Chapter 80: 79. Defied

"Keira, you seemed eager to pursue your grandfather." Maeve observed. "Is there anything else going on that I should know about?"

It was early evening now, and the four of us were seated around the table in Maeve's private dining room. After our debriefing this morning, Colm retired to his room to write up his report while the twins and I went to our room to relax.

We wound up spending most of the day in bed. We got some more sleep, we talked a lot more about our new relationship status, and I wound up spending some time being intimate with both of them, though not at the same time. That was one of our ground-rules.

We'd all dressed again when seneschal Owen showed up to inform us we were invited to join my mother for dinner.

Like the meal a few nights ago, Maeve and I were seated at opposite ends of the table, Kelly and Keira were across from each other on either side. As usual, Kelly was to my left, Keira to my right.

"If you mean do I have a vendetta against him or something?" Keira asked, in response to Maeve's question. "Then yeah, I suppose I do."

She had a sip of wine then stated "Last year he used mind magic on someone very dear to me. He tampered with her mind, erased a bunch of important memories. Then last month he arranged the assassination attempt that nearly cost me both Tegan and my sister. And yesterday he tried to enspell and enslave Tegan. The man's a monster, and I'm embarrassed to have his blood in my veins!"

Her voice had started out sounding stern, but by the time she was done she was obviously seething with anger.

"I understand," Maeve nodded slightly. She turned to Kelly and asked, "Does he know the two of you are here with my daughter?"

Kelly replied, "I don't think so, but he might suspect? Neither of us said anything to our mom about coming here for Samhain this year, but our mother knows we were both here last year. And she knows I've come over with Tegan for the festivals for the past couple years. Our grandfather will know everything our mom knows."

"Mom tells him everything," Keira stated bitterly.

Kelly sighed, "Mom used me to spy on Tegan. I didn't even realize, until it was too late."

I reached over and put my hand on hers as I said "Kelly didn't tell them everything. Keenan had no idea I could work magic. He might still believe my skills are limited. He knows I can teleport, cast a shield spell, and I was able to fight off his mind-control attempt. He may not realize what else I'm capable of."

"What about the uh, demonstration?" Keira asked.

I sighed, "I honestly don't know if anyone at the castle would suspect that came from me. They might think we had some mages hiding in the woods helping us."

My fae-mom looked puzzled, "What demonstration was that?"

I blushed as I replied, "Oh uh, Colm was angry I'd pulled him out after Keenan tried to enspell me. He was acting like a dick so I showed him what I could do. I uh, knocked a hole in the castle wall."

Maeve's eyebrows went up. "You breached the castle walls? By yourself?!"

Kelly had a wide grin on her face as she elaborated proudly, "We were in the woods more than two hundred meters away. Tegan had her back to the castle, she didn't even look at it. She actually created an earthquake or something, under the castle! The ground opened up and one of the towers and part of the wall came down!"

By now mother's eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open. She looked at me, "Whatever possessed you to even try such a thing?!"

I sighed, "I was angry and upset. I was angry at being forced to break my rules and act against my ideals. First by you mother, then by Colm. I decided I was done being used, played, manipulated. I decided to make a point. And I wanted to test my limit, to find out where my magic would run out."

"And that was your limit?" Maeve asked incredulously. "Tegan what you and your friends describe would take a half dozen mages with a century of experience using elemental earth magic. That amount of power... That rivals Taralynn herself!"

I looked down at the table and whispered, "That wasn't my limit, I wasn't even tired. I decided to end it there because I'd made my point and I didn't want anyone else to get hurt. I realized I might have already killed people with what I'd done, knocking down the wall and tower."

Both Kelly and Keira reached out and held my hands. I'm sure they could hear the regret in my voice, they probably both understood now why I'd been slow to join them at the waypoint.

After a few minutes of silence, Maeve pointed out "Colm will surely mention all of this in his report. The king may start to see you as a threat, Tegan. He'll certainly take a closer interest in you. He may even order you to attend his court."

I shrugged, "He can ask, but I won't go."

"You can't disobey a royal order, Tegan." Maeve stated with a frown.

I sighed once more, "Actually I can. I just said I'm done being used and played. Whether it's Aengus or Keenan or the king or you mother. My loyalties are to myself, Kelly, and Keira first. Then to you and my human parents second. And to Clann Brádaigh third."

She frowned at me, "Be careful Tegan. Statements like that might be interpreted as treason."

That actually gave me pause, but probably not for the reason she meant. I wondered if she meant it was treasonous that I'd refuse the king's order, or did she mean I was treasonous against her for holding Kelly and Keira above her.

After a few moments I decided it was about the king. I didn't think she'd accuse me of betraying her, unless I actually raised a hand against her or something.

I finally just nodded, "I will be careful mother."

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We were all quiet again for a short time. The four of us ate some more, and the three of them enjoyed their wine while I sipped my juice. My thoughts wandered, and I decided next time we visited here we'd pack a few cases of hard lemonade.

Eventually Maeve broke the silence, "You know, if Keenan ó Conghaile is as dangerous and powerful as you all say, he won't be taken alive."

She looked at me as she continued, "There isn't any way to imprison mages like that. Even with magic-suppression spells on them, a strong enough mage will always find a way to free themselves."

She sighed, "It will be hard enough and dangerous enough to simply catch him. Apprehending him and holding him will likely be impossible."

My fae-mom looked at each of us in turn as she said that last part. I'm sure she wanted to make sure the twins knew they'd likely have to see their grandfather die, and I knew she was making sure I understood I'd be the one who had to do it.

That led to another deep sigh from me. It was only yesterday afternoon when I'd re-affirmed my commitment to not kill anyone. How many times did I specifically say yesterday that I didn't want to kill my girlfriends' grandfather? Now, something like thirty hours later, my mother was all but telling me I'd have to exactly that.

As I thought about it, I realized the worst part was she was probably right.

Keenan was a threat to my girlfriends, my mother, my clann, and even my human parents if he wanted to be evil about it. And I already knew he was evil. As long as he was free, nobody I loved would be entirely safe. Sure enough I was already being manoeuvred up to one of my lines, and I'd be expected to cross it.

Only this time I couldn't really blame anyone but the man in question. It wasn't Maeve's fault Keenan was a dangerous evil mage. It wasn't the twins' fault that I was the only one with a chance of stopping their grandfather. In the end it came down to the fact that fate or luck or whatever had given me Taralynn's gift of magic.

Random chance left me as the only person in a position to stop Keenan ó Conghaile. And Keenan was the only one responsible for putting himself in the position of needing to be stopped.

I was more or less resigned to having to hunt him down and kill him, when Keira spoke up.

"Actually, I have an idea that might let him be taken alive."

All three of us turned towards her. I'm sure the expression on my face mirrored that of Kelly and Maeve, as we were all curious to hear what she had in mind.

Keira looked at me and elaborated, "Just thinking of the stories you and Kelly told, from your first trip over here. Specifically about what you did to Liam to get him to talk. If you did that to our granddad, but made it really actually permanent, that would be the end of him using magic."

I glanced at Kelly then at my mother, and finally sat back in my seat as I thought about that.

Keira was right. I'd turned Liam into a teenaged human girl, and as such he had no way to access fae magic. But I'd never intended it to be permanent, despite threatening Liam with exactly that. And I picked that transformation for Liam because it was a bit of poetic justice after what he'd done to me.

Kelly had a thoughtful look on her face as she said "Babe? Considering his main line of work on Earth, that might be an appropriate fate for him."

I sighed as I thought it over. I honestly wasn't sure if that would be better or worse than just ending the man.

Finally I asked, "What would we do with him after? I mean, once he was defenceless, would you stuff him in the dungeon here? A life sentence in chains, behind bars?"

Keira had a hint of a smile on her face as she shook her head. "Nope. I would take him back to Earth, and hand him over to our mom. In person."

She looked like she was having a hard time keeping a straight face as she continued, "I'd love to see the look on mom's face when she realized that both Kelly and me were forever out from under her thumb. When we told her we were both part of Tegan's sept, both part of Clann Brádaigh. Then I want to see her expression when we hand her a familiar little redheaded girl and tell her it's her dad, and he's her responsibility."

Kelly and Maeve and I were all silent again. All three of us were still staring at Keira.

I finally sighed again, "If Kelsey is as bad as you've said Keira, then I'm not sure I'd trust her with another child. Especially a human child. I think if we were to do that, we'd need to impose some sort of rules or something, to make sure your grandfather wasn't abused."

Kelly suggested, "Put a geas on mom. So she has to look after the girl, has to treat her right."

"That would do it," Keira nodded. She added with a smile, "Only Tegan would be worried about the long-term fate of one of her worst enemies."

Maeve had been silent through all of this, but she finally gave me a proud look and said "Of course. It's what makes my daughter special."

After another little pause she sighed and added, "On the other hand, Keenan isn't our only enemy. Lord Aengus is the one who's been pulling the strings, the one who set Keenan against us in the first place. And I'm as yet undecided on which of them we should worry about first. In the meantime I also need to dispatch a column of soldiers to castle Griofa, to reclaim it from the traitors. And I have the ongoing matter of a potential war with the Ceallaighs. And my husband's fate is still unknown."

She sighed deeply as she reached the end of her list of woes. "I think I must sleep on the matter. We will all speak again tomorrow I'm sure."

It was more or less a dismissal. We all bid her a good evening, and the three of us left Maeve's private chambers. We quietly made our way back to our own suite.

Soon enough we'd all undressed again, and slipped into bed together.

Like my fae-mom, I still didn't know what to do either. Kelly seemed just as uncertain. Only Keira was sure what our next course of action should be.

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