Page 34 of A Celtic Vow
He had to have known how hard her heart was beating. How much she wanted to be kissed by him the way he’d truly wanted to kiss her. Deeply. Passionately. Without pause. And they did. Almost did more had he not felt the breeze of the window through the tunnel.
Since then, she’d wanted to feel his lips on hers again. Feel more of a kiss that was only getting started when he pulled away. That she craved with a ferociousness she knew wasn’t quite natural, but she already couldn’t get enough of.
“This way,”Aodh said telepathically when the roar of the fall grew too loud. “’Twill quiet again soon enough.”
He was right because after they ducked through a sliver of an entranceway leading to the backside of the waterfall, things quieted some. She had little time to marvel at the cave and wall of water from this angle or how Aodh dried them with a chant before he led her into another cave not much larger but certainly grander.
“Oh,wow,” she whispered. The roar of water hushed considerably, and an unexpected sense of peace settled over her. How could she not feel that way, considering what it possessed? “How is this even possible?”
Where several trees had managed to grow on the cliff outside, it seemed one was more ambitious because it grew up through the cave to glimpses of the sky far above. If that weren’t enchanting enough, mist from the waterfall drifted and twisted around its trunk like a magical dancing serpent.
“This is unbelievable.” She eyed the trunk and branches above. Then the random roots snaking up from some unseen location below that wound along the cave floor. “This is an oak, isn’t it?”
“Ta.” As though he couldn’t stand to look away, Aodh's gaze never left her. “’Tis part of what makes some people worship here. They believe—”
“That this tree is somehow connected to King’s Heart,” she concluded before he could finish his sentence.
“That’s right.”
“And do you?” She met his eyes. “Do you believe it’s connected to something so revered? That it has magical qualities?”
“Ta, ‘tis why I like it so much.” He lit a small fire positioned strategically in the center of the cave, so it wasn’t near any roots. “Can’t you feel it?” Reverence lit his eyes when he looked at the tree. “Because I would say it can feel you.”
At first, she thought the tree growing more vibrant in color was her imagination but realized it wasn’t. Since they had entered, it had brightened ever so slightly as though responding to their presence.Herpresence based on the purplish blue mica-like sparkles she swore glittered here and there.
“Has it ever done this before?” She looked from the tree to him. “Responded to you?”
“Nay.” He chanted, and a chest appeared in the corner that hadn’t been there before. When she looked at him in question, he explained. “When I learned Liam had hidden a trunk of essentials at one of his favorite locations, King’s End, I thought the idea wise and did the same.”
He pulled out several thick furs and laid them so they could sit and lean back against the roots. It was undoubtedly intimate, but she didn’t care as she thanked him for a skin of what turned out to be whiskey, then set to pulling out the food Bea had packed for them.
She smiled when she realized it was primarily meat. “It seems I’m gaining a reputation.”
He met her smile and sat beside her. “’Tis safe to say she’s used to it after raising me.”
“Mmm.” She enjoyed a bite of dried meat. “That must have been something.” She considered him. “How old were you when you stopped shifting?”
“Seventeen winters or so.”
“So young.” She felt for him. “That had to be incredibly jarring when you were forced to do it against your will so many years later.”
“’Twas,” he said softly. “Very.”
When she sensed he hesitated to go on because he didn’t want to ruin how good the past few hours had been, she urged him to anyway. “What is it, Aodh? Tell me.”
Because she couldn’t quite sense it.
“’Tis just...being forced to shift again was in part because of you.” Aodh frowned. “Or at least I thought it was you. I remain convinced if I were to be honest because she felt like you.”
Aodh went on to explain how Constance seemingly lured him off course outside Declán and Riona’s castle. How Raghnall would have never managed to possess him had he not pursued her. “You initially invoked trust in me.” He shook his head. “Made me vulnerable in ways I never was before. So vulnerable my dragon surfaced enough that Raghnall could grab hold of it and shift me against my will.”
“I’m so sorry.” She felt guilty despite having no recollection of it. “I truly am.”
“You need not be sorry when I suspect Siobhán is at the root of it.” Aodh took a swig of whiskey and eyed the tree. “At the root of so much.” His gaze drifted to her face. “But most especially, what has happened between us.”
She got the sense they were about to have a harder conversation than religion. Something he had been able to keep from her until now.
“What is it?” She took a sip of whiskey as well, if for no other reason than to calm her nerves when they suddenly felt so frayed.
