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“You loved him that much,” he stated.
“I love him enough to give up everything I have left to seek vengeance against the one who killed them all. I just gave up a happily ever after to ensure Morrigan dies once and for all.”
“I’m grateful for your help in avenging their deaths,” he whispered.
“If you’re so grateful, how come you haven’t helped? Your mother has been locked away this whole time, and she barely died to give me a weapon with her magic, but you’ve had yours this whole time.” Crossing my arms, I studied how defeated he looked.
His leg began bouncing, showing he grew anxious in our conversation. “My mother cursed me to never leave this castle. She said one day, she’d free me, and now I know what she meant by that.”
“Cursed you?” I was stunned.
“I told her I was going to go after Morrigan after my trip to see my brother and you. She was already raising havoc in your world, and she was getting too powerful. My mother put a curse on me, so I couldn’t go after Morrigan alone. Now that she is dead…”
“Your curse has been broken.” I thought it over, understanding a lot more than I did when we came here.
“For the first time in one hundred years, I will be able to leave the grounds of this castle. I will march with you to destroy Morrigan when you complete the ritual.” When he stood, I called out his name to stop him.
“You should be mad at me. You should want to kill me for what I did,” I confessed with a whine.
“You know, it was supposed to be me who went to help our mother that first summer. My father ended up needing help in his lands that only my magic could offer thanks to a drought hitting some of the farms, so Muir went in my place. Muir won the heart of the girl who took my breath away when I first saw her at his side. Now, she is my mate, but she will never love me like him.”
“One hundred years was only yesterday for me. I just need some time to adjust to what is now in store for me.” Looking over his back, I could see the edge of the scar on his face when he turned it better to listen to me. “When I met you, that scar wasn’t there,” I blurted out.
“It came from returning with the infection that seeped into our world. Morrigan’s magic came for me to seek her claim as my mate when I came back home. When I refused, she did this for no one else to find me attractive. Envy of all things clouds her mind.” Before he could leave, he pointed at the chair he had been sitting on. “There’s a clean robe and female supplies in there, if you feel you need them.”
Cian left after that, confessing more than just his curse and giving me what the others hadn’t thought about. When he came that summer, I barely glanced his way from being in love with Philip. A new guilt found me, but it wasn’t a rational one.
With our new mate bond, I felt what he did over me. It was a lost sensation that now had a spark of hope. Unsure how to take that, I got up for the day. Taking my time, I did slip into the black, silk robe. It felt nice against my skin just as the sheets of his bed had.
I was starting to believe that Cian wasn’t who everyone believed him to be. Áine cursed him to stay in his territory because she didn’t want to lose another son. She must’ve placed a protective barrier around the castle to make sure Morrigan couldn’t find him either. If only she was around to ask about it all.
Sighing, I sat in the armchair and stared out the window, finding Cian walking outside with Bain and Cullen. It made me wonder what they could be up to, but I knew that meant the kitchen would be empty for me to wander and find. On cue with my brain’s thought, my stomach growled, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten since before last night’s events.
My rest in the chair was short lived as I braided my hair and headed to find food. The stone floor was cold against my bare feet, but I kind of liked it. It made me feel something other than the harrowing howls inside my soul.
When I entered the kitchen, I was surprised to see Fergus and Alasdair. Outside the window, I only saw the other three, but my mind talked me into them leaving too. They were the last ones I hadn’t mated, and now we were in an empty castle.
“Oh, am I intruding?” I looked to Fergus for an answer. Out of all the men, he was the one who still showed sympathy openly.
“You’re up,” Alasdair acknowledged with a devilish grin.
“You are not intruding.” Fergus scooped some porridge into a bowl before setting it on the table and waving at me to eat it. “If you hadn’t come soon, I planned to bring you some breakfast. You didn’t eat dinner last night, and you need your strength.”
“Thank you,” I praised his concern for my wellbeing. “Where did the others go? I saw them from my window.”
“Cian came clean about his curse after paying a visit to your room this morning.” Alasdair wriggled his eyebrows.
Fergus sighed in annoyance at his friend. “They are seeing if the curse has broken for him to leave the property. He plans to go with us if so.”
Nodding my head, I ate a few bites of the warm porridge, moaning at the sweet and buttery combination within it. Looking to Fergus, I pointed at the simple food he had prepared. “This is the best porridge I’ve ever had.”
The tips of his pointed ears turned red as his green eyes stared into mine. Alasdair caught our attention to change the subject. “So I’m sure you’re sore from last night, but we’ll need to sleep with you soon to complete the ritual tonight.”
“Alasdair,” Fergus chided, standing by the stove to warm up water for tea in the kettle.
“What? We don’t have time to woo the woman. If she’s as dedicated to destroying Morrigan as we are, she’ll understand that.”
“I never said I didn’t,” I quipped. “You’re forgetting I’ve already taken three strangers after having no one for a century. I’m sore, Alasdair.”
