“Maybe.” Stunned by what she had just accomplished, she took a moment to gather herself. “I just wish I knew how I did that.” She tilted her head in question when she realized what he had said. How much he apparently knew. “So, despite being behind enemy lines, you’ve been following things?” She rounded her eyes when she realized the enormity of that. “That’s where we are right now, isn’t it? On Raghnall’s land?”
“’Tis but not for much longer.” He shook his head. “Not if I can help it.”
She felt rather than saw what he wasn’t saying.
“They’re coming, aren’t they?” Caught somewhere between anticipation and terror, she swallowed hard. “Declán and Raghnall know I’m here.”
“’Twould be safe to assume given I sensed you coming.”
“That’s when you were wounded, wasn’t it?” she said, not entirely sure how she knew that.
He nodded. “’Tis a rare day someone gets their blade by me, but your presence was...distracting.”
The guttural way he said it gave her pause. Though he was undeniably handsome, she was no more drawn to him than she was to Liam.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured, not sure what else to say. “I didn’t mean to distract you. I thought you needed my help, so I came...somehow.”
“In all honesty, ‘twas less you and more someone else.” He frowned. “Someone near you....”
“Near me?” She shrugged. “That had to have been Liam, then. Or maybe Shannon.”
“’Twas not Liam,” he muttered with disgust. “He would distract me as much as the mud under my boot.”
Not wanting to get in the middle of their feud, she steered the conversation elsewhere. “Then it had to have been my sister, Shannon.” Well aware he still hadn’t answered her previous question, she narrowed her eyes. “So how do you know what’s going on with everything, considering you’ve been behind enemy lines since Madison and Cian discovered their backstory?Yourbackstory?”
“’Tis just coming to me,” he said vaguely. “No doubt through Cian.”
Somehow she didn’t buy that but left it alone for now.
“We need to get you to Cian and Madison,” he went on. “Straight away.” He cocked his head again and listened closely before nodding. “They’re gone, so ‘tis time.” He frowned at her clothes. “But not in that.”
“Don’t,” she began, but it was too late. He flicked his wrist, and she wore, not surprisingly, a blue linen dress appropriate to the time period. It wasn’t like the one from her dream, but neither was Madison’s when Cian first provided her a green dress.
Aodh frowned. “While not the color I envisioned, ‘tis nice enough.”
What color had he envisioned? That wasn't her most pressing concern, though.
“Did you see anything?” She met his frown. “Because Cian said wizards tend to see what others can’t when doing that chant-a-girl-into-a-new-wardrobe thing.”
It turned out he was every bit as blunt as Shannon.
“I saw enough to know you will please either my brothers or me greatly.” His dragon eyes flared, and he winked, hinting at a surprising sense of humor. “Until then, we must get you to safety as soon as possible.”
She wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or put off by his words. Put off or taken by him in general. Not in the sense she was drawn to Declán or possibly even Raghnall but in some other indefinable way. He was rough around the edges and nowhere as smooth with women as Liam, but he had something beyond good looks that drew women to him. Something she’d be inclined to call raw sex appeal if she didn’t know better.
“My horse was injured, so we will have to travel on foot.” He gave her a look she couldn’t mistake. She was in trouble. “’Twould be best if I carried you and ran. ‘Twould get us there faster.”
Yet, for all his words, his dire warnings, she caught the emotions he wasn’t expressing. The pain he felt. “What happened to your horse? Will it be okay?”
She could only be grateful Luna hadn’t somehow followed her here. Especially if the enemy were closing in on her.
“My horse was gravely injured, and I had to leave it behind,” he said gruffly, urging her to follow. “He will be sorely missed, for few beasties can tolerate my sort.”
She could only imagine. In her childhood fairytale, horses would be terrified of dragons. Especially one as ferocious as she suspected Aodh could be.
“I think I’d really rather walk,” she began but trailed off when they stepped outside, and she finally took in her surroundings beyond the forest floor she had caught glimpses of from Aodh’s shoulder.
The woods were different here than back home. More vibrant. Less tainted by pollutants. More alive somehow. The trees seemed to sparkle. The normal sounds of the woodland were more pronounced.
