Ashlynn pulled the small but heavy stone from her jacket pocket and held it out for the Seer. “Do you remember this?”
“Of course,” Faith replied with a smirk. “One doesn’t easily forget heaving a stone from their insides. What is it you seek?”
Ashlynn felt Cian’s nervous energy radiating and pushing against her side. “You told me the ritual would grant me a wish. I asked for peace to befall my people without me having to marry Brigacos. But…” she paused and stole a sideways glance at Cian who now paced a couple of feet away. “I think something went awry. I touched the stone and it brought me here. I’m lost. My people went on without me and I have no idea of my purpose now. Do I use the ritual to go back? Am I supposed to stay here?”
Faith stuck the pipe in her mouth and took a few hard puffs. “Don’t you know the answer to that already?”
Ashlynn shook her head in confusion. “Well, no, not quite.”
“What do you need clarity on? Your wish worked, did it not?”
“I’m not –“
“You avoided an unwanted union with the Scots, war was evaded, your sister found true happiness. Are these not the products of the peace you asked for?” The Seer took a seat on a wooden bench and motioned for the princess to sit.
Ashlynn sat with a deep sigh and looked at Cian. He continued to slowly pace but, for an instant, he glanced up and caught her gaze. In his eyes she saw only pain, the same pain that made her want to weep. Cian thought she was leaving and perhaps she still would. It all depended on one thing.
“Yes, they are. But what is my purpose now?” Ashlynn asked.
Faith crooked her neck and looked at poor Cian. “I thought that was rather obvious.”
Ashlynn’s cheeks flushed red. “But the wish…are my feelings for Cian not a result of that? Can I trust them?”
The Seer leaned her head back and her mouth fell open in a sudden realization. “Ah, I see. You think your feelings for one another aren’t real.”
“What?” Cian’s head jerked up and he took a few quick steps to where they sat. “Is that what you think? Ashlynn, my feelings for you are real.”
Ashlynn shrugged helplessly. “Yes, but don’t you think it’s a bit sudden? A bit too…convenient?” She swallowed hard. “We hardly know one another.”
Cian kneeled down and took Ashlynn’s hand. “I questioned it, too, at first. I wondered if it wasn’t a kind of magical aftershock or something. But, I couldn’t believe it, not really. I know that what I feel for you is real and far more profound than anything I’ve ever felt before.” He ran a hand through his thick hair, leaving it on end around his gorgeous face. Ashlynn listed to his words in wonder, holding her breath as he continued.
“If you decide to go back home, I won’t stop you. It’s your choice. And I’ll carry out my duty to my family.” Cian took a deep breath and gripped her hand tightly. “But if you stay, we both have a chance to be happy. You could rule by my side or we could walk away. Either way, I promise to love you until my last breath and beyond.”
Ashlynn’s breath caught in her throat. Everything in her wanted to scream Yes! and run away with him but she’d been born with the responsibility of a kingdom on her shoulders and knew the repercussions if he walked away from this union with Clan Cineal.
“Cian” she shook her head, feeling the dampness of her own tears as they spilled from her eyes. “You can’t sacrifice your people’s future for me and I cannot rule by your side. Your family has promised to unite with the Cineal clan. Nothing can stop that. We’ll be starting a war if we stood in the way of that union.”
The Seer cleared her throat. “My dear Princess, how blind you still are.” Ashlynn and Cian looked at her in confusion. “The power of the wish is grand, but it cannot create love from nothing. The universe brought you to Cian because it works. It’s right. Your only desire was to rule your people without having to marry someone you do not love. Cian longs for the same.”
Ashlynn frowned. “But the clans, the union between Boswells and Cineals –“
Faith grabbed Ashlynn’s arm and turned it over, exposing the pulsing veins at her wrist and trailed a finger along the green lines. “Cineal blood is Kavanaugh blood, Princess.”
“What do you –“ But the words stopped short as Ashlynn slowly realized what the Seer meant.
Cian stood from his kneeling position and let out a huff of hair as his hands forcefully ran through his hair. “Holy shit.”
Her mind wandered back over the events of the last few days. Every text they’d read. Gwen’s journal. The family lineage back to her marriage to Brigacos. A daughter, Margaret, who married a rival gypsy clan. A clan called Cineals. Suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place in Ashlynn’s mind and her destiny opened up before her very eyes. The blood she shared with her sister ran through her veins just as it did Serena’s.
She jumped up from the bench and crossed to Cian, taking his hand in hers. “I’m sorry.”
His brow furrowed. “For what?”
“For doubting what we have. For denying what I feel for you. It’s real. I know that now.” She smiled and placed a small kiss at the side of his mouth. “I was never meant to rule my people in the past. The universe was saving me for you. This is where I’m meant to be.”
Cian eyes widened. “You mean…you’re staying?”
Ashlynn nodded and let the tears come. “Yes. If you’ll have me. I’ll stay, and we can work together to find a way to unite the last two clans.”
Cian stared at her for a long moment, then his lips were on hers, crushing them as his hands delved into her hair and held her in place. Ashlynn opened to him, savoring his taste, basking in the love she felt for him, the love she could finally declare. When they came up for breath, Cian wrapped his arms under her bottom and hoisted her high in the air as he spun around.
“I don’t give a damn about uniting the clans.” He let her body slide down through his embrace and kissed her lips when their faces met. “If I have you, nothing else matters.”
Faith cleared her throat loudly, getting their attention. “Cineal blood or not, Princess Ashlynn faces a mighty task of convincing Serena and her family.” The Seer quirked an eyebrow at Cian. “You know as well as I do, Serena will not back down without a fight. I’ve done all I can to bring you both together. It’s now in your hands to make it work.”
Cian heaved a sigh and held Ashlynn’s hand tightly. “We’ll make it work.”
As impossible as it all sounded, Ashlynn found herself smiling triumphantly. Her power was ancient and raw. If a fight was what Serena would call for, then a fight was what she would get.
And she would lose.
Chapter Ten
When they pulled up to his house, Cian hopped out of the car to run around and open the door for Ashlynn. She took his hand and stared up at him with pure joy emanated from her eyes as she let him help her out. Those eyes, he thought, that ancient smile that sucked him into a daze. Gods, he loved her.
The whole ride over Cian had listened to Ashlynn speak, eating up every word she spoke like a starving man. He still couldn’t believe that she’d chosen him, that she’d decided to stay. Over the course of a few days, he’d gone from being trapped in his role to being in love with an amazing woman who could rule beside him and help lead their people into peace and prosperity. The feeling overwhelmed him. Just because he wanted to and could, Cian caught Ashlynn’s face in his hands and kissed her with a hard, fiery passion.
“What was that for?” she asked with a sigh when he finally pulled away.
Cian shrugged. “I’m just so happy. You have no idea, Ashlynn. You’ve saved me from a life of misery and duty and offered one of love in its place.”
She flung a wave of copper hair over her shoulder and tugged at Cian’s shirt, pulling him back in for another kiss.
“What on Earth is going on here?” shouted a high-pitched voice from the front step.
Cian’s heart stopped, and his stomach curdled.
No, was all he could think. Not now. He wasn’t ready. He hadn’t yet prepared Ashlynn. He glanced up toward the entrance of the house and saw her standing there in the bright light of the open door.
“Mother,” he said and felt Ashlynn stiffen at his side. “What are you doing home so early?”
Eadlyn Boswells took a few steps down the stairs and came toward them, the image of modern regality with her brown hair tucked back into a bun and stark red lips to match her pantsuit. Every click of her designer high heels on the pavement was like a stab right in his chest. His mind raced to piece together an explanation.
“Who is this?” his mother asked and flashed Ashlynn a hard look.
Cian took Ashlynn’s hand, took a deep breath, and held his chin high. “This is Ashlynn. Someone I care about a great deal.” He stole a sideways glance at her with a reassuring smile. “Someone I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
“Cian.” His mother arched a perfect brow. “You’re not making sense. What about Serena?”
“Serena will have to understand,” he told her. “She doesn’t want this marriage any more than I do.”
“Yes, but she wants the position. She wants to unite the last two clans.”
“No, she wants to have power over them, Mother,” Cian argued. “You know that as well as I do. Regardless of my feelings, Serena should not be given the power that comes with the position.”
He felt Ashlynn’s fingers wrap around his upper arm, drawing his attention from his mother. “Tell her,” she said in a loud whisper.
Cian nodded. “Mother, Ashlynn has Cineal blood in her veins. If we could speak with the elders, I’m sure we could find a way –“
“Who are your parents?” she asked Ashlynn, suddenly acknowledging her presence.
Cian watched as Ashlynn morphed into the ancient royal she was; her head raised, chin high. She seemed taller all of a sudden.
“I am Ashlynn Merrilynn Kavanaugh. Firstborn daughter of Conal and Aoife Kavanagh and heir to Northern throne. My blood runs in the Cineal’s veins and it is by my will that their lineage exists.”
For the first time in his life Cian saw his mother struck speechless. Her hands fell from her hips as she looked back and forth between them. Cian braced for a blow-up or a long lecture about privilege and honor and having to uphold his promise to the clans. Instead, his mother closed her eyes for a moment, then brought her fingers up and pinched the bridge of her nose in exhaustion.
She shook her head in defeat. “W-what?”
Cian sighed. “Where’s Dad? We should all sit down together. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
***
Cian and Ashlynn sat next to one another in the big leather chairs across the desk from Patrick Boswells, waiting for him to speak after they’d laid out the entire story.
“So,” Eadlyn said slowly, as if talking to a child, “you’re telling us that during the few days we were gone you met and fell in love with a time traveling princess from the 1700s?” She paced the floor behind his dad’s chair, stopping when she posed the question to stare at them in disbelief.
Cian glanced at Ashlynn and chuckled at her exasperated expression. “There’s more to it than that, but yes. Pretty much.”
Cian’s father leaned forward, steepling his fingers together. Cian braced for an attack. “So,” he began, his voice pitched deep, “does this mean I don’t have to pretend to like Serena anymore?”
“Patrick!” his mother exclaimed.
“What?” he spun in his chair and shrugged at her. “The girl is insufferable, Edie. You’ve said so yourself.”
“Yes, but that’s not the point here,” she replied, pushing back a tendril of hair that had escaped.
Cian’s dad swiveled back around and faced them in all seriousness. “No, the point here is that we live in the twenty-first century and we’re forcing three-hundred-year-old war and peace tactics on our son. He’s found someone that makes him happy and, miraculously, she’s from the same bloodline as the Cineals.”
“So she says,” Cian’s mother replied.
Ashlynn leaned forward in her chair, all sign of exasperation gone. “What I say is true. Every word of it. Cian witnessed my arrival with his own eyes and he was with me when I spoke with the Seer. She is the one who revealed the link between myself and that woman.” Ashlynn shuddered. “Please know that I did not come here with the intention of ruining your hard-earned peace treaty. I was sent over three hundred years to find my other half. If proving my bloodline will end this questioning, I’ll do it.”
“You don’t have to prove anything,” Cian assured her, reaching to take her hand. He watched her in front of his parents, both intimidating people in their own right, and yet she was holding her own. She was brave and willing to face the bull head-on, yet she had no idea what she was offering.
Before he could refuse, his father nodded. “Actually, she might be onto something there, Cian. A blood ritual. It would prove her blood connection. Between that and the Seer’s pledge, we could maybe convince the Cineal’s that the marriage is unnecessary.”
“I’ll do it,” Ashlynn replied.
“No,” Cian told her, firmly, shaking his head. “You don’t have to do anything. I’m not marrying Serena. End of story. You can disown me, shun me from the clan. I don’t care.”
His mother’s eyes went wide. Cian’s gut twisted with guilt, but he’d take guilt over destroying any chance the clans had at peace.
“There’s no need to be dramatic, Cian,” Eadlyn said quietly, moving to stand beside her husband.
Cian raised an eyebrow, knowing he’d never been dramatic a day in his life, and smiled when his mother rolled her eyes and took the seat next to his father.
“Look,” Cian held out his hands, “the Cineal clan is older and larger than the Boswells. I just don’t want to start anything. Serena’s parents are reasonable people,” he continued, hoping his was right. “They’ll understand. Especially if we prove that Ashlynn is one of their elders. If they want us to recognize the ancient ways, then they should recognize that they came from her bloodline. It was Ashlynn’s sister who created the branch of Cineals that rule today.”
“Yes, well,” his father cleared his throat, “Leave me to deal with Serena’s parents. I’ll arrange the blood ritual. In the meantime,” he turned his gaze to Ashlynn, “You mentioned a trinity stone?”
Ashlynn looked to Cian for direction and he nodded.
“Yes, I was given the stone by the Seer in my time. It’s what brought me here.”
“If such a relic exists, a stone that could grant wishes or allow one to travel through time, it’s best we keep it locked up and safe. And never speak of it to anyone outside of this room. If you’ll trust me, princess, I’ll keep it stored in my archives.”
Slowly, Ashlynn pulled the stone from her jacket pocket and handed it over to Cian’s father. He happily accepted it and held it firmly in both hands, testing its weight.
“My God.” He blew out a huff of air and looked to Ashlynn. “I’ll keep it safe, princess.”
“You really don’t need to keep referring to me as princess,” Ashlynn told him. “If I’m to stay here in your world, I’d like to fit in as much as possible.”
He nodded. “Understandable. Ashlynn it is, then.” Cian’s father pushed away from his desk and stood, taking a moment to straighten his suit jacket. “I’ll make all the arrangements. Be ready in the morning. I have a feeling this should be done sooner rather than later. What with the wedding scheduled for after next week. There will be lots to do to disassemble everything.”
Cian’s mother groaned and hopped up from her chair before leaving the room in a huff. Ashlynn looked worried, but Cian squeezed her hand in assurance.
“Don’t worry about Mom,” he said. “She’ll come around. She wants to like you, she’s just worried for our people, that’s all.”
She smiled but he could sense the uncertainty in the way she moved. “If you say so. I trust you.
”
“You let me deal with your mother, Cian. You know how she is,” his father added and then joined him in a slight chuckle.
“Thank you for this, Dad,” Cian said.
“Think nothing of it,” he replied. “I love my people and want what’s best for them. But I love my children more. So, just be sure this is truly what you want.”
Cian turned to Ashlynn at his side and his whole chest filled with warmth at the idea of forever with her. The past few days now felt like years in terms of how deeply he felt for the ancient royal and he couldn’t imagine ever letting her go. Her returning gaze and glistening eyes confirmed his decision. “Yes,” he said, holding her stare, “a life with Ashlynn is all I want.”
***
Cian let Ashlynn into his room and then closed the door behind them before twisting the deadbolt in place. She spun on her heel, face spread wide with a giddy smile, and his chest heaved with anticipation. As if spending another second without touching her would surely kill him, Cian took two long and quick strides to take her ethereal face in his desperate hands. Their bodies melded together, fusing with the heat that radiated from each. Using his magic, Cian turned down the lights and snapped his fingers, igniting a single candle next to the bed.
Ashlynn broke free of their kiss to say, “Make love to me, Cian. Without the weight of your world on your shoulders.”
He slipped his shirt over his head while Ashlynn gripped the edges of her dress to do the same. She pressed her bare skin to his and Cian felt the flame of her body burning on the surface. Her arms wrapped around his neck and he held her tightly as she jumped into his arms, locking her feet behind his back.
In a tornado of crushing lips and panting breaths, the two crashed to the bed together with Ashlynn sitting astride him. The heat of her center pressed against him sent goosebumps chasing the length of his body making him yearn to be inside her. He reached for her, intent on starting at the top and ending at the bottom, but she stopped him with a feline purr and a deliberate roll of her hips, sending a wave of pure pleasure through his body. Cian threw back his head and moaned.
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