“Ta,” he agreed, however disappointed he might be. Despite the incoming storm, he liked being here with her. Liked it more than he’d liked anything in a very long time, despite the sadness this part of the castle invoked. “But mayhap I can show ye more of the castle first? I wanted to show you—”
“I think I would rather go back to my sister, now.” She nodded once as if trying to convince herself. “If you don’t mind?”
“Of course.” He tried not to let how quickly she closed herself off bother him. How desperate he’d felt to spend more time alone with her. “’Twill be bad weather soon enough, anyway.”
She nodded, a grateful look in her eyes that he was being cordial about it when his dragon would not have been. When she likely didn’t believe his human half could have been even an hour before.
And she had every right to think that because it was true.
Which made him realize, as he led her back to the great hall, that Ulrik’s magic was great indeed.Orshe brought out something in Aodh nobody else could. He wasn’t sure what, only that he wanted more of it.
More of her any which way he could get her.
“Ye seem changed already, King Aodh,” Tréan said sometime later, joining him in front of one of the smaller fires toward the center of the great hall. “More at peace somehow.”
“Ye can likely thank the Viking for that.” He filled Tréan’s mug with ale and made things clear yet again. “And I told ye to call me uncle. Ye’re Liam’s son, so ye’re my nephew.” He shook his head. “It matters not that ye’re half wolf and I’m half dragon. We are kin.”
“Ta, uncle.” Tréan nodded and raised his mug when Aodh’s second-in-command raised his in agreement with his king.
Aodh had enjoyed getting to know Tréan these past few days. He had a good mind about him and fought well. He would make a good king someday if that was his calling.
“So what is the plan?” Tréan wondered. “Will we attack Siobhán or wait for her to make the first move?”
“Thanks to yer da’s magic when he confronted her, ‘twill take a wee bit of time for Siobhán to recover, so we will give Constance a few days to acclimate,” he said. “Mayhap time to discover where her Unnamed One’s dagger is, so she might come fully into her powers.”
He tried to keep his gaze on those he sat with, but too often, it drifted back to her. She sat at a table near the hearth with Liam, Shannon, and Ulrik. He’d be lying if he didn’t say he still felt jealousy toward the Viking but knew better than to act on it. If not for the sake of his pride but because he sensed it wouldn’t sit well with Constance, and he didn’t want to jeopardize the understanding they seemed to have reached over the past few hours. The civility they had found. Mayhap to his ambitious way of thinking, even the beginning of a possible friendship.
“’Tis a wise plan to wait.” Tréan eyed Constance. “I cannot imagine it will take her long to come into herself for, like ye, she seems changed already.”
“She does,” Eircc agreed gruffly, sure to keep his admiring glance brief. “There is a new glow about her,ta?”
“Again, the Viking.” He told them about what Ulrik had done. “It made a difference. Helped a great deal, actually.”
“’Tis no small thing repressing our other halves.” Tréan seemed impressed yet wary. “Did that not anger yer dragon? My inner wolf would not have liked it.”
“I don’t care if it did anger it.” Aodh took another sip of ale and shook his head. “It cannot be trusted around her.” He eyed Tréan curiously. “Ye knew other wolf shifters in yer previous life,ta?”
“I did.”
“Did yer females put off a scent?” He tried not to think about Constance’s unique aroma lest his dragon find a way past Ulrik’s magic. “A scent,” how to phrase it? “unique to yer breed?”
“Ta.” Tréan shook his head and looked at him with empathy. “’Tis a hard thing to stay away from.”
“’Tis,” he said gruffly. “I cannot imagine what my dragon would have done had Ulrik not been here.” He shook his head again. “We would not have discovered much of anything.”
How could they when he would have had her in his bed the entire time?
“I cannot say how it is with dragons,” Tréan replied, “but with wolves, a female’s scent is appealing to the wolf destined to mate with her.” He shrugged. “’Tis another story when she’s in heat. Then she attracts all male wolves but typically only prefers one or two in return.”
“’Tis how it works for dragons, too,”Ulrik said telepathically, evidently following their conversation easily enough despite being across the room.“Which should tell you everything you need to know, Aodh.”
He tried to ignore a surge of satisfaction. If Constance’s dragon had been attracted to Ulrik’s, she wouldn’t have responded to Aodh like she had. Even so, and despite the logic of it, he would much rather be sitting between her and the Viking. Would rather be the one she chatted with and offered a small smile to every so often.
Yet he felt her need for a little distance between them. Felt her conflicting emotions. Her shared concern that Ulrik’s magic would only hold for so long. So he focused on those he sat with and enjoyed their company for several hours before he meandered her way when dinner was being served. As their esteemed guest, her place was by his side at the head of the table.
“Your people are wonderful.” She thanked him when he held out a chair so she could sit. “Everyone’s so friendly.”
He was glad to hear it. Wished he could have been by her side while she greeted them. Understood what she feared most.
