The candles were lower now, and we fell into silence. It was a time of year when spirits were very close, for it was less than two moons to midwinter day, and I could almost catch small voices in the shadows around us. Padriac had not spoken again, but he placed his hand on Cormack’s shoulder briefly, and Cormack nodded. And Conor said to his twin, very quietly, “I’ll come back over to the barn with you, for a while.”

“Thank you,” said Cormack.

Finbar stayed behind when all the rest had gone. He sat staring into the fire. The mood was somber. Despite our brave words, we were looking into an abyss.

“What are you thinking, Finbar?”

“Something I cannot share.”

I moved closer to the fire, thrusting my hands into my pockets for warmth. The smooth surface of Simon’s carving fitted exactly into my palm.

Tell me. Tell me what you see.

I tried to look into his mind, but there was a barrier there, a dark wall around his thoughts.

I cannot share this. I will not frighten you.

I caught an image of myself as a small child running barefoot through the forest in dappled sunlight.

Are you afraid?

A feeling of intense cold. Water. The whistling of air past the body, the strangest sensation of falling, flight, falling. That much he revealed to me. Then he shut it off abruptly. I cannot share this with you.

“You cannot close yourself off from the whole world,” I said aloud, exhausted already from the attempt to break into his mind pictures. “How can we help one another, if we have secrets?”

“Sharing my last secret didn’t help you much,” he said flatly. “Or the Briton. I wonder now how much my efforts to undo my father’s work were worth. You were hurt, and the boy—his fate was little better for my interference. Perhaps I should cease meddling. Perhaps I should accept that our kind are all killers under the skin. If the lady Oonagh wants us as playthings, what’s the real difference?” He gave a crooked smile.

“You don’t really believe that, Finbar!” I was shocked; could he have changed so quickly? “Look me in the eye and say it again.” I took his face between my hands quite firmly. And when I met his gaze, his eyes were as clear and farseeing as ever.

“It’s all right, Sorcha,” he said gently. “I have been thinking hard, that’s all. I have not changed my tune so much. But my mind tells me there is a great ill about to befall us; and I wonder if our strength is enough to withstand it. I wish you were safe somewhere, not here in the middle of it all. And I need to rely on my brothers; I must be able to trust them, all of them.”

“You can trust them,” I said. “You heard what they said. We are all of a mind, and we always will be. Whenever one is in trouble, there will be six to help.”