Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
SELENE
Chilly air greeted us the moment Maeve and I stepped outside. I closed the door behind us, and the pressure inside me eased. My friend glanced briefly at the castle, her eyes wide with concern. She turned to me with a questioning look and said nothing as she tapped her chest with her fingertips.
I nodded, and bewilderment filled her gaze. “Strange,” she whispered and linked her arm with mine.
As we strode down the gravel pathway toward the lake, it occurred to me that Bren took conversations outside as well. With Cormac and with me several times.
He knew.
I wasn’t imagining things. The castle did react to emotion. To our proximity. And Bren had been navigating the space every time we were inside together without me realizing it. No wonder he sometimes looked exhausted.
I huffed a breath of disbelief, wondering what else he might not have told me.
The sound of my breath drew Maeve’s attention, and I pointed farther down the path. If the castle could listen, as crazy a thought as that was, then more distance was likely better.
The wind shifted sharply across the lake, and the rippling surface tightened into strange, overlapping patterns before settling again. Maeve slowed beside me. “The water too?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think it’s the same. It’s likely just the shifting wind.” I sighed, frustrated that I wasn’t able to give her a conclusive answer. “But maybe not. I’m learning anything is possible in this place.”
Her expression remained unsettled, but she nodded as we reached the grass growing along the shoreline. Once there, she pulled a hair tie from her pocket and secured her tresses.
We stood for a moment, silent as we took in our surroundings. The lake mirrored the gray sky, and the stiff breeze coming off the water carried the clean, sharp smell of impending rain. It kissed my cheeks and refreshed my spirit as it brushed the hair from my face.
Maeve released my arm and filled her lungs, turning in a circle, as awe spread across her face. “This is incredible, Selene.”
My friend wasn’t wrong. “Isn’t it, though? Being out here makes me feel more alive.”
She released a nervous laugh as she glanced back at the structure looming nearby. “Is it doing the same to that tower house?”
I pressed my lips together and shrugged. “Maybe. When you asked Bren about thin places, that’s exactly what the castle is. The circular inlay, specifically. You sensed it too.”
Intrigue sparkled in her eyes. “Ah. That’s why Bren reacted the way he did. I found the tender spot in his family’s home. It’s probably something he feels the need to protect.”
I bit my lip as I gazed across the lake, watching the ripples wash toward us. “Yes. There are things he fights to keep it safe…” I turned and gripped her arm, pinning her with my gaze. I knew how it would sound, but I said it anyway. “And they’re not of this world.”
A branch cracked somewhere in the grove of trees surrounding the castle, but Maeve remained focused on me. For the longest moment, her deep green eyes pierced me as she searched for deception, and her expression grew more concerned.
My friend licked her bottom lip before speaking in a low and curious voice. “I would like to think you’re teasing me again, but you were serious then and are now too, aren’t you?”
I thought about softening it. Giving her the version with more qualifications and fewer hard edges but couldn’t. I palmed my forehead and closed my eyes for just a moment. “It’s surreal, Maeve, and I’m struggling to accept it.”
She patted my arm softly. “That’s because you live a highly structured life. This has dragged you outside your comfort zone. I’ll admit it has with me as well.”
I met her gaze, wishing I had her fortitude. “That you can hear what I said and remain calm messes with my head. How can you accept my stories about moonlight swords and fighting wraiths so easily?”
Her expression grew brighter. “Because it’s not new to me. No, I’ve never encountered a wraith.” She shot a quick glance at the men atop the castle. “Nor someone like Bren who can conjure a sword.”
She swallowed. “It’s a stretch for me too. But my gran has told me tales of all kinds of creatures since I was a wee one. The family all pretends she’s daft, but when I stare into her eyes, I know she’s telling the truth. I just never say that part out loud.”
Her words tugged at the lost and frightened parts of me. I leaned toward her, my voice almost a whisper. “Do you believe she’s encountered things like wraiths?”
The wind stole strands of hair from her tie, and she brushed them away. “Gran talks of seeing many things when she was younger. I can ask her.”
I gave her a fervent nod. “Will you? That might help me a lot. I feel as if I’ve been drawn into a dream world, and none of this is real. But every day, I wake up, and I’m still here.”
Her eyes twinkled with humor. “Poor Selene. The only one who’d have a harder time with this is Clara.”
Her joke lightened the weight on my heart. “Right? She would lose her mind.”
Maeve elbowed me. “You mean she will lose her mind. She’ll be here before long, and when the floor moves beneath her, she won’t know what to do.”
I snorted softly. “There’s a part of me that feels sorry for her. The shock from everything is real.”
She drew her brows. “Don’t you find it weird that Cillian didn’t send her to Killarney with me? He said he had something else he needed her to do first, but she’ll be here in a week or so.”
I found that strange too, but the answer fell into place a moment later. “Maybe because much of her work involves handling finances and working with clients, but we don’t have budget constraints on this project.”
She blinked in surprise. “Ah, here. Are you serious?”
I nodded several times, still shocked as well. “Bren is funding it, and he’s willing to pay to have it restored properly.”
A pleased smile blossomed on her face. “If that’s the case, Clara will love him.”
Mischief flickered in her eyes. “That reminds me, have you made a play for him yet? He was obviously interested in you that night in the pub. With those looks and that much money, you may want to rethink your solitary life.”
My heartbeat stuttered, but I managed to keep my expression steady. “I’m here to work, Maeve. Not hook up with a guy.”
She rolled her eyes, obviously disappointed. “I suppose you’re right. He does come across as a little cold. You want someone with a warm heart.”
I waved my hands between us. “No, no. I know he seems that way, but I think his life experiences have made him distrustful. Once he relaxes around you, you’ll get to see behind the mask, and he’s not so bad.”
Maeve’s look turned sassy. “Away with you, telling me you’re not interested and then jumping to defend him. I think you like him more than you’re saying.”
I froze for just the briefest second when I realized my mistake. “You’re reading too much into it. I just wanted you to know that it won’t feel like a hostile working environment here. Bren’s a nice man. He brought us coffee, remember?”
Her gaze turned suspicious, but she nodded. Then she raised her brows in a hopeful expression. “Maybe you’ll reconsider once the project’s complete?”
She thrust her palm toward me before I could speak. “Don’t say anything. Just think about it.”
I held her gaze for a long moment, knowing I’d missed my opportunity to confess. But I just couldn’t, and truly, there was no reason to complicate things at this point. Bren was friendly, but not the teasing, sexy man who’d convinced me to let him kiss me again.
Maybe there was something going on in that grove. Maybe it literally made people forget their better sense.
Either way, I had a job to focus on amongst other disturbing things. “Can we go back to your gran? I have another problem, and it scares me more than the castle and the wraiths. Well, maybe not the wraiths.”
Her gaze turned serious. “Of course. What is it?”
It hit me again how surreal my life had become. “You know how you like to tease me and call me a ward witch?”
At her nod, I slid up my sleeve before I lost my nerve, revealing the faint open circle with a tiny line above it on my wrist. I’d examined it multiple times after Nora named it, and each time I’d felt the pull of something ancient deep inside me.
I gently touched it. “See this? Cillian’s housekeeper, Nora, told me this is the mark of a ward witch.”
Before she could say anything, I spilled the rest. “You’ll meet her at the house when we head there after work. I’m sure you’re wondering who she is to make such a claim. But she knows things, Maeve. About this place. About Bren. I’m not sure how much, but I believe her.”
A gust of wind blew across the lake as though punctuating my declaration, and we both leaned into it. Maeve nodded. “Sure then. I look forward to meeting her and hearing more.”
A smile surprised me when it tickled my lips. “You’ll like her. She’s very kind and an amazing cook. She’s been spoiling me since I arrived.”
Maeve chuckled. “I like her already.” But then she hesitated. “She’s sure about this ward witch thing?”
I gave her a firm nod. “Don’t forget. You’ve been calling me one since we met. You knew it, and I didn’t listen.”
Her boot ground against the gravel pathway as she kicked pebbles into the lake. “True. You do have a gift for seeing, correcting, and arranging the energy in spaces, but I didn’t take myself seriously either. I stole those words, ward witch, from stories Gran used to tell us when we were kids.”
Maeve met my gaze with an embarrassed look. “We’d be at her house, and she’d make us clean our messes. She’d say things like ‘be a good little ward witch and set this house proper, or the fairies will get us.’ But I never took her literally, you know?”
I yearned to know what to do with everything that tumbled about inside me. “I need to figure out what this is. What I am.” I pinned her with a direct look. “There’s a veil between worlds, Maeve. It can tear. Some, like Bren, can fight what comes through and then reseal it.”
She grew still, her gaze intent as she studied me. But I could see in her eyes she didn’t doubt, and that bolstered me. That trust allowed me to continue. “I know nothing of fighting these monsters, but I can sense the breaches, or at least impending ones.”
The ache of holding everything in finally burst, and I had no way to stop it. Tears rushed to my eyes, and my throat tightened, making it hard to speak. “I can sense the openings, Maeve. And I can repair them. At least small ones.”
Tears fueled by frustration and fear spilled down my cheeks. “And I have no idea what to do with any of this.”
“Ah, here now.” She gathered me into her arms and patted me on the back. “Don’t be crying. Just breathe. This is a huge shock, and I’m a little stunned myself. But we’ll figure this out, okay?”
I pulled away, swiping moisture from my wet cheeks. “How? I mean, people don’t just become witches with real magic. That’s not possible.”
The words came out steadier than I felt, though I wasn’t sure that was a good sign.
She winked. “You’re on the Emerald Isle now. If there was ever a place where the space between worlds was thinnest, it would be here.”
Her words planted a seed deep inside me, giving me hope that there was a path forward I could manage. “That’s true.”
She nodded. “Let me ask Gran and see what she knows. She’s a smart lady, and she’s lived a long time. I suspect none of this will be a surprise.”
I clung to what she offered as if it was a lifeline. “Thank you, Maeve. I mean it when I say I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Her chuckle rang out across the water just as the first drops of rain fell. “Come on, Selene. Let’s go inside. I’m after seeing the rest of the castle and have no desire to be soaked.”
I managed a smile as we turned back. When I glanced toward the roof, wondering if the men would continue working through the rain, I spotted a lone figure standing near the edge. Bren.
He might not have been there long, but I suspected he’d been watching us for a while. I hoped he didn’t realize I’d cried on Maeve’s shoulder.
I raised my hand in acknowledgment. He dipped his head and then turned away. I pretended it didn’t hurt and looked away before Maeve could notice.
Her hand found mine anyway, and she held it.
She didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to.