“Are you all right,mo dhraoi?” He wiped away her tears and searched her eyes. “Are you back with me?”
“Yes,” she whispered, parched, grateful when he brought a cup of cool water to her lips. She took a few sips and found her voice. “It was that dream again. In my green dress. Only this time you were there.”
She told him how he couldn’t seem to hear her. Wouldn’t look her way. That it was important he remember her. “The harder I ran toward you, the further away you were.” She shook her head. “It felt like something was pulling you away from me. Like I would lose you forever.”
“Yet I’m right here.” He urged her to drink more water, cupped her cheek, and made sure her eyes stayed with his. “And I’m not going anywhere, Madison.” He shook his head as well. “Whatever happens in the end, no matter what the gods have planned for us, Iwillfind you.” He ground his jaw, his gaze fierce. “Willbe with you.”
He was about to go on when Aisling interrupted him.“M’Lord, something stirs!”
“Trouble is afoot.”Oran landed on the branch above them.“It’s as if it were specifically drawn to this location.”
“Whatwas drawn to this location?”
“Magic,”Aisling reported.“Deceptive magic that comes fast.”
“What does that mean?” Madison asked, shocked when Cian chanted her into clothes and him into the long black robes she had sworn she’d seen him in before. She had meant to ask him about them but kept forgetting.Almostas if magic itself kept her curiosity at bay. But then, of course it had because those were clearly wizard robes.
Cian leapt to his feet, grabbed his sword, and pressed her blade into her hand, his expression grim. “Do not hesitate to use this,mo dhraoi.”
“What’s coming?” She glanced from Oran to Aisling flickering in the trees. “Surely you must have some idea?”
“All we know is that ‘twas drawn here,”Aisling replied.
Madison had no chance to respond before a pulse reverberated from the forest, and where, moments before, there had been nothing, at least two dozen warriors appeared out of thin air. Cian chanted and flung his hand out, only for a third of them to fly back as if hit by a blast.
“Trust your blade, lass.” Cian tossed her a look that told her everything she needed to know. The enemy wasn't playing fair. So said the magic used to get them here. “And fight well.”
Say what?Fight?She had no chance to respond before he flung out his hand again, blew back a few more warriors, and raced at the ones still standing.
Meanwhile, Aisling flittered off, no doubt to alert Cian’s warriors.
Oran bobbed his head at Madison.“I will be by yer side every step of the way, m’Lady.”
Had he just sounded Irish? She had no chance to question him before Cian swiped his sword across the guts of two warriors, then punched a third but not before several got past him and rushed her way. Oran dive-bombed one but that still left two, then three, then a fourth.
“Oh, no.” She looked from them to her blade. While she’d sensed she knew how to use it in the armory, now she felt uncertain. What should she do? Whip it at them? If she did, that would only take out one. Then she would lose her blade and still have no clue how to fight. When she stumbled back, terrified, the warriors slowed and grinned, sensing easy prey.
“She’s naught but a helpless lassie,” one sneered, eyeing her over. He flashed a lewd smile full of crooked, blackened teeth. “I’ll keep her company whilst ye finish off the other, lads.”
“Why ye?” another growled, licking his lips. “When ‘tis clear she’s in need of a bigger cock than what ye’ve got to offer.”
This wasn’t good.
Especially when the warriors Cian knocked down got back up. He was putting up a good fight, downing several, but there were too many. Worse yet, in her opinion, he wasn't using magic to kill them in accordance to the rules of wizards and men despite it being clear magic had brought the enemy here.
Cian flung a dagger into the windpipe of one warrior and his sword into the gut of another before a third man slammed into him. They went down. Rolled. He blocked a near slice to his throat with a punch to his opponent’s face, only for another guy to kick him hard in the side. If that weren't enough, another kicked him from the other side.
“No,” she cried.
Terrified for him, she raced forward only to have Rotten Teeth snatch her around the waist before she got any further. Big mistake because it felt like a bomb went off inside her. Or, more specifically, a burst of emerald green light as her dagger became a sword and pure rage swept through her.
Theydaredhurt Cian?
Daredtouch her?
Green spiked her vision as she drove her blade through Rotten Teeth before whipping around and slicing her sword clean through another warrior’s arm. The other two stumbled back but not fast enough before she spun and tore their mid-sections open.
Cian killed the warrior on top of him, leapt to his feet, only for more warriors to pour out of the strange pulse that had birthed the ones already here. When he glanced her way with his heart in his eyes, she knew this was it. Just the two of them.
