Page 87 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

“I knewofShannon, though I never met her or her husband, I’m afraid.”

“Because they didn’t trust you. Because he was human,” she accused. “Twenty years ago, they were here in the citytrying to hide me. They wouldn’t go to you for help.”

Lorcan winced. “Walk with me.” She followed him out onto the Brooklyn streets. “Shannon was young. Only about fifty when she was killed. Very young for your kind. Wisps can live to be thousands of years old if they hold onto their mind and their magic. Also very young to have a child.”

She held her breath as he spoke about wisps in a way that Kierse had never gotten from all of her books and research. Even from Oisín, who discussed them more like faerie tales than reality.

“She was young enough that I didn’t know her personally.” He swallowed. “My wife was a wisp.”

Lorcan took two more steps before stopping and turning back to see she hadn’t moved. There was grief in the lines of his face. Something that he managed to hide so well. Because if all the wisps were gone, then so too was his wife. How had he accepted that death and continued on as he was?

“I’m sorry,” Kierse found herself saying. She started walking again. “When did it happen?”

“About a century ago,” he said, continuing forward. “Her name was Saoirse. We met when we were young and were married shortly after. We had two sons as well—Torin and Gannon. Wisps, the both of them.”

“Oh,” she said softly.

“So, you see, I am invested in the return of the wisps. But I do not know why your mother feared me. I would have helped her if I could. I would have saved all the wisps if I was able.”

She’d thought that she’d seen worship in his eyes when he’d discovered she was a wisp. In reality, he was seeing allthat he’d lost in her face. The wife and two sons who had died so long ago.

“I think the wisps didn’t like that my dad was a human. They were worried you would judge them for it or refuse to help them.”

Lorcan considered. His eyes swept over her. “You believe thatyouare only half wisp?”

“Yes? Once the spell broke, I got a memory that confirmed he was my father.”

“Hmm. You don’t have magic that acts like any half wisp I’ve ever seen.”

“But I don’t have all the wisps’ powers, either,” she said.

“Not all wisps had the same powers. Some had more or less than others.”

“Really?” she asked in surprise. She hadn’t known that.

“And your signature…” He cast a hand forward, a soft glow of magic suffusing his palm. He trailed off, shaking his head. His eyes were distant when he said, “I don’t know how you could be half and part of a triskel.”

“I don’t know, either. Until recently, I thought I was fully human. So it doesn’t matter to me. But I do want to find the man who put the spell on me.”

“Do you know who that was?”

She watched for his reaction as she said, “Cillian Ryan.”

“That motherfucker,” he growled.

Kierse smirked. So what Graves had said seemed to be true. She didn’t know why she kept doubting him. Everything he’d told her so far appeared to be corroborated. “You know him.”

Lorcan’s hands curled into fists and then relaxed. “Knewhim. He was a Druid.”

“That much I knew. A rogue Druid that you tried to kill.”

“That’s the least of it,” he grumbled. “He destroyed Sansara.”

Kierse blinked in confusion. “Who is Sansara?”

“Not who. What. Sansara was a sacred tree. It had roots nearly as old as time.” Lorcan looked absolutely stricken. “I don’t know how much you know about Druid magic. We have our own secrecy, of course.”

“I’ve done my research. Sacrifice, nature, spells,” she said, waving a hand. “A combination of the lot gives you powers.”

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