“It happened before you set foot in London, on the night Mr. Chubais visited Brighmor. You may recall an intense feeling of anger or hatred. Something stronger than you’d ever felt before or even thought possible.”
My lips parted in surprise by how accurately she described my emotions. “I was so angry when he laughed at me that I threatened to tear his heart out. At the time, a part of me really thought I could do it.” The savage, lunatic part that had lost all attachment to reality.
“What seemed a moment of madness was your power awakening. And once the fire’s come out of the box, it never quite goes back, as our friend Julian learned. I can only guess that my youngest daughter, Elizabeth, never came within close enough proximity of Cailleach’s descendants or one of her creatures, otherwise Edgar Sweeney would have died in the river that day instead of her.” Anger tinged Cate’s voice and tight lines pulled at her mouth. “Your grandmother was the strongest of all my children, and would have had sufficient strength to defend herself when Cailleach came calling, as she would have inevitably done. It was that McBres boy who feared the hounds and convinced her to flee to the Colonies rather than stay and fight. If they would have stayed...” Her words trailed off, leaving the silence to fill in what had been left unspoken. If they had stayed, my grandmother and mother would still be alive. And if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
“When did it happen to you?” I asked.
Cate steepled her fingers, then folded them again in her lap. “When word finally reached Cailleach that some of Brigid’s descendants had left Ireland.”
“Did she send her hounds after you?” Just the thought of Mr. Chubais made me shiver.
“That she did, about five years after we were carried into Scotland. When we first arrived in the village, the other women and I were given as slaves to the strongest warriors. I happened to be one of the fortunate ones, for the chieftain took a liking to me, and he had a kind wife. At first she set me to the most remedial tasks, like hauling water and collecting firewood. But it didn’t take long before she discovered my talent for healing.” Cate gave me a wry smile. “Like you, I nearly died for my gift until Brigid found me and opened another passageway into the Otherworld. Once this happened, word of my abilities quickly spread, and for the next three decades I served as the tribe’s shaman.
“More than anything else, I remember this time for how it altered the course of my life. Prior to captivity, I never gave much thought to how others lived. Most of the tribes in Ireland claimed some level of descent from either Brigid or the other gods and goddesses, so I just assumed everyone lived as we did. Not until my first life came to an end, and I was carried into Scotland, did I understand what it meant to really suffer. Ashamed of my previous ignorance, I swore never again to take my gift for granted.
“Over the years, I came to love and respect humans equal to the goddess born. Day after day, I watched them build homes, till the ground, and bring forth children without any assurance of what the future held. They lacked our power, yet they had the strength to persevere no matter the hardship or challenge. To me, that was courage in its finest form, and the thought of leaving them at the end of my life felt more like abandonment than anything else.”
Cate paused and plucked at her dressing gown. “Facing my own mortality, I recalled my grandmother’s stories about how Brigid had once extended life for some of her strongest descendants. As death drew nearer, I sought Brigid and asked for this second gift. She consented, but with three conditions: I could not live more than one natural life at a time in the same place, I had to return to the Otherworld once a year, and I could only assist in extending the lives of my direct descendants and their families. Having accepted the terms, I drank from the cup and then returned home to put my affairs in order. Though it pained me to leave, my one lifetime had already passed in this village, so I headed south toward the great Roman city of Londinium, or London as it’s known today.”