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“I’m working on it. The eggs we got out of Ella are proving useful. As are Apollo and Charlotte. We are working on a weapon. Something magical that will target the abominations and leave the natural sea life alone,” Taranis explained.
Mananan sat up. “While you’re in the mood to make things, I have a favor to ask.”
Taranis’s brows raised. “Really?”
“I need you to make something…something for Ella.” Mananan’s ears were going hot and prayed to the old gods that his brother didn’t notice.
“Oh? What kind of something.”
“Something she can wear that will shield her from seeing things she doesn’t want to see. Her ex-boyfriend grabbed her today on purpose to hurt her.”
Taranis’s surprise went straight to concern. “Is he still alive?”
“Unfortunately,” Mananan grumbled and told his brother about the encounter. He unsheathed his knife and cut a pearl from one of his braids. “You can use this. Make a pendant. Something she can wear when she doesn’t need to use her magic.”
Taranis accepted the pearl, twisting it between his fingers. “You are giving her one of these too?”
“It’s just a pearl,” Mananan said with a shrug.
“A pearl from the jade seas of Tír fo Thuinn. It’s a treasure, and you know it. It’s why you carry it on you,” Taranis replied. He smiled softly. “You like this woman enough to court her?”
Mananan groaned. “Yes. Don’t be a dick about it.”
“I wouldn’t dare,” Taranis said, his lips twitching.
Mananan pushed his salty hair from his face. “Yes, you would. The gift isn’t about courting her. It’s about trying to keep her safe. That fucker really hurt her today just by putting a hand on her shoulder. She needs training, I know, but in the meantime, I want something that will help her.”
“I’ll work on it and see what I can come up with. It’s a good idea, and the pearls have their own magic, so they will probably take the spells needed better than anything else,” Taranis said, placing the pearl onto the workbench. “Can I ask what about Ella has sparked your interest?”
Mananan tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling. Talking about feelings wasn’t his forte.
“Lots of things sparked my interest. Maybe because I saved her. Or that when she touched my chest and we breathed together, I felt like…like I knew her somehow. I heard her in my head, Taran. I don’t know how to explain it, but I can’t seem to stop myself from trying to protect her.”
Taranis stopped working. “What do you mean you heard her telepathically?”
“The night I saved her from the kraken attack, I heard her call in my head. It led me to her,” Mananan told him.
“Fuck. You didn’t tell me that.”
“I kind of forgot about it and was more focused on saving her from the poisoning,” Mananan rubbed at his face. “It has been a busy few days. Have you ever heard a stranger’s voice before?”
Taranis glanced over at him, his crimson eyes glazing over. “Only once, and I never found the source of the voice. It can happen. Ella has magic, and she was in distress. It might have sent her call to the one person who could help.”
“That’s as good of a reason as any. Perhaps fate kept taking me back to that stretch of sea in order to be there to save her,” Mananan said. His eyes were growing heavy as the healing potions seeped through him.
Taranis’s laugh was soft and far away. “Maybe you’ve been hunting her all along, big brother.”
14
Ella made a point of keeping herself busy. She lived and died by a routine, and that was what kept her sane and the lighthouse running properly.
That night she triple-checked the equipment and turned the lighthouse on. The storm hit them early evening and raged all night. She made minestrone soup and cheesy toast and made herself eat all of it. She burned through food when she was doing magic, and her appetite had been a mess since the kraken attacked the lighthouse.
Ella was tired as hell from the day, but she still sat up in bed and made sure she journaled.
Deidra had gotten her into the habit of keeping a record of every time she had a vision or something magical occurred. It helped keep repeating customers’ histories straight and was a way to decompress.
She had been delighted when Chrissy mentioned she was also in the habit of recording things the same way. It was just another thing that gave her a flutter of hope that she might be able to make friends with this accepting and boisterous group of women. She was so bad at being social, but they made it easy to talk to them. They weren’t bitchy or judgey. They didn’t think she was crazy.
