Cates, Kimberly (59 page)

"I'm
glad, Aidan. So glad."

"Whatever
happens when she enters society in London, she'll be strong enough, secure
enough, loved enough by both of us to triumph. I feel it in my gut. Cassandra
wants to slay her own dragons from now on. I'm going to try my damnedest to let
her."

Aidan
sucked in a steadying breath, his hands trembling, his heart feeling too large
for his chest. It pressed against his ribs as if the slightest brush of his
hand would make it burst.

"It
seems a hero just has to love his daughter," Aidan said. "It made me
think... hope that maybe we could begin again if I... loved you."

She
turned to him, fey as a fairy queen, fragile as any spirit who had ever
wandered the battlements of Caislean Alainn. A woman of mist and magic, who had
kissed him in a fairy ring and carried his heart into a realm beyond reality,
one so beautiful he never wanted to return to the real world again.

"You...
love me?"

"Ever
since Cassandra was tiny, I dreaded the day she would grow up. I thought my
life would be over—barren, empty. How could I have guessed that I'd have a
chance to start over, Norah? To make things right? Do you remember what I told
you a long time ago? That the only way a Kane could enter heaven was to steal
the keys?"

"I
remember."

"I
didn't have to steal heaven, Norah. You came to me, ladylight, and put the keys
into my hands."

Tears
welled up in her eyes, spilled down her cheeks, cleansing away pain and fire,
grief and guilt, leaving shining wonder.

"Marry
me, Norah."

"But
we're already wed."

"Marry
me today, in Caislean Alainn, with the sun streaming down and the Old Ones
offering us their blessing. The vows I took in the church were cast out,
careless. This time I want every word to be a treasure, to take out and hold
when I draw my last breath. Give me forever, Norah. Let me give you not what I
am, but all I hope to be. With your help, angel. With your hope."

She
flung herself into his arms, a thousand dreams in her eyes, infinite love in
her heart.

With
exquisite tenderness, he bathed away the traces of soot on her cheeks, in her
hair, drifted a delicate gown about her slender body. Then he swept her into
his arms and carried her out into the new-dawned day where his stallion was
waiting.

Love
shimmered in the Irish sky and kissed the Celtic wind as the horse carried them
across dew-sweet hills. It wreathed a Castle of Beauty in a new magic, a new
promise, as rakehell Sir Aidan Kane took his ladylight to wife, in his heart,
in his soul, their union blessed in the enchanted circle of the ancient fairy
ring.