Page 105 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

Done, little queen. Her words felt like they had the weight of a mountain, landing on me from a great height. And which of your likely lads shall I take as sacrifice?

What? No!

Then yon Maidens, fierce and true. My grand-daughter will be vexed if I take what’s hers, but we’ll settle that at a later date.

You can’t take them! Their only crime is being stupid enough to throw their lot in with me.

Then those children… Her voice was a poisonous purr, the malicious venom feeling like it leached into my brain as she conjured a scene in my mind. Jan sat with Del in their room, her brother reading to her from a big book with halting words, Annis by their side.

No, no, not them. Please, not them.

Shadows in the corners of the room seemed to shift then, unseen by the inhabitants, curling in on themselves, as if readying to strike.

That’s the problem with you in comparison to the prince, she hissed. He holds nothing back from me, like a good lover should, gifting me everything.

But he doesn’t care for any of it. My words came out thick and fast, my thoughts almost tripping over themselves in their haste. He might be giving you fine, long stemmed roses, but with little effort. He just tosses the flower seller some of his plentiful coin. There is no true homage there, dread queen. The sacrifices are made by others, not him.

I heard her low growl, the sound reflected in reality through the rumble of the storm clouds above.

True enough, she grudgingly admitted. So stop deriding the sacrifices of others and offer me something better. You wish to keep all your pretties close to you, not letting me have a one.

For a second, the light flared brighter and that’s when she came. A gentle hand on my face, a warmth cutting through all the fear, blood and pain. The Mother, my mother rose above me, staring down at me with eyes filled with love, even as bloody tears dripped from them.

“I didn’t want this for you, Darcy. I begged, pleaded with her for another way, but…” My memory replayed the conversation she’d had with me in my dream. “You’ll know when it comes, my love, and when it does, know that I love you. I will always love you.”

I’d understood the lessons of the Maiden well enough. To fight, to thrust yourself out onto the world’s stage and take your place without backing down. To force it to give ground and let you exist. Nordred had been training me for this my whole life, but he couldn’t teach me this.

Motherhood was a woman’s business, something I’d been long deprived of, and so the lesson was all the more difficult for me to understand. They’d said I was born to be a queen, but what was a queen? What Eleanor had become, sweet, but privileged and blind to the workings of the world from her exalted position. That was being queen in name only. I hadn’t become a mother in reality, bearing a child. The Morrigan’s chuckle filled my mind at that thought. But I’d found myself becoming a mother of sorts to Jan and Del, the same nurturing impulse expanding out, encompassing so much more.

A queen had to be a mother to her people, loving them, willing to make sacrifices to ensure their survival, no matter what it took.

I’ll give you me. I blinked then, my eyes welling with tears. I’ll give you everything I have, everything I am. I won’t hold back a thing from you, dread queen. You’ll be able to drink the tears from my pack’s eyes, suck down their cries, their misery, and my sacrifice will be far more potent than Callum’s careless desire to set the world on fire.

Done.

Her voice, their voices, said the word and at that the golden light exploded from inside me. When I opened my eyes, I saw it physically blast outwards and by the cries of the soldiers, so did they. And at the moment, the wolf form of the Reavers dissolved, stripped from them, leaving hollow-eyed, broken men behind. They collapsed down onto the ground, whatever dread impulse that had fired them wiped away.

“No!” one man said, throwing his hands up when a soldier went to stab at him. “Please!”

But before the soldier could respond, a piercing howl cut through the air. Through a wall of fire, Prince Callum’s horse stepped through, paying no mind to the conflagration. And with him came Reavers, real Reavers I was willing to bet, our foe not stupid enough to stay here without at least some of his force.

“This is a feint!” I snapped, my voice reverberating across the crowd. “He has the bulk of his men stationed on the road to Snowmere.”

“And we’re finding this out now?” Ulfric spat. “I knew we should’ve stayed within the walls!”

“But they’re not going anywhere, not without his order,” I countered. “We take down the prince, we cut off the head of the snake. They won’t do anything without him.”

I had to hope that was true, but right now, that was all I had. I saw the Morrigan smile then, nodding to me before disappearing altogether.

Reavers ranged now in a long line along the far side of the field, partially obscured by the flames.

“We’re here to fight, to save Strelae. Let's fight them! Take this pretender prince down and end this!”

The king went to demur, obviously wanting to withdraw in haste, no matter what these Reavers might do to our number as we retreated, but before he could deliver his poorly considered plan, Rath rode forward.

“What did we come here to do, lads? Fight Reavers and water the ground with their blood?” A roar went up through the crowd, fuelled by a frantic energy that had been yet to be unleashed, contained as we were in a tight formation. “Well, there’s more than enough to go around at the end of yon field. Better be quick to make sure you get yours.”

“Finally,” Axe said, smacking his axe in his hands. “Time to crack some fucking heads.”

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