Page 79 of A Celtic Longing
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispered hoarsely. “I love you.”
“And I ye.” He relished her touch. “More than ye can possibly know, lass.”
He blinked and took stock of his surroundings. From what he could tell, he was at King’s Heart. That’s when it all came rushing back. What Siobhán had done to him but, more importantly, what she had done to his men.
“They’re okay,” Shannon said before he worried. “Miraculously enough, thanks to your brother, while some were injured, no lives were lost, and every ship escaped back to our kingdom.”
“My brother?” He shook his head and finally managed to sit up, confused. “How did Declán achieve such?”
“’Twas not Declán,” Tréan gestured off to his right, “but Aodh who saved yer men. Who flew ye back to us and saved ye with dragon magic.”
“It was amazing,” Riona said. “I helped when I could, but even I didn’t have the power to bring you back from where you went.” She touched his still-steaming forearm. “That took dragon fire. Dragon healing.”
Liam looked in the direction Tréan had gestured, only to see Aodh sitting against King’s Heart in human form with his head bent. A position none had ever seen him in. Not the Great Dragon King of the North, as some called him.
“He does not fare well, brother.” Declán crouched beside Riona, grasped Liam's shoulder, and nodded, clearly grateful he was all right. “He remembers everything he did at both my castle and his own, and ‘tis sitting very poorly with him.” Declán shook his head. “I have never seen him like this.”
Liam could just imagine the terrible remorse.
“I will talk to him.” Liam nodded at the others, grateful when he could stand without his legs giving out. But then it seemed Shannon was ready to catch him if he did. “’Tis all right, lass.” While tempted to pull her into his arms, he would prefer to wait until he wasn’t steaming from dragon fire anymore. “I will be with you soon enough.” He eyed the tents that had been set up, looking forward to holding her for as long as this life allowed. “Very soon.”
Liam downed his entire skin of water, then manifested two skins of whiskey and sat beside Aodh. He said nothing for a timebut took comfort in being near an old friend, one he’d thought lost to him, and weighed his words.
“It seems I have a great deal to thank ye for, brother,” he eventually said. “And Iamgrateful. More than ye can possibly imagine. Not just for ye saving my men but me. For undoubtedly making sure my wife and son made it back here safely as well.”
Aodh said nothing at first until he finally lifted his head and looked at Shannon and Tréan, who sat around a fire with Riona and Declán now. “They are...exceptional.”
“Ta.” However much he agreed, his brother’s words surprised him. “They are that and more.”
“Why would my words surprise ye?” Aodh frowned and took the skin Liam handed over. “I am not without a heart.”
“Nay, but I cannot imagine ye enjoyed being rescued by others.” He took a solid swig from his own skin. “Especially when in the form of—”
“’Twas fine,” Aodh cut him off. He set his skin aside rather than drink from it. “’Twas the only good thing that’s happened to me in some time for ye cannot imagine....” He shook his head and stared, unseeing. “I cannot linger here long. Not with what I have done. I must return to my kingdom and start there. Gain their forgiveness before approaching Declán’s and Cian’s kingdoms.” His gaze finally drifted to Liam. “And yers.” He clenched his jaw and shook his head. “I cannot tell ye how sorry I am for what my men did to yers. For what I did to so many.”
“’Twas not ye, brother.” He clasped Aodh’s shoulder and shook his head. “And ‘twas not yer dragon either. Buther. A sorceress we have too long let come betwixt us.”
“Ta.” Emotion flared in Aodh’s eyes, along with a flicker of fire. It seemed he understood how much influence Siobhán truly had over them. “’Tis my fondest hope ye and I find what we once had, for I have missed ye as much as I hated ye.”
Liam nodded in agreement. “’Tis my fondest hope as well.” He eyed Aodh with curiosity. “Did she lure ye this last time, brother? Did Siobhán get ye to go to her outside Declán’s castle?” He frowned. “And how did she possess ye after Raghnall’s death because we know he had ye first?”
“I don't know how she possessed me other than she took it from Raghnall somehow when he died.” Aodh shook his head. “And she didn’t lure me. Another did. I thought her a figment of my imagination at first as I headed to intercept my warriors. A flash of red prism caught in the sunlight due to my inner dragon and the way it makes me see things sometimes.” He kept shaking his head, his gaze a little lost again. “But she was not my imagination. Not at all. She was...”
When he trailed off, peering into the darkness almost as if he were reliving that day, as though he could see her clearly, Liam prompted him to go on. “She was what, Aodh?”
“Ag caitheamh gúna dearg álainn,” he murmured. “Wearing a beautiful red gown.” He blinked in confusion. “Then she was gone, and ‘twas too late. Raghnall and Siobhán had me.Shehad me.”
“She being the lass in the red dress?” Liam assumed, testing a theory. Wondering if it might have been Constance. “The lass with flaming red hair?”
As though caught in a reverie, Aodh nodded slowly. “Ta, ‘twas her.”
“And what became of her?” Liam wondered. If he didn’t sense his brother’s mind was firmly his own, he might have been more concerned based on his odd behavior. On how lost he seemed when he spoke of she who could only be Constance.
“Nothing good came of her.” That seemed to snap Aodh out of wherever he had been because he looked at Liam in warning. “I saw her again at Siobhán’s castle. Saw her go into the chapel ofblack roots. Saw her stand over my dragon in rage.” He shook his head. “She is not to be trusted. Nothing good can come of her.”
“If ‘tis Shannon’s sister, Constance, ye speak of,” Liam replied, “ye should know ‘twas she who urged Shannon to save ye.”
“I do not know what she’s up to.” Aodh’s expression darkened even more. “But I’m convinced she plots with the enemy.”
