Page 89 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

“Darcy, we need to go,” Dane said from the doorway, but he walked inside and sat down on the bed. “Del, you’ll have two of the Wolf Maidens looking after you while we’re away and Annis will be there, along with all the other ladies in the keep. We’ll be back in several days. We have to be. Darcy has a duel she has to fight.”

Gods, Aurora… Her petty stupidity had faded into the background with all that was going on, her machinations meaningless in the face of impending war.

“A duel?” Del asked, his brow creasing.

“Just a fight she needs to win to become a princess for real,” Dane replied with a crooked smile. “Word is she’s a shoo-in to win.”

I glared at him, not feeling any of the confidence he seemed to exude.

“These are the challenges you have to overcome,” Del said to me. “The battles you have to fight, like the heroes in the stories.”

“I’d settle for a whole lot less battles and fewer titles, if I had a choice,” I said, but then bent down and placed a kiss on Jan’s forehead. She scrambled out of my lap and over to Del, wrapping herself around her brother as she watched us, wide-eyed. “But yes, we’ll triumph and come home with even more stories to share.”

Del stood then, nodding solemnly as he held Jan close. I could see the man he would become then, superimposed over the boy. But not yet, not too soon, I sent up a vague prayer. Let him remain a boy for as long as he can.

“You were telling the children about the queen again,” Dane said as we marched down the halls of the citadels, weapons strapped to our bodies, bags over our shoulders.

“It’s all I’m getting right now. Pepin was annoyingly vague, but at least I could ask her questions. The Mother… All I get is weird dreams and a story about a young queen in love with a man she shouldn’t be.”

When we got out into the crowded courtyard, horses and men milling around everywhere, a sharp caw of a raven drew my eyes up. I watched it circle slowly, unsure if it was just a bloody bird or some kind of harbinger. I pulled my bow off my back and drew the string, arrow nocked and ready to let it fly, when it flew off with a defiant cry.

“If all we have is dreams and stories, then that’s what we’ll work with. We’ve at least a day’s ride between here and Ironhaven. Probably more, with the full host at our back.”

Dane reached over and took my hand in his and I felt both Eleanor’s rush of pleasure and my own at that contact. She had my sympathies then, because no other man could make me feel even a skerrick of what I got from my mates. As if summoned, the three of them ambled over.

“Ready to bust some heads?” Axe asked with a wolfish grin, tapping the haft of his axe into his other hand.

“Damn straight.”

44

“I’ve been told to warn you all,” Dane said as we rode closer to the castle, the massive courtyard in front of it full now of riders, soldiers and their families.

“What now?” Gael said through gritted teeth, his eyes scouring the crowd for threats.

“Darcy will ride at the head of the army with Father.”

“Father’s coming?” Weyland asked.

“He has to.” Dane’s full mouth thinned. “We came back from Aramoor draped in glory from fighting back the Reaver horde and then deposited the head of our one of our enemies on his table. If he chooses to remain in his castle, locked up tight, people will start to turn against him. It’s also meant that the nobles have been forced to join us as well. Father wouldn’t allow any of those snakes to loll around in this viper pit, not without him to supervise them.”

He glanced over at me, a shadow in his eyes.

“You’re the girl who turned men into wolves. You’re the girl with the visions. You’re either a means to augment his power or…”

“We’re riding behind him then,” Axe snapped, his gaze flicking from me to his brother. “I’m not leaving our mate with that bastard.”

“At least you’ll be able to,” Gael said with a sour twist of his lips. “I’ll be back with the other spear carriers.”

“Not now, brother,” Dane said, clapping his hand on Gael’s shoulder. “I didn’t let many details of the day at the barracks filter back to Father, but your role in the transformation of the men into two-souled was discussed at length. The fact you’re his son born from his true mate was mentioned several times.”

“Gods above, Mother will be losing her mind,” Weyland said with a snort. “To have all her claims of good breeding and influence demolished in one fell swoop. Does that make us the bastards?”

“You were always a bastard in my book,” Axe muttered, then shot me a cheeky wink.

I watched their banter like they were actors on the stage, feeling completely and utterly removed from the whole thing. The people moved around me like the sea, waves of them spreading across the courtyard. I saw them say goodbye to their men or prepare for battle, right up until the masses parted to allow the king and his lords to ride through. Silence fell over the crowd as they formed an honour guard of sorts, the king pulling his horse to a stop.

“That’s our cue,” Dane said, kicking his horse into action, the four of us following on his heels. “Remember, our power augments his or it’ll be obliterated.”

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