“By yer side either way,” Declán vowed, his gaze cordial enough when he nodded at her and Raghnall. “For our gracious King of Munster has agreed to share ye with me despite ye being his wife.”
That’s when something shifted inside her. Almost as if she had been cast under a spell up until now. Because she suddenly saw the absurdity of the situation. The impossibility of it. Raghnall would never share. Why had she thought for a moment he would?
More to the point, why had she imagined she might be good with that?
“I think mayhap she is starting to figure things out, m’lord,” came a smooth feminine voice that made her skin crawl. “That said, let me see to her now before she figures out more. Before she understands what she is capable of.”
Riona didn’t need Madison’s description of Siobhán to know who the darkly beautiful woman sauntering down the stairs was. There was no missing that kind of evil.
“Imprison her now, Rahgnall,” Siobhán counseled. “Then track down her mutt and end her lest she’s Riona’s familiar.”
“No,” Riona exclaimed, horrified.
If Declán was caught off guard by any of this, he was good at hiding his shock. Rather, much to her mortification, he nodded that he would see to it and headed back outside. Would he really do such a thing? Surely not.
“’Tis all right.” Raghnall rested his hand on her shoulder and contradicted what he had promised minutes before when it came to Luna's safety. “She would not have survived here long, anyway.”
Determined not to let these vipers see her act weak, she shrugged off his touch and bit back tears. “Before all of this is over, I’ll—”
“What?” Siobhán chuckled and shook her head. “Ye are in no position to do anything but see to our king’s needs.” She eyed the door Declán had just left through with an unmistakable look. “Meanwhile, I will see to our other king.”
Were Siobhán and Declán together?Seriously?That was about the last thing she saw coming. She had no idea what to make of it. Part of her felt irritatingly jealous. The other, disgusted. If he was about to kill her dog, then good riddance to him. They deserved each other.
“This must all be a lot for ye to take in.” Raghnall linked arms with her and urged her to walk. “I do apologize for Luna.” His empty gaze seemed anything but remorseful. “Surely ye see the wisdom in it.”
“The wisdom in killing my dog?” she fumed. “Not so much.”
“The wisdom in ending yer familiar,” he corrected. “Until we find one better suited to ye.”
“Does it even work that way?” she asked as they started up the stairs. “Can druidesses find another familiar?”
“Druidesses?” Raghnall shrugged. “Doubtful. But Unnamed Ones?” He gave her a cunning look. “I get the feeling ye’re capable of such and so much more.”
“I don’t feel it,” she murmured. Her mouth didn't work quite right all of a sudden. The stairs blurred. Her limbs grew heavy. “I feel,” she slurred, “really off.”
“But of course ye do.” Raghnall swept her up into his arms and kept going. “This cannot be easy.”
God, was he going to rape her? Was this it? Because she couldn’t fight back if she wanted to. He had done something to her. Used magic of some sort. Things became more and more blurry before everything darkened.
“’Twill be all right,mo ghrá,”he promised. “All will be as it should. As I hope....”
That’s all she caught before she must have passed out because the next thing she knew, somebody was yelling at her to wake up.
“Shh,” she groaned, squinting against the cold mist spraying her face. “Stop it.”
“I cannot stop it because I do not have much time,”the masculine voice replied, not aloud but in her mind.“Neither do ye, to be honest.”
She blinked against the darkness only to realize the mist and cool wind came from an open window.“Where am I?”
“Nowhere ye want to be,”he replied, frustrated.“And ye best address that straight away and make yer way to me. ‘Tis a wonder ye broke from Raghnall’s magic and woke. He will not expect that.”
“And you are?”
“Yer way out of this foul place,”he said.
She blinked and tried to acclimate to her surroundings in random lightning flashes. As far as she could tell, she was in a relatively spacious chamber with little life to it as far as décor went. If anything, it felt uncomfortable in how barren it was with randomly placed furnishings. Almost as if someone tried to make it feel comfortable but had no idea how to go about it.
“Who are you?”she repeated because he wasn’t Declán and good thing. She’d be fine never seeing him again.“Tell me, or I’m not going anywhere.”
