“Because it is,” Madison said softly, reverently, staring up into the branches. “It just came to me out of nowhere.” She looked at him. “Do you recognize the language?”
“Nay.” He shook his head. “I suspect ‘tis an older Irish dialect. One that your Unnamed One’s ancestors spoke.”
She nodded and said nothing more. Instead, he sensed her feeling it out. Becoming familiar with the old tongue. Accepting what blossomed within her with more and more ease.
Something made clear when she shared her thoughts later that morning as they made their way toward King’s Heart. Their scouts had reported no activity around the tree, so it was best they go. At this point, now that he knew Raghnall could get here anyway, it made little difference.
“I don’t think he can appear just anywhere,” Madison said, following his thoughts. “I’ve been giving this a lot of thought. Mostly feeling out what my magic is telling me. And I’m more and more convinced him finding our exact location had to do with my dream about you and our castle.”
She shook her head before continuing. “Where the dream I had back home was undoubtedly about helping you and your brothers seal off King's Heart, this recent dream felt more personal. About you and me specifically.”
A shiver rippled through her before she went on. “It almost felt like two types of magic warred. What’s growing inside me against something else.” She tilted her head as though trying to pinpoint it. “And I think I felt that something else in the magic used to create Raghnall’s portal. If I didn’t know better, a magic similar to mine yet darker.” She frowned at him over her shoulder. “Any idea what that might have been?”
He met her frown and shook his head.
“How did everything begin between Raghnall and you and your brothers?” She looked ahead again. “Did you ever get along, or were you always at war? And what of his sorceress, Siobhán? What’s her story? How did she end up tearing Liam and Aodh apart only to end up with Raghnall?”
“I’ve never been able to get to the bottom of what happened between her and my brothers,” he replied. “Only that she started with Aodh, went to Liam, then mayhap went back to Aodh before she ended up with Raghnall. Neither brother is a fool, though, so I never quite understood it. Never understood why they let her come betwixt them like she has.”
Then again, if they loved her like he loved Madison, he was getting a better idea. He would fight a hundred brothers to keep her. How could he not, considering how perfectly matched they were? Seen clearly when they lay together last night. He couldn’t get enough of her. Feel enough of her. Because truth be told, nothing had ever felt so good. Euphoric and addictive. He’d wanted her again the moment they finished, despite how sated he already was.
“Love can make people do crazy things.” She sighed. “It’s a shame they let that happen, though.”
“’Tis,” he agreed. “Only I’m not entirely sure ‘twaslove betwixt Siobhán and my brothers. Mayhap them for her, but I never got the sense she felt as strongly in return. Rather I got the feeling she pitted them against each other.”
“I think you sense more than that.” He knew Madison felt out his emotions. His distrust. She glanced back at him in concern. “You think she manipulated them with magic?”
“I do, actually.” He arched a brow. “It makes sense, does it not? Especially if she always intended to go to Raghnall. ‘Twould be a strategic move to turn two of his enemies against each other.”
“It would,” she agreed. “Did you ever tell them as much?”
“I did, but it fell on deaf ears.” He frowned. “To this day, neither will even admit to her being evil. Because she’s surely that at the very least.”
“Which definitely supports your theory that she purposefully turned them against each other.” She narrowed her eyes. “Could Siobhán be a druidess too? Maybe it was her magic I sensed in Raghnall’s portal?”
Could she be? The thought had never occurred to him. If anything, her magic felt more kindred to a witch’s. Yet Madison might be on to something. “’Tis possible as dark druids have existed.” He shook his head. “But I would have thought one of us would have sensed it.”
“Have you ever sensed a dark druid?”
“Nay.”
“Then maybe it’s not something you can do.” She shrugged. “Maybe only guys like Raghnall can sense her sort. Which is...what exactly? A dark wizard?”
“Raghnall is a warlock.” He filled her in on how it all began. “We don’t know where he came from. Only that he was born around the same time as us and was always prone to evil. Always had the need to conquer all in his path.”
“So that’s the difference between wizards and warlocks? It's just a matter of good versus evil?”
“Whilst more complicated than that depending on the person,ta, more or less. I can tap into dark magic, which makes me a dark wizard, but I cannot sustain evil for long.” He remained honest. “Had Raven not come to my aid within my mother’s womb, ‘tis very likely I would have been born a warlock as well. Without doubt, actually.”
He had already gone into greater detail about how Raven had helped him in spirit form before she’d been born, bonding them for life. It was that act that indebted him to her. And that act that had allowed her to cast him under a spell. Something he forgave, considering she had inevitably kept him from a murderous life which, in effect, saved countless others.
“Well, then I forgive her too,” Madison said, following his thoughts. “So that means, the way fate or the gods designed it, you would have been an ally to Raghnall. Because your brothers didn’t have the same evil in them, did they?”
“Nay.” He nodded. “So yes, had Raven not helped me, I imagine ‘twould have been two kings against three.”
“Which, if we’re to assume Siobhán is just as powerful, means three against three.”
He nodded. “That’s right.”
