Neither woman answered him. They stepped forward together as the rain came across the lawn and finally reached them.

A message written on water, whispered on the wind.

This wasn’t a whisper. Despite how far the storm had traveled, she could still taste the anger that had summoned that wind and sent it flying.

Yes, something had definitely changed.

She watched Gwenn cup her hands and sip the rain that collected there. And she watched Gwenn turn pale.

“Do you have what you need?” Breanna asked.

Gwenn nodded.

Breanna walked to the center of the lawn and began to dance, channeling the wind through her body and sending it back to shred the clouds, spreading them out even further. A hand clasped hers…and Gwenn circled with her, taking in the strength from water and sending it out again to hold back some of the rain.

As they broke apart, Fiona stepped forward to join them.

Breanna felt the power in the dance, felt the way Fiona’s presence kept grounding that power in the branch of earth, spreading it through the land.

Acknowledging, celebrating, taming. Isn’t that what Fiona said she and Jenny had done once before?

When the last cloud passed over them, she stopped the dance. All three women were soaked to the skin and shivering from exhaustion.

As she pushed her wet hair away from her face, she noticed Liam and Donovan standing side by side, their expressions watchful…and a little wary. Standing near them were Clay, Rory, and Falco, their expressions equally watchful, equally wary.

We are what we are, Breanna thought wearily as she walked back to the house.

When they reached the men, Donovan slipped an arm around Gwenn’s waist to lead her the rest of the way to the house. Rory and Clay took Fiona’s arms to support her.

Liam put his arm around her shoulders, and said tightly, “You’re going to get dry and go to bed before you get some kind of lung fever.”

“It’s summer,” she muttered. “It’s warm.” But now that the dance was done, her muscles wouldn’t stop shaking.

Nuala stood in the kitchen doorway, a shawl around her shoulders. She stepped back as Donovan led Gwenn inside and pointed to the large kitchen table. “The kettle’s boiled. Let her sit there for a minute and have something hot to drink.” She raised her hand, cutting off Donovan’s protest before he could say the first word.

Liam, Clay, and Rory didn’t argue. They pulled out chairs for Breanna and Fiona, then stood back while Nuala took a seat and Glynis set hot mugs of tea in front of the women.