Chapter Sixteen

Tamsin made pancakes that morning, though the task was made rather difficult by Bo snuggling against her back, arms around her waist. Far from bothered, though, Tamsin couldn't stop grinning as she cooked, every so often reaching down to caress the hands folded across her stomach. In fact, neither woman could keep smiles off their faces, even as they ate.

"Tamsin!" Bo exclaimed when they were halfway through their pancakes.

"What? What's wrong?"

"You're actually chewing your food!" the succubus teased.

Tamsin looked down at her half-full plate and shrugged, cheeks flushing ever-so-slightly. Bo grinned all the wider, knowing that the woman was purposefully eating slowly so that the two of them could share their meal. On impulse, Bo leaned forward so they could also share a rather syrupy kiss. "I love you," she whispered.

Tamsin brushed her nose against Bo's. "I love you, too."

As the two sat finishing their coffee, Bo checked her text messages and frowned. "What is it?" Tamsin asked.

"According to Kenzi, the Morrigan wants to see me today. A half hour from now, actually."

It was Tamsin's turn to frown. "What could the Morrigan possibly want that she's calling you to her office?"

The succubus shrugged with a sigh. "Probably something to do with the veil. Kenzi said she'd meet us there, even though, and I quote 'bitch won't let me in, but it's not gonna keep me from pissing her off.'" Tamsin gave a snort of laughter and Bo chuckled. After a pause, the succubus asked almost timidly, "You are going with me, right?"

Tamsin slid from her stool and moved around the counter to where Bo sat, wrapping her arms around the succubus's waist. "Of course, mo laoch." It was only after she'd let the words slip that she realized what she'd said, and her eyes widened with a hint of panic.

"You still haven't told me what that means," Bo murmured, though not unkindly.

"It's…an endearment," Tamsin struggled. "I will tell you, Bo. I promise I will. It's just…it's…"

Bo silenced her with a kiss. "I understand, Tamsin," she whispered when they pulled apart. "Really, I do." Whatever this endearment was, the succubus realized that it must have a deep, personal meaning for the Valkyrie, one that she wasn't quite ready to share yet. Just knowing how personal it must be made Bo feel…honored, in a way. Cherished.

Relieved and grateful, Tamsin brushed their lips together again. "Tá grá agam duit, Bo. I love you."

Bo smiled, shy despite herself. "Is that what it means? 'I love you'?" she asked. When Tamsin nodded, she continued, "Which word means love?"

"Grá," the Valkyrie replied.

Bo thought on what Tamsin had taught her about Irish. "So… would mo grá mean 'my love'?"

Tamsin gave her a delighted grin. "Very good, succulette! Almost. 'My love' would be mo ghrá."

"I can barely hear the difference."

The Valkyrie chuckled. "It's a soft 'gh' instead of a hard 'g.' It's one of the many quirks of Irish."

"Well, you'll have to teach me later…mo ghrá."

The smile that lit Tamsin's face was such that Bo decided she would use Irish more often from then on.

…

After finishing their breakfast and freshening up, Tamsin and Bo made their way to the Dark Compound and their meeting with the Morrigan. Kenzi was pacing outside the door to Evony's office when they got there, and the moment the human's gaze locked with Tamsin's, the Valkyrie knew she was in for the Inquisition.

"Succubus only," one of the two guards manning the door grunted, opening said door to let Bo in.

"Yeah, yeah," Bo waved him off. Looking back at Tamsin, she squeezed her hand and gave her a little smile before entering the room, leaving the Valkyrie and human in the hall. As soon as the door shut behind them, Kenzi grabbed Tamsin's arm and yanked her down the hall, out of earshot of the guards.

"Spill," the human demanded in a hushed hiss, crossing her arms over her chest.

Tamsin shifted from foot to foot, uncomfortable. "Spill what?"

Kenzi rolled her eyes. "Bitch, please. You're glowing so bright you might as well be radioactive. Your posture and that look you and Bo gave each other scream 'I just had seeeeeex,'" the human assessed, singing the last bit off-key. "Spill it. Now."

The Valkyrie pursed her lips and crossed her arms, mimicking Kenzi's stance. "Fine. I'll tell you all about me and Bo if you tell me about how well you and Hale have been getting along these past few days. So what's it like staying at his place, hmm?"

The human's expression didn't change, but her face flushed a deep red. "My relationship with Hale, as…active as it is…is not nearly as interesting and complicated as your relationship with Bo – a relationship I noticed you're not denying." Kenzi grabbed Tamsin's hands and squeezed them urgently. "Pleeeeease tell Mama Kenz! I need the deets!"

Tamsin's eyes took on a faraway look as she thought back to the previous night and earlier that morning, a rather giddy smile slowly spreading across her face. This was all the confirmation Kenzi needed and the human shrieked her delight, wrapping her arms around the Valkyrie's waist. "You did! You totally knocked knees with Bo-Bo! I'm so proud of you! I don't need to hear the detailed details, but I'm so proud of you!"

"She loves me," Tamsin breathed, absentmindedly patting the shorter woman's back.

Kenzi looked up at the blonde with an almost befuddled look. "Well, um, yeah, I coulda told you that."

"Momz, she said it," Tamsin clarified, pulling away from Kenzi so she could meet her gaze. "She said it first and I said it back and…" The Valkyrie trailed off with a happy sigh, still grinning dazedly. Kenzi, for her part, was gaping at her pseudo-daughter-figure with wide eyes.

"She said it? First?! She…oh damn, yes!" the Russian cheered, punching the air. "So you told her everything, right?"

Tamsin's smile faded. "Well…not exactly…"

Kenzi gaped at the Valkyrie again, though this time her shock was tinged with annoyance. "Seriously? Tam-Tam, honey, you've gotta tell her. I mean, if she said those three magic words first, I think she'll be pretty understanding of your Valkyrie bond-love."

"It's not that simple, Kenz," Tamsin tried to explain, and this time her sigh was melancholy. "And it's too soon. We only just admitted our feelings to each other this morning. To tell her now would be taking things way too fast."

"You said it yourself – you just admitted your feelings this morning. Your actual feelings for each other have been going on a shit ton longer than that," Kenzi protested. "And how do you think she'll feel about you hiding things from her, hmm?"

Tamsin flinched. "I know, I know. That's what makes this so much harder. It's not that I'm not willing to put my life in Bo's hands, 'cause that's what this is. It's that…I don't want to take her life away from her. I don't want to be the one to tie her down."

It was Kenzi's turn to sigh. "I don't think she'll see it like that, but if you're gonna be a masochist about this, then far be it from me to take you away from your self-flagellation," the human groused in exasperation.

The Valkyrie glowered at her. "I'm going to tell her, Kenz. It's just…I need time. You and Kayleigh were the ones that said I had plenty of time to figure this out."

Kenzi's expression darkened. "Tam, Bo's in a meeting with the Morrigan right now along with Trick and Fíonn. I'm thinking that means the current shitstorm has just picked up speed. You may not have as much time as you think. None of us might."

…

In Evony's office, the discussion indeed concerned said shitstorm.

"I've been contacted by almost every Dark sídhe in the area," the Morrigan told Bo, Trick, and Fíonn. "The veil is torn to the point that they can feel it. I can feel it."

"So can I," Fíonn added grimly.

"And me," said Trick. "A lot of Light sídhe have been coming to me as well, and I'm not sure what to tell them."

"You're sídhe?" Bo exclaimed in surprise. "But…you're a blood sage. I thought…"

"His full name is Fitzpatrick McCorrigan; how could he not be sídhe?" Fíonn commented as Trick gave his granddaughter a guilty, forlorn look. Bo could feel the anger welling up within her, but before she could unleash it, she remembered what Tamsin had said about forgiveness. Tamping down her ire, Bo vowed to talk to Trick about it later.

"My mother…Aífe said the other day that she could feel it, too – that Dagda made sure she could feel the veil."

"That makes sense, unfortunately," the Morrigan sighed. "Anyone with sídhe blood can be manipulated to feel the veil, and Dagda is powerful enough to do that sort of manipulating."

"Wait, so only sídhe can sense the veil but anyone with sídhe blood has the potential to sense it?" Bo clarified.

Fíonn nodded. "My father was sídhe, but I'm the only one who became sídhe, too, so I can feel disturbances in the veil," he explained. "Aislinn, being my sister, has sídhe blood, but can't feel the veil because her Fae type isn't sídhe. With the right amount of magic, though, she would be able to connect to it."

"I'm surprised you haven't noticed anything, succubus," The Morrigan commented, though her comment was more of a taunt. "After all, if what I hear is correct and Dagda really is your father, that would make you three-quarters sídhe, what with Aífe having a sídhe father and all."

"Evony," Trick warned. The Morrigan gave him a dismissive wave, unaffected.

Bo sighed and rubbed her forehead. "So this is a meeting between sídhe and me, since most of this is my fault."

"As much as I'd like to agree, it's not entirely your fault," Evony admitted grudgingly. "After talking with Fíonn and Aífe – I must say, she's been much more cooperative since your visits – it's more likely that the tears in the veil already existed and that your little leap of faith simply widened the tear. You wouldn't have made it onto the Death Train if there hadn't already been a way to get there. But all this aside, the fact that the veil is torn enough that the other sídhe can feel it and the approach of Samhain mean that we need to double our efforts in figuring out how to fix this. Yes, we, succubus," she added, seeing Bo's stunned and skeptical expression.

"So what are you going to tell the other sídhe?" Fíonn asked Trick and the Morrigan. "How much is safe to tell them?"

Evony pursed her lips and tapped her fingertips on her desk. "I don't need a panicked revolt on my hands, nor do I need the Dark to have knowledge that I am working with the Light to fix this."

"You once said that sídhe are sídhe," Bo interjected. "Wouldn't they understand working with the Light, then?"

Trick gave Bo a look of shocked approval while the Morrigan scowled. "I hate it when you're right," she spat. She folded her arms and leaned back in her chair. "Fine. I'll tell the Dark sídhe that I am aware of the issue and working on a solution with…a committee of other Fae."

"I'll tell the Light sídhe much the same with one addition: that should this become a battle, they must be ready to fight," Trick replied. "In the meantime, we have to figure out a way to close the tear, preferably without the use of one of the Four Treasures."

"And why's that?" Fíonn frowned.

"There's only one treasure left on our side," Trick explained. "If our suspicions are correct, the imbalance is what's causing the tear in the veil. Now imagine having two treasures in the Otherworld and none here."

"Oh," Fíonn understood, face paling.

"But if we do need to use the treasure, we don't even know where to start looking," Bo protested. "All we know is that it's the Spear, right?"

"Then we'd best get to work finding out, hadn't we?" the Morrigan snapped.

"Not tonight," Trick cut them off. "I'll keep the Dal open so that any sídhe with questions can find me. Then tomorrow we'll keep digging. We'll change locations as Lauren suggested, just in case."

"So, what, we're just going to wait around and drink tonight?" Bo asked incredulously.

Fíonn shrugged. "We're in a completely different part of the world, but I'm going to say it anyway: welcome to Ireland."

I have no idea if a blood sage is a type of sídhe. I'm just making things up for purposes of the story. The last line of the chapter is an homage to one of my favorite books.

Language Lessons:

"Tá grá agam duit": Pronounced "taw graw agam dit." "I love you."

"Mo ghrá": Pronounced "moe (gh)raw." "My love." I should probably explain the extra "h" at this point. If a word beginning with a consonant is preceded by "my" or "your" then it takes an "h" (called a séimhú ("shay-voo"), or softening).