The percolating had stopped. Muriel got up and grabbed the coffee carafe, filling everyone’s cups, then opened the fridge tograb a carton of milk. She put the milk, along with a bowl of sugar, in the middle of the table, within easy reach of everyone.
Gracie pulled her cup closer, but instead of filling it with cream and sugar as she normally did, she rolled the cup between her hands, staring down into the rising steam. “I asked about you on theBrenahiilo.Many still remember you. They remember your lion claiming.”
O’Neill grimaced. “I bet.”
“Were you?” Looking up, Gracie leaned forward, her focus locked on her father. “Claimed by the lion clan, I mean. Nobody on theBrenahiilobelieves that you were. But…were you?”
His shoulders and spine stiffened, but his face remained flat, his voice even flatter. “Does it matter?”
“Yes.” Gracie lifted her eyes, which were glowing like his. “It matters to me.” She paused before continuing. “And I’ll believe you.”
O’Neill shifted in his chair, staring back at her. He shrugged, as though it didn’t matter. “Yeah. It was true. Everything I told them was true. Not that anyone believed me.”
Muriel shifted in her chair. “It’s just that nobody had been claimed by the lion in centuries. And he refused to show proof of the claiming.” Her voice rose beneath a surge of defensiveness.
Gracie’s face soured. “He shouldn’t have to prove his claiming. Nobody had before. Did Samuel? Did Daniel? Did Wolf?”
“No...of course not…” Muriel floundered. She was afraid to look at O’Neill. Afraid of what she might see on his face. “It just wasn’t normal. He was eighteen, way past puberty. And the lion clan? Nobody had been claimed by theheschrmalsince the old days. Nobody even remembered their gifts. Why claim someone now? Why him?” Muriel sucked in a shaky breath as her last question hit the air. She flinched as the flatness of his face turned to stone. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I didn’tmean that you were unworthy.” Her gaze skated over O’Neill’s stony face and away again. “It’s just that the timing felt wrong.”
“So, you branded him a liar and drove him away,” Gracie said, animosity ringing in her voice.
“I never said I didn’t believe him.” Muriel protested, which was true. She’d never said it, but she’d thought it.
“But you never said you did, either, did you?” Gracie’s tone chilled.
Was this why Gracie had never told her she knew who her father was? Did she blame Muriel for driving him away?
“You can’t blame your mother for not believing me. Nobody believed me.” And she didn’t drive me away,” O’Neill broke in. “I left because I had to make my own path in the world, and I couldn’t do that on theBrenahiilo.”
Gracie didn’t look like she believed him, but then neither did Muriel. Even now, twenty years later, she still remembered the betrayal in his eyes when she hadn’t stepped forward to support him.
She still had trouble believing his lion claiming. Yet Gracie did. Her daughter was certain his woodlands spirit claiming was true. She’d believed him before she’d even met him.
Why?
“How did theheschrmalclaim you?” Gracie asked.
But the question didn’t feel like she was doubting him. Nor did it sound like curiosity. Instead, there appeared to be purpose behind the question. Muriel’s forehead knitted. There was something Gracie wasn’t telling them.
O’Neill was silent for so long, Muriel didn’t think he was going to answer. Gracie’s expression dived straight into awkwardness.
“With teeth and claws,” O’Neill finally revealed. He shifted in his chair and cocked his head, his gaze steady on Gracie’s face. “It came to me in the middle of the night, curling up on top of meand rubbing against my face and shoulders like a damn house cat.”
Gracie leaned across the table. “Were you scared?”
“No. I knew what it was the instant I saw its eyes. They were glowing.”
With a slow nod, Gracie leaned back. “Like yours.”
“Like mine now,” O’Neill corrected. “The glow in my eyes didn’t start until after the claiming.”
Frowning, Muriel thought back and realized he was right. That emerald glow was new. He hadn’t had it back in high school.
“So, it bit and clawed you?” Gracie’s voice dropped to a whisper.
O’Neill stared at her for a moment, his gaze thoughtful. “It did.”
“Both?” Gracie asked, her voice tight. “Teeth and claws?
