Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
SELENE
My grip on reality seemed tentative as Bren approached with slow, careful steps and held out his hand. “Let’s go outside, where the air will calm you.”
I did not argue as I slid my fingers across his palm like he was a lifeline, and he folded his hand around mine. I registered the heated energy rushing through me from his touch, but that didn’t matter now. I ignored it and allowed him to lead me across the hall and through the centuries-old door.
The heaviness thinned the moment we stepped outside, as though the castle had simply released it. By the time we descended the slope toward the lake, I could breathe without feeling as though the air itself was paying attention.
The lake lay open and gray beneath a shifting sky, its surface rippling steadily under a breeze that carried the scent of wet stone and grass. I exhaled fully for the first time since Cormac had outed us, and the world once again seemed normal, allowing my senses to settle.
I slipped my hand from his, now fully aware of how awkward it was to have physical contact with the man who haunted my nights. And sometimes my days. Not to mention, he was my client.
We walked without speaking. Gravel crunched under our boots, filling the silence. A gull crossed the sky in a sharp arc, crying out before it disappeared behind the far tree line.
I stopped near the water’s edge and looked out at the surface rather than at Bren. I queried him in a low voice, allowing my thoughts to touch the inexplicable occurrence that may have just happened. “Could that have been an earthquake?”
“No.”
My mind flicked briefly to the inlay at the center of the hall, and the way the stone floor had shifted beneath my feet. I turned to him, not convinced. “How do you know?”
A hint of humor glinted in his expression. “Earthquakes are extremely rare around here and not detected by humans most times.”
I clung to the end of his comment. “Most times. That doesn’t mean ever.”
He cocked his head, his gaze soft as he studied my face. “It wasn’t an earthquake, Selene. I’ve lived here long enough to know. You’ll have to trust me on that. It wasn’t.”
He’d said the castle was aware of us, but I couldn’t accept that. There was just no way—
Maeve’s beliefs jumped center stage in my thoughts, stealing my breath once again. Was it possible?
Or was he assigning sentience to a solid object based solely on something as fantastical as Irish lore?
When I’d questioned him before, he avoided answering. I wouldn’t let him off so easily this time. “The first time I walked into the castle, you’d called it a thin place.”
Bren stiffened. “I did.”
At least he didn’t deny that much. “My friend says thin places are where the veil between worlds is thinner.”
His dark hair fluttered in the wind as he turned toward the lake, staring across the water. “That’s what they say.”
A shiver washed over me. “So you believe in such things?”
He turned and pinned me with a suspicious gaze. “Do you?”
I shrugged, trying to make light of a conversation that was anything but. “No, not really. My aunt talked about similar things, but she was speaking metaphorically.” Or so I’d thought.
He finally returned his gaze to me, his completely unreadable. “It’s something like that.”
I folded my arms in defiance. “I want to hear you say it. Do you believe in thin places?”
The somber look in his eyes left me with a bone-deep shiver. “I do.”
I scoffed and made light of things because my mind refused to accept what his answer meant. “Don’t you think that’s something that should have been disclosed before you allowed Cillian to sign the contract? Something like, ‘This castle is unstable at times.’”
Bren shook his head once. “It’s nothing dangerous. I’m surprised you even noticed.”
I let his words sink in, and I began to wonder if I was overreacting. What I felt had likely been a small seismic event, even if Bren thought differently. In which case, it was nothing to worry about.
My mind had likely sunk its teeth into something mundane that had briefly caught me off guard, and I’d used it as a way of skirting around the actual issue. Our brief but sizzling encounter in the grove.
At least it had been for me.
Damn it.
I returned to what was actually important.
I had to say something to clear the air, or I’d never have peace.
The project I’d signed onto was a long one that would be full of many wonderful moments of uncovering history and restoring the castle.
I didn’t want one momentary lapse of judgment to be a dark cloud hovering overhead the entire time.
I inhaled a deep breath of sweet Irish air and let it bolster me. “I’m sorry.”
Bren drew his brows together, his gaze tightening on me. “For what?”
“I was out of line.” There. I’d said it.
“In the woods. The way I acted.” The wind lifted a strand of my hair, teasing my cheek, and I tucked it back. “In my defense, I believed I was dreaming, and you should have told me otherwise. Even so, I’m the one who approached you first, both times.”
He followed my movements, and I struggled to keep my voice level. “I was impulsive, and it won’t happen again.”
Bren held my gaze as he studied my face, likely searching for subterfuge. Then he blinked and glanced toward the horizon, his voice a low timbre in the quiet. “You’re not the only one responsible.”
I turned to face him fully. “Yes, but—”
“I could have stopped it.” He paused. “I did not.”
What did that even mean?
His words knocked me off-kilter, and I was unsure how to process them. My intuitive side had strong opinions, but she’d already proven she couldn’t be trusted.
A gust of wind blew my hair away from my face, and he looked at me then with a longing that gripped my heart. “It would be wise if it did not happen again.”
The disconnect between what his eyes held and what he said tightened something in my chest. He’d used the word wise. Not wrong or unwanted. “Wise?” I whispered, needing clarification.
His gaze dropped briefly to my mouth and lingered for an impossible second before he lifted it and focused on my eyes. Whatever drop of attraction I might have longed for was no longer there. “We’re here to work.”
There was the boundary.
Clean and necessary and entirely correct, and my pulse refused to treat it as any of those things. “Of course.”
The lake stretched wide and indifferent. The wind lifted again, sharper, pressing a line of ripples toward the shore as I cemented my agreement. “We’ve already been operating as though it never happened. There’s no reason we can’t continue.”
His jaw tightened slightly, though his voice remained level. “Exactly.”
We stayed rooted for a few awkward seconds, neither of us speaking.
Bren finally exhaled and turned toward the castle. “I’ll head in first. Take whatever time you need to settle yourself. As I said, the occasional tremor is nothing to fear, and it’s best to ignore them. They have no bearing on what you’re here to do.”
The wind rippled the t-shirt across his back and tousled his dark hair as he strode away.
Our exchange should have relieved me. We were back to being professional.
The tremor had been explained to my satisfaction, even if Bren didn’t agree with my conclusion, and I could focus on my passion, on what I truly loved to do.
So why did my heart feel so devastated? It wasn’t as if he’d rejected me again. He only confirmed what I already knew. He was interested in what I could do for him, for this property, and not in me as a woman. I should have been thrilled.
I lifted my face to the strong breeze and closed my eyes as it whipped through me. Perhaps my aunt had been correct. Perhaps Ireland brought nothing but misery to my family.
I should have listened to and heeded her advice.