He had no idea what to make of what she thought she saw, from the Celtic symbols in the bridge to the face etched in time.
“So why is this called King’s End?” She narrowed her eyes. “Especially considering it’s you.”
“Because many consider it the end of the great sea,” he said. “Where the mighty are humbled. Where a king ends and becomes one with his people as the ocean ends and becomes one with the land.” He held out his hand. “Come. Let me show you.”
While clearly wary of touching him again, she took his hand, and he led her into a tunnel that wound downward. One withopenings large enough to allow light before it ended in the wide circular area at the bottom that appeared both land and sea.
“This isincredible.” She looked with wonder at the tubular circle of rock above that gave way to the king’s face and sky. “It’s so quiet when the wind should be whistling on the rock.” Her gaze fell to the softly swirling ocean water that covered the rock floor but only by a few inches giving the impression of both sea and land all at once. The impression that one could walk on water. “And this is,” she crouched at its edge and ran her hand through the water, “so very unique.”
“’Tis.” He crouched beside her. “If you look closely, you will see various things on its floor that haven’t been swept away by the sea over time. Trinkets my people have left for the gods in hopes of prayers being granted. Many have long thought this a place of great magic. Where anything is possible if you but wish for it.”
A small smile curled her mouth. “Like a wishing well.”
“A wishing what?”
“A wishing well follows the same premise, only not so much to the pagan gods in the twenty-first century.”
“Then to this one god so many of my countrymen have started following?”
“Yeah, Him,” she said softly. “Plus more. Wishing wells or fountains in my era aren’t always about praying to just a Christian god but to whoever the wisher believes in. Allah, Buddha, Fate, Destiny, the Universe, and so much more. As I’m sure you must’ve seen during your time in New Hampshire simply by turning on the television, the world’s become very diverse. Our beliefs are numerous and varied.” She actually smiled at him. “It’s beautiful in its own way.”
It was the first time he had seen her smile, and while it only leant to her beauty, he didn’t much like the sensation it evoked.The strange tightening in his chest. The desire to see it more often.
“We should get going.” He stood. “’Twill be nightfall in a few short hours.”
Shannon stood and eyed the water. “So I assume the tide must be in, and this is as high as the water gets?” She took in the rock walls. “Seeing how there’s no sign of the water rising any higher.”
“That’s right.” Interesting she would mention that. Notice such a thing. He kept her in front of him as they started back up the tunnel. “Yet folklore claims it once filled with water and drowned the kingly image. Some believe that’s the real reason for the name. The original reason.”
Shannon slowed and glanced back at him as if that statement caught her unaware. “What do you believe?”
“I never gave it much thought.” He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me.”
“So you don’t revere this place like your people do?”
“Nay.” He shook his head, more honest with her than intended. “Whilst others find it peaceful, I’ve always thought it sinister.” He narrowed his eyes when he realized how much his feelings toward King’s End over the years aligned with her nightmare. With how she saw him in the king’s rock face. “I always felt it was eager to take something important from me.”
“Interesting.” Her gaze lingered on his face before she continued walking. “I’d like to come back here soon. I feel like...I need to.”
“All right.” While he didn’t much like the idea, he knew there would be no stopping her. He also knew her magic was guiding her, and it should be heeded. “But I will accompany you.” Then to make things clear. “I will accompany you anywhere you go outside my castle gates.”
She stopped and perked a brow at him over her shoulder. “Then you’ll be rescuing Aodh with me?”
“I said no such thing.”
“Didn’t you, though?” She kept going. “Or so I can only assume because once I figure out how to help him, Iwillbe helping him.”
He was about to reply how unlikely that would be when he sensed movement above them.
Then he sensed even more.
