Page 77 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

“I’ll save you,” I promised him, wrapping my arms around him when he came running over. “How would you like to come and live in a real life castle?”

39

I walked with Del somewhat awkwardly down the hallways of the citadel. What the hell did I know about raising a child? And I’d just ripped him away from Lannie, someone who actually did know how. Then there was Jan. How the hell was she going to cope being uprooted again, thrown in a draughty castle—?

“I’m glad you took me with you.”

My eyes jerked down and with that action came my focus. Del stared up at me wide eyed, a mixture of hope and need there, so completely unmasked. I stopped then, really paying attention, watching his hands dive into the pockets of his trews and then shift around in them.

“I wanted you to when…”

When we came back. When we brought him from Wildeford to the city.

“Oh Del… I thought Lannie—”

“She’s a nice lady. Real nice. I liked her house and her cooking. She always smelled nice and she gave really good hugs.”

Gods, was that what I should be doing right now? I shuffled closer, wishing to hell Linnea or Nordred had bothered to give me some training here, because I had no skills to draw upon.

It turned out I didn’t need to. He threw himself at me, wrapping his arms around my waist, and I could feel the wiry strength there.

“When you came and Prince Weyland… When you let us sleep in your bedroll… When you told us those stories…”

“You know they weren’t real, right?” I said, stroking my hand through his hair and feeling a strange rush of emotion as I did so. Not desire or need, not fear or anger, but a kind of protectiveness that grew and grew.

He is pack, my wolf decided.

So he was. Nordred might not have taught me explicitly how to care for a child, but he had done so through role modelling. What would he have done with a young man like this, one that was obviously hurting? I rubbed my hand up and down his spine, trying to soothe him.

“I’m not some princess with miraculous powers…” A flash of memory then, of that blue fire, sprang to mind, but I shoved that away. “I’m just Darcy.”

“Will you look after us, Darcy? Me and Jan? If you give us a place to stay, we’ll be so good, I promise. We’ll—”

“Del.” He looked up at me, eyes shining, full of determination and need. I stroked the floppy swoop of his too long hair out of his eyes and then nodded. I thought of my father and his inconsistently draconian standards and found my jaw began to lock. “You’ll have a place with us for as long as you need it and, while it’d be lovely if you were well behaved, being perfect all the time is too much to ask of most children. You’re with us because we care about you, Del, not because of anything you may or may not do.” I looked around me then, at the stone walls. “We didn’t have this place when I brought you to the city, so I couldn’t offer you a home, but I can now.”

He let out the breath he’d been holding, relaxing as he leaned into me.

“Now, I want you to meet some people.”

“And who might this fine young man be?” Annis asked me as we walked into one of the rooms the refugees had repurposed as a common area. It was a large open space, so people could sit by the fire and read, or sew, or play cards, whatever they wanted to do, with company.

“This is Del,” I said and then introduced him to all the women I knew at the table. He’d weaned himself off me, standing tall and nodding to each woman with an appropriate greeting.

“You look to be the same age as my Jeremy,” one of the women said with an assessing gaze. “He’s over there teaching the young kids how to play knucklebones. You could join them if you like.”

“Might be worth making some friends,” I said when he looked up at me. “I can’t be here all the time and there’s places I’ll need to go that you shouldn’t.” I shrugged. “If you don’t get on, you can come back here.”

He nodded at that, moving off to the group of children clustered around the fire.

“He’s a fine looking boy,” Annis said, watching him go with a slight smile. “And he’s yours.”

“Not really,” I replied, taking a seat when it was offered to me. “We found him out in Wildeford when—”

“He’s yours,” she insisted, her gaze warm and welcoming. “I’ve seen it before. A child in need of someone to care for them and a woman with her heart open enough to let them in. You’re a mother now.”

“Yes, about that.” My hands shook slightly as I placed my elbows on the tabletop, something the other women noted, but only gently so, casting me small glances from over the top of their knitting or darning. “I have absolutely no idea how to be… that. I was an only child. I was raised to think I’d be married off to bear children, but…” I frowned slightly. “I swear we spent more time on fine embroidery than we did discussing child rearing.”

I looked from one woman to the next, my heart sinking as I saw the amusement on each of their faces, even if their expressions were mild.

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