Page 107 of Queen of the Hollow Hills

“I am glad to see them both happy,” I said, wishing with every ounce of me that what I said wasentirelyaccurate.

“As am I. I feared my sister might never marry again. Her relationship with her husband was…complicated. But she andKing Eddin were at ease with one another. Amma came to life in his presence.”

“It is good to see Eddin happy after so many years under the Carvetti boot.”

“Yes,” Aedan agreed. “Many disagreed with how your father handled the war between the Dardani and Carvetti. I remember my father speaking passionately in opposition to your father.”

“My father prized peace. I cannot fault him for that, but there is more than one way to win that peace.”

“Agreed.”

Later that day,Aedan and I rode from the fort so he might show me a site I had not seen before.

“It is not only the Claws of the Cailleach that sit on my lands, my queen,” Aedan told me.

With Fabius, Aerin, and our guards along with us, we rode across the mountains, finally reaching a jagged crag. The massive stony space, larger than a town square, sat a bit away from an ancient forest.

“Oh, rocks!” Fabius shouted in mock glee. “I am so glad to be on horseback for an hour, in the middle of nowhere, after you just murdered a whole village—I’m sure no one is out for revenge for that—to see some rocks.”

I rolled my eyes at the Roman but said nothing.

Aedan motioned for us to dismount.

The valley where the unusual rock formation sat was windy, the breeze whistling through, blowing my skirts all around me.

Following Aedan, we walked to the bald spot on the crag. Aedan gestured to the ground. “I have asked both Môd andOnnen the meaning of these marks, but no one will explain it to me. But the old ones in the village say that these were made long ago by the little people of the hollow hills.”

I looked at the rocks. Across the surface were images of circles and mazes, interlocking rings, and odd, cup-like divots carved into the stones.

“They are even on the standing rocks,” Aedan said, pointing. Reaching for my hand, he said, “Come.”

Taking the chieftain’s hand, I crossed the stones. Aedan and I climbed up a small jumble of rocks. As we did so, I saw that these stones, too, had been marked.

“Look,” Aedan said, gesturing to the rocks before us. “You can see better here.”

He was right. From this vantage point, I was able to see that the whole top of the rise was covered with the circular symbols. Grooves in the stones connected many of the images. But as I looked, I realized something. The marks…they looked like the image etched over my heart.

I gasped lightly and touched my chest.

“Cartimandua?” Aedan asked.

“Look,” I said, undoing my top lace and working to pull the fabric aside to reveal the mark the Cailleach had set on me.

Aedan paused, his eyes going from the mark on my chest to the landscape around us. “Two discs,” he said, gesturing to my skin. “Interlocked. This is a rod—or is that lightning?—between them. Look there,” Aedan said, pointing.

I saw a similar mark etched into the stones. Around it were other interlocking circles.

“Cartimandua, how did you come by that mark?” Aedan asked.

“You would not believe me if I told you. It is the same, though. Is it not?”

Aedan nodded. “Yes. Or nearly. What does it mean?”

Lacing up my bodice, I shook my head. “I don’t know, but I believe you that it is the ancient ones who were the scribes.”

“Some of the elders say it is a map of the stars. In fact, they whisper that once, long ago, the gods came from the heavens to visit the ancient Brigantes. That is why the three sisters grace our banner, an echo of a knowing long forgotten.”

Fabius, who was walking around the stones, paused. “Queen Cartimandua? Why do you have these here?”

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