The ability to run our power backward and forward ran contrary to all I had been taught. “And that is how you’ve been able to extend life, by continually renewing your body.”
“I could do nothing on my own other than keep a young visage until the moment I died at the end of a natural life span. No matter the strength of my own power, I am still part human, and for our kind the bands of mortality can only be extended by Brigid’s second gift.”
The muscles bunched in my forehead. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
Cate sighed and gazed again at the window. “There is so much to tell, I scarce know what to include and what to leave out at the moment.” Her eyes drifted back to me. “Justine did you a great disservice today. Had she not interfered, it would have taken months for me to reveal the whole truth. Then I would have slowly painted a picture for you, one careful stroke at a time. Now, I fear broad strokes are necessary to fill in the events that have brought us together today.”
I felt an odd twinge of gratitude for Justine. Not that I approved of her motivation or methods, but I preferred to learn the truth quickly rather than be spoon fed for months.
“A brief telling of my history will answer most of your questions if you’re up to the task.” Concern clouded her face. “Unless you would prefer to wait until your nerves have had adequate time to recover. Heaven knows you’ve received enough shocks for one day. If you’re too tired, nothing is so pressing that cannot wait ’til later.”
Courtesy of Cate’s earlier intervention, my nerves couldn’t have felt better. And though loath to admit it, Justine had been right—it was high time I cut the lead strings and learned the truth about my family.
“I would suffer more if you sent me away with so much left untold.”
“Very well, but let me know if you need to stop.” Her hands rested again in her lap, and she stared at them while gathering her thoughts. “As I mentioned before, Brigid’s power allowed my tribe to live in near perfect conditions. Our only real hardships were natural disasters, such as floods and drought, or the occasional raids from other tribes.
“This ideal life changed four years after my first marriage, when we were set upon by a vicious enemy new to our small part of the world. Not satisfied with the usual bounty of food and other goods, they destroyed our entire village. Every one of my tribesmen died fighting, as did many of the women and children. When the smoke settled, they rounded up the survivors only to kill those they thought too young or too weak to serve their purposes. Then, while our dead still littered the ground, we were carried captive to the sea.”
Each word nudged me forward, and I soon found myself perched on the edge of the chair. My ring all but forgotten, I now gripped my knees, riveted by visions from her past.
“Eighteen of us made this initial trek. Once we arrived at the shore, the men divided us into two groups. They sold half the girls for slaves the first day, then loaded the other half into ships for the treacherous voyage to a land I later learned to be Scotland.” She sighed, and her expression turned contemplative. “During those initial days, I wished for death, and while the other girls prayed for deliverance from the sea, I prayed for the boats to capsize to obtain deliverance from my captors.”
An odd thought played on the edge of my mind. “Why didn’t you stop them?”
Cate gave me a queer look. “One woman against more than two score armed men? How do you think me capable of overcoming such odds?”
It seemed so obvious, I was surprised she hadn’t thought of it herself. “By putting thoughts in the chieftain’s head, telling him to release you and the other captives.”
She laughed as though I had just made a jest. “Reading thoughts is fairly simple work. But sowing them takes years of experience. At the time of the raid, this skill was so newly acquired, I would have been lucky to plant the mere suggestion of an itch or a dry throat.”
“Then you should have killed them,” I persisted. “The night Julian kissed me in the garden, you said it was as easy to stop a heart as to heal one. Certainly, Brigid would have understood the necessity of your actions.”
“Perhaps, except that I had yet to gain access to that side of my power.”
The muscles tightened further in my forehead. “What do you mean? When I burned Julian, the power just came out of nowhere.”
“It may have seemed so at the time, but as Brigid’s descendants, our ability to use her power in self-defense can only be woken at the hands of our mortal enemies.”
A pale, dirty face flashed in my mind. “Cailleach’s wretch must have done it when she grabbed my arm on the docks.”
Cate studied me for a moment. “Deri didn’t do it.”
“Then who—”