“For our send-off.” He bit back a grin. “And other things.”
“Okay,” she said slowly, squinting against the barely risen sun. “Can you shut the sun off first?”
“I can. Or at least make it more tolerable.” He urged her to drink. “Trust me.”
“Okay.” She managed several sips when he held the cup to her lips, then flopped her head back down. Silence fell for a few minutes before she mumbled, “What did I do, Cian? Just give it to me straight. How much did I embarrass myself? Embarrass you?”
“You embarrassed no one,mo dhraoi.” He lost his smile lest she find it mocking. “You can open your eyes. It should be easier now.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes.”
She opened one eye, then the other, and sighed with relief. “Good God, what was in that drink?”
“Magic.”
“I believe it.”
“Good, because ‘twas and it worked, thankfully.”
“You’re that worried about your magic then?” Madison shook her head and frowned. “No need to answer that. I know you are.” Her expression turned grateful as she took a few more sips. “Thank you, Cian. Unfortunately, this is more needed than you know.”
He offered no response but waited her out. Knew that while his drink would make her feel better, her memories about the night before might have the opposite effect.
Because it would only be a matter of time before they surfaced.
Madison polished off the drink in record time and set it aside, clearly not sure what to say next. Finally, she just came out with it.
“What happened because the last I remember,” she began but trailed off as his drink did its work and, bit by bit, opened the previous night up to her. Brought it all back.
Most of it, anyway.
“I had a really good time.” Madison put a hand to her forehead. “Perhaps too good a time.” She kept mulling it over. “But I wasn’t all that bad, was I?”
“Nay.” He tried to hold back but couldn’t keep from sitting on the edge of the bed when she leaned back against the headboard. “’Tis safe to say that everyone adores you. Every last lad, lass, and child.”
“Yeah,” she said softly, narrowing her eyes. “Deirdre said as much last night.”
Either because they were so connected or because his magic coursed through her veins via his drink, he followed things as they came back to her.
How she had danced and laughed with the wee ones around the fire, her crimson hair shimmering in the flames as they spun. The way she comforted the women and exchanged tale upon tale over food and wine. She had spoken plainly to the men about what was to come with her hand over the hilt of her dagger. Urged them to stand up and fight with that same dagger held high. Told them how proud of them she already was because few were so brave.
“Really not too bad,” she murmured. “It all seems good. Bolder than I’d usually be but good.”
“’Twas.” Cian tried, he really did, but couldn’t help a small grin. “Ye made clear yer place amongst our people, and I could not be more pleased.”
“There’s more to this than your drink is telling me.” Her gaze narrowed again as she thought about it. “Something Deirdre alluded to before....” Three, two, one, her eyes rounded, and her brows shot sky high. “Oh my God, I swore to them I would become their queen and, and,” her eyes rounded further if possible, “and marry you to prove it.”
“Ta, you said—”
“Oh,no,I didnot,” she groaned before she snagged his hand, and her jaw dropped. “Is that what I think it is?”
“’Tis.” Already in love with the sloppy but utterly charming bauble on his finger, he kept grinning. “You declared that I would be the queen to your king, then twisted a bit of flower into a twig, fell to your knee, and asked if I would become your partner ruling our kingdom.”
“Partner?” she asked weakly. “The king to your queen?”
“Ta.” His smile only grew. “You said where you came from labels meant nothing. We could bepartnersas easily as we could be husband and wife.Equals.You could be king. I could be queen.”
