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Prologue

Wicklow Mountains, Ireland

June 2010

He e his nose as he brushed the loose soil fro at the houses, and hear the shouts of the hu to drown the fire that had already turned the arden, staring into the fla toward the heat as if drawn by some ineffable force

Carwyn stalked toward her "Deirdre"

She looked up, her eyes feverish in the ht "I kept everyone away As soon as I realized… I kept them all away No one’s been hurt"

He pulled her up by the collar of her singed shirt "What have you done?"

"As soon as I realized… She’s still alive She , and I feel… I knew as soon as she woke--"

"What have you done?" he roared as the roof of the barn adjacent to the farlared at her, the blood tears staining her cheeks and her auburn hair wild around her face His grip on her softened

"I couldn’t…" Deirdre’s whisper could barely be heard "I couldn’t lose her, too Not her" More shouts came froan to cry

Carwyn’s face fell, and his rage fled "My daughter"--he groaned--"what have you done?" He let go of her collar, and Deirdre’s long legs seemed to crumple under her as she sank back into the cool soil of the su away fro was in ruins, the top having collapsed onto the ground floors Through the rubble, he could see the black doorway his son had dug into the hill hundreds of years before What had once been a cozy passageway now gaped like a toh stones had fallen in front of it, partially obscuring the entrance

Caralked toward it, listening for any sounds that escaped the scorched earth He lifted his hands, forcing out his energy toHe dug his feet into the earth, letting the huh hi thick with sy that animated their bodies, carried the s hieway, he heard her; her shallow breaths echoed off the alls He followed the trail of her scent and a that any hint of danger could result in a rush of suffocating fire He opened hishis voice quiet, so as not to startle her

"Brigid?"

A s picked up speed, and he scoured the past for soht calm her The soft refrain of a Welsh lullaby cairl sitting next to his son in the library, her brown eyes rose to Ioan’s, frowning to hear the fierce irief threatened to overpower hiid had always been too old for lullabies