Page 81 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

“Pepin? Took you where?” Selene said, her voice rising.

But I just grabbed the keys, sorting through them until I found the right one and that’s when it happened. A familiar golden light filled my head.

“I know where to go,” I said. “Del?” The boy’s head jerked up and he jogged over to us. “I have to go… somewhere in the castle—”

“Can I come?” His question was swift, his focus entirely trained on me. I flushed, remembering what happened last time and Dane shook his head slowly behind the boy’s back.

“Where I need to go—”

“Please, Darcy. I’ll be good, I promise. I won’t make a sound.”

“Now, lad—” Dane started to say.

“Of course.”

I was probably being a very bad parent, conceding to his every wish, but right now I couldn’t seem to care. I couldn’t look into his face and see that yearning there, I just couldn’t. I was personalising everything, seeing my own pain when I’d been forced to go back inside the keep, right when I was begging Nordred to stay with him. So I turned to Selene.

“Can you watch the other children?” I asked. “Or take them back to their parents?”

“Nala can,” she said, nodding to the other woman standing at her side. The Maiden nodded and then went over to the children, clapping her hands to get order. “Wherever you’re going, I think I’m going to want to see it.”

Just as before, we walked through the labyrinthine halls of the citadel, going down fights of steps, then twisting and turning until we found the same tunnel.

“This is hewn from the rock itself,” Selene said, running her hands across the walls. “This must pre-date the citadel.”

“I suspect what you’re about to see is old as the rocks themselves in Strelae,” Dane said as I walked up to the door. I traced a finger over the metal banding, the key finding the locks on easily. The clicks of the tumblers seemed to resonate out into the air, signifying something. Then I pushed the door open.

“By the goddess…” Selene gasped as we walked into the crystal cave.

“By the goddess, indeed.” Dane was trying for calm, but something tremulous, vulnerable swelled up.

I heard Selene and Orsha exclaim over the figure of the Maiden, rapid prayers escaping their lips as they drew closer, but I walked past. It seemed that Pepin was right. I had moved beyond my maidenly freedom and onto something else.

It felt like I could hear the wind’s whisper in my ears as I came to stand before the next statue, but not for long. As I stared into that blind face, my knees gave out, dropping me down before her feet. The priests would have had me hung, drawn and quartered for this, a Granian girl making obeisance before a Strelan goddess, but that’s not how it felt. Del fell down beside me, muttering some little prayer, obviously much practised, and when he gasped, I knew he felt it too.

A hand on the back of the neck, warm and welcoming, followed quickly by a rush of the most terrible sweetness.

“Mum?” Del’s voice grew reedy and thin. “Mummy?”

My eyes fell closed then as I was swept away into all that gold light.

41

“Are you going to tell us a story?”

After we returned from the cave, Lannie had arrived to bring Jan to us. I’d apologised for the disruption but she’d just brushed my protests away with a smile.

“The children need to go where they’ll be happiest.” She’d nodded to me. “I was just waiting for you to realise that’s with you.”

So we’d ensured they had baths and a hearty dinner with us and all the other occupants of the citadel, Jan delighting in the variety of delicious foods. And Del? Well, he watched his sister with an eagle eye, mentioning that she might put some vegetables on her plate as well as rich meats and sauces. Then, once I’d found a bedroom close to ours that the children approved of, Weyland and I had gotten them into bed.

“Can we have a story, please?” Jan tucked her hands up under her chin and fluttered her eyelashes in a way that made the two of us laugh.

“What do you think?” Weyland asked me, settling into a nearby chair. “Another tale of the princess with the two swords?”

“Ah…” Ever since I’d walked out of the cave, what I’d seen had clouded, crowded my mind. I’d been doing what I needed to, moving through the motions, but now? “I think I’m going to tell you a different story. The story of a queen.”

“Does she save everyone?” Del asked with a wrinkled forehead. “If it’s one of those kissing stories…”

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