Even though he struggled to find the same conviction, he was grateful. He appreciated what his dragon had done for his brother and Constance yet still remained appalled at all he'd been capable of over the past week. The violence that lived within him.
“So are we to assume your dagger isn’t here after all?” Shannon frowned at Aodh. “Or did Siobhán get a hold of it?”
He shook his head. “I have no idea.”
“I think I do.” Constance paused for a moment as though picking up something out of his dragon’s ash. The way she rubbed it between her fingers made not just his inner beast but his human half come to attention. It was almost as if she connected with them through it. Pulled them closer. Caressed them somehow.
“I don’t think it’s here,” she finally said. “In fact, I’m positive it’s not.” She shook her head and looked at him. “We were smarter than that.”
“Which implies you might have known Siobhán was looking for it years ago.” Liam gave Shannon a grim look. “We can only hope that means she never made contact with it in this life like she did ours.”
“Which,” Shannon gave Constance a warning look, “doesn’t mean she didn’t in your last life.” Her gaze flickered between Aodh and Constance, and her brows furrowed. “As you well know from what Liam and I went through, it’s downright scary how much that woman can influence things.” She shook her head. “Don’t trust any negative feelings you guys may experience. Focus on the positive and see where that gets you because I guarantee anything negative is straight out of that bitch’s web.”
Where Aodh might have doubted that statement in its entirety even a day ago, considering how he’d felt about Constance, he thought otherwise now. They may have been led astray along the way, but at one time, they had clearly been close. He’d cared deeply for her. Loved her as a friend, at the very least. How could he not based on what he felt when his younger self thought she had died? Then when he saw her dragon for the first time and knew she was alive?
“I thought you should know you have a visitor, Constance.” Ulrik gestured at the doorway he’d stepped through, only for a reddish wolf-looking dog to appear.
“Oh, no,Zeke.” Constance went to step toward him but stopped. “Madison should have kept you with her.” She glanced nervously from Ulrik and Aodh to what was clearly her pet. “You’re not safe here.” Her brows lowered at the Viking. “How did he get here anyway?”
“According to the watchmen, he was left on the drawbridge by an old man with long white robes and a cane.” Ulrik looked at Aodh. “Sound familiar?”
“’Twas our Scottish brother, Adlin MacLomain,” Liam answered for Aodh, grinning. “Is he still here? Shannon and I owe him a great deal of gratitude and would like to thank him for his part in our prophecy.”
“They say he left as soon as he came.” Ulrik gestured at Zeke. “Saying only that ‘twas important Druidess Constance be reunited with her dog.”
Meanwhile, Zeke didn’t bound to Constance as most pets might but sat on the threshold and eyed his surroundings rather seriously. Perhaps even wisely if one could gather as much from a dog.
“So you said we don’t eat humans?” Constance asked Ulrik weakly. “What about pets? Dogs, to be specific?”
“We have had dogs and cats travel from the future back to Scandinavia over the generations, and none were eaten.” Yet he didn't mince words. “At least not as long as they stayed amongst the dragons who called them pets.”
Constance gave Ulrik and Aodh a warning look. “Well, Zeke’s my pet.” She flinched. “I just hope my dragon knows it, too, if she ever rears her unwelcome head.”
She might not realize it, but Aodh sensed her dragon’s wounded reaction to that. If he didn’t know better, he would say she’d hurt its feelings. Which led back to what Shannon claimed about Constance’s dragon. That it was a beautiful soul. Something he was inclined to agree with already.
Although hesitant at first, Constance squared her shoulders and finally headed Zeke’s way. “Hey there, boy.” She crouched down and patted him, clearly relieved when he didn’t pull away. “So glad you’re here. Sorry I’ve been so difficult these past few days and for leaving you behind.” She shook her head. “I swear I only did it for your own good.”
She eyed him for a moment before she looked at Shannon over her shoulder. “So, do you think I’ll have a familiar like you guys?” She glanced with uncertainty from the dog back to her sister. “That Zeke might be it?”
“Impossible to know.” Shannon looked at Liam and Aodh curiously. “Do you think druidess dragons have familiars too?”
“I don’t see why not,” Aodh replied. “Though I’ve heard nothing of it in folklore. Then again, I heard nothing of Unnamed Ones being dragons either.”
“Assuming I was a dragon in my last life.” Constance looked Aodh’s way. “I have a strong feeling you were, though. You had to have been to steal me away.”
“Assuming I did such.” He hated to think it. “Something I hope we get to the bottom of soon.” He joined her and pulled her to her feet. “First, though, we should see you dried off and warm.”
“Warm?” Her brows shot up. She surprised him when she grinned. “I’ve actually found this weather refreshing. Cold definitely works for me.”
“Even so.” He ushered her inside. “’Tis best you change and break your fast with me, then mayhap we can tour the castle? See all you missed yesterday?
He prayed she said yes. That she was finally ready to spend some time with him.
“I would like that,” she said softly, slowing down on the walkway they were on the day before. Her gaze drifted to the woodland. “Then I think we should head to King’s Fall.”
“Ta?” He would rather she grow more comfortable with him before bringing her somewhere she had planned to kill him. “Might we not take another day together first?”
“I don’t think so.” Her almost haunted gaze remained on the waterfall. “I think we need to figure out what that place really means to us.”
