Page 132 of Haunted

I visit the dungeons on a regular basis after Ahnalyn’s bath, pleased my daughter smells better, pleased that despite the discomfort of her pregnancy, she’s faring well physically.

But I must expedite breaking her.

I stare at her through the cell’s bars. I talk about trivial matters. About the smell of snow in the air. About walking along the river and trading with the merchants who come in from the coast. I moan about the beautiful season, all of which she’s missing because she won’t do as I ask, which is to call her dragon.

I don’t know why Seren doesn’t come on her own. She’d never willingly sever her connection with Niawen, so she must know of Ahnalyn’s plight.

Unless my daughter has a stronger will than I give her credit for.

She must have blocked Seren completely.

Wretched child, you must do this yourself! I don’t tell Ahnalyn how to break down the barrier in her mind and call to Seren. Because of my stubbornness, Ahnalyn claims we’re at an impasse.

Her belly continues to swell with time. I speak to her of Hyledd, her homeland. Hoping to induce homesickness, I wonder with her what her father, Owein, is doing. I don’t tell her though, that Owein is not her blood relation but her adopted father and some mortal that her mother decided was better than me. I whisper her dearly departed husband’s name—Brenin—trusting sorrow will breed her darkness.

It’s working. She’s in such an abysmal pit of darkness that she’s ready to embrace who she is, a half-emrys with the ability to wield both the powers of light and darkness.

Any day the babe will come. After his birth, Ahnalyn will become who she was always meant to be, and I will begin her training.

89

“My lord, the prisoner’s labor has started,” a guard says as he comes into my study.

I straighten my papers and rise from my desk. “Excellent. Move her to the labor suite.”

Ahnalyn’s carried to a cozy chamber in the east wing, where she can see the sun as it rises. I slip into her room once she’s settled. “Ahnalyn, what a momentous day this shall be. I’m sure Lord Brenin is watching from the beyond for his half-immortal to be born.” I pause and look down at her. “Have you called to your dragon yet?”

Ahnalyn shrieks and throws a heavy candlestick from the side table at me.

I catch it with a gloved hand and laugh. “Well, I shall leave you to it.”

I end up pacing most of the day, discerning Ahnalyn’s progress with my light. I never did like laboring women. I worry too much over them, and Ahnalyn becomes more and more distraught as her pain increases.

But the discomfort is forcing her to drop her mental control.

A giddiness courses up inside me when I sense another emrys’s presence far on the horizon of my mind’s sight. This presence I have not felt for a long time, not since Niawen left him on the ledge outside Gorlassar when her father exiled her. But I memorized Aneirin’s light signature, his deep ruby-colored aura.

Aneirin. As good a prize as when Niawen’s charming prince came to save her.

Niawen once told me why she initially left Gorlassar, even before her father exiled her, before the princes came into her life.

Because of a broken heart.

Because of this emrys who comes to save Ahnalyn.

Yes, Aneirin, Niawen’s first love, come to me, and bring me Seren.

90

I’m beside myself, once Aneirin’s light draws closer, because his pure light is overwhelming. He’s powerful, though not as strong as Niawen was in her prime.

My heart beats in a way it hasn’t in years, alive with possibilities as I consider the dragon he brings. Someday I might have my own dragon again. To feel the adrenaline during flight! To be one in mind with a dragon brother!

Before I know what I’m doing, I run into Ahnalyn’s room.

“You’ve lost control,” I exclaim through a winded breath. “Your dragon’s coming. You see through her. I told you she wouldn’t leave you to suffer alone. The power of pain—my patience is paying off.”

The old woman in charge of the labor mops the sweat off my daughter’s face. Ahnalyn is weak, delirious, but she manages to say, “Go away.” Her face is more ashen than I expected. I didn’t guess what losing her control during labor would do to her.

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