Page 67 of A Celtic Vow
“Mayhap in a moment.” Siobhán urged her to join her on a log in front of the fire. “Sit. Let us talk.”
Constance was surprised by how sad and nervous her incarnate was. Sad because she had grown fond of Siobhán over the years. She had come to consider her not just a druid sister but a true sister. Which leant to her nervousness because she was about to do something bad to her.
“I have worried about ye since the death of our sisters.” Siobhán rested a hand on her knee. “However corrupt they became, it has not been easy on any of us. Especially our most recent loss. I know ye were nearly as close to her as ye are to me.”
Constance bit back tears as she felt the emotions her other self kept repressed. Hidden away. The death of three druid sisters who had sinned and fallen in love had broken her heart. A death they had been willing to accept in order to fulfill a prophecy that foretold Ireland’s ruin. A death that would reunite them with the men they had fallen in love with so they might fix a false future.
So things would go as the gods foresaw.
“I will admit it has saddened me,” her incarnate said, yet wore a stern look. “But at least in the end, they chose to redeem themselves and make up for their sinful ways.”
“’Twas very sinful,” Siobhán agreed. “And now they will pay the price.” She cupped young Constance’s cheek and looked at her with deceptive pride. “But then, they were not our most prized sisters, were they?” She shook her head once. “No real loss in the end. Not when we have ye.”
The words had stung, but she kept it from her face. Kept nothing but admiration and respect for Siobhán at the forefront when she knew her friend had changed over the years. While she was still pleasant enough, there was a darkness running through her now. A darkness that terrified young Constance because she felt it focused on Shannon, the sister who had died before her.
Now it turned her way, so she’d made a decision.
“Oh, no,” she whispered when she realized what her incarnate was up to. Something that came to pass a short time later when Siobhán finally agreed to sample her stew. One laced with a tasteless, scentless herb that put the other woman to sleep long enough for her to flee.
“Where was I going?” she murmured before a blink later, the scene faded, and she was in a different part of the forest, running into the arms of Aodh’s incarnate.
“I knew I never stopped loving you.” She bit back tears at the adoration in the couple’s eyes when he cupped her cheeks and kissed her. It hadn’t mattered if he couldn’t make love to her or give her children. Their love transcended matters of the flesh. “How did we ever hide it, though?”
Almost as if her asking gave way to more memories, she realized what she witnessed now was their first kiss. They had only ever enjoyed stolen glances over the years. He hadn’t wanted to risk her safety. Especially after her other druid sisters started falling in love and were put to death for it.
“Put to death for something I caused.” She saw it so clearly now. Shook her head in denial. “Put to death because the druids were too late when they came for me at my father’s castle.”
After all, whether they had figured it out yet or not, she was already an Unnamed One. More pointedly, she’d already found true love. They hadn't realized it, though. Why would they when their kind didn’t fall in love? And if the unthinkable had happened so young, it certainly would not sustain after what they did to Aodh.
“But it did.” She still remembered how their first kiss had felt. How wondrous the moment. How crippling the sensation when she realized their love had blossomed prior to her sisters. That because it happened to her, other druidesses had become susceptible.
Her sisters in this life had become susceptible.
“It’s all my fault.” She crouched and hung her head. Cried for all the heartache she had caused with her weakness.
“Love is never a weakness, lass.” A gentle hand rested on her shoulder. “Only ever a strength.”
She looked up but only saw a white figure haloed by the sun behind him. Could it be? “God?”
“Och, nay.” He shifted enough that she saw an old man with a long white beard and a gnarly cane. His pale blue eyes twinkled when he winked. “Unless God is Scottish.” He chuckled. “Which on more than one occasion I’ve fancied he just might be.” He held out his hand to help her up. “I’m Aodh's long-lost brother, Adlin MacLomain.”
“I’ve heard of you.” She took his hand and stood, confused. “But how are you here?” She glanced from her and Aodh kissing in their previous life back to him. “Because Iamdreaming, right?”
“Ye are.” He looked at her kindly. “And ‘tis bound to grow more difficult until ye wake, so I thought ye might like some company.” He glanced from the vision of her and Aodh, back to her. “Otherwise, I feel ye’ll be far too harsh on yerself when ye should be anything but.”
“How can you say that when my sisters and their husbands are in this predicament because of me?” She wiped away a tear. “Doomed because I loved Aodh in our last life? Sinned before I realized it was a sin?”
“I can say it because what happened betwixt ye and Aodh was no sin.” Adlin looked fondly at the couple. “’Twas what God intended when he created human beings with hearts and souls. With the ability to love.” He gave her a look. “And dinnae think the pagan gods didnae do the same. That they ever intended an order of priests and priestesses who would deny their hearts true love or the needs of their bodily flesh.”
“Yet the Unnamed Ones did.” She shook her head. “To the point that the need for that kind of love and sex became non-existent. Impossible as far as I knew.”
“It did,” Adlin conceded. “Bred right out of them by their own magic.” He squeezed her hand. “Until a druidess of their order was born without them knowing and found her one true love when she only saw beauty in his deformities. Only wished to do for others since her own upbringing had been so cruel. Only ever had kindness in her heart for the unfortunate.”
“You echoed my every sentiment,” came Aodh’s voice moments before he appeared beside them. He nodded hello to Adlin. “’Tis a pleasure to finally meet you, brother. To thank you for how you’ve helped us all along so far.”
Adlin smiled in response. “’Twas my pleasure.”
“I’d ask how you’re in my dream,” she smiled from the couple still kissing to Aodh, “but I suppose it makes sense given the moment.”
