“I don’t want to be half dragon,” she said bluntly, needing it out there. Needed him to understand. “It goes against everything I believe in.”
“I don’t want to be half dragon either,” he said just as bluntly, surprising her. “I never have.”
When he shrugged and finally looked her way, she didn’t miss the flicker of disappointment in his eyes at her cross. One that Shannon had manifested, so she knew God was still with her. She also saw remorse in his steady gaze. The heavy weight he carried.
“Unlike you, I don’t sense my gods hate my inner beast,” he went on. “I and I alone dislike and distrust it because I think,knownow, ‘tis capable of great destruction. Capable of harming innocent people without a second thought.”
She was surprised by that. Surprised by the devotion she sensed inside him when it came to protecting those who couldn’t protect themselves. Who had fallen on difficult times or were too weak, frail, sick, young, or old to defend themselves against the harms of the world.
“I take it your dragon hurt people when you weren’t under Siobhán’s possession?” she assumed, touched by what he said and felt despite herself.
“Aye.” He sighed and nodded once. “When I was younger, it killed an animal to defend Liam. An animal he could have evaded easily enough.” He shook his head. “After that, ‘twas not something I was interested in being anymore. ‘Twas bloodthirsty and beyond my control.”
She tended to agree with him based on her nightmares. Still. Hearing the angst in his voice and seeing the defiance on his face made her feel unusual. Defensive in a way that made no sense.
A feeling that made even less sense when she was compelled to continue along the walkway. When she knew she had to see something before the sun sank below the horizon, and the storm clouds looming in the distance drove them inside.
Although she shouldn’t know where she was going, she did because her surroundings felt more and more familiar. From the next hallway she entered to the stairs she went down, then those she climbed back up before Aodh caught her wrist and stopped her.
“You shouldn’t go any further,” he warned. “’Tis far too dangerous.”
“But I have to,” she whispered, positive of it.
So certain that she yanked her arm free and ran the rest of the way, only to stop short when Aodh’s arm came around her and pulled her back.
But not before she saw something heartbreaking.
Something that only drove her further into Aodh’s arms when that was the last place she wanted to be.
Chapter Six
THIS TIME WHEN Aodhpulled Constance back against him, his mind wasn’t consumed by lust but by fear that she would hurt herself. As it were, she had nearly plummeted off a drop straight into the charcoaled ruins of his castle.
“Oh, God,” she gasped and put a hand over her mouth. He was surprised by the emotions he felt blowing through her. Anger and confusion but mostly heartache.
“This is just another reason to hate my dragon.” Though tempted to keep her in his arms because she felt so good there, he sidled around her and stood so she could view the destruction but wouldn’t plummet over the edge without him catching her first. “This is what ‘tis capable of even to its own home. Its own people.”
