“I am letting my emotions get the better of me at a bad time,” he confessed, frustrated with himself. Seeing things clear enough. Finally acknowledging what he had long denied. “In truth, I probably should have confronted Cray long before now.”
“Aye,” Tiernan agreed. “But ye kept it inside, determined not to let it bother ye.”
Tiernan chanted the tent down and prepared it for travel.
“Ye must keep in mind as well,” Tiernan went on, “that ‘twill be harder than usual to control yer emotions on this journey because of whatever the Disinherited have done to our magic.” He gave Aidan a pointed look. “If ye recall, ‘twas nearly impossible for me to control my emotions when Julie and I traveled together.” He shrugged. “’Tis part of the darkness in all of this but ‘tis also part of the light.”
He frowned. “The light?”
“Aye.” They started after the others. “’Tis part of what it takes to come together with your lass.”
Hislass? He wouldn't go that far. Yet the idea of her seeking Cray out to comfort him rankled.
“Like my battle skills being affected, I think ’tis far more likely the enemy at work,” he replied, “than part of a growing connection with Chloe.”
“As to yer battle skills, mayhap,” Tiernan conceded. “But the fluctuating emotions are both. ‘Tis the only way to break free from the dark and find the light.” He gave Aidan a telling look, catching his thoughts easily enough. “In yer case, quite literally. Ye need to get past the bad to find the good.”
“Well, I dinnae like it,” he grunted.
“I dinnae imagine ye do,” his cousin acknowledged. “But keep in mind, if yer situation is anything like mine, then finding the light means finding yer way back to yer magic. When that happens, I suspect yer battle skills and emotions alike will level out some.”
While he liked the idea of his magic being back, desperate for it actually, he wondered if he would be able to see this through. If he could somehow be with Chloe without losing his heart.
“That ye think losing yer heart is even a possibility now, means ye’re on the right path indeed,” Tiernan commented, contemplating Aidan’s reason for attacking Cray back there. “Ye know full well he was defending Chloe. He feels ‘tis unfair of ye to be obsessed with Maeve still.” He pointed out the obvious. “So at least in that, ye must realize he’s no real threat when it comes to yer Broun lass.”
She isnotmy Broun lass, he nearly said but stopped himself.
“I know what Cray implied,” he responded, “but ‘tis bloody hard to trust him.”
“Is it?” Tiernan said softly. “I caught yer thoughts, Cousin. I know ye realized that Cray and Maeve likely found love before ye two did.”
“Aye, mayhap,” he acknowledged, reminding his cousin Cray was no saint. “The betrayal came in him loving her after she and I came together. After she made her intentions known.”
“Yet she loved him first,” Tiernan reminded bluntly, forcing him to see the truth. Maeve had, in fact, been in love with Cray. Something like that did not simply go away. “I know ‘tis not what ye want to hear or accept but ‘twas mutual. ‘Twas also said he tried to turn her away.”
He knew. He had heard the rumors.
“He clearly didnae try verra hard,” he muttered, but deep down, knew that sort of love was unstoppable.
In no mood to talk about this, he redirected the conversation.
“So what happened to ye and Julie at the Irish Stonehenge?” he began only to stop short when the stone in Chloe’s ring suddenly flashed in his mind.
He tensed, sensing it was a warning.
Seconds later, his fear was confirmed when she screamed in terror.
