Page 33 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

“Rory, come here and let your dapa hold your brother,” Shay encouraged her daughter, holding out her hands.

“That’s okay, help me hold him?” I asked Rory who nodded eagerly in agreement. She put her arms on her knees with her little palms turned up the way she had no doubt been told to sit while holding the baby.

Verin shifted in front of me to gently deposit that tiny bundle into my hands which hovered over Rory’s lap.

“He’s so little,” the toddler commented, and I grunted my consensus as she braced her hands under mine as if she really were helping me to hold the baby. “We have to be very careful with his head because his neck is not very strong yet,” she informed me matter-of-factly.

I looked down into that tiny face and waited for the crushing pain and regret that consumed Orlaith, but it did not come for me. There was a tug of helpless curiosity for what might have been, but there was no yearning or regret about the path I’d chosen with the Wild Hunt.

“He is… perfect, Shay,” I told my sister who watched me with the same curiosity that Orlaith had, waiting to see how I would be affected. They both seemed to expect me to feel something different, somethingmore, but I was relieved not to be impactedmore deeply. I was grateful to be spared the gut-wrenching anguish Orlaith suffered. Thankful that I could hold my nephew and smile at him with nothing but love and thankfulness.

“His first breath was the hour of sunrise. He is just six pounds, but he is already so strong,” said Verin proudly, looking like he wanted to take his son back already.

“Did you see Orlaith outside?” Shay asked me.

“She was alright, but she returned to herteine,” I told my sister who looked at once relieved and saddened as she nodded in understanding.

“And Ornella is alright?” asked Verin, surprising me with his inquiry since he and Shay had been clear about their distaste for the dryad from the very beginning.

“She is still sleeping. She drained herself,” I admitted, and then closed my mouth before I could tell them anything more. It was better not to tell them about Rian, and not just because I didn’t want them looking at Summer with the same suspicion Ciaran did now. I also did not want to villainize Rian. I had no doubt my father would also forget to mention how my cousin almost killed us when he returned to the village.

“She saved the lives of Shay and the baby. Ronan was not ready to come. He was breech,” said Raquela who had finished packing up her supplies and was ready to depart.

“What?” I demanded, looking at Shay who appeared exasperated by her midwife’s comments. My sister was a proud female who hated to admit when she was wrong.

“She… found me. I didn’t know for sure if the baby was coming,” Shay defended. She looked down into her lap as Verin put his hand on her shoulder to squeeze in consolation. “There wasn’t enough room in the clearing, and I knew we were about to be crushed by our own people against the mountain. I had Rory with me, I was pretty sure I was going into labour too early, and I didn’t know what to do. I was scared,” my sister admitted.

“Any longer and the baby might have gotten stuck,” Ivie insisted to me even as she squeezed Shay’s thigh.

“Your mate also asked the old forest to move for us,” Raquela added. “Many would have been trampled at the end if she had not made the room.”

“Everyone in our village owes her an immense debt,” my mother chimed in sincerely.

“I’m sorry, Sage,” Shay spoke up again, and my brows rose in surprise at her since my sister never apologized. To anyone. “I was wrong about her.”

I looked from one grateful face to the next as it really hit me just how close I’d come to losing everything. I had already told Ciaran that Summer saved us, but sitting with the rest of my family, holding the newest member, it sank in with a new and rather painful clarity.

I owed Summereverything.

Chapter ten

WE DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS

Ornella

Iwoke abruptly in the morning to the realization that I was alone in my bedroll.

I sat up to the scent of roasting coinín, a bushy-tailed, tree-dwelling rodent with long ears that seemed unique to the Autumn Court. I’d once thought they were rather cute and disliked eating them. That was until one attacked me when we were camping in the forest while trying to get through the Fuath ward around the cave. Faela warned me not to get close to the little beasties, but most animals in the Summer Court were amicable to dryads.

Not these ones.

I narrowed my eyes at the little carcasses as they were slowly turned on a spit over the fire along with enormous mushroom caps and slices of root vegetables. I could still hear Faela laughing while I screeched and ripped my coat off to get at the creature that had gone down my shirt. Luckily, Sage was flyingabove us on Serafin, and Faela had been sworn to secrecy about the incident.

I hoped that bothersome female was still alive.

Ciaran remained focused on the food on the spit, but I knew he would be fully aware of me while I sat up and glanced around us. I did not see Sage or Serafin close by, but Pyrope lay with me, her eyes on the golden-haired rider across the fire, keeping watch over me.

Before I could demand to know where Sage had gone, he rounded one of the pine trees and approached our fire with Serafin trotting along behind him. He was carrying familiar bundles of clothing that he must have retrieved from our trunk.

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