd tried to sever the strands that bound his heart to the women he loved quickly. This was a different approach. It would take many cycles before he'd grow weary of his marriage, tired of his role as Ulster's defender. His love for Emer would die a slow death this time... not by a great betrayal, as I'd attempted with Fand. No, this time his discontent would fester for a decade or more. He'd come to crave a new love, the sort of love only I could offer him.