She wanted to believe him. To believe that she meant as much to him as he did to her, and yet she cannot bring herself to forget all of the months spent alone. Stripped of her power, naked and alone with only the flickering hope that he might return to her. Knowing that she had two hungry children that depended on her to stay strong and not show any of her own heartbreak while she figured out how to pick up the pieces he had left behind.

How easy it would be to shake free of her earthly concerns and gallivant with him back to this Inlet, to forget that Ailill had won her heart with his calm steadiness and constant care of her. To let him take care of the three bright girls now that they were all weaned and to chase her heart. To bury herself in the dark curls of his mane whenever it pleased her; to drink deep the masculine scent of him that had once held all the warmth in the world.

But what if he did it again? How long would her happiness last this time? How long until he pulled them into another war, another conflict, another strife? How much danger was he willing to put not only her, but her daughter in?

Siobhan shuddered in place, her whole body vibrating as the shock of her emotions left her unsteady. She wanted him so badly it made her ache with need of him, and yet her knees remain locked in place. Even as he steps closer to her, frustrated with the accusations that she had hurled at him. He acts as though she should not be concerned, as though she should still be willing to drop everything and just run with him. To abandon the small sliver of security she had managed to gather in the wake of all that had happened.

He is close enough to tough, and she knows it. Every molecule of her urges her to close that small gap, to find where she had once nestled against his body, but his response to Nyimara breaks his spell on her. To imply that he had met the silvered mare on the Crossing by chance was a blow to her ego and an insult to her intelligence. Of all the creatures on these isles, it was his former queen that he came across? The one who had ditched the Ridge at the first chance she had? The one who hadn't bothered to show up to try to convince Faolain to give it up? The one who had done nothing but cause strife and conflict since Siobhan had first laid eyes on her?

It was only the frustration spawned by the thought of Nyimara and his blindness in regard to her that allow her to stay still as he proclaims his love for her again. The knowledge that he had only come back because Faolain had said so stung, but she shoves the thought away. Be that as it may, her eyes shutter closed in a slow blink and the tension melts from her muscles.

He could rip her limb from limb, she thought, and she would still love him. Until her dying breath wheezed from her lungs she would love this man.

Siobhan pleads with him to stay, reaching forward to brush away the salty trail of tears across his face. He is hers, and he has been since she set eyes on him in the Commons. Nothing would come between them, for as much as they were fire and ice, they were meant to be together.

And yet, his words slap her across the face with the finality of their dismissal. She recoils from him then, her gaze seeking to meet his to read the truth there. What she sees before her breaks her heart anew and a fresh wave of tears slip from her cheeks. Her voice wavers as she speaks around the lump in her throat, "you gave me no choice."

"Why not?" She asks after a moment, her gaze locked on him. "He did it for you." She knows it is not the same. Ailill had vowed to protect her and the rest of the herd long before they had shared more than a passing acquaintance. Their relationship had been born of necessity as they learned to co-parent Aislinn, but it had bloomed with steady care from both of them. Their respect for one another, and a deep love of the children that they cared for had made them closer, but it was his gentleness that had won her heart. With Ailill she knows she will not have to worry about a war over a broken vow, or that he will espouse the virtues of a cruel queen simply because she is beautiful. She knows that she will not have to rescue Roisin from the Lagoon someday. That she will not have to kill anyone with Ailill around.

But is it enough?

Is it enough to leave Bjorn behind? To let him swim from these shores bespoke a note of finality she wasn't sure that she could withstand. As unfair as it was to hold both of them in her heart, she could not pick one. They meant different things to her and held different places in her heart and she wasn't sure she could continue to draw breath knowing that she had severed a part of her heart by choice.

"Stay, please." She says finally, the words thick with tears. "Don't leave me again."