“The shadows were not terrifying. They were the proof that light exists. The fire and brimstone were all a mirage. The clouds nothing but...

“‘I love you, a nighean donn. I have loved ye from the moment I saw ye, I will love ye ’til time itself is done, and so long as you are...

“Parents, she thought, learned to survive touching their children less and less...Now, as a teenager, Pearl’s caresses had become rare—a...