Page 29 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

“Aramoor,” the king finished for him.

“Why, yes.” Rath looked around him then. “This news has already reached you?”

“It has,” Ulfric replied. “Ready your men. You’ll need an advanced guard to move out immediately, not too weighed down by weaponry either. They will ride out with my sons and they’ll need speed rather than might. The others can follow behind, but you’ll need to pack light. The attack is expected to happen…?”

The king looked to his heir, and I could see this was not a position he liked finding himself in.

“Late afternoon, Father,” Dane replied, a picture of deference.

“Then you must go, now.”

We all dropped down into a deep bow and then turned and fled the court, the sounds of the queen’s complaints in our ears as we left.

I felt a sense of jubilation, right up until we escaped the castle.

“Darcy must stay here,” Axe insisted. “She can stay with Pepin until we return.” His head jerked around at the sound of feminine laughter. “And speak of the devil…”

“Pepin can’t babysit your mate because she’s coming,” the woman herself said, appearing at his shoulder. I opened my mouth to have my say, but Pep pipped me at the post. “And so is Darcy.”

“Onto a battlefield? Where we face innumerable foes all intent on raping and pillaging everything in their path?” Weyland said, his eyes flashing. “You can’t be serious.”

“She’s completely untried,” Axe continued. “This isn’t practise swords and dummies, it's an actual battle.”

“Something that none of us have truly faced,” Gael said. He never really raised his voice, yet somehow everyone fell silent when he spoke. “The skirmishes with those Granian idiots aren’t anything to go by, not really. This is an armed force. Is it an organised one? A disciplined one? We don’t know, but it's certainly one the likes of which we’ve never faced. All we can do is go into this fight relying on the experience and skill we’ve built up over the years and hope that’s enough. If Darcy wants to ride with us, she does.”

“She’s also right here,” I snapped. “And as far as I know, I didn’t swap my father for any of you to become my lord and master. No matter what you think or feel, I make my own decisions.”

“We just want—” Weyland began in a placating tone.

“The end of that sentence better be ‘to follow what your heart knows to be true’ or so help me, I’ll never put your cock in my mouth again.”

Weyland shut up then so quickly the others burst out laughing.

“So you’re with us?” Dane asked, putting a hand on my shoulder and that was a confusing thing. On the one hand, it was a comforting weight, on the other, it was an oppressive one. I couldn’t help but wonder if this too, was all part of his plan to make me queen.

But I couldn’t worry about that now. As soon as I’d woken up this morning, I’d leapt out of bed, feeling an urgency to get moving that would not be denied.

“Of course, I’m with you,” I replied. “But everything will be for naught if we stand around arguing. Let's get to the barracks and be off.”

We rode over to the barracks to collect the advanced guard that was going with us. Thankfully, Dane had insisted we bring food, water, provisions, and weapons with us when we went to the castle. When we entered the barracks yard, we trotted into chaos. Men saddled horses and gathered necessary items, women thrust bundles into their husbands’ and sons’ hands, reaching up to give them one last kiss before they left.

Because some of them might not return.

I’d been swept up in the feeling of urgency that rode me, but in this moment, that bled away. What we were about to do, where we were about to go, people might not walk away from it. The Reavers, there were so damn many of them and they were so terrifyingly vicious. My horse, Arden, shifted underneath me, the tension in my body bleeding into his and that was only about to get worse.

“Darcy!”

A familiar young voice had my eyes jerking sideways and I saw Del loose himself from Lannie’s grip, Jan following hot on his heels as he plunged into the crowd. The two of them wound their way through the throng, as slippery as weasels, though I admit my heart was in my throat as I saw them slip past soldiers and stomping horses.

“Del!” I shouted, sliding from my saddle, right as someone looked ready to collide with the boy, but he grabbed his sister’s hand in his and yanked the two of them out of the way. “Gods above—”

“We had to come,” Del insisted. “Lannie said we shouldn’t but…”

If I’d been caught ruminating on what might meet us at Aramoor, it was nothing compared to the ghosts that haunted the children’s faces now and I was instantly shamed by them.

“I’m glad you did,” I said, then impulsively I surged forward, collecting each child in my arms and holding them tight.

It would have been easy to make them symbols, poor little mites orphaned by an alien force, but they weren’t that. They were kids, living, breathing, despite everything that had been thrown their way and gods, they were resilient with it.

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