Page 43 of A Celtic Vow
Although he shouldn't be, he was baffled he and Constance had figured out so much when they were younger. That they understood they were destined to come together to help save Ireland. Formed such a close connection before they came together so recently.
Moreover, they had forgotten so very much.
“Fight leaving me no matter what,” he said before he could stop himself. Almost as if he had said it before. Certain he had. “You didn’t have to leave me then, and you don’t have to now.”
Being with her was like nothing else. Not just emotionally but physically. They fit together perfectly. Were meant for each other.
“But I do...did.” Constance went to the edge when her younger self headed for the base. “It’s the only way.”
“The only way for what?” He chanted himself into trousers and wrapped a fur around her shoulders.
“I’m not sure.” She shook her head. “I did then, but I don’t now.”
Her teenage self knelt at the base of the tree, hung her head and cried. Felt so sad it reverberated straight to his core. To his inner beast. So much so he couldn’t help but follow. Couldn’t help but crouch beside her. Wish he could offer comfort.
“Don’t go,” he whispered because he couldn’t quite find his voice. “You never needed to go.” He wasn’t sure what he meant when he went on. “We’ll find a way. I know we will.”
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, as if somehow, some way, she responded to him. Crossed a divide in time. Merged the past with the present. “This is the only way it will work. Our only hope...
Sensing something awful was going to happen, he shook his head and tried to stay her hand when she unsheathed her Unnamed One dagger, but he simply passed through her.
“My mind’s made up.” As teary as her younger self, present-day Constance stood over them now in her red dress. It seemed she realized what she had been doing back then. “This is goodbye, Aodh. You won’t see me again after this.” A new wisdom met her eyes. “Not until now.”
“Why?” He shook his head, confused, as young Constance rested the blade at the base of the tree. “What are you doing?”
“Hiding it the best I can.” Her gaze wasn't quite right as her younger self's dragon eyes surfaced, and she chanted. Prayed to gods Constance of today didn’t believe in.
“You’re trying to hide it with dragon magic, but darkness is responding to your chants instead.” Aodh narrowed his eyes, not liking this one bit. “Something’s wrong.” He shook his head, alarmed. “Very, very wrong.”
Constance sank to her knees and clutched her chest as her teenage self slumped to the ground. Agony twisted her features when darkness swamped the base of the tree, then flooded into young Constance.
Consumed her in evil.
“Nay!” He struggled to get to her, save her, but yet again, his hands slid right through her. “Don’t give in to it, lass! Fight it!”
There was no fighting something so powerful, though.
“Shh, Aodh.” Constance rested her hand on his shoulder. “Look.”
He glanced up only to see what looked like a flicker of golden sunlight drifting down. It danced off the rock until it hovered over her younger self.
“It...wants to save me,” Constance said softly. “But only if I welcome it. If I want to be saved.”
He frowned. “Why wouldn’t you want to be saved?”
“Because I don’t think it’s by one of my gods.Yourgods.” She blinked back tears. “But another deity altogether.”
He arched his brows in surprise. “You mean your one god?”
“I think so.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “Because whatever I just did, whatever I unknowingly tapped into, betrayed my own gods and was going to end me...or worse.”
While he found it hard to believe his gods would ever shun her, he knew little of what they might do if she tapped into such darkness. If she unknowingly used darkness at odds with what they represented.
“Then I can only hope....”
There was no need to hope as the golden light lowered into her, filled her, and the darkness faded down to the blade. Seconds later, her younger self arched and inhaled deeply.
Soon after, she faded as quickly as the darkness had.
