“And I’m not, thanks to you.” She cupped his cheeks. “I’m still right here, I’m just changed. Back to what I was when we first met in my father’s castle in our last life.” She brushed her lips across his and met his eyes again. “The human you loved every bit as much.”
“I did,” he agreed readily enough, cupping her cheeks as well. “And always will no matter what fate throws at us.” He shook his head. “What the gods throw at us.”
“Are you sure?” she asked softly. “Because they’ve thrown quite a bit.”
He nodded, sensing as much. “Tell me what happened.” He looked from face to face. “What happened to our warriors? Why are we here?”
“We’re here because I had no choice but to do the last thing I wanted.” Constance’s eyes grew sad. “Had no choice but to forfeit my dagger and use my talisman to take down Siobhán. To end the tyranny in the south once and for all but at a terrible expense.”
“You did what you had to, sis,” Madison said. “What any of us would have.” She looked at Aodh and Constance with her heart in her eyes. With genuine sympathy. “No matter what it took. No matter what you had to give up.” She nodded once at Aodh, lending him support but at the same time hurting for him. “And for what it’s worth, I’m glad you didn’t give up all of yourself, sis. That the part we know best is still here with us, along with your soulmate.Dragonmate. Because he willalwaysbe that.”
Everyone echoed their agreement.
“I couldn't agree more.” He wrapped his arm around Constance and kept her close. “What else happened? Now that Siobhán is gone, have we secured the Kingdom of Munster?”
“That’s where things get strange,” Cian said gently, dealing yet another blow. “After Siobhán’s death, we witnessed one thing before we ended up here.”
“One thing,” he managed, feeling the impact of what his brother said without saying a thing. “King’s Heart...” He gripped his own heart as though he felt it ripping from his chest. Realized that was the great life Constance had to pay for. “It’s gone, isn’t it?”
“It is.” Constance made sure he looked at her. Took full responsibility. “The only way to defeat Siobhán was to gain her trust. That meant going to her alone. Giving her my blade. Handing over such incredible power.” She blinked back tears. “So that she let me in...all the way in.”
He followed her thoughts.
Understood.
Saw things so clearly now.
“Your talisman.” He shook his head in disbelief. “’Twas always a part of King’s Heart just like her. You. Me. Our dragons.” He kept shaking his head. “So you snapped it. Broke it.” Aodh felt how painful that had been for her and rested his forehead against hers. “Broke a piece of King’s Heart that had been precious to you for so long. A part that was attached not just to the tree, but to Siobhán and us...at least a part of us.”
“And‘twastruly only ever a piece of ye,” came a Scottish brogue before his brother Adlin MacLomain walked into the cave. “As was a prophecy ye served well.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
WHILE THE DEATH ofher dragon had been catastrophic, Constance could say with certainty feeling the death of Aodh’s inner beast was so much worse. He was her dragon. Monster. Her other half. The creature who had stood by her side no matter what.
Right until the bitter end.
