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you.”
    He grinned. “Just allow me to continue to love you as I always have, and allow Coiteann to join our family.”
    “Are you so certain she is the right one to be a second wife to you and a sister to me?” she asked, watching his face.
    His eyes brightened. “Oh, she will fit in with our family better than any other could. She knows well that she will never displace you as a chief wife, and has agreed to serve us both.”
    “She is willing to take a place second to me? She would share you with me, freely and without rancor or jealousy?”
    “She would, she would! I have spoken to her about it. She—”
    “She was here in our home. She was here in our bed. She meant for me to learn of this so that I would divorce you and she could have you all to herself. Do you not see this?”
    “Oh, but you are wrong—she wants to be a part of our family, not destroy it!” Airt looked at her and smiled, looking as happy as Sabha had ever seen him. “It will be well, my beloved. It will be very well for all of us. I promise you that.”
    Again she made herself draw a breath. “I know that you do not intend to hurt me.”
    “Never, never! I love you, Sabha. That will never change.”
    “I know that you love me. But love is not enough to make a marriage.”
    He cocked his head, studying her with a puzzled expression. “What more could any man and woman need to stay together than love for each other?”
    “They must have respect. They must have loyalty. When those two things are present, and love is the third part, then they might stay together and be happy for all of their days. But love alone is not enough.”
    “Oh, but Sabha, I have nothing but respect for you, and my loyalty to you will never waver. You already know that I love you. You need not ever worry about any of those things.”
    “I know,” she whispered, nodding slightly. “I know.”
    “Then you will accept Coiteann into our home as a sister and second wife?”
    Sabha listened to a few beats of her heart, even as she willed herself to remain motionless. “Allow me this,” she said at last. “Allow me to stay here alone in our home for a time. Allow me to remain apart from you while you go to live with Coiteann.”
    His smile faded. “Why…why would you want me to do that?”
    “Because my position on bringing a second wife into this house has not changed. You must now choose between us, Airt. You must decide whether you want me or you want Coiteann, for you cannot have us both.”
    Again he reached for her hand, closing his fingers over the fist that rested in her lap. “But I do not want to leave you! That is the last thing I want. I only want to add to our family, not take away from it!”
    Sabha moved her hand away. “Go and live with her, and get your fill of her, so that you can never say I tried to stop you. While you are there, you can make your decision. I have already made mine. You cannot, and you will not, have us both.”
    “Sabha…” Airt stood up in the soft straw and faced her. “I will do this. I will go and live with Coiteann for a time, but only because it is what you want. I do this only for you, so that you can think of what I have said and come to understand that it will be good for all of us.”
    He kissed her gently on the forehead and then walked across the house to go outside, closing the door behind him as he left.
    Sabha closed her eyes.
     
     
    A heavy, moonless dark surrounded Sion. In the warmth of her cave, Rioghan lit an extra lamp to take away the last of the shadows, and then dropped a few dried flowers into her bronze cup where it rested on the stone edge of her firepit.
    Two of her dogs stayed inside the cave with her, but instead of lying down in the comfortable straw they paced about the large space and sniffed the night breeze, occasionally whining or growling low in their throats. And as they paced they would look up at Rioghan and then toward the entrance of the cave, their concern and uneasiness