“Because we saw what we just saw,”she realized.
“Ta,” he replied.“More specifically, because ye came into yer blade and remembered Liam. Saw him in that life. Truly believed what a part of ye has denied up until now. Felt what ye needed to feel.”
“Which was what exactly?”Liam said, evidently part of the conversation.
“Must I put words to it?”
“Yes,”she and Liam said at the same time.
“Seriously?” Riona asked aloud, seemingly part of the conversation as well. Her brows shot up when she looked at Liam and Shannon. “Didn’t you two feel how much you cared about each other?Lovedeach other?” Before either could reply, and despite being the murder victim of this strange tale, she put a hand to her heart. “I’m not sure if you’d confessed it to each other at that point, but the feelings were definitely there. Had been for a long time.”
“So hypocrite it is,” Shannon groaned, not about to confess to anything her former self might have felt despite knowing her sister was right. “What kind of personwasI?”
“One with a noble heart,”Tréan reiterated.“And ‘twill only be a matter of time before ye remember.”He surprised both Liam and Shannon when he lowered his head to Liam as well.“Only a matter of time before ye both remember.”
“Very little time, too, I’d say.” Riona gestured at the Celtic symbols carved into the bridge. “Those weren’t there before, were they? Not to most eyes.”
“Nay.” Liam looked at Tréan with curiosity as he passed him, then crouched in front of a section with more symbols than most. He cocked his head and studied them. Undoubtedly recognized and was surprised by some. Others clearly baffled him. “They seem familiar somehow. As if...”
“Ye might know who put them there, aye, laddie?” came yet another foreign voice when he trailed off.
Or so she thought until Liam stood, smiled, and greeted the last person she imagined meeting.
Chapter Fourteen
“’TWAS YE WHO helped us last night, then.” Liam stood and grinned at the old man with snowy white hair. He wore white robes and carried a gnarly cane. “’Tis good to see ye again, brother Adlin. It has been far too long.”
“Aye.” Adlin grinned at the lasses, his eyes merry and his Scottish brogue thicker than ever. “And good to be seen.”
“You were the real estate agent who sold us our house in New Hampshire.” Having clearly seen such via her connection with Madison, who had first made contact with Adlin, Riona smiled in return. “Which tells me you likely know everything that needs to happen here in medieval Ireland.”
“I know enough.” Adlin nodded hello to Shannon’s wolf, then gestured at the symbols on the bridge. “’Twill not be long before all reveals itself. Until then, ‘tis imperative ye not stray from what yer past shows ye.” His gaze landed squarely on Shannon. “That ye not rush into something until ye have all yer facts.”
“You could only be talking about saving Aodh,” Liam said.Hoped. “Because ‘twould be foolish of her to go to him.”
“All I can say is what I just said,” Adlin replied cryptically. His gaze went from Shannon to Liam. “’Twill happen quickly now, brother.” He shook his head, and his eyes shone blue, much like Shannon’s had shone peach when the memory appeared minutes before. “The best thing ye can do is push past yer angerand see clearly. Remember what ye did. What she did. How such can help free yer dragon brethren.”
Liamdidfeel anger. Both in this life and the last. While he understood where it came from in this life, he wasn’t entirely sure where it came from in the other. Just that it grew stronger. Was it all at Shannon, though? It was safe to say he felt overwhelming anger in the memory they had just witnessed but had that lasted?
He was about to ask Adlin to elaborate, but his Scottish brethren vanished as quickly as he had appeared.
