“Well, of course, it doesn’t.” Not liking the sound of that when she had always been a relatively upbeat person, she shivered again. “I’m not dark.” She frowned. “Which means what exactly?” She looked back and forth between them. “Notevil,I hope?”
“Not necessarily,” Liam replied, while Shannon said far more bluntly, “Yes.”
“Excuse me?” She stood and gestured at Luna. “Would my dog, my possiblefamiliar, come running back to me after her latest wanderlust quest if I were turningevil?”
“I think Luna would follow you anywhere, no matter what,” Shannon said, standing as well.
“As much as I hate to admit it, I agree.” Liam stood too. “This bears watching.”
“Watching?” She rounded her eyes at him. “You can’t be serious?”
“I am, all things considered.” He clearly hated reminding her but did so regardless. “Remember, ’tis said Declán and Raghnall fell in love with the same druidess in another life, Riona.”
“It is,” she conceded. “But nothing was ever said about her returning their love.” Nausea welled because she lied. Had no idea why, only that she did. Not a confrontational sort by any means, she meant to stride away from them but couldn’t seem to move. “I didn’t return their love,” she said weakly. “Not his...surely not his.”
Luna whimpered and leaned against her leg when she started trembling yet again.
“I couldn’t have,” she whispered, clenching her sketchbook when she saw Raghnall’s face as clearly as she did Declán’s. Desperate to hold on to it in a way she shouldn’t if she were meant for Declán. Her gaze drifted to her sister. “You know me, Shannon. You know I’m incapable....”
“At least in this life,” her sister agreed, still painfully blunt. “Who knows what any of us were like in our previous life?” She squeezed Riona’s shoulder in support. “Either way, Liam’s right. You should focus on Declán, not Raghnall.” She reminded her what the enemy king was capable of. “If for no other reason than Raghnall has the power to influence others. To cast them under a spell to do his bidding.”
“She’s right.” Liam eyed Shannon warily. “Only I don’t know how you can agree with me, given you weren’t outside yet when I told your sister to focus on Declán.”
“Wasn’t I?” Shannon said vaguely. Rather than elaborate on how she knew he had said it because that would imply she’d caught his thoughts, she ushered Riona inside and urged her to sit at the kitchen table. “Let me get you something better than whatever that is in the skin Liam gave you.”
“’Tis good Irish whiskey,” he muttered.
“Whiskey manifested by magic,” Shannon countered. “When your magic is anything but dependable lately, right?” She replaced the skin with a glass of whiskey on the rocks. “Which means your whiskey could be tainted.”
Riona sighed, shook her head, and shot Liam an apologetic look as she replied to Shannon. “It was fine, but thanks anyway, sis.”
She might be dealing with her own issues, but she worried about the two of them. Worried even more about how things would be when she inevitably traveled back in time and left them alone together. Because no matter Shannon’s aversion to Liam, it was clear their path lay together. Especially given there seemed to be nothing between him and Constance.
Then again, her sister rarely came out of her room, so who knew?
“I take it Constance is at work again?” she asked. “And avoiding all of this until she has no choice but to pay attention?”
One would have thought she’d be paying attention by now, but Constance had always avoided anything to do with their dreams. Especially her own repetitive dream. One she vaguely admitted existed years ago but, since then, had remained close-lipped about the details.
All they knew was her dress was red.
Now, although here, mentally she was anywhere but. Instead, she’d avoided Liam and spent her time online in zoom meetings working out her latest charity benefits and saving the world to the best of her ability. Ironic, considering if she didn’t start taking a more active part in all this soon, they wouldn’t save Ireland.
To that end, the world as they knew it might be a lot worse off.
“Yes, Constance is avoiding all this.” Shannon shook her head. “And no, I haven’t been able to get an answer out of her about appearing to Madison before she arrived here. She claims it didn’t happen.”
“Mayhap if I go talk to—”
“No.” Shannon scowled at Liam. “You’re thelastperson who should talk to her.”
Typically when Shannon got that tone with people, they backed down but not Liam. Either because he wasn’t threatened by it or because he simply liked to rile her up.
“Why shouldn’t I talk to her when she might be destined to help me?” Liam eyed Shannon with amusement. “Like you may be meant to help my brother, Aodh?”
Since Constance had seen Aodh’s catlike eyes in one of Riona’s photos and claimed him the devil, she had avoided talking about him along with everything else going on.
“You and Aodh would make sense, Shannon.” Riona grinned at her sister. “You being a veterinarian and him half dragon.” She gave it some thought. “If dragons are considered animals, that is.”
