Page 10 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

“And how does that work? Each side cheering for their gods like knights at a tourney? Power generated through prayer, pleas or savage rites?” She shook her head resolutely. “We’ve been out of kilter for too long, since the old queen went across the border and we won’t find peace until she takes her place on the throne. She is the answer to everything you seek.”

Pepin watched my fingers stray to my hair, as if I could feel the heavy weight from my dreams there again, the massive cloak dragging on my shoulders, then she nodded.

“Questions won’t help you, Darcy,” she said in a much more terse voice. “You have a job. Now do it. Claim your pack, put the queen on the throne and restore the equilibrium. Everything else is just a distraction.”

It had been tempting to dismiss what was happening as some kind of psychotic break on my side. To sit here talking with a ‘goddess’ like she was some woman at the pub beggared belief. But the easy way she was able to wave away everything I’d seen or heard? She couldn’t have appeared more like a deity then. I blinked, staring at the tabletop but only able to see the tiny worn little doll, half trampled in the mud.

“Just like that,” I said through gritted teeth.

“As simple and as difficult as that,” she replied, and that’s when the noise of the room began again.

“I was thinking that perhaps—” Dane started to say.

“Everyone needs to be moved to the citadel,” I said in a grim voice, only looking up when I was met by silence. My mates all stared at me, frowning slightly at what was for them an abrupt change in mood. “Everyone we care about and want to protect needs to be housed there.”

No matter what was going to happen, we needed to protect our people first. From Ulfric and from the Reavers.

“I was about to say exactly that,” Dane said, but he watched me closely. “I know you have quite the set up here, Pepin, and we’d need to be circumspect about how such a large number of people are moved through the city.”

“I know a way,” Pepin said with a smile. “And it’d be a good thing. More people need to be brought in. The Reavers went quiet over the festival period, but they’ll start up again. I can’t house everyone here. This was always just a stopping place for smugglers, not a barracks.” She stared at me as she spoke the next few words. “You’re building your power base, readying yourself for the challenge and making sure there’s no loose threads for the queen to pull before you face her down.”

“You’ve heard about that?” Weyland said, shaking his head, his fingers wrapping tight around his tankard. “It’s not a good thing, to curse your own mother but—”

“Bugger that,” Axe declared, downing the rest of his beer, then wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “We always knew what she was capable of.” Eyes turned to Gael who faced down the attention with a steady gaze. The evidence of the queen’s cruelty was displayed openly now, almost as a badge of honour. “We just didn’t care enough to do anything about it because it didn’t affect us and for that, I’m sorry, brother.”

He threw his hand down on the table, leaving it out for Gael to take or leave, but he leant in and clasped arms with his brother.

“There’s no need,” Gael replied. “She’s the woman that bore you. It’s only natural to want to take her side.”

For a moment, there was just quiet and as my eyes flicked around the table, I felt like something was happening here, some shift. I moved then, pressing myself into Gael’s side and he wrapped his arm around my waist, smiling down at me before kissing the top of my head.

“The apology is warranted,” Weyland said, the strain evident in his voice. “Being in her presence for more than a few minutes today sickened my stomach, but you…”

“We won’t need to deal with Mother, not again, not unless you want to,” Dane said. “Now, about the transfer of the refugees…”

We all watched Dane then as he hammered out the details with Pepin and I’m sure the others wondered exactly what I did. What game was he playing and how long had it been in play? Had Dane been working on this since Gael was hurt? Before? Who had brought Gael to court? Who had patched him up when all of Snowmere turned their back on him? Questions, so many bloody questions and whenever I got an answer, more appeared.

Questions I pondered on the ride back to the citadel. This would be our last night alone within its walls because the refugees would begin to arrive in the morning. And that just brought up yet more questions.

Where would we put them? Did we have enough food and would we be able to keep providing for that many people? What about the injured or the maimed? Children without parents or worse, parents who’d lost their children. My head seemed to fill and keep on filling on the entire ride until abruptly, it was over. I blinked and found myself still on my horse’s back in the citadel’s stables.

“C’mon, lass,” Gael said, his tone gentle, but his hands? They reached for me, hauling me down from the saddle and that’s when the other questions rose.

Weyland was putting away the saddles, Axe seeing to the feeding of the horses but Dane, he watched me with his brother with a hungry expression, one I hadn’t expected to see on his face. And Gael?

“You’re alright?”

It was more an assertion than a question, but I couldn’t focus on the words, my attention caught by the low huskiness of his voice. Raspy, deep, resonant, and feeling like it vibrated all the way through me, all concern for others was shoved aside for this.

He looked down at me with a gaze that seemed to go on forever, like there was nothing more he’d rather do, but that changed when my fingers rose up. I traced the mark I’d left on him, dark pink and savage with it and his expression became the same. His hand jerked up, not to pull mine away but to cover my hand and press it harder against the mark, his lips falling open. His woody scent filled my nose, making my head swirl and my mouth water.

I wanted him.

I wanted him in ways it seemed were too hard to put into words, the many, many layers of that need set on top of each other. I wanted his warmth against my skin. I wanted the flare of those eyes burning into mine. I wanted the tensing of his shoulders, the tightening of his grip, but mostly I wanted the way he tugged me close, burying his nose into my neck and sucking in my scent, like it was the only air he could possibly breathe.

And I wanted to feel like this, caught up in him, Gael overwhelming my senses forever.

Because the minute we pulled apart, we had a problem. The rest of the pack had stopped what they were doing, freezing midway by the look of Axe, the feedbag hovering in the air. Their eyes shone just as bright, their focus just as intent as they watched their brothers with me.

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