Putting one foot in front of the other proved difficult as Shannon steered her in his direction. It almost felt like her feet weren’t attached. That she gravitated toward him rather than merely walked. Could it be she’d been wrong about him? That there was a decent man inside the monster who was worth knowing?
She no sooner thought it when she felt his inner dragon growl somewhere in her mind, and his expression soured. At first, she didn’t understand why until Ulrik greeted her a little flirtatiously.
Aodh wasjealous?
Then again, was that really such a far-fetched idea given what she’d felt off of his dragon in her nightmares? How he had stolen her away? Become so possessive?
If his cold behavior wasn’t enough, he’d proceeded to introduce her to his people as though she were their savior. As if she would fix everything. Of course, that only added to her anxiety, making it hard to acclimate. How could she fix everything for so many? She couldn’t fix her own issues, never mind theirs. Couldn’t tamp down her dark urges or get rid of the beast living inside her.
One that, much to her mortification, when they first touched, had made it clear to Aodh what her human half had vowed to do to him. She wasn’t sure how she knew that, but she did. And so did he, if the flicker of fire she swore she saw in his eyes when she slipped her arm into his was any indication.
They might have made physical contact when he saved her from Siobhán’s clutches, but touching him now was different, no doubt because she was healthier. Which didn’t necessarily mean good things when his expression tightened, and he led her along a little too firmly.
For a second, she felt the same fear she’d experienced in her nightmare. The sense that he was dragging her off to some dire fate, only now it was toward a door off to their left. One that would take her from a great hall she initially dreaded, then found oddly appealing the longer she was in it.
Much like her chamber, it was furnished with dark woods and heavy tapestries designed to warm the castle against the biting north winds. Winds that seemed to make it into every tapestry in the form of raging waves or rolling clouds, highlighting the most ferocious aspects of nature.
Aodh remained silent as he led her down a torch-lit hallway to another set of much narrower stairs, but she felt his frustration. Simmering anger that made her wonder why she kept going. Why she was willing to go anywhere alone with him when he was her monster and could easily overpower her.
“You come with me because your monster, as you call me, helped save your life,” he grunted, clearly following her thoughts. His accent thickened, and his deep voice made a strange little shiver rush through her. “And because ye know yer sister would never let ye go anywhere with someone she thought might harm ye.”
Despite his anger, she was acutely aware of how his presence behind her going up the stairs made her feel. The way his eyes felt on her. She had been checked out by men at home, but something outside the obvious was different about how Aodh looked at her. She felt his regard bone deep even when she wasn’t looking at him.
They ended up in a hallway overlooking the great hall, which allowed for an excellent vantage point of everything happening below.
“I know this view,” she whispered, unsettled. She forced herself to rest her hands on the balustrade when she was tempted to white-knuckle it. “How do I know this view?” Before he could reply, she narrowed her eyes at him. “This is because of what you did to me in the ocean, isn’t it? I’m somehow seeing everything through your eyes now because you evidently saved me?”
She tried to thank him for that but struggled with it. Struggled with saying thank you to someone who, for so long, had made her dreams hell.
“I don’t know why this looks familiar to ye, nor do I care.” He crossed his arms over his broad chest and eyed the great hall with a heavy frown before his turbulent regard settled on her. “What Idocare about is why ye mean to kill me after the kindness I’ve shown ye?” He definitely moved into her personal space. “And why ye intend to do it at such a location?”
“For starters, the vow I made to see you fall or see you dead was before you saved me.” While tempted to move away when he stood too close—his demeanor what some might consider threatening of a man his size—she held her ground. “A vow I made based off a....” She shook her head, unwilling to share so much with him. “As to the location, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He arched a brow in disbelief. “Do ye not?”
Before she could reply, he continued down the hall and barked over his shoulder that she should follow him. While tempted to blow him off and head back downstairs where it was undoubtedly safer, something inside her was too curious for her own good. Something was toying with her like it had downstairs, making her gravitate toward him.
Or after him, as it were.
The next set of stairs were steeper and narrower, ending on an outside walkway that overlooked a breathtaking view. She had refused to look out her window when she’d been in her chamber because it would make all this real, but now she had no choice.
“Although I suspect you don’t need it,” Aodh muttered, swinging a fur cloak around her shoulders from behind when moments before, he had been ahead of her. “Let me show you, lass.” That strange shiver rippled through her again when he put his hand to the small of her back and urged her to walk. “Show you what will surely be familiar.”
Normally, she would shrug away from his touch and rebuke what sounded like an order, but she was too drawn to the countryside around her. To the sweeping ocean beyond. Vibrant greens were dulled, and snow swept like something out of a painting.
“I’ve been here, too,” she managed, certain of it as she rested her hands on the cold stone railing facing the forest. “Through you, I guess.”
“Or was it somehow you?” Aodh wondered, suddenly right behind her.
She went perfectly still when he rested his hands on either side of hers and came so close she felt his heat against her back.
“What if you were here in another life like your sisters were?” he murmured close enough to her ear that shivers of awareness turned into a raging inferno. “What if you stood in this very kingdom? In this castle? What if you’ve been plotting with Siobhán since you were young and are only just now remembering? ‘Tis said you were close in your last life, after all.”
“What is it you want to hear?” She tried to focus on her building rage rather than the frustrating desire rolling through her. A blossoming ache between her thighs she had never felt before. “Because I don’t have the answers. All I know is you’ve been my enemy for longer than I can remember. Turned my dreams into nightmares.” She tried to keep her voice steady, but it cracked. “Imprisoned me and made my life hell. A hell your dragon was always at the root of.”
She knew when he tensed that caught him off guard.
“As were you at the root of mine,” he finally said softly. Too softly before he inhaled deeply, released a ragged groan, and pressed closer. Close enough to let her know just how aroused he had become despite their heated conversation. She blinked, startled when her vision hazed red.
