Page 22 of A Celtic Vow
“What happened, Constance?” Aodh finally asked. “What were you racing after? Because ‘twas clear you chased something.”
“I’m not entirely sure.” She drifted into the ruins. Took in the sooty, crumbled stone. “I thought it was a little girl. She had long red hair and....”
She trailed off when it occurred to her what she’d seen.
“Impossible,” she whispered.
“You were chasing yourself, weren’t you, sis?” Shannon asked gently. “You were here when you were little?”
“I think I might have been.” She wiped away a tear she hadn’t realized had fallen. “What is it about this particular area that gets me so emotional?” Caught between how impactful this part of the castle was and what she just witnessed, she frowned at Aodh. “And why would I be jumping to my death here as a child? Moreover, if I did, how am I alive now?”
“I don’t think you were jumping to your death.” His knowing gaze went to where she had jumped. “I think you were determined to fly for the first time.”
“Oh, my God.” She rounded her eyes from the door she had raced out of to him. “You were the little boy running after me, weren’t you?”
“I think I was.” Emotion flashed in his troubled gaze. “’Twas foolish of you.Impulsive.” He shook his head, clearly remembering. “You liked to take matters into your own hands, though, didn’t you?”
“Sounds about right.” Shannon gave her a look. “Youdohave a mean stubborn streak, sis. If you thought you could shift and fly from this castle, I don’t doubt you’d give it your best shot even if Aodh tried to stop you.”
“Good point.” She frowned. “Still. Was I ever so impulsive?”
“When you were younger?” Shannon’s brows flew up. “Absolutely.” She narrowed her eyes a little. “Though I’ll give you this. There was a cutoff point when you stopped being like Riona and became far more cautious. When you started to take life more seriously.”
“Maybe a little too seriously?” Constance prompted when her sister seemed ready to say more but stopped.
Shannon pinched the pads of her forefinger and thumb together with little room to spare. “Maybe just a teensy bit.” She shrugged. “In your defense, you were starting to become religious by then and were focused on saving the world from all its hardships, so it made sense.”
“So you weren’t raised to believe in your one god?” Aodh said.
“No.” More drawn to them than ever, she kept walking through the ruins. “I found Him in my teens and never looked back.”
“How?” he wondered. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
“I don’t mind.” She would wonder the same thing if she were in his shoes. Especially now since they had proof she’d come here and spent time with him as a child. Likely became friends with a pagan she suspected was as pious as her in his own way. “It was simple, really. I just knew one day. Felt His protection and warmth. Knew He would be with me no matter what I faced in life.”
He nodded and said nothing more about it, but she felt his conflicted emotions. Ones she shared, considering such vastly different religious beliefs weren’t a small thing in a relationship. Not that she was nearly there with him, but still. She understood his unrest.
“I think I spent a lot of time here with you, Aodh,” she said softly, roaming the blackened rocks. “That’s why it’s making me so emotional.”
Which blew her mind considering she had completely forgotten him. This version of him, anyway. A connection she could never have anticipated, given her nightmare.
“I need to better understand this nightmare of yours.” He sounded unsettled yet intrigued. “What you think it might mean now you know I’m not really the monster at its heart. Or at least not as monstrous as you had thought.”
“Not in this life, anyway.” She frowned at Shannon. “Outside of the obvious ghosts or memories running around this area, do you sense anything...off?”
Shannon frowned. “Off how?”
“I don’t know.” Constance shook her head. “I just keep getting the feeling I’m missing something.” She cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. “Orlookingfor something.”
“Like what?” Shannon crouched beside her when she kneeled down near a pile of soot and ash.
“I’m not sure.” Constance picked up a handful of ash, startled when she felt Aodh’s dragon in it. “Not your dragon, but its fire,” she whispered, marveling at the sensation. How intimate it was in some strange way. She glanced up at him. “I feel him,you, in this.”
She was about to go on but trailed off when a little black-haired boy manifested and raced by them toward the edge Aodh had just saved her from.
“Nay,” he cried, skidding to a stop before he went over.
“That’s him!” She stood. “That’s the boy I heard outside my door.”
