“Did you hear the message?” Brigid asked in a voice so achingly gentle, it made Griffin’s chest fill with longing.
“No,unfortunately not,” he said. “Who was it, and what did it say?”
She threaded her fingers between his. “There is a presence here in this castle. It’s not only the voices and the music, but I can feel it wrap around me like a cloak, a second skin.”
His jaw dropped, and he couldn’t help placing his palm against her face. “You can feel her? What is she like?”
Brigid put her handon the back of his, and her touch raised all the hairs on his skin. It was at once exhilarating and troubling, like being suspended on a rope bridge over an abyss.
“Let’s go to the top. It’s too noisy here. So much to absorb. Sounds, emotions, visions, scents, and textures.” Her chest heaved as if she couldn’t catch her breath.
“It must be overwhelming for you,” he said. “I shouldn’thave brought you in.”
“No, it’s all good. The presence is benevolent and kind. But there’s so much I still don’t know. So much confusion and thoughts zipping every which way. I’m sure you can help me sort it out.”
“Of course. Let’s get some fresh air.” He took her hand, and they resumed their upward trek.
Once they reached the gallery level with the stained-glass figures,Brigid insisted on visiting each god or goddess separately: Dagda, Áine, Nuada, Morrigan, Lugh, and lastly, Brigid.
Was she speaking to them? Communing in a language only she understood? She looked up at the stained glass and stood still, as if concentrating.
Sunlight sparkled over the green, red, and white pieces of glass that illustrated the goddess Brigid. She held her right handover her heart, and her left hand was cupped, palm up, holding a ball of fire.
Griffin couldn’t keep his gaze off Brigid O’Brien, lively and vibrant in the flesh. A faint blush brightened her face, and her eyes sparkled with life, hair flowing like fine silk, and her skin was warm, her bones solid.
She completed the circle and approached him, seeming to float, her white suede bootssilent and barely touching the stone floor.
“I’m ready to see the view,” she said. “To command my domain.”
“Your domain welcomes you.” Griffin offered this magical woman his arm and led her up the final flight of stairs. They alighted to the top of the round tower.
The sun had broken through the clouds, and the breeze which had whipped so strongly earlier had calmed into apleasant caress, allowing Brigid’s scent of apple blossoms and sun-washed linen to tendril around him.
Instead of looking over the battlements, Brigid turned her back to the view and reached for him. A shock of recognition hit him, and he immediately embraced her fully as he’d done a thousand times before.
She laid her head on his shoulder and pressed her breasts against his chest.Her arms wrapped around his neck, and her belly stoked the heat in his. He swayed at the dizzying sensation of his heart dropping. Bright lights flashed behind his eyes, and his nose was assaulted by the smoke of an acrid fire. His tongue grew fuzzy with the coppery taste that was a harbinger of another death.
His muscles tightened, and he clutched at his Brigid, willing her to save him.Shudders jerked his arms, and his legs stiffened. His fingers dug into her flesh, and his chin stuttered on the top of her head.
“I’m dy-dying.” He managed to form the words with his numbing tongue. “H-help.”
Brigid shifted her body and moved her hands to both sides of his head, cupping his ears, rubbing the sides of his temples with both thumbs. Her eyes held such love and compassionthat if he weren’t about to lose his mind to a storm of thunder and lightning, he would have spent the last remaining time composing poetry and song to declare his undying love.
Except he was dying, and he couldn’t get the words out.Brigid, he willed his thoughts to transfer to her.
“Remember me, and how much I love you.” Maybe his mouth moved, maybe he breathed the words, or heonly imagined them. “I’ll come back.”
He couldn’t remove his dying gaze from the bewitching green eyes of the one he’d come back for each and every time. Except, of course, he lost control, and his eyes rolled back. Colorful lights jumped and shimmered; lightning zapped across the dark.
“Ahh, reee, saaa, wooo, feee, saaa, beee, haaaa, mooorrr, heee, sa-ah-oh-ri, eehhh, faaaa, mooorr,reee, toooor, raaaah.” She sang gently with a voice so thin, it sounded like it came from way across a misty valley, echoing through the realms of time and space, calling him back from his doom.
The metallic taste in his mouth turned as sweet as honey, and the hoarse buzzing calmed into the sound of harps and bells. A warm current wrapped around his body like a blanket of soft flesh, massagingthe knots and tension from his bones. He regained control of his muscles and breathed in deeply, filling his lungs with the life-giving fragrance of the seaside breeze.
He opened his eyes, and there she was, as she’d always been throughout the centuries, the millennium, from beyond the start of time.
Brigid of the Tuatha Dé Danaan. His true love.
Angelic choruses filled theair around the tower, and he could hear the fluttering of wings, the snapping of energy, and the steady, low beat of his heart.
“You’re real.” He touched his forehead against hers. The backs of his fingers feathered over her cheek, and slowly, too slowly, he turned his head and inhaled her breath. Like a magnet to a lodestone, his lips found hers, and he let himself savor the magic of firstcontact by lightly kissing the air between them.
She was still humming the healing fairy song, and the air vibrated between them with expectation. He kissed each note, brushing her lips to feel the incantation. Each kiss lingered a little longer and closer, so that when their lips finally joined, they were resonating on the same frequency.
Joyous rapture exploded like fireworks ina dream, and a floating sensation caught Griffin, lifting him so that he no longer felt he was on solid ground. The songs and chimes surrounded him and Brigid like a cloak of concealment, and his entire existence distilled into the essence of the never-ending kiss.
