Page 19 of Shadow Spell

“Do you want my opinion or only my condolences?”

She slanted a look at him, bold brown eyes both suspicious and speculative. “I’ll take the opinion, though I may hurl it back in your face.”

“Then here it is for you. Stay where you are, darling. You were never happy, not really, until you moved out to begin with.”

“That’s what I want, and what I know I should do for myself and my sanity, but—”

“If your mother’s fretting about being lonely, and Maureen’s fretting about your mother—who’s her mother as well I’ll add—being on her own, why wouldn’t it be a fine idea for your mother to move in with Maureen and her family? Wouldn’t it be a great help to Maureen to have her mother with her, with the children and all that?”

“Why didn’t I think of that?” Meara pulled away long enough to punch Connor’s shoulder, do a little dance. “Why didn’t I think of that my own self?”

“You hadn’t got through the courses of guilt.” In an old habit, he gave her long, thick braid a tug. “Maureen’s no right to push you to give up your flat, change your life just because your brother’s changing his.”

“I know it, but I know as well, Ma’s next to helpless. She has been since my father left us. She did her best with a terrible situation, but she’ll dither her way through the days, worry herself through the nights living all on her own.”

“You’ve two brothers, two sisters,” he reminded her. “There’s five of you to help tend your mother.”

“The smart ones got well away, didn’t they? It’s only me and Donal right here. But I can plant the seed in Ma’s mind of moving in with Maureen. If nothing else, it should scare Maureen silent for a bit.”

“There you have it.” He turned, as she did, toward the stables.

Meara stopped. “Where are you going?”

“I’ll walk you to work.”

“I don’t need my body guarded, thanks. Go on.” She planted a finger in his chest, gave it a little push. “You’ve work of your own.”

There was no harm in the day—he felt none at all. And after the early-morning clash, Connor felt Cabhan would be curled up in some dark cave, gathering.

“We’ve five hawk walks already booked today, and may have others before it’s done. Maybe I’ll see you on the paths.”

“Maybe.”

“If you text me when you’re done for the day, I’ll meet you here, walk back with you to the cottage.”

“We’ll see how it all goes. Mind yourself, Connor.”

“I will. I do.”

Because her eyebrows had drawn together, he kissed the space between them, then strolled off. Looking, to Meara’s mind, like a man without a single care in the world rather than one with the weight of it on his shoulders.

An optimist to the bone, she thought, envying him a little.

But she pulled her phone out of her pocket as she took the path to the stables and her workday.

“Morning, Ma.” And smiling to herself, prepared to give her annoying sister a shot right up the arse.

4

CONNOR SLIPPED THROUGH THE EMPLOYEES’ GATE FORthe falconry school. As always, he felt a little flutter—a bit like beating wings—in his heart, along his skin. It had always been the hawk for him. That connection, like his power, came down through the blood.

He’d have preferred having some time to walk around the enclosures and aviary, greet the hawks, the big owl they called Brutus, just to see—and hear—how they all fared.

But the way he’d started his day meant he was a few minutes behind already. He saw one of his staff, Brian—skinny as a flagpole and barely eighteen—checking the feed and water.

So he only glanced around to be sure all was well as he crossed over to the offices, past the fenced-in area where his assistant, Kyra, kept her pretty spaniel most days.

“And how’s it going for you today, Romeo?”

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