“Are we still in the Caisleán?” Croi asks. The mountain is empty of all kin except for the two of them.

“Yes,” he says, sitting down, legs dangling over the edge of the mountain. “Sit.” He sees her hesitating and grins. “Don’t worry. You won’t fall. I won’t let you.”

You are a fool if you believe him so easily.

“We’re going to die anyway, remember?”

Croi sits down. A minute passes and neither of them speaks. Their eyes are full of the sea in front of them. She can feel him warm beside her, and for just a flicker of a second, Croi is racked by a fierce yearning. What if she could call him hers?

“Can I see you now?” Irial asks, breaking the silence.

“What if you hate the way my face is at this moment? What if it scares you?” Croi asks. “I don’t want you to be scared of me.”

“I saw you as a Redcap, remember?” Irial replies. “Your current face can’t be any scarier than a Redcap.”

“Hey, that’s true!” Cheering up, Croi unties the veil around the lower half of her face. “Ugly, huh?”

She closes her eyes and allows him to look his fill of her.

“Does it hurt?” he asks, his fingers glancing off her cheeks. His eyes are filled with such compassion that Croi’s chest twinges. She lowers her head, willing her heart to settle.

“Does what hurt?”

“The breaking Glamour.”

“Yeah. It hurts. A lot.” Croi bites her lips, then confesses without looking at him. “The healer said I’m going to die. That my body is not going to be able to tolerate the final breaking.”

Irial goes still. He even stops breathing for a moment. “What?” His voice is hoarse. “Which healer?”

Croi blinks. Her eyes are suddenly wet. “First, tell me how you recognized me. We’ll get to my future, or the lack of it, later.”

“No, that’s not important, Croi,” he says, holding her by the shoulders. Why is it so easy for him to touch her? Why does she want to cry every time she hears him say her name?

“Give me a moment, all right?” she beseeches him. “Tell me your secrets first.”

“It’s my magick,” he says, letting go of her. “Every time I touch something or someone, I can see their past. When I touched you, I saw myself in your dreams and realized who you are. Can you tell me now? Who was the healer? What did they say?”

Croi takes a breath to speak but stops before the words gain form in her mouth. She looks at the roiling sea, and the immensity of what is to come crashes down on her.

You’re crying.

She keeps her back to Irial so he can’t see her tears. “Do you know, I found out who I am when I met the Tine King?” She looks over her shoulder at Irial, his figure blurry through her tears. “I’m the child he had with Mabh.”