Page 9 of A Celtic Vow
Then she told her even more.
How Aodh had saved her. Nothing had stood in the way of him making sure she was all right. He wasn’t her enemy. Siobhán was. Always had been. Their nemesis wanted her with a fierceness so strong that Constance was nearly lost to them.
“And there’s a reason for that, sis,” Shannon said gently. “One that will be difficult to hear.”
Sensing her sister’s angst, her worry at sharing, Constance narrowed her eyes. “What is it?” She had always been more of a rip-the-Band-Aid-off-quick kind of girl. “Just tell me.”
“Well, you know how you were calling Aodh the devil? How he’s—”
“Because he is,” she made clear. “Surely you see that. Surely you see how the devil works in disguise?”
Hehadto have been in disguise if he saved her. No doubt, he had an ulterior motive.
“Idoknow you feel that way about the devil,” Shannon said slowly, carefully, placing both Constance's good luck talisman as well as a bible in her hands. “But maybe the devil isn’t quite what you thought? Maybe he...orshe’snot...”
“What?” Constance frowned, trying to understand the look on her sister’s face. The tentative thoughts churning in her mind. “What isn’t he?” She shook her head yet again. “Because he’s not a she. He’s not—”
“You because you’re not the devil,” Shannon said softly, cutting her off. Never so serious, she rested her hands over Constance’s on the bible, her gaze unwavering. “Aodh and you aren’t devils.” She shook her head once. “You’re anything but.”
She blinked in confusion, trying to understand what her sister was saying.Implying. “Of course, I’m not a—”
“Dragon.” Shannon clasped her hands tighter around Constance’s in reassurance and nodded. “But youare, sis.” Her voice dropped to an octave that almost sounded like respect. Her eyes lit with pride rather than fear or disdain. “Constance, the only reason Siobhán has her claws in you is because of what you are. Half-dragon and powerful at that. Something she would love to—”
“Enough.” Constance scowled in refusal even as Aodh’s cat-like eyes flashed in her mind again. As she didn’t fear them but understood them. As something deep inside made her recoil from herself.
A beast she had always thought was solely him.
“No.” She squeezed her eyes shut and gripped the bible tighter. “You’re wrong.”
“No,” Shannon said gently. “I’m not. And I know because I helped Aodh bring you back. I connected with your inner dragon. Saw how beautiful she was.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Every bit as beautiful as your human half.”
While her sister sounded reverent enough, she felt like she’d been delivered a death sentence. Like she had been told she was the villain in a bad movie or a heroine being played for a fool. The worst part, though?
Deep down inside, she knew she was neither.
Knew by the look in Shannon’s eyes, her sister told the truth. Knew because she looked at Constance the same way she had countless wounded animals before her.
“How did you...when did you...” She squeezed her eyes shut again, trying to gather herself, before looking at her sister once more. “When did you know I was sick? That I have this thing inside me?”
Because what else could it be but a horrible virus? A magical serpent that had made its way inside her somehow? Without doubt, infected her.
“I knew when the only thing that started to make you better was being around your own kind,” Shannon said. “When King Ulrik came to your defense against Siobhán’s warriors, then Aodh brought you back from the edge of death. When I saw your eyes....”
“What about my eyes?” she managed, well aware they hadn’t been right since she stepped foot in her new home in New Hampshire. They stung more often than not, no matter how many Visine drops she’d put in them. Not just that, but her vision had been off on multiple occasions. Like she viewed the world through a red prism.
“Your eyes don’t matter right now.” Shannon urged her to keep drinking. “All that matters is they can become as gorgeous as you.”
“Cat-like then?” she pushed past her lips, remembering well the ones that had haunted her in her nightmares for years.
“Well...yes,” Shannon said tentatively. “I saw them when Aodh brought you back. When you looked at him for the first time.”
She went to reply but found herself unable to come up with the right words to describe how she felt. How embarrassed and disbelieving. How trapped inside something she couldn’t get out of.
“One step at a time.” Shannon squeezed her hand. “You might be powerful enough to keep me out of your mind, but I’ve always been able to read your face easily enough.” She gestured at the food laid out on a small table in front of the fire. “That said, why don’t we start with getting some food into you and go from there?”
“And where willtherebe?” she asked weakly, eyeing the chamber again. “When I don’t feel like I belong anywhere?”
“But you do.” Shannon urged her to join her. “And you will.”
