Cathy flung up her hands in frustration. “Am I going to have to drag you all to the portal?”
Noodle promptly rolled onto his back, all four paws sticking up in the air.
Kevin’s bottom lip stuck out mulishly. “I just don’t see why we have to go so soon.”
“How many times do I have to tell you, Kevin? I can’t have Aodhan following us. This is the only way.”
“But why?” Kevin said, sounding just as exasperated as Cathy felt. “Don’t you like Aodhan?”
Cathy nearly laughed out loud. Like didn’t even begin to cover it. If Kevin knew the full extent of her feelings, he’d want to wash his brain out with soap.
“I do like him,” she said, with as much dignity as she could muster. “I care for him very much. That’s why I have to leave.”
“But it’s not right!” Kevin’s jaw set in a stubborn line, and a pang went through Cathy’s heart. Even though they looked nothing alike, in that moment he could have been Aodhan’s son. “The magic brought you together, just like Eislyn and Ferghal.”
“That’s different. Eislyn wanted Ferghal. Aodhan doesn’t want me.”
Motley clicked his tongue. “Wrong. He didn’t want a rider. You’re more than that.”
“Right,” Kevin said eagerly. “I lived with a knight and his steed. I saw the way Eislyn and Ferghal acted with each other, and it wasn’t anything like the way Aodhan talked about you.”
“You two talked about me?” This was news to Cathy. She’d eavesdropped on most of Aodhan’s conversations with Kevin, and as far as she could recall, he hadn’t said a word about her. “When?”
“Right at the start, when you guys first arrived at Ferghal’s place. He was trying to persuade me to let him undo the glamour, but at that point I didn’t trust him. I thought he might be a spy from some other court, trying to trick me. I asked him why he was so keen to help me break free.” To her surprise, Kevin grinned at the memory. “He snapped that he just wanted to get back to his reading.”
That sounded like Aodhan. Cathy could practically hear his curt, long-suffering tone; picture the aggrieved twist of his eyebrows. She let out her breath, amusement warring with pain.
“He never would have left his library if I hadn’t dragged him out of it,” she said. “You see, Kevin? This is exactly why we have to leave like this. It’s not fair on Aodhan, otherwise. He can’t fight the steed bond.”
“But that’s just it, Mom.” Kevin shook his head, his smile fading. “I’d been around enough fae to know when one was telling the truth, but not the whole truth. He was trying to brush me off. So I pressed him harder. Made him tell me the real reason, without tricks. And he said…”
Kevin paused, frowning as though trying to remember the precise words. Then his expression firmed. For a brief, disconcerting moment, she saw not her little boy, but the man he would one day become.
“He said that he wanted to see you smile.” His voice was soft, and utterly certain. “That was the real reason. Everything he did, he did for you, Mom. Not because of the bond. Because of you.”
Cathy couldn’t speak. She had no idea what her face was doing, but it must have been alarming, because Kevin’s expression crumpled in sudden dismay. Abruptly, he was just a kid again, worried that he’d done something wrong.
“Mom?” He prodded her arm, as though trying to reboot her. “Are you okay?”
She enfolded him in a hug. “I’m fine. Thank you for telling me, Kevin. That… meant a lot to me.”
He only tolerated the embrace for a moment before wriggling away. “So we’re going back?”
She blinked hard, trying to regain her composure. “No.”
“Mom!” Kevin stared at her in disbelief. “Were you even listening?”
“It doesn’t change anything. No matter how Aodhan and I feel about each other, we can’t be together. He has his own life. He doesn’t belong in our world.”
“Of course he doesn’t.” Kevin rolled his eyes so hard, it was a wonder they didn’t fall right out of his head. “So we stay here. Obviously.”
“Very obvious,” Motley agreed, nodding sagely.
“Don’t you start too,” Cathy snapped. “Kevin, don’t be ridiculous. We can’t stay in the fae realm.”
He matched her glare for glare. “Why not?”
“Because,” she started, and then had to stop and think about that one.