“Something I have no recollection of doing.”
“Which Aisling said might be the case,” Cian said, appearing at the doorway. “That you might not remember right away or at all what you did in a dream.”
Having clearly just bathed, he looked remarkably handsome with his damp tousled locks. Although most around here seemed to wear more brightly colored clothing, Cian again wore black from head to toe, but it suited him. Or should she say suited the dangerous aura he had about him. For a split second, she swore he wore a long black hooded robe cinched at the waist, but a blink later, it was gone. While it should have frightened her, it didn't because it was as much a part of him as his aura.
There was a sadness about him that hadn't been there earlier. A deep fury born of whatever had happened after he left with Bécc.
“Me’Lord.” Deirdre curtsied, then looked between them when their gazes lingered on each other in that way they tended to do. “I will be off then.” She squeezed Madison’s hand. “Ye will do just fine tonight, lassie. I do not doubt it for a moment.”
“Thank you.”
Cian’s gaze lingered on her as he joined her at the railing. “You lookfíorálainn, lass. Truly beautiful,mo dhraoi.”
“My druidess,” she murmured, understanding his language more by the moment. A strange but welcome sensation.
“Because you are.” Rather than drop to his knee this time, he held out her blade, hilt first. “You should never be without this, Madison. It should become an extension of you. ‘Twill keep you safe.”
“Of course.”
She nodded and took it, only to fall to her knees when a vision slammed into her. One moment she was with Cian, the next in the woodland as warriors clashed with warriors.
First, she watched the horror unfold from above, then whoosh, she was inside one of them, fighting for all she was worth.
“Bloody traitors,” she roared, whipping a dagger into an opponent’s sword arm. Giving him no time to veer away, she leapt down from her mount, yanked him off his horse, and ran another blade across his throat.
In the fray of it now, she ran at another and crossed swords. Circled and thrust. Over and over until she drove her blade through his gut.
Not before his blade sliced into her side, though.
Pain tore through her, but she ignored it, punched another incoming warrior, and side-kicked him. Before he could get his bearings, she straddled him, wrapped her hands around his throat, and growled, “Where is he?” She squeezed just hard enough. “Where is yer traitorous King Declán?”
The man’s eyes grew strange. “As if I would tell ye.”
“Ye will if ye’ve any smarts about ye,” she growled. “Any sense of devotion to what our kingdoms once shared.” She squeezed tighter in warning. “The comradery.”
His face grew redder. His breathing turned shallow.
“Did we not once break bread together?” She loosened her grip ever-so-slightly when his gaze softened. Changed enough to give her pause. “Were we not once friends?”
“Do not trust this,” the man gasped. “Do not trust what ye see for—”
Before he could go on, his face grew redder as though she had tightened her grip again. Seconds later, his eyes bulged, and he released his last breath.
Giving her no time to make sense of what he said, another opponent rushed her and knocked her down. They rolled. Punched. Clawed at each other before he gasped and stilled on top of her when someone shot an arrow into his back.
She shoved him aside and nodded thanks to her fellow warrior, only to realize they were the only two left standing. Half a breath later, an arrow sliced through her friend's neck, and he fell to his knees.
“No,” she roared. While tempted to race to him, help him, there were far too many enemy warriors closing in on her. She needed to get back to the castle. Had to warn King Cian. Tell him what happened here.
What the enemy warrior said before something else killed him.
So she raced for her horse, only for the forest to snap away and Cian to reappear.
She gasped at the sensation of being thrust back into her own body.
“Madison.” He cupped her cheek, fearful. “Are you well? What happened?” He shook his head. “You were lost to me. Your thoughts gone.”
Night had fallen, and a few torches burned nearby, giving them just enough light. He sat with his back to the wall and held her on his lap where she had gone down.
