Sensing a weakness, Kevin leaped in for the kill. “Don’t you see, Mom? It’s perfect! Aodhan’s got lots of room, and he could always grow more. And you’d be helping him by staying! You two are way more powerful together than stupid Ferghal and stuck-up Eislyn. Even the high sidhe wouldn’t dare mess with you. We could live in the tree, and you can protect us, and Aodhan can teach me magic—”
He broke off, clearly realizing he’d said too much. Cathy fixed him with a stern look.
“So that’s what this is really about.” She folded her arms. “You just want to stay so you can learn to do spells.”
Kevin shifted from foot to foot. “It’s not the only reason.”
“Uh-huh. And if Aodhan didn’t have a huge library full of magic books, would you still be so eager to stay?”
“No, because then he wouldn’t be Aodhan,” Kevin pointed out, with admittedly flawless logic. He hesitated, expression turning uncertain. “Do you think he would teach me? If we stayed, I mean. I’ve always been bottom of the class at school. Maybe Aodhan will think I’m too stupid to learn anything.”
“You are not stupid,” she said fiercely, in automatic defense. “And Aodhan would love to teach you. He actually offered—”
She bit back the rest of the sentence, but it was too late. Kevin latched onto the words like a bloodhound scenting a steak.
“He offered to train me? He did, didn’t he?” Kevin bounced on his toes, beaming from ear to ear. “See, Mom? He wants us to stay! Can we? Please? Pleeeeeease?”
“That was before,” Cathy said, wishing she didn’t have to crush his enthusiasm. “Things are different now. He might have changed his mind.”
“He hasn’t,” Motley informed her. “Boy is right. Belong here. All of you. All together.”
“But… but… Kevin has school!”
“Seriously, Mom?” Kevin treated her to another expressive eye-roll. “That’s the best you can come up with?”
It was not, she had to admit, a compelling argument. Kevin would no doubt receive a far better education in Aodhan’s oak rather than in his underfunded, overcrowded school. And after all the trouble the changeling had caused, Kevin’s teachers were hardly likely to object to her withdrawing him. They’d probably breathe a mass sigh of relief, in fact.
“I have work,” she tried, only to get an even more withering look from her son. “And you have your friends.”
“Given that I was replaced by my evil twin for months, I seriously doubt it,” Kevin muttered. His face fell. “Oh. But you have your friends.”
She did have her friends. Tamsin, Jack, Daisy… the thought of being separated from them made her stomach drop. To only be able to see them in snatched glimpses through Motley’s portals…
“Lots of doors in the worlds,” Motley said gently, as though reading her thoughts. “One shuts, another opens. Can’t use Maeve’s anymore, but must be other ways back to the human realm, somewhere. Will keep looking.”
Kevin nodded in eager agreement. “Who says we have to pick one realm forever and ever? Even if Motley can’t find anything, there’s still Maeve’s portal. She’s got a soft spot for me. I’m sure I could get her to agree to some kind of deal.”
“Absolutely not! I’m not having you anywhere near that bi—” Cathy caught herself on the word, hastily substituting, “that elf.”
“Then we’ll figure out something else.” Kevin shrugged, supremely unconcerned. “We have magic, Mom. We can do anything. Say yes. You know you want to.”
And she did. There were at least a thousand reasons why it was an utterly insane idea, and at the moment she couldn’t think of a single one of them. Other images swamped her mind:
Aodhan, down in his workshop, teaching Kevin to work wonders.
Aodhan’s fingers twining through hers, white power blazing between their palms.
His golden wings, carrying them both up to the stars.
Falling asleep in his arms, surrounded by the whispering lullaby of leaves.
Aodhan’s smile. Aodhan’s hands. Aodhan’s touch.
Aodhan.
It was all too easy to imagine, and it could be real. She could have magic, and power, and Aodhan. All she had to do was call him.
She looked down at her wrist. The bond mark was hidden by her sleeve, but she could feel its warmth, like an echo of his touch. It was still there. He hadn’t broken their link.