Page 56 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

“She’s god-touched!”

That was exclaimed, breathed, said in a reverent tone or spat out like an insult, depending on which of them said it, but at least it was one thing they agreed upon. I felt a sharp stab in my pelvis, as if to remind me what that relationship with the goddess entailed.

“Yes, well, if the Lady Darcy is not able to supply us with more divine wisdom, we’ll have to rely on good old-fashioned intelligence reports,” the king said, sitting forward. “The last attack was at Aramoor; and the entire host was driven away from there?”

“I saw them in a forest somewhere,” I said, my mates muttering as I’d neglected to share that information. “I didn’t see anything in particular to identify where and he brushed me away when I saw them.”

“He?” the king said.

“They have a commander. He wore black leather armour and a wolf skin cloak. The Morrigan said he courts her openly. Every time he kills someone or destroys something, it's like the rites that people perform to her each festival day.” That started people mumbling. “He wins her favour with destruction and she gives him power.”

“So more than one of you is god-touched,” Ulfric said. “And, arguably, he is more proficient in using his gift.” His eyes narrowed as he considered me. “Have the Lady Darcy taken to the temple. She can work with Mother Aeve to determine and refine any gift she might have, hopefully supplying us with more useful information.”

“Father—” Dane started to say.

“Dane stays, because he is next in line to become king, the rest of you will form more than enough protection for your mate, surely.”

Dane stared at us for a second, then nodded slowly. Weyland muttered something darkly under his breath, but Axe just bowed to the table.

“As you say, Father.”

“Usually I’m bloody glad to get the fuck out of that room,” Axe snapped as we walked down the steps of the castle. “But not right now. Those fucking idiots—”

“Dane will manage them, as he always has,” Gael replied, before moving to take my hand. “How are you, Darcy? It seems everywhere we turn, someone’s putting more on you.”

I just stared mutely up at him, not wanting to open my mouth now and get myself even further in trouble.

“Dane didn’t want us to warn you about what was coming,” Weyland said, putting his hands on my shoulders and massaging the tense muscles there. “You’d just been flogged within an inch of your life by your father and…”

“And we were taking you from the frypan and into the fire,” Axe said with a frown. “Though even we didn’t realise how much.”

“So what do you want to do now?” Gael asked me. “The king says Mother Aeve, but I’ll take you anywhere you want, out of the city even, if that’s what you need.”

“But it won’t stop, will it?” My voice sounded harsh and grating, and Gael flinched in response. I glanced at Weyland. “Even if we ran across Grania and to the nearest port, getting on a boat and sailing off to gods know where, it wouldn’t stop. I’d still see it.”

See her. See him. See the destruction of Strelae. All of that was implied in my words.

“I think you will, lass. Dane didn’t know all of this, but he had an inkling. The queen was more than just the ruler of the country, she was the conduit for the gods themselves. She ruled through divine right, caring for the land as an extension of their will. The idea of that fell to pieces when the Granians came, but… She was the priestess-queen, the head of church and state, and she took that with her when she left.”

“So now we need to find a way to get that ability back,” I said between clenched teeth.

I didn’t want this, hadn’t asked for these strange abilities or to be visited by manifestations of parts of the goddess, but, just like my father’s brutality, it was coming my way whether I wanted it or not.

“Pepin disappeared?” I asked.

“Just turned into golden light when you collapsed,” Axe said with a nod. “Tricksy little rat. I knew she had some skills, but…”

“Then we need to work out how the hell to control this,” I ground out. “This link to the Morrigan, the visions, all of it. If it's all going to be forced upon me, I want to know how to use it for good.”

Mother Aeve was waiting for us on the steps of the temple when we appeared, and she smiled slowly, flashing a fang our way.

“How can I be of assistance, young wolves?”

28

“What do you know of what’s been happening?” Gael said, shouldering forward.

“I catch that which wafts my way on the wind,” she replied with an enigmatic smile. “And a little more from my own abilities.”

---