“I had to. You’re my life.”
She wrapped around him. “Sedric.”
“I know. I know.” On one muffled sob, Marco dropped his head on her shoulder. “They brought him in when I was coming around. I don’t have the words for it. They’re all twisted up in me. I loved him. I really loved him.”
“We lost our grandfather, Marco. But we’ll be there for Nan. We’ll be there for her.”
“Damn right we will.” Swiping at his eyes, he looked back at the waterfall. “It’s really over.”
“It’s really over. Couldn’t you feel it?”
“I saw what you did, and all that stuff that came out of him. Ugly stuff, girl.”
“Evil’s ugly, whatever form it takes.”
“You got that. Then that kind of sparking thing that turned into like fireworks before it just poofed away. Then Odran just, he just broke apart and died. Brian said he’d help them clean up, you know. He’s doing okay. Wasn’t hurt that bad. Keegan took some hits,” he continued as they walked.
“He did? Some of the blood on him was his?”
“Took some hits, went right on. Listen to those bells ring. Perfect music. How about we go clean up, then come back over and find ourselves some wine. I mean a whole bunch of a lot of wine.”
“Oh yes, please.”
“Want a lift? My faithful steed can handle both of us, and Bollocks, too. Warrior dog.”
“I’m calling Lonrach. Another warrior.”
“I’ll just ride along under you. Twice up on a dragon? That’s enough for this man’s lifetime.”
It took time to get to the cleanup. So many to speak with, to embrace, to comfort.
And Marg.
She held her grandmother close. “Do you want to come to the cottage with us? You could stay for a few days, or as long as you want. You don’t have to go back to your cottage alone.”
“Oh,mo stór, I won’t be alone. Sedric will be with me, the heart of him. And that’s a comfort.”
“She came so fast, Nan, so fast.”
Fury sparked, burning with the grief. “At my back, like a coward.”
“I saw what you did, how you ended her. I didn’t know you could bring something like that.”
“At my back, like a coward,” Marg repeated. “And she took the love of my life, for he was and always will be that. I turned what she was, what she’d chosen to be, back on her. Nothing more, nothing less. You go on now. I’m going to sit awhile with Finola, watch the children. Watch them play in the sunlight, and with no more fears.
“This you did, for your da, for me and Sedric, for the Fey, and for yourself. Never forget that.”
“Can we bury Sedric’s ashes beside Da’s?”
Marg simply pressed her cheek to Breen’s. “He’d be so pleased you’d ask. Aye, we will, for they had a father and son love between them. Go now, and come back so we’ll do what they’d both want.”
“What’s that?”
“Dance in the sun until the longest day ends. Then dance more.”
She waited while Marco took his horse back to the farm, and wrapped around Morena.
“I only saw the end of it, only saw when you ended him, and that was enough. Are you hurt at all?”