Page 62 of A Celtic Secret
When he perked a brow in question, she told him about Imag’s brief visit. “That woman seriously doesn’t like me.”
“I think ‘tis less about liking you and more about where she thought her daughter would end up.” He reeled her closer as they walked and made things clear. “Eisibél doesn’t feel as her mother does. Mayhap at one time, but I sense those feelings have faded to the genuine friendship I have long hoped they would become.” He shook his head. “I know not how to deal with Imag, only that she will need to be handled if she intends to stay on here.”
“We’ll figure it out.” She squeezed his hand. “Either way, she doesn’t intimidate me.” She chuckled. “Especially with Madison around to keep her in line.”
“Yet Madison will not always be around.”
“No.” She was determined to embrace the persona her sister recommended, so she notched her chin and nodded her head once firmly. “But Iwillso Imag will learn to be a little more respectful.”
He squeezed her hand back and nodded, clearly glad to hear it. To know Riona would stand up for herself and take her rightful place here, however short-lived it may be for them both.
Rather than focus on that because the idea of him being thrust from his kingdom and somehow losing him broke her heart, she focused on the newest exits in the wall.
“So what do you make of them?” She stopped, shielded her eyes against the sun, and studied one as best she could from this distance. “They look similar to the ground defense positions, but how are we supposed to get to them?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged, equally perplexed. “Other than to say they look enough like the original ones that I suspect they interconnect somehow.”
She nodded in agreement. “I think,hope, you’re right.”
“We will find out soon enough,” he said as they continued on. “Meanwhile, I think we should double and triple-check that the castle defenses are ready as they can be and everyone’s prepared to fight at a moment’s notice. But first.” He stopped and gestured at her blade. “Might you like to use it?”
She glanced from the dagger sheathed at her side to him. “Right now?”
“Ta.” He gestured around them and unsheathed his sword. “There’s room enough, and ‘twould be good for you to practice even though I suspect you will need very little of it.”
“You think?” She unsheathed her dagger and looked from her blade to his with a small smile. “Not sure this will be a fair fight.”
Yet the idea of battling him excited her more than she expected. Or was it just the idea of using the blade in general?
“’Twill be a fair fight,” he replied. “You just need to have confidence in your dagger. The same sort of confidence you had when you knew it would be behind that stump.”
“Okay.” She held her blade at the ready when he did. “Pretty sure when Madison did this the first time she was defending Cian. That she felt—”
He didn’t let her finish her sentence but thrust his sword at her. When he did, she stepped forward automatically and blocked his blade. More than that, she blocked it with her dagger-turned-sword.
“Nice,” she exclaimed, caught by the thrill she felt at metal connecting with metal. The pure adrenaline rush, followed by something else. An inherent knowledge that kept driving her as they crossed blades again and again. He smiled and nodded, impressed as they circled and kept coming at each other.
“See.” His smile only widened when she dodged his blade and nearly got a thrust by him. “You’re every bit as good as me.” He spun away and came at her again fast, but she ducked under his sword and nearly got him once more. “Soon to be better than me, I would say.”
“I don’t know.” Though she inwardly preened at the praise. Who knew she would like fighting so much? “You’re pretty good.”
He was, too, and she found it damn hot. Which wasn't where her mind should be while she was trying to defend her life, so to speak.
“Yet you’re not actually defending your life.” He never stopped smiling as he drove her back. “Not with me. Not right now.”
She spun away and came at him from another angle, only to find the tip of his blade at her throat.
“Otherwise, you would have never let that happen.” He winked at her. “It seems your inner warrior is only so powerful against your husband.”
“I would hope so.”
Yet she couldn’t help but worry as they continued practicing. As she felt more and more confident. Would her confidence waver if she came blade to blade with Raghnall? Would he be able to slip by her defenses as easily as Declán?
Declán made no mention of it if he followed her thoughts but kept working with her. Training her in a lesson that covered years in under an hour. She got the feeling he was as aware of the possibility as her, though. That he pushed her harder than he might have otherwise because of it.
She couldn’t help but notice that other things happened the more they fought. How arousal grew as if it went hand and hand with the rush of battling. A sort of half thrill, half pent-up stress.
“So, how do you feel?” he asked when he finally sheathed his blade and urged her to do the same. “More confident?”
