“I’m so anxious to see them all. Our first circle, and the circles they’ve made. Once a year for the whole of them is so long to wait, even with the little visits between. And listening to little pieces of the tale brings it all back so clear, doesn’t it?”
“It does. No regrets?”
“I’ve never had a one when it comes to you. What a fine life we’ve had, Cian. I know we’re in the winter of it, but I don’t feel the cold.”
“Well, I do, when you put your feet on my arse in the night.”
She laughed, turned to kiss him with all the warmth, all the love of sixty years of marriage.
“There’s our eternity, Moira,” he said, gesturing toward their grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. “There’s our forever.”
Hands linked, they walked in the softening sunlight. Though their steps were slow and measured from age, they continued through the courtyards and the gardens, and out through the gates while the sound of children playing rang behind them.
High above on the castle peaks, the three symbols of Geall, the claddaugh, the dragon and the sun, flew—gold against the white.
• • •
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Glossary of Irish Words, Characters and Places
a chroi (ah-REE), Gaelic term of endearment meaning “my heart,” “my heart’s beloved,” “my darling”
a ghrá (ah-GHRA), Gaelic term of endearment meaning “my love,” “dear”
a stór (ah-STOR), Gaelic term of endearment meaning “my darling”
Aideen (Ae-DEEN), Moira’s young cousin
Alice McKenna, descendant of Cian and Hoyt Mac Cionaoith
An Clar (Ahn-CLAR), modern-day County Clare
Ballycloon (ba-LU-klun)
Blair Nola Bridgitt Murphy, one of the circle of six, the “warrior”; a demon hunter, a descendant of Nola Mac Cionaoith (Cian and Hoyt’s younger sister)
Bridget’s Well, cemetery in County Clare, named after St. Bridget
Burren, the, a karst limestone region in County Clare, which features caves and underground streams
cara (karu), Gaelic for “friend, relative”
Ceara, one of the village women
Cian (KEY-an) Mac Cionaoith/McKenna, Hoyt’s twin brother, a vampire, Lord of Oiche, one of the circle of six, “the one who is lost”
Cirio, Lilith’s human lover
ciunas (CYOON-as), Gaelic for “silence”; the battle takes place in the Valley of Ciunas—the Valley of Silence
claddaugh, the Celtic symbol of love, friendship, loyalty
Cliffs of Mohr (also Moher), the name given to the ruin of forts in the south of Ireland, on a cliff near Hag’s Head, “Moher O’Ruan”
Conn, Larkin’s childhood puppy