“Then why don’t you want to see her? With Carmen waiting, we could use her help.”
I heaved a heavy breath. “I know, but she’ll think it too dangerous and may try to send me back to England.”
Ailish looked me up and down. “You’re a woman grown. She’s no right to be sending you away.”
Embarrassment warmed my cheeks, and I let my gaze fall to the floorboards. “Lady Dinley isn’t just another goddess born. She’s also my great-grandmother, and she’ll use that authority to her advantage.” My eighteen years might be a drop in the bucket compared to Cate’s millennia, but even so, I despised being treated like a child.
“Great-grandmother, eh. By her laugh, I’d guess her a lass o’ twenty years.”
“Try fifteen hundred,” I groused. “Or very near to it. Brigid released her from mortality centuries before Saint Patrick came to Ireland.”
“Me grandmams both crossed over afore I was born, so I’ve no experience to share. Still, I say you’re old enough to decide for yourself, no matter how many years she’s got behind her.”
“Except that if I refuse to listen, she may try to plant ideas in my head.” Voices raised in jovial conversation, followed by the metallic clank of tankards. I eyed the doorway, wary of what awaited me.
“She can do that?”
“With just one touch, she can have me sailing to Greenland as though it were my own idea.” Another laugh came from the room, this one deeper and gruffer than the first. Tiarnach...”That would be my great-grandfather.”
“By the sound of it, they be having a grand time in there. Is he as old as the lady?”
“A few hundred years younger.”
Ailish shook her head. “That’s a peculiar family you have, Selah Kilbrid.”
I huffed another heavy breath. “Just wait till you meet them.”
Cate’s gaze found mine the very instant we rounded the corner. Tom’s soon followed, and the chatter quieted at the table where they were seated. Sean sat across from Cate, Marin at his side. Both saw me. Neither smiled.
The silence spread from their table to the rest of the room. I stole a quick glance around to find Brian, Aron, Marcus and Conri seated around tankards. Two other men stood at the hearth, smoking pipes. I recognized them at once as the men I had incapacitated during the swordfight. Judging by their hard stares, they remembered me as well.
The friendly faces I had hoped to see were nowhere in sight. I reasoned they would arrive later, and refused to consider the possibility that the message had failed to reach them. Even so, it did nothing to change the fact that I was presently on my own in a room of hostile company.
Ailish scuffed a step over the flagstone. No, I’m not alone.
The serving girl set down the last tankard from her tray in front of Tom. “I’ll go check on yehr suppers,” she said, before beating a path back to the kitchens
My nerves aside, I couldn’t have asked for a more convenient situation as almost every goddess born near Wexford was assembled and awaiting my next move. So large an audience could also keep Cate in check, at the risk of exposing our relation to those present. Though far from a permanent solution, it would at least buy me some additional time to figure out how to outwit my great-grandparents yet again.
Pushing my fear down, I straightened my back and stepped farther into the room with Ailish beside me. Tom and Sean stood to greet us, and I stopped a long stride shy of the table.
Cate’s expression remained the picture of calm serenity. “My dear Miss Kilbrid. What a surprise meeting you so far from London.” A bit of Irish brogue laced her genteel English accent in clear deference to her true heritage and current audience.
“And you, Lady Dinley.” My eyes darted to Tom. “Last I heard, you were involved in a misunderstanding with the Duke of Norland. I hope you were able to leave London on amicable terms.”
Tom grunted a Gaelic oath under his breath. Cate merely laughed and waved off my concern. “Nothing more than a trifle, my dear. Lucy Goodwin sends you her love.”
I swallowed my guilt for abandoning the woman. “How does she fare?”
“Tolerably well, considering the circumstances. I left her in Sophie’s capable hands.” Cate turned her gaze on Ailish, and for the first time since entering the room, I saw the slightest crease in her delicate brow.
Towering well over six feet, Tom also stared at her, though with little effort to conceal his disapproval. They know... Without the benefit of touch, they had somehow sensed Cailleach’s blood in her.