Page 133 of Song of the Dark Wood

Hiking up her dress, he bent to kiss her again, brushing his fingers over her thighs.

Pounding footsteps cut through their frenzy as Sarai and Charlie burst into the temple. Charlie paused in the doorway, looking unsurprised.

Sarai drew up short, turning away. “I’ve had a vision. You must come. Something is very wrong in town. I fear we need to put our plan into action now, or we may lose our chance.”

They dashed out of the temple, through the keep, and to the front doors. Charlie took off to gather the reapers as Conor helped Rowan into her cloak and pulled on a leather breastplate marked with the crest of the Wolf.

A furious pounding on the door made them freeze.

Conor pushed Rowan and Sarai behind him and threw open the heavy wooden doors, coming face to face with the Crone.

“We must move fast!” the Crone said. She met Sarai’s eye. “Did you see it too?”

Sarai nodded.

“I’m sorry, Rowan,” the Crone said, shaking her head. “I know I made a grave mistake. I see the error now. You were meant to right the balance, not ruin it. I only had part of the picture, but I have the whole now. Something is very wrong in town. The anxiety was already through the roof, but there wassuch a surge of restlessness… I did not receive a full vision, but something is wrong at the tower, and I worry even if we run, we will be too late. I know you have no reason to trust me, but please come quickly.”

“It could be a trap,” Conor said, glaring at the Crone.

“I swear on my soul,” she said meaningfully.

Conor gritted his teeth and nodded.

Sarai stepped forward. “Mother, if you’re lying?—”

“I swear I’m not, but if you need me to prove it, I will pass along my title to you right now,” the Crone said.

Rowan’s gaze whipped to Sarai. It was exactly what they’d discussed happening in their plan.

“I’ve seen all the outcomes,” the Crone said. “The plan you have is the only one that has a prayer of working.”

A silent understanding passed between Rowan and Sarai.

“All right, let’s go. We will transfer the power as we move,” Sarai said.

Together, Conor, Rowan, Sarai, and the Crone rushed down the trail toward Ballybrine. Rowan jogged alongside Conor, her hand in his. Behind them, the Crone and Sarai spoke back and forth in incantations. After a few minutes, they went silent and picked up their pace.

Rowan felt a strange hum in the forest, the plants perking up as she walked by. She could sense the song in them in a more vibrant way. Something had shifted, either from her call for help the day before, or from her wedding.

“I’m very proud of you, Sarai,” the Crone said.

“Congratulations, Sarai,” Rowan said, smiling back at her friend. “Now, whatever is happening at the tower, you need to let Conor and I go first. You hang back because we’ll need you both if the Mother appears. You know the plan only works if she doesn’t see you coming.”

Sarai nodded. “And if we can get witnesses.”

They hurried on as the flickering torches of the trailhead came into view.

Loud shouting and the smell of smoke wafted down the trail, and Rowan burst into a full run.

“Rowan, let me go first!” Conor shouted.

“Keep up!” she grunted in reply.

They burst from the trail and Rowan drew up short as Finn came into view, leaning against the wall in front of Maiden’s Tower, looking beat-up and dejected. The door of the tower had been battered inward, several bodies strewn about the entryway. Finn’s sword dripped with blood and his gaze lifted, colliding with Rowan’s.

“Row, I tried?—”

“No,” Rowan breathed. She tore past him into the tower and came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, where Mrs. Teverin lay in a pool of blood.

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