Ok first I want to thank the three people who reviewed. I am forever grateful. :p

This chapter was quite difficult because I had to write the explanations and I find that hard. So the result was my sitting down in front of the computer and telling myself I wasn't leaving till it was done. So if the chapter seems forced then I'm really sorry.

"Goddess, Killian, what happened?" I asked my brother, barely able to comprehend that Ciaran was actually dead.

"All I know is that he was summoning a Taibhs and it turned on him. Amyranth managed to banish it but it was way too late."

I looked properly at Killian for the first time that night. He looked pretty much like I felt: tired and in shock and I was pretty sure that he had been drinking. I knew how he felt; I had to fight the need to throw witch fire at something.

"Come on. I think my parents need an explanation."

Five minutes later we were all sitting in the living room with my mom eyeing Killian suspiciously. I took a deep breath and began.

"Mom, this is Killian. He's my half brother."

"She choked. "Your...your brother?"

I nodded.

"Remember when I went to New York with Bree? Well that's when I worked out that my real father wasn't Angus Bramson. It was Ciaran, Ciaran MacEwan. Maeve had an affair with him and I was born. Killian is his youngest son; there's another half brother: Kyle and a half sister: Iona but I never met them. I met Killian and Ciaran in New York."

I paused to take a deep breath.

"It was Killian on the phone earlier; he called to tell me that Ciaran is dead."

At that point I had to stop and try to control my emotions before I started crying again.

Killian squeezed my hand hard and I squeezed back before continuing.

"I never saw much of Ciaran but he did come here to see me a few times." I left out the part where he had tried to convert me to dark magick, figuring that my parents didn't need to know the details. "I kept in touch with Killian though and we meet up occasionally when he's in town."

There, they knew. I waited for the explosion but it didn't come. They seemed to have been shocked into silence.

Eventually it was Mary K who spoke. "How old are you?" She was directing her question at Killian who looked slightly startled. "Twenty." He replied.

"Are you in University or anything?" She sounded timid but interested, like she wanted to know more about him.

Killian laughed. "Goddess no, I'd be bored to death."

I smiled faintly at Mary K. "Killian's idea of a good time is going out and getting more wasted than he already is from the night before." I explained to my traumatised parents and sister.

With an obvious effort mom smiled sympathetically at Killian and said: "I'm so sorry about your father."

Killian shrugged. "It's a shame but Morgan was closer to him than I was."

"Morgan, you said you hardly saw him!"

"Says a lot doesn't it?" Killian chipped in. "He wasn't what you would call a loving father to any of us. My sister Iona took his death pretty hard but Kyle didn't seem to care really."

My parents looked appalled. I supposed that to them the story of Killian's admittedly rough family life would seem unimaginable.

After a few moments of silence while my family took in everything that they had just been told I looked back at my brother.

"It's getting late. What are you going to do now?"

"Go out, get wasted and get laid. In that order."

"Do you need somewhere to stay?"

"Nah, I'll be fine. By morning I'll be so pissed I won't remember what town I'm in let alone whether I have anywhere to stay."

I walked Killian out, wanting privacy to ask him the question that had been on my mind since his call.

"What's happening to Amyranth?"

My brother seemed to be considering what I was asking.

"If you want to know what they were up to when the Taibhs attacked Da then I don't know."

"I want to know what's happening to them now that Ciaran's gone."

"Right now they're in chaos. No one seems to have a handle on anything. Sooner or later one of the stronger members will get their act together and take some semblance of control but I don't see that happening for a while."

I nodded, feeling a little better knowing that Amyranth were in no shape to be a threat to anyone and hugged Killian goodbye fighting off the fresh onslaught of tears. I was too tired for crying and my brain felt like it was on overload.

Killian hugged me back and left, no doubt on his way to the nearest place that sold alcohol, calling over his shoulder that he would be back tomorrow when the hangover wore off.

I wiped my cheeks off with my sleeve to get rid of the few tears that had managed to escape and went back inside to face the music.

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