67. Discomforted

We all sat quietly as an uncomfortable silence settled over the room.

Me and Keira were still at the table, our half-eaten breakfasts in front of us. I was in my nightshirt, Keira had her pyjamas on.

Kelly was sitting crosslegged on the bed in her nightshirt. There was a dark frown on her face as she stared at her twin sister. Finally she half-demanded, "Why would you even say something like that? That's horrible Keira. Mom's not like that at all."

She sounded less sure of herself as she continued, "And grandfather... Maybe he's a bit ruthless but he's a businessman. He'd never do anything to hurt us though, and he's always made sure we were comfortable. He's always looked after us, sent us money and stuff."

"Oh come on, Kelly!" Keira frowned right back at her. "I know you don't trust mom. You've never told her about Tegan's gift for magic, the stuff about Taralynn's legend. Why keep that from her, unless you didn't trust her and granddad to know about it?"

She kept going, "And sure granddad's a 'businessman' but you know what business he's really in. Don't tell me you've forgotten what we found in granddad's house when we were snooping around back when we were teens. It may have been ten years ago but I still remember that like it was yesterday."

I watched as Kelly lowered her eyes and shook her head. She looked ashamed or embarrassed, like she was trying to forget. She whispered, "I don't know what that stuff was. I don't know what it was for. Neither do you."

"You and I both know what it was," Keira retorted. "And what about the magic books? Why'd dear old granddad have books on mind control, memory manipulation, and a whole book on sex magic and transformations?"

When Kelly didn't answer, Keira stated "You know I'm right sis. Sorry to burst your bubble, I know you never wanted to think of our family like that. But you know it's true. And the stuff with Amy... Mom had granddad fuck with Amy's head! I'm sure the only reason he left her alive was because they both knew I'd freak! They probably think they did Amy a favour or something, sparing her life but fucking up her head like that! And if I confronted them, they'd probably expect me to fucking thank them for it!"

"Keira," I said softly. "Just breath. Take a minute and breath."

I reached across the table and put my hand on hers, and gave it a gentle squeeze. She'd started shouting, and her voice was breaking with emotion. I could see she was caught between grief and anger, and she probably hadn't realized her sister was feeling it now too.

Kelly was still silent, still staring down at the floor, but she had tears pooling in her eyes.

After a moment I let go of Keira's hand, then I got up and moved to sit down on the edge of the bed next to my girlfriend.

I put an arm around her and held her as I said, "I'm sorry Kelly. I've had suspicions about Keenan ever since Liam revealed they knew each other. And I was pretty sure him and Kelsey were responsible for what happened to Amy. I didn't want to upset you though, and I never had any proof."

Kelly sighed and leaned against me.

She finally whispered, "I hate to think about it Tegan. Because if they're as bad as Keira says, then it means we're both that bad too. They raised us. They taught us all this stuff. Like, what me and Keira did to you and Amy? Screwing around with your body and mind, for a stupid bet..."

I held her a little tighter and said, "You did it once, Kelly. And you realized it was wrong. You've never done anything like that again. Maybe you and Keira were raised to think that kind of thing was acceptable, but as soon as you tried it for yourselves you knew it was wrong. That's the difference."

Keira sighed and spoke up again, "You know why mom was mad at us sis? Not because we did that stuff. She was mad because we did it unsupervised."

I could feel my girlfriend's muscles tense slightly, but she nodded. "I know. She wanted to be with us when we used that sort of magic on people. She probably would have made sure the people conveniently went away as soon as it was done, before either of us could feel guilty about it."

"Yep," Keira stated.

We were all quiet again for a few minutes, until Kelly spoke up again.

She kissed me on the cheek, then said softly "Tegan I'm sorry."

"What for?" I asked.

"I'm sure I put you in danger by getting mom involved from the start. Maybe even put your parents in danger too."

I gave her another little squeeze and said "Everything worked out Kelly. No point worrying over what might have been or what could have happened."

After a moment I added, "Thank you though. I forgive you."

"So," Keira asked, "What do we all do now?"

I took a deep breath then said "I don't know yet if there's anything we can do about Keenan. I'd sure love to put a stop to his 'business activities' but first we need to make sure you two are safe. From him, and from Kelsey. There's a couple things I can do about that."

Kelly frowned slightly, "Like what? I mean, I know they can't get at us here, and we're pretty safe at your home on Earth too, but..."

"You could join clann Brádaigh," I stated. "If you were part of the clann, you'd be protected that way. Neither Keenan or Kelsey would have any claim or right to either of you, and you'd have my mother's clann backing you both up."

Keira asked, "How do we join a clann though? Do we have to marry someone?"

I smiled, "As clann leader, Maeve can simply declare you're part of the clann. I'm pretty sure if I asked her to do that, she would."

My smile grew wider as I stated "Better still, I happen to be leader of the Vale sept of Clann Brádaigh, which means I can declare you part of my branch of the clann. I could do it right here and now. You'd both be part of my sept, and part of the Brádaigh clann. You'd have all the rights and protections of any other clann member."

That brought a smile to Keira's face. "So what's the catch? Does that mean me and Kelly are both your wives or something? Or your mistresses? There's gotta be a catch, Tegan."

Kelly stated in a dull voice, "Yeah there's a catch sis. Only fae can become members of the clanns. We're not eligible."

She looked at me, "You should know this Tegan. I mean, folks here have been really nice and treated us well because we're you're guests. But we're three-quarters human. Our mom wouldn't even qualify. They only let true fae join clanns, families, or noble houses."

Keira's smile fell into a frown, "Well fuck. I guess it was a good idea Tegan, but..."

I bit my lip and braced myself. "I know about that requirement. That brings me to the other thing I can do to help you both. There's something I've been thinking about for a while. Something I can do for you both, something I wanted to offer you as a Samhain gift. I'm not sure how you'll take it though so I'm a little nervous about this."

After a moment I added, "First off, what I'm thinking about will give you both an instant boost to your magic strength. I don't know if you'll be strong enough to stand up to Keenan, but you'll definitely be stronger than Kelsey."

"That's impossible," Kelly stated, shaking her head. "Me and Keira are only a quarter fae. We'll never be stronger than our mom."

I nodded, "I know Kelly. But if you were full fae, you'd have that kind of strength. You'd also have the longer lifespan and slower aging."

"Wait," Keira said, staring at me. "What exactly are you saying, Tegan?"

I took another deep breath and stated, "I can make you both fully fae. I can do it right now, I've figured out how. I know magic's not supposed to work that way, but I know how to do it. It would be permanent. It would never wear off and nobody could ever undo it. And as full fae, you'd be eligible to join the clann."

They were both staring at me now with wide eyes. I couldn't decipher their expressions, but I knew they were shocked. I just couldn't tell if it was happy-shock, horrified-shock, or excited-shock. So I kept going.

"You'd kind of end up like me. You'd still be twenty-five of course, but your bodies would be fully fae. You'd look like fae just past your first century or so. Sort of like me, in fae-terms I look like I'm about a hundred even though I'm just twenty-five. Anyways, you'd still look the same, you'd still be twins and everything. Uh, you might wind up looking a little younger, like how I did when my changeling egg hatched. But apart from that you'd look the same as you do now."

The two of them continued staring at me, still speechless.

"You don't have to decide right now," I added. "I can do this whenever. I have to do it here though, I need the higher magic level in Otherworld for this."

I finally went quiet and watched them both.

Kelly spoke first, "Wow... I don't know what to say or think, Tegan. I just... I don't know?"

"I'm in," Keira stated. "One hundred percent. It'll mean mom can't control me, I won't have to be scared of her. And I'll have a fighting chance against granddad if he ever comes after us. And with the clann membership too? That'll give him second thoughts about messing with us, if he knows he'll have the whole of Clann Brádaigh on his ass afterwards."

There was a nervous, uncertain look on Kelly's face. She asked, "Have you told Maeve about any of this? What if... I don't know, what if she thinks we're freaks or something? Banishes us or exiles you?"

I nodded, "I've already spoken with Maeve. If you were human, then no, she wouldn't accept it. But she agrees, this wouldn't be changing your nature to make you fae, just enhancing the fae already in you. You'd both be fully accepted. That includes joining the clann, if you wish."

"Sis?" Keira's voice was serious and firm. "I think you should accept too. Your girlfriend is amazingly smart and talented, and she's giving us the opportunity of a lifetime."

Kelly frowned, she looked like she was still thinking it over.

Keira looked to me again and asked, "So what's the difference between being in your sept or being in the clann at large?"

"Well, if we got Maeve to welcome you into the clann, you'd be under her immediate protection. But you'd also have to do what she said." Then I smirked, "If you joined my sept, you'd be under my protection as well as hers, but I'd be the one who'd be able to give you orders. I mean, Maeve could too but they'd go through me."

"Oh please," Keira laughed. "I know how much of a sub you can be Tegan. There's like, zero chance of you trying to boss me and Kelly around."

I blushed but grinned, "Yeah I can't really see myself abusing that privilege."

"Ok," Kelly said quietly, catching both my and Keira's attention. "Keira's right. It's an amazing offer, and it'll fix a lot of things." She was looking at me, and I knew what she was thinking about. The reason I wanted to do this in the first place of course, was to fix the aging disparity between the two of us.

"Yes!" Keira smiled happily. "Right now? What should we do?"

I stood up and moved a couple paces away, "Keira, take a seat on the bed next to your sister. If you're both ready I'll do it now, and I want to do you both together."

Keira moved to the bed and sat down right beside Kelly. Kelly looked a little anxious, Keira was excited.

"Ok," I said, "Just relax. It's going to take a minute or two, so don't go anywhere."

I raised both hands towards them as I started working the spell. It was complex, but I knew exactly what I was doing. It was maybe a little more complicated trying to do them both at once, but I was worried if I did them separately they might wind up not being identical anymore.

It took about a minute just to form the magical patterns in my mind. Then I released it out to them and I felt the magic start to flow through me. Keira and Kelly were both bathed in glowing light, and it almost looked like there were little sparks flickering around my fingertips.

I wasn't sure how long it took to finish, but I burned through a significant amount of power. It might have been seconds or it could have been minutes, but finally the spell was complete and the glowing light faded.

Before me on the bed sat two beautiful identical redheaded fae.

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