Page 81 of Queen of the Hollow Hills

Nothing mattered more than getting to Cormag now.

I hurried up the stairs, rushing down the hallway.

But when I got to the door, I paused. Closing my eyes a moment, I braced myself…for our shared pain, for what Cormag might feel when I told him this was my doing. I wanted to throw myself from the highest window. Exhaling a low breath, I pushed open the door.

It was dark inside. Braziers burned, casting the room in an orange glow.

I did not see Cormag at first, but then I spotted him. He sat on the floor, his back against the bed, his eyes fixed on…

On a table near the window were two wrapped bundles, flowers strewn and braziers burning around them.

I closed the door behind me and quietly entered the room.

My stomach clenched as I looked from Cormag to my girls.

My legs were weak and my knees shaking, so I walked over to the table on which they had been laid.

Someone had dressed them both in beautiful gowns and wrapped their bodies in white linens trimmed with moons and stars embroidered in silver and gold. The tiny diadems Ystradwel had sent sat on their heads, flowers decorating their bodies. A sheer white drape had been laid over them, muffling the effect of their stillness.

My body began to quake, and a moment later, a moan came from me that sounded inhuman.

And then, I wept, and wept, and wept, and wept.

Cormag rose and came to me, wrapping his hands around my waist and pulling me close to him. He pressed his head against mine, and the two of us merely cried, my body shaking.

When I felt like I couldn’t breathe, I turned to Cormag, pressing my face against his chest as I struggled to take a breath.

“Oh, my love,” he whispered, his voice cracking.

I closed my eyes, felt his hand gently rubbing my back, and tried to catch my breath.

In then out.

In then out.

After a long time, my breath grew steady, and I merely wept.

Cormag held me close.

When I finally calmed, he whispered, “I…I am so sorry,” he said, his voice wavering. “You left them in my care. You thought they would be safe with me. And I… It happened so fast. Oh, Carti. I am so heartbroken and so sorry.”

I pulled him close, my heart aching, then whispered, “There is something I must tell you.”

I told him everything. I told him about the Claws of the Cailleach, the girls who had come as sacrifice to the Cailleach, the rite, what the Cailleach had whispered to me, and what I had seen in Gaul.

“It is not your fault,” I whispered between sobs. “It ismine. I intervened where I should not have, and the Cailleach took our daughters as payment.”

“No,” Cormag whispered. “No, Carti. It is not your fault. You did what you thought was right, saving those girls.”

“I just… When I saw those girls, I saw Regan and Aelith. I could not let them die for this cause. I thought, because I am queen, I would be enough. But the Cailleach… I doomed our daughters.”

Cormag leaned back and met my gaze. “Would the Cailleach take her own blood as payment? I am her son. Do you really think she would sacrifice her own granddaughters?”

“She was so…angry.”

“That is the dark lady, and she is fearsome to behold. Children…” he said, then looked back to our girls. “Sometimes, children die. We cannot know the cause,” he said, then shook his head. “Or so they tell me. I sent for the healer, the midwife. Everyone did what they could. We could not reach Onnen’s people or mine. It was so sudden. Even Verbia did not knowwhat to do. Aye, Carti… I am so sorry.Ilost our daughters. You cannot blame yourself.”

“Nor can you blame yourself. Oh, my love. Our little daughters are gone…”

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