«I’d better tell you the full story.» He glanced at the noisy crowd surrounding them. «Let’s go somewhere quieter.»

He led her around the side of the house to a lush private garden. They followed a narrow winding path between the riotous fragrant shrubs and came to a circular pool containing a beautiful fountain in the shape of a dolphin shooting water from its mouth. Esras pulled her down beside him on a stone bench hidden in an alcove overlooking the pool.

«What did your grandmother tell you about the Rainbow People?»

Kate stared at the cascading droplets pattering into the water, the sound soothing her jumpy nerves. «Fairy stories really.» She shrugged. «The last time she spoke to me about the kingdom beneath the sea was when I was five. Then my mother banned the stories. She virtually banned me from seeing Grandma as well.»

Esras pulled her hand on to his thigh and ran a finger lightly across her palm, tracing the lines. «The woman you knew as your grandmother was older than you think. She was really your great-great-great-grandmother.»

Kate’s breath hissed in.

«I knew her as Aine. She was once our queen.»

«Grandma?»

«In 1865 she fell in love with a human and had to follow her heart to England. Before she left, she read the future in Lir’s whirlpool and foretold that one of her female descendants was my destined bride. She made me king so that when you came to me you could take your rightful place as queen.»

The blood rushed out of Kate’s head, making her ears hum. How old did that make him? She tried to do the maths in her head, but her brain refused to work. She pulled her hand from his grasp and jumped to her feet.

«Kate, my love.»

«Just give me a moment.» She moved away from him and ended up by the pool. She stared at the bobbing pink water lilies, trying to calm her swirling thoughts so she could make sense of what he’d said. The memory of his mind-shattering kisses and the feel of his sculpted muscular body made it impossible to believe he wasn’t young. She glanced over her shoulder at him to make sure she wasn’t losing her mind. «You don’t look more than thirty.»

Esras grinned wryly. «I’ll be 219 on 11 August. People of Lir live for centuries. That means you will as well.»

Kate turned on unsteady legs and collapsed on to the edge of the pool. Centuries? «What happened to Grandma’s other female descendants? Are they here?»

Esras rose and came towards her. «You’re the first of Aine’s female line to take after her. The others took after her human husband.»

Kate’s breath stilled in her lungs as the truth hit her. «Mum?»

«She isn’t one of us,» he said softly.

Kate rocked back. Not one of us. That explained so much that had happened over the years: the way Mum had cut her off from Grandma, her antipathy to Ireland, her fear of the sea. She must have been frightened of losing Kate and maybe a little resentful that the gene, or whatever it was that defined the Rainbow People, had passed her by.

Esras went down on his knees before her and reached for her hands. When he touched her she quivered inside, half of her wanting to fall into his arms, the other half still struggling to come to terms with his revelation that she would live for hundreds of years.

«I’ve waited a long time for you. If your mother hadn’t hidden you from me, I’d have claimed you when you were eighteen.» Esras leaned closer, resting his cheek against hers. His lips brushed her ear. «I love you, Kate.»

Pleasure blossomed in her chest. His fingers stroked the inside of her wrists and trailed up her forearms to find the sensitive skin inside her elbows. A tingle of need raced across her skin.

«Do you think you’ll grow to love me?» he asked.

Whether her relationship with Esras was destined or not, she could no more resist him than she could hold back the tide. «I do love you.» She pressed her lips against his neck.

He gave a little sigh as his arms encircled her, pulling her on to his lap. His lips found her mouth, his kisses gentle at first, but soon becoming more demanding. After long minutes, he pulled back and whispered, «Together we’ll search for our lost people. The People of Lir will become strong again now I have you.»

«Can we talk about that later?» Kate pulled his face down again and kissed him. When he sucked in a breath, she smiled. «Do you think anyone will miss us if we don’t go back to the feast?»

Roberta Gellis

Compeer

Cruachan, Connacht, Ancient Ireland — before 800 BC


Medb was not happy. When her father, Eochaid Fiedleach, Ard Rí of all Eriu, asked her if she was willing to go in marriage to Conchobar of Ulster, she had considered and then agreed. She was young, no more than fourteen summers having passed since her birth, but Eochaid Fiedleach knew better than to give orders to Medb. Nonetheless she was a dutiful daughter who loved her father; she knew Eochaid Fiedleach had been the cause of loss to Conchobar and that providing a wife to Conchobar was part of the repayment of that loss.

As further repayment of the debt, Eochaid had also given Ulster to Conchobar to rule; thus the Ard Rí retained power over Conchobar. And as daughter of the Ard Rí, Medb was her husband’s equal in status; when married she would be Banríon of Ulster.

But the union began to go sour from the very beginning. Medb and her escort had ridden into the dark to arrive the sooner in Ulster. They came into the Great Hall through the easternmost of the seven doors after the eating but while the men were still drinking. Silence grew as Medb walked down the aisle from the door, past the sleeping couches and past the drinking benches, to the high seat.

Medb welcomed the growing silence. She was aware of her red hair and white skin, of her eyes, green as the finest emeralds, of the muscles that rippled in her bare arms. She always intended to be fit to rule. She was well trained with sword and knife, and as well trained to run and fight as to law and logic. She walked tall as a man and proud; she expected to be admired. and she was not thrilled with Conchobar’s greeting.

The Rí of Ulster looked her up and down and said, «Scrawny. One would think Eochaid would have sent something riper for a wife.»

Before Conchobar spoke, Medb had started to bend her head in proper greeting to a husband richer than herself, but she jerked upright at his words and replied, loud and clear, «I am the eldest of the Ard Rí’s daughters, and we will see how I fill out the role allotted to me.»

Conchobar only laughed but added, «The flash in those eyes holds promise, though.»

Medb thought him a fool to laugh at her warning, but she held her tongue. Her goods were not the equal of his, so he ruled the household. And he was many years her senior. If he thought her a child, he might be careless until he knew her better. She might have spoken again, but a movement among the men seated on the drinking benches caught her eye.

The cause of the disturbance could have been called scrawny too; he had the unfinished look of a boy growing into a man, but none of the men challenged him. Medb saw the bones held great promise, and the skin was dark and smooth. His hair was black, which stood out among the lighter browns and reds and golds in the room; his eyes, from where she stood, also looked black. And the eyes were fixed on her, not with curiosity or amusement like most of the others of Conchobar’s liegemen. The expression in them. was hunger.

Not yet, Medb thought, and was surprised. She had to swallow a laugh. To look at another man before her husband’s seed was set in her belly and acknowledged was the ultimate in stupidity. Medb was never stupid. Nonetheless, she was just a trifle regretful. Something about the young man who stared at her with such avidity attracted her interest.

She turned away to the women who had come to escort her to her quarters, unwilling to meet the gaze of her young admirer but wondering how long it would be before it was safe to speak to him. To her surprise Conchobar came down from the high seat to walk with her. He had not spoken to her again, but several of his men had come from their benches to speak to him. Perhaps they had reminded him that the girl he had offended was the Ard Rí’s eldest daughter.

Likely because of the warning of his men, Conchobar decided not to wait for Medb to ripen further, as he had promised her father. He broached her that very night.

That also did not please Medb — not the broaching; despite the pain, which she discounted, she enjoyed the broaching thoroughly. Seeing Conchobar reduced to a gasping, shuddering jelly taught her a valuable lesson. She saw what a woman could do to a man. She guessed at once how the act of love could be heightened to reduce a man and bind him. What angered Medb was that Conchobar had broken his promise to her father. In her eyes by breaking a promise Conchobar had smirched his honour.

Over the following weeks, she had no complaint about his diligence in his marital duties, although she suspected he still did not find her to his taste. «Rack of bones,» Medb heard once under his breath. She held the memory tight. And across the width of the hall on many nights her gaze met that of the black-eyed youth, who licked his lips as if he would eat her with good appetite.

Medb could have taken a bite or two of him herself, but she had not even enquired as to the dark boy’s name. Her will was far stronger than her lust. Fortunately she did not have long to wait. Within the second moon of the bedding, Medb got with child. She found that a source of satisfaction when she told her husband two moons later, and Conchobar was very pleased. He announced it to the whole household when they gathered for dinner. and took a new woman to his bed when the torches failed that very night.