Page 42 of A Celtic Memory
Chapter Eleven
“ILLNESS SWEPT THROUGHmy kingdom a few years ago,” Cian revealed. “Many passed away. More still, came close.” He gestured at the little girl who had just brought Madison a flower. “She was amongst them. So close to death ‘twas truly a miracle she came back.”
She glanced from the girl to Cian, trying to process that. More so, trying to come to grips with what she had just experienced. The bond she felt with the child. “I knew her...know her...just like she knew me.” She shook her head, confused. “How is that possible?”
“I’m not sure yet, only to say that you must have been here long before now.” Cian pulled her close and wrapped his fur cloak around her shoulders when she shivered. “Somehow, youwerehere.”
“Somehow, I was here,” she echoed, breathing in his spicy masculine scent. Soaking up his warmth. “Not in a dream buthere. Really here.” Just like she had sensed earlier. How, though? “How could everyone forget me but a little girl who claims I healed her when I’ve made a point of steering clear of anything in the medical profession?” She shook her head. “Too much death for me to foresee. Too much fear and grief.”
“Yet ‘twas not something you avoided here.” He nodded thanks to a woman who delivered two fresh cups of spiced wine. Or so she learned when he urged her to take a sip of the strong drink.
“Druids are healers of all things nature-related.” His gaze went to the little girl. “Of all things innocent.”
“So...what?” She frowned, baffled. “I somehow healed her from nearly a thousand years in the future?”
“Nay.” He urged her to drink again. “I think you healed her right here, just like we spent time together right here.”
“Why don’t I remember it, then? And why don’t you, considering your ability to hold memories for others?”
“I don't know other than to say mayhap because my magic is fluctuating. As to you remembering, ‘tis clear you are starting to.” Cian gestured at the girl. “Just in pieces until the time is right.” He seemed so certain when his eyes met hers. “Until the gods deem it necessary for you to recall what we shared long before this. What we still share now.”
She could deny it all she wanted but knew he was right. Had known it more by the hour as she spent time among his people. Their faces might not be as familiar as the little girl’s, but she knew them somehow. Their names. Lives. And while most in her position would have been creeped out by that, she wasn’t. Instead, it had lent her confidence when she spoke with everyone. Got to know them on a more personal level than she swore she already did.
“It’s like you told me about them.” Madison smiled and nodded thanks when a heavyset man with a kind smile strolled by and handed them sweets. “In fact, I’d swear you did.” She eyed the people around the fire. Some danced. Others cried. Some told stories of their lost loved ones and cheered them into the afterlife. “I know so many of them like they’re family.”
“Because they are, or I hope they soon will be.” Cian urged her to try her sweet. “For I hope you will consider staying after all is said and done. That, however primitive it may seem to your way of life, that you choose to remain with me and mine and that we might....”
Though he trailed off, she knew what he wanted. Had in some strange way known since the moment she laid eyes on him that morning.
“This morning,” she whispered, trying to wrap her mind around that. “Technically, according to all that makes sense, I haven’t even known you a full day.”
“Yet we both know that’s not true.” He shook his head. “I feel it as much as you do now.Knowit.”
“So crazy,” she murmured but wasn’t nearly as baffled by it as she had been before. If anything, the sensation felt more and more normal the longer she was here. Spent time with his people. Withhim. Truth told, she was beginning to feel at home. Not in the way she had when she first traveled back in time but really, truly part of a family beyond her sisters.
But was that enough to give up everything she knew?
To come here indefinitely?
Rather than answer Cian’s question because she couldn’t stand to see the hurt in his eyes if she said no, she tried a bite of the sugary yet potent sweet.
“Mmm.” It was delicious but strong. “This has liquor in it.”
“Ta.” He grinned. “’Tis a honeyed oat cake soaked in whiskey.”
“But of course it is.” She chuckled but kept munching. “Welcome to a Jello shot medieval Irish style.”
“You think a Jello shot compares to that?” His brows shot up. “Nay, what we Irish offer is far more potent.”
It was easy to forget he understood twenty-first-century lingo seeing him in this setting. Among his people. She had enjoyed the evening with him. Appreciated how he treated her as an equal and encouraged her to share her opinions. Supported her thoughts. Sure, she might be a station above him in his eyes, but she suspected Cian would act like that anyway. That despite being born so far in the past, he appreciated a woman’s viewpoint every bit as much as a man’s.
