Page 44 of A Celtic Vow
“So, was that your god?” he wondered. “Is he in you now?”
“I think it consisted of God.” She wiped away another tear. “And while He’s always in me in a way, I don’t think what that was is still in me.” Peace seemed to settle over her. “Maybe somewhere around me.”
“Then he has my thanks.” Terrified he might lose her again, Aodh stood and pulled her up into his arms. Held her as tight as he dared. “Or whatever that was.”
She rested her cheek against his chest and cozied into his embrace. “I think it’s what those from my time would call a guardian angel.”
He knew from the conversation they’d had yesterday what angels were. “So ‘tis not quite like the angels you spoke of before?”
“Not quite,” she replied. “Close. More personal, I suppose. A special protector in life.”
“But I’m your protector.” He understood what she meant, though. A more spiritual protector. “But I can only be grateful you have more than one.” He bit back emotion. “Especially one that, one way or another, brought you back to me.”
“I’m glad too.” Constance shook her head. “I have no memory of what happened after this. I can only assume I found a way to erase our memories of each other, and then I returned to the future in hopes it would stop you from confronting Siobhán.”
“Which I didn't.” He was certain. “I suspect, however, she knew about our time together because what you just tapped into when you hid the blade felt like the darkness I experienced when in her clutches.” He tried not to speculate too much because he refused to distrust Constance ever again. “Might you have been in touch with her somehow when you were younger? Could she have known where this blade was hidden the moment darkness swamped it?” He shook his head. “Because no such thing happened to it when you kept it tucked in this cave over the years.”
“I don't think the blade would still be here if she knew about it,” she replied. “And if she did, whether I tapped into her magic or not, I don't think she could access it.”
Where they hadn't wanted to keep it at the castle when they were little because they feared someone might find it, they weren't so concerned about tucking it here and there at King's Fall. But then they had figured planting an acorn from King's Heart would extend the tree’s protection to the blade no matter where they hid it. Which he might have thought foolish in retrospect had Siobhán not ordered his dragon to burn his castle looking for it.
“Unless she was playing mind games with us,” Constance said softly, following his thoughts. “Trying to throw us off track, so to speak. In that case, looking for it at the castle would make perfect sense.” She sighed. “As to me having had contact with Siobhán back then, I didn't, to the best of my knowledge. I'll admit I wonder how she made contact with me in the twenty-first century so recently, though. Was it simply because we shared a connection in our last life?”
She frowned before she went on. “Either way, you would've thought she'd know where and when in time my sisters and I were.” Constance sounded convinced when she met his eyes. “But she doesn’t. Or at least she didn’t.” She shrugged. “But at this point, I suppose it no longer matters.”
Everything mattered, especially when it came to Siobhán’s connection with Constance and how much she might have tracked her moves over the years. He said as much, too.
“I wish I knew what to tell you,” she said softly, pulling away. “Other than I suspect more by the moment Siobhán’s had her eye on you and me for some time.” She gave him a disgruntled look as they headed back up to the cave they had slept in. “Because everything I just did was in response to whatever lured you away in that memory. Whatever you were determined to confront on our behalf.” Her tone turned sad. “My gut tells me it was Siobhán. Because, as we know, one way or another, she sank her hooks into you.”
“Not then, though,” he reiterated, trying to keep his anger at Siobhán at a low boil when he wanted to rip her from limb to limb. “I’m certain of it.” Before Constance went any further, he reeled her into his arms and tilted her chin until their eyes were aligned. Until she saw how serious he was. “No matter what Siobhán did to us over the years, no matter how much she might have manipulated us, ‘tis crucial ye understand that ‘twas only ever ye for me, lass.”
“I know,” she replied softly, resting her hand on his chest. “I can feel it, Aodh.” She shook her head and blinked back tears. “I can't imagine how I ever forgot.”
Nor could he. What they had shared, still shared, felt untouchable. Truly unforgettable.
“We’ll understand what happened soon enough.” He brushed his lips across hers before he kissed her more deeply. Despite everything they just witnessed and how strongly he’d felt, he couldn’t help but look with longing at the rumpled furs in the dim morning light when their kiss ended. He wanted her with a crippling fierceness yet again. He had never experienced anything like being inside her. Nothing so intense and arousing. “Would you like to get more rest, or should we make our way back to the others?”
“I think we both know we won’t rest if we lay down again.” Constance offered him a small, knowing smile. “We’d likely never leave this cave again, and I have a feeling we need to. That there are more answers out there.”
“I agree.” And he did, however much he loathed the idea of not bringing her back to bed straight away. Of sinking into her hot heat and losing himself.
As if eager to drive away the evil chill of whatever had just consumed her teenage self, Constance sat in front of the fire when he chanted it back to life. “There’s an explanation for all this hovering in my mind. One I can’t quite see.” Her worried gaze went to him when he sat beside her. “Something to explain why I did what I did other than the obvious reasons.”
Thankfully, his magic was still behaving today, and he could manifest a hare on a spit over the fire. Bea’s dried meat was fine enough, but their inner beasts needed the sustenance only fresh meat could offer.
“The obvious reason being your determination to see the prophecy fulfilled?” he assumed. “Otherwise, what hope would any of us have? Ireland? The future of all lands touched by Ireland?”
“Exactly.” She slipped her hand into his and rested her head on his shoulder. “Whatever happened, I’m sorry, Aodh. Sorry I left you.” He heard the emotion in her voice. “Because if I know nothing else, that was the last thing I wanted to do. The most heartbreaking part of all this.”
“You need not be sorry.” He squeezed her hand, glad he couldn’t feel the pain of his teenage self losing her because it had to have been brutal. Assuming, of course, he knew she had left before he forgot her. “Whatever happened, I know you did it for the greater good. Your heart was in the right place.”
“It better have been.” She shivered a little. “Especially considering how dark the magic was that I tapped into. Pure evil, I’d say.”
He couldn’t help but point out the obvious.
“Yet magic of a higher power, agoodpower, was determined to save you.” He tilted her chin until she looked at him again. “I can’t help but think that means you were well worth saving, lass.” He put a finger to her lips before she could deny him. “’Tis as simple as that. No matter how dark the magic set to consume you, you were loved by your deity and would have likely been saved by others had they gotten to you in time.”
A soft smile curled her mouth, and she kissed his finger. “For a fierce and mighty dragon, you have a rather loving way of looking at things.”
