Epilogue
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Selene had left only moments before I heard the engine, followed by the quiet and then the closing of a car door. The sound carried farther than it should have across the water, but I heard more than most too. I remained at the lake’s edge and watched the ripples reach the shore and flatten.
The castle had gone silent behind me. It did that when she left. I had noticed it over the past weeks, the way the pressure in the hall subtly tightened when she walked out and settled when she returned. It had taken centuries for that to happen, and until now for me to admit it.
The air shifted, and my irritation grew.
I sensed Cillian before I spotted him, and I headed toward the tree line, out of sight of the great hall. If he’d come to check on Selene’s work, he would have driven straight to the castle and not stopped at my house.
So, either he was here to tell me to piss off because of the ward I’d placed on his door to protect Selene, or he had other business.
The ward had been there less than a day, and I doubted he would have driven all the way from Dublin just to tell me to stay off his land.
Land that would have been mine if I’d had the opportunity to purchase it.
Unfortunately, he’d lived in the region longer than I’d been alive.
My gut told me why he’d come, but I’d let him look me in the eye and say it.
Cillian appeared moments later, coming along the trail that led from my house. He wore the black overcoat as he often did, and his trousers were neatly pressed. Not exactly proper attire for hiking through the forest.
The usual cool assessment that lingered in his dark eyes had been replaced by anger. He stopped feet from me before he exploded. “What the fuck do you think you’re playing at?”
I refused to allow him to ruffle me. “What the fuck do you think you’re playing at?”
A beat passed before he responded, and I suspected he was trying to match my composure. His voice was low and deadly when he spoke again. “You realize the danger you’ve put her in.”
I narrowed my gaze. “You put her there first.”
He shook his head. “I would have seen that she was fully trained before I allowed anything dangerous near her.”
His accusation struck hard. “They shouldn’t have been able to breach the grove. No one should even know where it is.”
Cillian’s snort was derisive and cutting. “I know.”
I studied him, trying to determine the level of threat he posed. “And who have you told? Margaret? Doherty? Maybe Eireann?”
He brushed his sleeve as though dislodging a speck of dust. “No one. Do you seriously think I would endanger Selene?”
I lifted a shoulder in a light shrug. “Someone did. Someone told them about her.”
Accusation flashed in his eyes. “You touched her and revealed her to the world.”
I flinched before I straightened. “I did nothing to bring her harm.”
The vampire’s comment sparked doubt, forcing me to rein in my emotions. We stared at each other for several long moments, both assessing, neither trusting the other. “If not you, then who?”
He released a deep exhale and stepped back. “I don’t know. What I do know is that you’ve guarded that clearing for centuries without a breach. She arrives, and within weeks the Veil splits open at the one point most closely tied to you.” He paused. “That’s not a coincidence.”
“Do you think I don’t know that?”
Cillian shrugged. “You’ve been careless with her.”
I growled under my breath. “There’s not been one breach I haven’t sealed. Not one creature that I haven’t killed. Careless? Do not say that to me again.”
He remained still, piercing me with silent daggers.
I would have kicked the bastard off my land, but I feared I might need him. I’d never been in a position where I didn’t know what I was dealing with, but I was certainly there now.
I focused on the lake and let it quiet me inside, the way it always did.
Cillian finally responded in a low and controlled voice. “I didn’t bring her here. You’re the one who finagled things with the council so you could hire her.”
I snorted at the hypocrisy. “You’re the one who hired her first, so she’d stay in Ireland. Don’t deny it. And then you sent her to Killarney, where you knew she’d run into me eventually. You wanted this, and now look what’s happened.”
Guilt washed over his face. “I only sent her to Killarney because you were supposed to be in Dublin. I was trying to keep you apart.”
I noticed he didn’t address my initial accusation. It didn’t matter. We both knew it was true. “I would have been in Dublin if not for the wraith that waylaid me.”
Cillian turned his gaze toward the castle. “I don’t think Selene should stay.”
He would not be taking her from me. That was a fact. “I need her help, and we have a contract for her services.”
The vampire tightened his jaw as he glanced back. “Fine. I’ll relocate to Killarney immediately in order to protect her.”
As if I’d let that happen. “Selene falls under my protection now.”
He released a short breath that wasn’t quite a laugh. “Does she?”
I held my gaze steady. “The Veil does.”
“She works for me,” he countered.
“The attack had nothing to do with your business.”
A slow smile crossed his lips. “Everything in this region eventually becomes my business.”
I shifted my stance and eyed him with a look that warned him I would not concede. “Not this.”
Cillian studied me for a moment before narrowing his gaze. “You can’t deny you’ve grown closer to her.”
The change in direction was slight. I didn’t respond.
“Closer than is advisable,” he continued.
“That’s not your concern.”
A look of triumph sparked in his eyes. “Isn’t it?”
I folded my arms. “We’ve worked together.”
“And?”
I refused to back down or look away. “And nothing.”
He held my gaze without moving. “You’re lying, and it doesn’t become a demigod.”
I stilled. He hadn’t been there, so he had no way of knowing. Except that he did. “I lost my focus for a moment, and we kissed. That’s all.”
Cillian’s gaze grew distant as he slowly nodded. “That’s all it takes to lose everything.”
I studied him, wondering if he was still in the present moment.
He blinked and refocused on me. “I sensed it, you know. The disturbance you created. And it wasn’t once, but twice. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Damn it. “Fine. We kissed twice.”
Cillian stepped closer and pinned me with a fierce look. “Then it appears you have two choices if you want to keep Selene alive. Allow me to take her back to Dublin and protect her. Or never touch her again.”
His words might as well have been a punch straight to the face. I knew they were true. But I couldn’t let her go. “I need her here. To help me fortify the castle.”
Cillian raised his brows in a challenge.
One I couldn’t ignore. I knew kissing her again would bring more attention. “I agree with you, all right? I’d already come to the same conclusion before you marched onto my land with your accusations and threats.”
He gazed up and down my body as if he was measuring my worth. “I guess I have no choice but to trust you. You’d better keep your word, or her death will belong to you.”
I lifted my chin in agreement.
Cillian hesitated for a moment before turning his back on me and striding away. He made it several steps before he pivoted. “Once you’ve settled things with her and the Veil, never ward my door again.”
I withheld my chuckle as he followed the path and disappeared into the trees. As if he could stop me.
My humor faded as I turned toward the castle. The pressure in the air had eased, and the breeze had settled. All seemed well for now.
But for how long?
Something was testing the boundary between worlds to see what held and what gave.
It had not been only an attack.
It had been a question.
Somewhere beyond the Veil, something was waiting for the answer.