By the time I finished the story, the rain had stopped, and a puddle had formed between where Flower and I stood.
I kept my eyes on it. “Ye were raised in your religion, Flower. After me da's death, the prophecy was all I had. The only thing that would make the story of City, Sea, and Wild uniting under one queen worth all the pain. So, believe me when I tell ye, I understand being hated. I understood it from the start with ye. And I tried…”
I clenched my fists. “Ye have no idea how hard I’ve been fighting not to fall in love with ye. But ye’re too fucking wonderful, aren’t ye?”
I shook my head. “Not just beautiful, not just our fated queen, but ye’re smart, pure funny, interesting as hell — I mean, truly fucking layered. And don’t even get me started on how ye refuse to take any of my shite. How could I not love ye like my father loved my mother? Uselessly. Endlessly. Even if you hate me back.”
That was it. That was the story. When I finally met her eyes, Flower’s side of the mate bond was frozen with horror.
“Wild… Wild, I can’t do this with you,” she said, her head shaking at the ground. She couldn’t even look at me. “You’re going to have to let me…”
“Of course,” I said, quickly stepping aside so she could return to the house without having to walk through the puddle. “I understand why ye wouldn’t want to —”
Her body slammed into mine, and she wrapped her arms around me tighter than I’d clung to my mother when she left.
“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” she whispered into my chest. “But I don’t hate you…”
She sighed, all the warmth of her feelings flowing over our bond. “I don’t hate you.”
My chest collapsed under those four words: I don’t hate you.
“Don’t say that,” I warned, even as I grabbed onto her, holding her fierce as a luchorpánwould his treasure. “Don’t say that, or I won’t be able to…”
Too late. The tenuous grip I had on my mate bond snapped.
Sea
“Wild should takeback what he said about you City Wolves being useless. You did a bang-up job with the shopping. It’s been donkey’s years since I’ve had a Curly Wurly.”
I pulled the 5-pack of chocolate-coated caramel bars out of the Dunne's tote and set them next to the box of Barry's Gold I'd already cracked open for a mid-morning tea. “No grocery stores in the secret kingdom, and our castle chef only knows how to bake fancy pastries.”
“Sorry, are you saying you’d take processed Cadbury over freshly baked pastries?” Dublin turned to look at me from the kitchen's only window, which was positioned kitty corner to the stove’s alcove. Thanks to our four-way mate bond, I could both feel and hear the skepticism in his voice — along with his worry about the row happening outside on the lake path.
“What’s that saying?” I moved over to the vintage cast iron stove built into the kitchen’s alcove to put on a kettle.“Is glas iad na cnoic i bhfad uainn. The faraway hills are greener.”
“So, no grocery stores, but you’ve got a castle? An actual stone and turret job?”
“Sure, and a couple of dragons to guard it.”
“Dragons?” Dublin dipped his chin down to ask, “Are you serious?”
“No, of course, I’m not completely serious.” I turned the knob on the stove’s burner, then returned to fishing through the Dunne’s tote of goodies. “Haven’t seen a dragon about in years and years — hey now, Tayto’s cheese and onion crisps! You’re a legend, Dublin.”
“Wait, Sea, are you tryin’ to tell me dragons are real?”
A jolt of horror sank both our stomachs before I could answer.Mairinua.
I abandoned the tote and rushed to join Dublin at the window. She and Wild were standing only a few meters from the house, and neither of them was shouting anymore. In fact, Mairinua stood there, listening to what Wild was telling her, with a look on her face that matched the horror thrumming through our bond.
Apparently, we could still feel what she was feeling over our mate bond, even through a thick brick wall. If the emotion was strong enough.
"He must be telling her the whole story now," I said.
"Yes, that’s precisely what Wild’s on about," Dublin agreed, his agitation rising in tune with our mate’s. "Do you think we ought to go out there and, I don’t know, offer some support?"
“You mean, instead of scarpering off and leaving two children to deal with the fallout from their parents'affairs?”
Dublin’s face reddened, his eyes flicking to the floor as he shifted awkwardly. “I’m sorry, Sea. Truly. I can’t imagine what it was like for you and Wild to go through that alone.”
