Page 80 of Queen of the Hollow Hills

Night had come once more, but it didn’t matter. All was night now.

Brodi waited with a contingent of guards from Rigodonum. I could see on their faces that they already knew. Some would not look at me. Others looked on, their hearts broken on my behalf. Saying nothing, I went to Branagán and mounted, forcing myself not to wince when my burned hands gripped the saddle.

Amma helped me settle my cloak while Aedan helped with the reins.

“Cartimandua,” Aedan said softly. “My house will follow not long behind you.”

I looked at him, his meaning unclear at first, but then I understood. They would come for the funeral rites. That was what he meant. They would come for the rites, where I would bury my baby daughters.

“Thank you,” I replied, my voice barely a whisper.

I turned to Conall and Brodi, nodding that I was ready.

Shaken, her long red hair still unbound, Corva reined in beside me.

Brodi clicked to his horse, and we moved out at once.

I rode away from Isurium Brigantum, from the Claws of the Cailleach, from that place where I had stepped between the Lady of Winter and her blood sacrifice, sparing the lives of two innocent young girls in the process. Using ancient arts, I had infected the mind of a Roman emperor, driving him from this land without ever lifting a blade. I had succeeded in the impossible.

And so doing, I had enraged the Cailleach.

She had told me I would pay a price.

I had not known what she meant.

How could I have ever known?

Blood was paid in the end.

Mine.

My blood. My line. My daughters.

My actions had killed my daughters.

I wouldneverbe the same.

We rode throughout the night,arriving in a darkened Rigodonum sometime just before dawn. While Kamden, Hilda, and Damhan were awake to greet us, the house was otherwise quiet.

“Where is Cormag?” I asked Damhan.

“In your chamber with the princesses, Queen Cartimandua,” he replied sadly.

As I left to join the others, I heard Corva ask Hilda, “Did the fever that took the princess affect others in the fort?”

“No, Priestess. It came upon the princesses suddenly. No others got sick.”

“Little Heather?”

“No, Priestess. Arixus and Violet both saw the princesses. No one can explain it.”

Corva did not need to ask. The Cailleach had taken her sacrifice. In my desire to protect my people, I had doomed my children.

How could I face Cormag?

How could I tell him what I had done?

The edge of grief wanted to overwhelm me, but I pushed it back.

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