“Obviously,” Madison murmured, stepping back when he stepped forward. “How is that, though? How do I know you? How were you in my dreams?”
In her dreams? So she reallyhadbeen with him, if only in her sleep. While tempted to tell her as much, he refrained for now. At least until they adjusted to seeing one another.
“I would assume you know me from the book you claim I wrote,” he replied, saying what made sense at the moment.
He stopped after he ducked into the foyer, pleased when she didn't back up but stood her ground despite how close they were. She smelled of sweet forest flowers. Of Ireland's woodland in springtime. Slender with lithe enticing curves, she only came up to his shoulders but had a way of seeming taller as she looked at him.
“Idoknow you,” Madison confirmed. “But somehow, I get the feeling it’s beyond Adlin’s book...yourbook.”
When she stepped around him to shut the door, it happened.
Her arm brushed his, and he about dropped to his knees at the feel of her. Not only because of desire he knew better than to feel but because there was so much more to her than met the eye.
Something much more profound than her astounding beauty.
“You’re adruidess,” he said, baffled by how clearly it came through. He met her eyes, however startled they may be. “Thatis what I’m supposed to remind you of because it will lead us to so much more.”
Her brows flew together. “I’m awhat?”
“A druidess.”
Madison seemed ready to argue before she became more distracted by him. Her eyes widened. “And you’re more than just a king and wizard.” Her perception was spot on. “You possess dark power.”
“And light power.” He searched her eyes, desperate that she see all sides of him. “You should know that.” He shook his head. “I am...”
He trailed off, not quite sure how to put it.
“Different.” She surprised him when she rested her hand on his forearm. “Just like me.”
Their gazes continued to hold before Riona broke the moment again and urged him to come sit, have coffee and muffins, and explain how it was her sister was a druidess to him and a psychic to those here in the twenty-first century.
“By my estimation,” Riona tapped something into her phone and read whatever appeared, “the definitions aren’t really all that different.” She grimaced at Madison. “Though I wouldn’t exactly call you apriestess.”
“Priestess is a relative term,” he said.
“How so?” Madison wondered, not nearly as baffled as she should be by all this.
Their gazes never left one another’s faces.
“’Tis complicated to explain in this day and age,” he managed, caught off guard by how clearly he saw it now. “Or not really complicated at all.”
Madison’s and Riona’s brows shot up at the same time. Where Madison frowned, Riona shrugged and grinned. “Sounds right up our alley, sis.” Her sister ushered Cian into the kitchen and urged him to sit at the table. “Sit, and relax, then we’ll go from there.” She looked at Madison and gestured at the chair across from him where an uneaten muffin lay waiting. “Eat your breakfast.”
Madison's gaze remained on him as they sat. If he didn't know better, she was trying to figure out how he fit into what she already knew about him.
“I,” they both led with but stopped, urging the other to continue.
“Here.” Riona set a muffin and cup of coffee in front of him, then leaned against the counter and looked back and forth between them before her gaze settled on Cian. “I think the best place to start is with you. Your story.” She shot her sister a questioning look. “Then we’ll go from there?”
Madison nodded, her voice slightly strained. “That would be good.” She slid an ancient-looking book his way. “But first, you might want to refresh your memory with this, Cian.”
The moment he touched the book, he knew Adlin was behind it. Had likely even authored it and said as much when he leafed through it and read about his own adventures. Some only days ago.
Madison frowned. “Why would he say you had written it when you hadn’t?”
Did he detect disappointment in her voice? As though perhaps she wished he had?
“Knowing Adlin, I would imagine to compel you to stay.” He shrugged. “And likely to prepare you for what was to come.”
