Page 58 of A Celtic Secret
“What are we doing?” came Riona’s soft voice.
Cian nodded to them both and left, giving them privacy.
“I think we’re meeting for the first time.” His heart warmed at the image. “You must have used magic when sketching this one because there’s color in it.”
Luna jumped down, ran over, and danced around as if nudging Riona to join him before the dog bounded off, as determined it seemed to give them privacy as Cian had been.
“I’ve only ever used color once before.” She sat beside him but not too close. “When I drew you beneath the old oak in New Hampshire.” She shook her head. “I didn’t realize it was magic, though.” She frowned, wondering at that. “It just seemed normal somehow.”
Between Cian’s counsel and seeing this, his anger melted away, yet he still felt on edge. Unprepared for a battle that was out of his hands.
“May I see?” she asked gently. “Because I don’t remember anything that I sketched this morning. I just...enjoyed the sunrise and drew without looking.”
He didn’t doubt her. The truth was right there in the image he handed to her. She was but a wee lassie in a blue dress standing beneath the archway in his courtyard. Mayhap only a few years younger than she’d been when she asked him to create the tapestry. She sat on a tree stump and smiled up at him as he approached.
“I don’t remember this moment.” He frowned, upset that he didn’t because somehow it meant a great deal to him. More than any moment he had ever lived. At least in this life. “Why don’t I remember this dream?”
“Because I don’t think it was a dream.” She ran her fingers over her blue dress, then the sun cresting the horizon in the background. “I think this was real, Declán. I think....” She shook her head and blinked, clearly struggling to remember something. “If I had a blue dress, it was briefly. It was....”
“What?” he prompted when she paused.
“I think I must’ve gotten rid of it right after we connected.” She visibly shivered. “I think I was afraid Raghnall would be able to track it. Find me.” Her gaze rose to his face. “Find you. Whatever we shared. A connection I wanted him to have no part of.” She went to reach for his hand but stopped, hesitant. “A part Istilldon’t want him to have.”
There was no helping his jealousy, but there was also no helping the way he felt about her, so he took her hand. “You were right upstairs, and I’m sorry. ‘Tis just....” Frustrating? Infuriating? “Hard.”
“I can imagine.” Riona squeezed his hand. Her gaze never wavered. “But I need you to believe in me. To stand by me no matter what.” She blinked back tears before they could fall. “Otherwise, I fear the worst. I really do.” She flinched, giving him honesty that he appreciated. “Because there was obviously something between Raghnall and me in another life. Something you and I feared. Something I think he took advantage of in the end and will again if we let him.”
He nodded and looked at the image once more. Looked at the instant adoration they had felt for each other the first time they met. Whatever had happened, it was clear in the way they smiled at each other, the joy in their eyes, that they were meant to reconnect.
Meant to be together.
“Ye’ve no reason to be sorry,mo chroí.” He pulled her onto his lap, cupped her cheek, and met her eyes. “’Tis I who should be sorry for not trusting you. For letting Raghnall get to me when I know the sort of monster he is. Know what he’s capable of.”
“I don’t blame you,” she began. “I don’t—”
Before she could go on being sweet and forgiving, he kissed her. Then kissed her again. Then kissed her so hard she couldn’t doubt how sorry he was. How wrong he had been for responding so strongly. So foolishly considering how much they faced. How crucial their love was to defeating it.
While tempted to take her again here and now, he wouldn’t risk anyone coming upon them. More than that, as much as he’d like to spend the day, month,years, in bed with her, things were happening. Things they needed to pay attention to. So he reluctantly ended the kiss and flipped to the last sketch she had drawn, only to frown.
“’Tis Liam.”
He stood under the tree where Shannon had sat in her tapestry with his hand braced against the trunk, and his head hung.
“I’ve never seen him look so lost...so sad.”
“As sad as Shannon was, I’d say,” she said softly, clearly feeling for his brother. “Madison and I sensed him in the tapestry too. Or should I say near Shannon in that life. Hovering somehow. Trying to stay close to her.”
“So there can be no doubt they were connected back then.”
“No, I don't think so.” Riona frowned. “And I’d say it didn’t end too well.” She flinched. “It didn’t end well for any of us, but you know what I mean. I get the feeling it ended especially bad for them. And now they’re stuck together in the future.”
“Mayhap ‘tis where they need to be right now,” he theorized. “So that they might learn to get along before they go up against the enemy?”
“Here’s hoping.”
“M’lord?” Áengus called out. He stopped short when he rounded the corner and saw the two of them together. “Apologies, m’lord, m'lady, I did not realize that—”
“What is it, Áengus?” He nodded that it was all right for him to go on. “Has something happened?”
