Torn, grief-stricken in a way he didn’t understand, he could only stare at Shannon’s lifeless body. If he got her to a warm fire and got their healer, mayhap...
“Nay.” Declán’s supportive hand rested on his shoulder. Grim, his brother met his eyes and shook his head. “Yer healer is right here, brother, and ye’re running out of time.”
He heard what his brother wasn’t saying. That he was likely already out of time. So he dropped to his knees and laid her down in front of Riona. Prayed she could bring Shannon back.
“She’s...ye cannot let....” He laid the dagger down beside Shannon and met Riona’s eyes, not missing the irony of the situation. Shannon had taken her life. Now it was in Riona’s hands to save hers. “Ye just can’t, Unnamed One.”
“And I would never,” Riona swore softly, understanding his fear. That she might want some sort of retribution. A sense of revenge. “Never.”
Tears ran down her cheeks as she pumped Shannon’s chest with her hands and blew air into her mouth, only to shake her head and mutter, “She’s way past this.”
This time, she placed her hands on Shannon’s chest gently and closed her eyes. He felt her emotions calm even as thunder cracked overhead and the wind gusted more heavily. Declán kept a supportive hand on his shoulder as he crouched beside him. As he prayed to the gods alongside him.
Liam was only vaguely aware of Shannon’s wolf sitting at her feet and lowering his head as though praying too. Oblivious to the ever-growing crowd forming a semi-circle around them, kneeling on one knee, bowing their heads, and praying as well.
All the while, Riona’s dress seemed to grow brighter. Blue magic haloed her as she chanted in an older form of Gaelic he barely understood. She lowered more and more until she rested her cheek on Shannon’s chest and her prayers turned to soft whispers.
Liam bowed his head and kept praying. There seemed to be no life left in Shannon. Her skin was ashen, and her lips blue. He detected no heartbeat. No sign her soul was still there. Yet Riona kept going, as unwilling to give up as him. Determined to bring her sister back.
“Tar ar ais, mo leath eile,”he whispered.“Tar ar ais anamchara.”
Although startled by his sense of familiarity with words he’d never uttered to another, no less a woman, he said them again in English. “Come back, my other half. Come back, my soulmate.”
The moment he said it, Riona’s eyes snapped open and shone blindingly blue. Half a breath later, Shannon made a sputtering sound, then went silent again.
“Roll her on her side,” Riona ordered, so they did and waited...then waited some more. Was she coming back to him, or had that been some sort of fluke? Seconds felt like hours, and hours felt like an eternity as they waited.
“Come back to me,”he whispered, urged, within Shannon's mind.“Don’t go yet.”
Time seemed to stretch, stand still, then speed up all at once as they waited.
Prayed.
Would she make it? Or was this it? The end to saving Ireland? Moreover, what the two of them might have shared to achieve such? It seemed not when finally, at last, water poured out of Shannon’s mouth before she coughed and dragged in air.
“It’s all right, sis.” Riona rubbed Shannon’s back. “You’re okay. Just get it all out then we’ll warm you up.”
Shannon offered no response but kept regurgitating water. Coughing until his relief turned to renewed concern.
“She’s all right,”Riona said into his mind.“The worst is behind her. Now we need to warm her up. Get her into the castle and dried off. Body heat’s the best thing for her now.”She shook her head. “No warm bath. She’s hypothermic, so dry her off, then body heat and blankets only. Skin to skin is best. Her core needs to be warmed before her feet and hands.”
“What happened?”Shannon asked from what seemed a great distance away within his mind.“Where am I?”
“Ye’re safe.”He scooped her up and headed for the castle. Tréan led the way, making it known all should clear a path. “Just keep talking to me, lass.”
“Why?”There was no missing the frown in her voice. Nor that her mind was returning to her readily enough.“When you haven’t wanted to talk to me most of the night?”
“Ta, and I’m sorry for that.”He flew up the back stairs.“’Twas foolish of me.”
“It was.”
This time her telepathic voice seemed a tad further away again. Her body felt colder in his arms.
“Keep talking to me, Shannon,” he ordered aloud, sure to use his kingly tone. One nobody dared ignore. He also targeted the general banter they had shared over the past week. Her dislike of him if it got her riled. Got her blood flowing. “Tell me what you thought of my behavior? What would you have changed?”
“All of it,”she replied hotly enough to satisfy him.“And none of it.”
“Which is it then?” He raced down the hall, then up more stairs to his chamber. “All or none?”
