“No, no.” Keira was quick to shake her head. “At least, I don’t think so. I really don’t know.” She finally looked Lyra in the eye, the flush on her pale skin was so striking, it almost looked like blood.
“Cliodhna knows about her.” Keira hesitated and finished her sentence in a rush, all of the words coming out together at the same time. Lyra paused, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Both sisters stared at each other, waiting for the other one to react. Lyra finally shrugged, tilting her head in genuine confusion.
“Okay? So? Is that all that you were worried about telling me?” Lyra questioned gently. She didn’t want to be insensitive, but every other siren she knew preferred the company of other women. It came with the territory when men were your mortal and immortal enemies.
“Oh god, no,” Keira snorted, a little bit of her humor and color returning to her face. Lyra sighed, relieved that her sister hadn’t been worried about telling her about a sapphic love interest.
“Then what is the problem?” Lyra asked. “Cliodhna threatened her to get you to obey. Of course she knows about her.”
The way Keira was dancing around the issue was causing her anxiety to ramp up, and she had very little energy left. Keira’shands formed into fists, and she took another slow breath, before all the words started spilling out of her.
“Sometimes she prefers dressing like a man,” Keira explained, “which is why Cliodhna thinks she’s a mortal man. A human.”
“Okay, so then—wait.” Lyra stopped, her heart sinking. “She’s not human?”
“Christ,” Wyn muttered, dragging his hand over his face.
Lyra turned around and pinned him with a glare usually reserved for men who were about to die. Wyn, wisely, held up his hands in surrender as Lyra turned back towards Keira.
“No,” Keira answered quietly. “She isn’t a human.”
There was a long pause on the deck of theBarufakrwhere the only sounds were the wind and the crashing of the waves. The boat cut gracefully through the water, with one goal in mind, getting the occupants back to Edinburgh as quickly as possible. They had already crossed back into Scottish waters, but everyone was feeling physically and emotionally waterlogged.
“You’re going to have to explain to me why that is a problem.” Lyra raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest. Keira was taking too long to explain things and if they were in some sort of danger, everyone needed to know.Now.
“Her name is Scáthach,” Keira muttered. Everyone reacted at the same time.
“Oh, for the love of...” Wyn started cursing, running his hands through his long hair and pacing.
Theo looked stunned, his jaw hanging open as he shook his head. Lyra thought her heart was going to give out.
“How?” Lyra whispered, turning her attention back to Keira.
Keira’s eyes were full of tears, and Lyra pulled her into another tight embrace.
“No one is upset with you,” Lyra whispered. “We’re surprised. That’s all.”
“I didn’t know,” Keira insisted, the tears coming freely now as she returned Lyra’s hug. “I didn’t learn until I was already in l-love with her.”
“She’s alive?” Wyn was still spiraling, his pacing growing more manic. He waved his hands comically back and forth, looking more like a frustrated anime character than an elvish prince.
“Apparently,” Theo let out a low whistle, clapping his hand on Wyn’s back. “Let’s give them some space.”
Theo’s suggestion was a little overdue at this point, which Lyra clocked by throwing him a sarcastic expression, too, but Theo nonetheless started herding Wyn below deck.
Once the men were gone, Lyra said nothing else as she allowed Keira the space to cry. Whatever happened between Keira and Scáthach was clearly affecting her. This was not the passing infatuation Lyra assumed it was. When Keira quieted down, she pulled away from her sister, tugging Lyra over to some of the low benches surrounding the deck. They sat facing each other, and Keira launched into her story from the beginning.
Scáthach was a demigod. An old one. She was a legendary Scottish warrior woman, who infamously trained some of Scotland’s most notorious and brightest heroes. When Chiron took up Hercules’s training, there were rumors he’d originally consulted Scáthach. She disappeared from the Isle of Sky almost a millennium ago and had long been presumed dead.
Keira had originally met and fallen in love with her very innocently. Only once her feelings solidified for the mysterious woman did she ever learn her true identity.
“I can’t believe she’s alive,” Lyra whispered under her breath. “Why has she been in hiding for so long?”
Keira shook her head, as though remembering an argument she’d had multiple times and was preparing to do it again.
“Scáthach is so good at training heroes.” Keira looked over her shoulder, the tightness of her posture betraying her paranoia. “The gods say anyone she trains can’t be defeated. That’s dangerous, if someone were to force Scáthach to train someone with ulterior motives.”
