Page 51 of Queen of the Hollow Hills

“Eddin,” I whispered.

“Stay with me, Carti,” he said in a low voice. “Stay with me in this world. The next will come soon enough. Carti…”

My eyes drifted closed.

“Carti?” Eddin called, but he felt very far away. “Carti!”

I drifted then, feeling like I was flying over the mountains, drifting above Brigantes lands. Overhead, the sky was deep blue with gray clouds rolling in. Rain was coming. I could smell it in the air. And then, there was the sharp crack of lightning somewhere ahead of me. I paused, watching as the clouds rolled above the Pennines, the backbone of the Brigantes.

In the sky overhead, I heard a sharp shriek.

I saw an eagle there, lightning illuminating its form as it hunted undetected in the clouds.

“No,” I whispered, waving my hand.

A flock of crows descended from deep within a cloudbank, all attacking the eagle.

But even as I watched, I found myself fading. My hands grew translucent.

“Carti?” Eddin whispered, his voice so far away. “Carti,” he said again, his voice breaking in anguish. “Don’t leave me.”

I pulled myself together, trying to grab the pieces of myself that seemed to flutter away from me like ash.

Not yet.

Not yet.

A sharp, angry wail shook the walls of Rigodonum.

All at once, my eyes flung open.

“There she is. There she is. Another wee princess. We have her, my queen. We have her safe and sound,” Violet said, then turned to her apprentice. “See to the babe. I will see to the queen.”

“Look, Queen Cartimandua,” Isla told me with a smile, showing me the tiny child. Unlike her sister, she had fair-colored hair on her head. “I will tend to her now.”

“Carti?” Eddin whispered.

“I’m here,” I whispered.

“You have two daughters,” Eddin said, smiling, tears running down his cheeks as he squeezed my hand. “What terrors they will rain down on the Parisii… Like the Cailleach and Brigantia,” Eddin said, kissing me on my head. “Oh, Carti,” he said, pressing his cheek against my head.

“Eddin,” I whispered, but my head swam, and I felt dizzy.

“Stay with us, Cartimandua,” Violet called to me as she worked between my legs.

“She’s shaking,” Eddin told Violet.

“It is the blood loss. Cover her, then bank up the fire,” she told Eddin, then turned to Hilda. “Send a messenger to the village for a woman named Greer. She stays with the tanner. She is needed here.”

“Who? Some village woman? Who is she?” Hilda asked.

“Do as I say and quickly,” Violet replied.

Eddin pulled the covers over me and went to bank up the fire. I turned, looking at Verbia, who was holding my little daughter. Eddin returned to Verbia a moment later, looking over her shoulder at the child. Verbia smiled up at him.

“Regan,” Verbia said, looking down at the child. “And Aelith,” she added, gesturing to my second daughter.

Aelith. Eddin’s mother’s name.

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