Page 91 of Queen of the Hollow Hills

I’m sorry, my daughters.

CHAPTER 24

The next few weeks passed in an odd silence. Not long after the chieftains left, Corva came to me.

“My queen, with your permission, I will ride west.”

“West?”

“I am still hunting an archer.”

Unconsciously, my hand went to my cheek. “Very well.”

“If you need me here…”

“No. Go. It is quiet here now.”

Corva nodded slowly, then said, “When the Dardani fell to the Carvetti, I lost everything. My family. My home. My tribe. And for a young woman often complimented on her looks, my beauty,” she said, motioning to her scarred body. “The pain was so surreal, it felt like it would never end. It did eventually quiet. Do not rush yourself to end your grieving.”

“Thank you, Corva.”

With that, she departed, and the rest of us sought our own way out of the pain.

Cormag threw himself into finishing my father’s labors to expand Rigodonum.

To try to escape, I focused on my work. My first task was to see to it that Greer and her daughter had everything they needed at their new home in the city.

“You do not have to go,” I told Greer again. “You are welcome to stay on here. You are a competent woman. There is much you can do here.”

“No, my queen. You are generous to offer, but no.” She did not say more, but I knew her thoughts. While we had reassured her time and time again that we did not hold her to blame for what happened to the princesses, she also felt the pinch of guilt—was it something she had done or failed to do that had led to their deaths? Like myself, she was riddled with unnamed emotions.

“You and Heather are welcome to return any time.”

Greer smiled sadly. “You are good to offer, my queen. And we are grateful for your help securing our new home in the city.”

“If you need anything, you must never hesitate to ask.”

She nodded. “Thank you, Queen Cartimandua.”

With that, Greer and Heather loaded into the carriage with crates and sacks of supplies and made their way from the king’s house. I watched as the mule pulled their little cart through the gate and then disappeared into the city, the gates swinging closed once more.

I stared at the closed gate.

Greer had come to help me care for my daughters. Now, they were gone. There was no need for Greer to be here any longer. In a few weeks, all signs of them had been erased from the world.

My hand drifted to my stomach, where the marks on my skin from my round belly remained. And behind it, the hollow feeling. My children were gone. I looked at the trees overhead, watching as they swayed, the green leaves fluttering.

I had heard Corva question Greer about the hours leading up to the girls’ death. The woman had not fed them anythingunusual, and no strangers had come about them. There was no new staff in the kitchens or elsewhere in the fort. And no one had seen any strangers afoot. I had not been well enough to truly process what Corva had been asking, but it was plain to me now…

Corva was trying to determine if the princesses had been murdered.

They had been, but not by human hands.

The Cailleach had taken them as sacrifice.

Because of me.

Feeling eyes on me, I turned and looked up at the face of the fort, spotting Verbia in her chamber window.

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