darkened to burnt amber.
Carrick’s neck twists, and he looks out over the water before bringing his attention back to me. “Remember I told you I had spent time in Ireland?”
I nod. “Where you found Zaid.”
“Eighth century,” Carrick reminds me of the details. “But I stayed there a long time. Onyx had placed me there to help the Irish repel Viking attacks.”
“Why?” I ask curiously.
Carrick frowns. “I don’t know. We don’t ask. We just… do. But back then, she was worshipped as Neit, the Celtic god of War and I suppose she wanted to show gratitude for such worship.”
It was a cage he lived in, and it breaks my heart. I reach out and take his hand in mine. He glances down, sees the link we have, then looks back up to me with a wan smile.
“Onyx had set me up as a high-ranking lord under high kings of Ireland. I was there for a long time, so I moved around often. I used glamours to change appearance and age appropriately, and because it wasn’t a heavily populated country, I was able to stay for quite a while.”
“How long exactly?”
A small smile comes to his face. “Roughly four hundred years.”
“You told me it was your favorite time and place to live.” The memory comes back to me, and I know this country has special meaning to him for more than just a fondness for chasing off Vikings.
“It was,” he replies, and he again looks down at our hands. He squeezes and meets my gaze. “Because I met a woman.”
My hand reflexively jerks, trying to pull back at the mention of another woman in his life. Not just any woman, either.
Someone important to him.
Carrick holds me tight, refusing to let me retreat.
“Her name was Eireann, and, at that time, I was going by the name of Banan. One day, I was riding through some farmlands that bordered mine and I heard her scream. It came from a thick copse of trees, and I didn’t even bother to race my horse there. I bent distance and came upon her flat on her back with a huge Viking on top of her, attempting to rape her.”
“Oh no,” I murmur in dismay, my heart going out to a woman I don’t know.
“I pulled him off, flung him back, and turned to make sure she was okay. She was no frightened lass, mewling in terror. No, she jumped up, fury in her eyes, and whipped a dagger out from under her skirt. As the Viking was getting to his feet, she rushed at him, intent on cutting off his balls.”
Carrick smiles, amused, filled with a memory that obviously still makes him feel good after all these years. I hate her slightly for it.
“I stopped her, of course, not wanting someone’s death—even her almost rapist—on her conscience. I killed the Viking and escorted her back to her home. She lived with her ailing father and had been out collecting mushrooms in the forest. This was in the year 1015, and the High King of Ireland, Brian Boru, had just defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Clontarf. The country was relatively safe, but raiding Viking ships would troll the Irish shores. She had thought it safe to wander out on her own, and I lectured her that it was not. She and her father were incredibly grateful, and they invited me to eat a simple dinner with them.”
My shoulders tense as Carrick gets lost in the memory of a story. As he explains it to me in simple terms, I can see by his expression and the warmth of his tone that he’s drawn back into time and a memory that was incredibly special to him.
My heart twists when his eyes start to glow.
“Eireann and her father had a flock of sheep they tended on their small farm,” Carrick continued, voice more tender when he says her name. “She was a shepherdess, but she was also a warrior because she would have killed that Viking had I not.”
I couldn’t stand the buildup anymore. “You loved her,” I say, hoping my tone isn’t accusing.
His eyes bore into mine, the glow brighter than ever. “I did. Still do for that matter.”
I want to pull away, run, and hide. He told me it couldn’t work, yet he tried it with someone else before me. Someone he still loves.
Yet, my pride makes me stay. I smooth my features, tipping my head in curiosity. “What happened?”
“What happened?” Carrick repeats the question almost