Page 65 of A Celtic Secret
Declán was impressed with how prepared everyone was, from their warriors to their villagers. All would fight when and if they had to for their kingdom. For Ireland.
“This dress must be getting old for everyone,” Riona said later that day when he found her standing at their chamber window with half of her beautiful hair pulled back and interwoven with flowers and the other half streaming down her back. “But it just won’t leave me lately. Good thing it cleans easily.”
He had stood at the door for a few moments admiring her, finding it hard to believe she was his before he joined her. She had bathed, and her hair dried into glistening ebony curls he wanted to touch until the end of time. Her beautiful eyes were soft, and her dress even more radiant than usual.
“I’m in no rush to see it gone.” Declán traced his finger over her delicate collarbone. “For ‘tis truly beautiful on you,mo chroí.” He urged her to turn. “We might not have shared a ring like Madison and Cian as ‘tis not our typical way, but I wanted to give you something I made for you years ago.”
“Years ago?” Riona exclaimed when he slipped a delicate chain around her neck. “Really?” She fingered the tiny leaf encased in a tear-drop pendant at the end of it. “Why?”
“Because I thought you should have it.” He peppered kisses down her neck and threaded his fingers with hers. “’Twas the very first sprout of the first tree you requested be planted here in our castle’s woodlands.”
“Oh,” she whispered, her voice emotional. “That’s...this is...” Her eyes glistened when she looked at him over her shoulder. “Very thoughtful and absolutely perfect.”
“I’m glad you like it.” He kissed her softly. “’Tis not much but—”
She turned and kissed him again before he could say more. Then again and again until she finally murmured against his lips, “It’s everything.”
“Nay,” he corrected, brushing his lips across hers once more. “Youare everything.”
While tempted to take her again, if he did, he might never stop, so he reluctantly pulled away and wrapped a deep blue hooded cloak around her. Because he couldn’t help himself, he kissed her a few more times before he simply cupped her soft cheeks and stared into her eyes. Drank her up visually.
“’Twill be a different eve tonight than last night,” he began. “’Twill be—”
Riona put a finger to his lips and shook her head. “No worries. I know exactly what kind of night it will be.” She pressed her lips together and fought back emotion. “It’ll be hard, really hard, on all fronts. We’re saying goodbye to friends and preparing everyone for imminent war. Perhaps as soon as tomorrow if Raghnall’s wall keeps closing in as fast as it is.”
He nodded. “That’s right.”
She gave him a look of reassurance and strength he needed to see. “And I’ll do the very best I can to fill the role I need to tonight. To...” She frowned and shook her head before she corrected herself. “I’ll just be me in light of the circumstances, if that’s okay? Just...me.”
He nodded and tried to lead her on to tackle all they needed to accomplish but couldn’t help but pull her against him, rest her cheek against his chest and simply hold her first. Tell her what was in his heart. “I would like nothing more than ye being ye,mo chroí.Tonight. Tomorrow.” He closed his eyes and rested his chin on her head. “Always.”
They stayed that way for a time, neither wanting to move and end the moment, but they had no choice. Not with all that lay ahead. So he brushed his lips across hers one last time, and they headed down to a more somber eve than the night before.
Because there were so many people within the castle walls now and no chance the enemy didn’t know right where they were, Declán had agreed to small fires outside. Not a bonfire but more discreet flames that people could come around to spend time with family in these dire hours and mourn the loss of their friends.
He and Riona made their way from fire to fire as the eve wore on. She insisted they sit and talk with everyone. Hear everyone. Help give them peace of mind and confidence however they could. By the time they made their way to the last fire, it was safe to say he was more in love with her than ever.
So in love, it hurt.
She was every inch a queen in her own unique way. One that spoke to their people for no other reason than she felt them her equals. The status of being an Unnamed One meant nothing. To her, she was their friend. Someone they could share anything with. So said the way she sat with children at every fire with her sketch pad and drew whatever they wanted. More often than not, had them help or even draw things on their own.
When she wasn’t charming the wee ones or listening to stories about the warriors Cian had lost, she was impressing the women and bewitching the men. Or, more often than not, challenging Declán’s warriors in ways that made them see her not just for her beauty but her mind. They listened avidly to the different battle strategies she hoped to implement when it came to their castle.
It was at the last fire of the night, one full of more battle-hardened men, that she became most animated. Almost as if her inner druidess had blossomed even more as the eve wore on. Once all had toasted to the fallen and grown quiet, she spoke up and made clear their deaths could be redeemed.
“Just look.” She had long left her sketchpad with children at another fire, so she grabbed a stick and drew a circle in the dirt. “This is your castle.”
“Ourcastle,” one of his men corrected, clearly already impressed with her.
“Ourcastle,” Riona agreed before she traced another circle around the original one depicting the mighty curtain wall surrounding the castle. “It’s well protected but becomes more so by the moment because of those new exits higher up. The ones that match those at ground level.”
“How do they help us?” one of his men asked. “When truth told, they only make us feel more vulnerable?”
“Simple.” Riona pointed at several locations along the wall. “You guard the areas that don’t have those exits because, believe it or not, those will be the most vulnerable. The only spots their warriors might be able to infiltrate.”
Her eyes flashed blue, and she grew most serious before she continued, backing up what the two of them had speculated earlier. “Because, like the battle not that long ago at King Cian and Queen Madison’s castle, we’ll be breaking the rules and fighting with magic against mortal men, and those exits will undoubtedly be part of it.” She shook her head. “We have no choice but to use magic because they will be possessed by Raghnall, at the very least. Possessed by evil.”
“Will they possess magic too, then?” one warrior asked. “Because those of us possessed before when fighting King Cian’s men did not.” He frowned, unsettled. “Now, many of our own warriors are possessed again. Those trapped beyond the invisible wall. What of them? Are we to kill them too?”
